Supertramp - ...Famous Last Words (1982)

Year: 29 October 1982 (CD 198?)
Label: A&M Records (Germany), 393 732-2
Style: Pop Rock, Soft Rock, Progressive Pop
Country: London, England
Time: 48:04
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 279 Mb

I enjoy early Supertramp, but have little positive to say about Famous Last Words. The album isn't unpleasant (except maybe the crass and cliched "My Kind of Lady"), but there's little above the average. I'd only be confident in describing "Don't Leave Me Now" as good. "Don't Leave Me Now" is one of the simpler songs on the album—with another cliched lyric—yet somehow it seems to fill its 6:25 very satisfactorily through sheer bombasticism.
While the album is standard, vaguely bluesy, pop, there are some nice instrumental choices. Davies and Hodgson craft the songs well enough—if the saxophone is overused to my liking—but the basic compositions lack the flair of, say, Breakfast in America. Supertramp's usual melancholic but still somewhat uplifting sound is there (typical is "Crazy", with the opening line 'Here's a crazy little song to make you feel good' which then paints a black picture of the world), but there's nothing rivalling "The Logical Song"."C'est le Bon"—almost a sequel to "The Logical Song" in lyric and music—for example, only fleetingly catches the attention.
The album credits everything to Davies and Hodgson, but it sounds (as with some previous Supertramp) that the songs are largely by one or the other. Hodgson was soon to leave the band to go solo: perhaps Famous Last Words failed to raise his interest too.
(bondegezou.co.uk/reviews/recorded/flw.htm) Henry Potts, revised 16 Jan 98; re-revised 31 Aug 05

Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

01. Crazy (04:45)
02. Put On Your Old Brown Shoes (04:20)
03. It's Raining Again (04:25)
04. Bonnie (05:38)
05. Know Who You Are (05:02)
06. My Kind Of Lady (05:17)
07. C'est Le Bon (05:33)
08. Waiting So Long (06:35)
09. Don't Leave Me Now (06:24)

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Supertramp - Paris [Live 2CD] (1980)

Year: 26 September 1980 (CD ????)
Label: Polygram Records (West Germany), 825 726-2
Style: Pop Rock, Soft Rock, Progressive Pop
Country: London, England
Time: 43:41, 46:41
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 281, 295 Mb

Charts: UK #7, AUS #3, AUT #7, CAN #3, FRA #9, GER #5, NLD #2, NOR #6, SWI #1, US #8. UK, FRA, GER & US: Gold; CAN: Platinum.
Supertramp followed Breakfast in America with this soiree in Paris. I don’t recall ever thinking to myself, “Man, I bet Supertramp would be an awesome live band,” any more than I was interested in hearing 10cc or Alan Parsons Project perform their songs on stage. Which isn’t to say that the band doesn’t do a nice job of thumbing through their back catalog or that the audience in Paris doesn’t appreciate the effort. The sax and guitar solos shine a little brighter under the stage lights, the rhythm section doesn’t miss a beat and the vocals from Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies sound as good as you remember.
The trouble with Paris is that it finds the band in a holding pattern at the peak of their popularity. It would be three years before the band released another studio album, by which time my tastes had already shifted from pop music to new wave. Enough Supertramp fans stayed along for the ride to help both Paris and Famous Last Words chart well, but it many ways this marks the end of an era. Looking back over their last few albums, it had been a great ride. Bloody Well Right, Dreamer, Ain’t Nobody But Me, The Logical Song, Take the Long Way Home, all the highlights are here (with the notable exception of “Give a Little Bit”).
The spoken intros from John Anthony Helliwell, done mostly in French, are a nice touch. So is the selection, which digs deep into popular album tracks such as School, Asylum, Hide in Your Shell and Fool’s Overture. As a treat, the band also slips in an old B side, You Started Laughing. The live mix is good, with enough crowd noise to keep you in the moment and clean editing. I can see where someone familiar with Breakfast in America would want to pick up Paris to navigate their back catalog, although I would point you first to Crime and Crisis. Fans will appreciate what basically amounts to a long curtain call after Breakfast, but for most of us Paris can wait.
(progrography.com/supertramp/review-supertramp-paris-1980/)

Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

01. School (05:28)
02. Ain't Nobody But Me (05:37)
03. The Logical Song (03:56)
04. Bloody Well Right (07:38)
05. Breakfast In America (02:56)
06. You Started Laughing (04:02)
07. Hide In Your Shell (06:54)
08. From Now On (07:07)

01. Dreamer (03:29)
02. Rudy (07:23)
03. Soapbox Opera (04:51)
04. Asylum (06:55)
05. Take The Long Way Home (05:08)
06. Fool's Overture (10:57)
07. Two Of Us (01:23)
08. Crime Of The Century (06:31)

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Supertramp - Breakfast In America (1979)

Year: 16 March 1979 (CD 1983)
Label: A&M Records (US), CD-3708
Style: Pop Rock, Soft Rock, Progressive Pop
Country: London, England
Time: 45:58
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 300 Mb

Charts: UK #3, AUS #1, CAN #1, FRA #1, GER #1, NL #1, NOR #1, SWE #2, SWI #1, US #1. SWI: Gold; UK, FRA, GER & NL: Platinum; US: 4x Platinum; CAN: Diamond.
The album went through two rounds of demos. The first were home demos, each of which consisted of the chief songwriter (either Rick Davies or Roger Hodgson) singing and playing either acoustic piano or Wurlitzer electric piano. The second were eight-track demos recorded at Southcombe Studios in Burbank, California during late April and early May 1978. It was in recording these demos that the band worked out the backing track arrangements for all the songs (with the exception of "Take the Long Way Home") and determined the order in which they would appear on the album.
In order to avoid spending a lot of time on mixing, the band and their production team devoted a week to experimenting with different sound setups until they found the perfect arrangement. The effort proved to be wasted, as the engineering team would end up spending more than two extremely stressful months searching for the right mix, and were finished after that length of time only because the deadline had arrived, not because they felt at all satisfied with the results.
Tensions between Hodgson and Davies were reportedly almost non-existent on the album. Engineer Peter Henderson recalled: "They got along fantastically well and everyone was really happy. There was a very, very good vibe and I think everyone was really buoyed up by the recordings and A&M's response to them." Hodgson contested this, saying that he and Davies had increasingly different lifestyles, and that he felt that Davies disliked many of his songs and kept quiet about his displeasure only because he sensed that he would be voted down. Melody Maker journalist Harry Doherty offered a third take on the duo's interactions during the album sessions: "In three days with the band, I don't think I saw Davies and Hodgson converse once, other than to exchange courteous greetings."
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakfast_in_America)

Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

01. Gone Hollywood (05:19)
02. The Logical Song (04:11)
03. Goodbye Stranger (05:50)
04. Breakfast In America (02:39)
05. Oh Darling (03:48)
06. Take The Long Way Home (05:09)
07. Lord Is It Mine (04:09)
08. Just Another Nervous Wreck (04:25)
09. Casual Conversations (02:58)
10. Child Of Vision (07:25)

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Supertramp - Crisis What Crisis (1975)

Year: 28 November 1975 (CD 1988)
Label: A&M Records (West Germany), 394 560-2
Style: Pop Rock, Soft Rock, Progressive Pop
Country: London, England
Time: 47:26
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 268 Mb

After eating so many flat and flavorless tramps (Paris, Indelibly Stamped, Famous Last Words), finally a bum I can sink my teeth into. Crisis? What Crisis? is Christmas come early: ten progressive pop songs patterned on the eccentric masters (10cc, The Kinks, Wings). It’s not progressive rock, never was, but it is ambitious and tuneful.
The first side feels like a concept, especially when “A Soapbox Opera” rolls around. That it follows the wonderful “Ain’t Nobody But Me,” which followed the fine “Sister Moonshine,” which followed the charming “Easy Does It,” makes for one of the most perfect sides of plastic in the Supertramp collection (I’d even give it the nod over the second side of Breakfast). I haven’t heard Crime*; maybe that’s much better (Quietest quite frankly baffled me). (*I’ve since hear Crime of the Century and it’s pretty awesome.)
Personally, Crisis came at a perfect time. I was beginning to think that Supertramp just had the one good album (Breakfast) and a few good songs (“Dreamer,” “Bloody Well Right,” “Give A Little Bit”). But this album is loaded with wonderful boobytraps the likes of which I hadn’t heard on a pop album since Sheet Music or Venus and Mars. That Crisis doesn’t contain any big hits actually worked to its advantage, since it made every song on here a new discovery for me.
If you arrived late for Breakfast, you need to go back to Crisis. It’ll help you form an appreciation for the band’s pop artistry, more so than an Indelibly Stamped anyway. And while I usually take pains to tell you that Supertramp isn’t a prog band, “The Meaning” reminds me a lot of Gong and, I will concede, qualifies as a prog song. If I find a few more like “The Meaning,” I may change my mind.
(progrography.com/supertramp/supertramp-crisis-crisis-1975/)

Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

01. Easy Does It (02:16)
02. Sister Moonshine (05:15)
03. Ain't Nobody But Me (05:12)
04. A Soapbox Opera (04:57)
05. Another Man's Woman (06:16)
06. Lady (05:25)
07. Poor Boy (05:07)
08. Just A Normal Day (04:02)
09. The Meaning (05:24)
10. Two Of Us (03:26)

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Chris de Burgh - Into The Light (1986)

Year: 27 May 1986 (CD 1986)
Label: A&M Records (West Germany), 395 121-2
Style: Pop, Soft Rock
Country: U.S. / U.K. / Santa Fe Province, Argentina (15 October 1948)
Time: 50:32
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 310 Mb

Charts: UK #2, AUS #14, AUT #19, CAN #10, GER #2, IRE #1, NL #9, NOR #1, SWI #2, US #25. US: Gold; UK, GER & CAN: 2x Platinum.
Following the success of its lead single "The Lady in Red", which topped the UK Singles Chart and reached number three in the United States, the album peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart, becoming de Burgh's first studio album to enter the top ten. "Fatal Hesitation" was a UK number 44 hit, spending four weeks on the chart.
"Say Goodbye to It All" was a continuation of the song "Borderline" from 1982's The Getaway. Both songs frequently appear in de Burgh's concerts and compilation albums. The song "For Rosanna" is dedicated to de Burgh's then two-year-old daughter Rosanna.
Dennis Hunt of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "There's really nothing else as schmaltzy as 'The Lady in Red' on his album. Into the Light includes some gutsy, fairly absorbing pop-rock — some not what you'd expect from 'the Irish Barry Manilow.'"
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Light_(Chris_de_Burgh_album))

Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

01. Last Night (06:08)
02. Fire on the Water (04:31)
03. The Ballroom of Romance (04:27)
04. The Lady in Red (04:16)
05. Say Goodbye to It All (05:24)
06. The Spirit of Man (04:41)
07. Fatal Hesitation (04:17)
08. One Word (Straight to the Heart) (04:33)
09. For Rosanna (03:39)
10. The Leader (02:16)
11. The Vision (03:13)
12. What About Me? (03:03)

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Supertramp - Crime Of The Century (1974)

Year: 25 October 1974 (CD 1983)
Label: A&M Records (US), CD-3647
Style: Progressive Pop, Soft Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 44:20
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 247 Mb

Crime of the Century is the third studio album by the British rock band Supertramp, released in October 1974 on A&M Records. Crime of the Century was Supertramp's commercial breakthrough in many countries, most notably in the UK, Canada and Germany where it peaked in the Top 5 while also making the Top 20 in Australia and France. It was the band's first album to chart in the United States, reaching No. 38 on the Billboard 200. The single "Dreamer" reached No. 13 on the UK singles chart, but listeners in the United States preferred its B-side, "Bloody Well Right", which peaked at No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100. "School" was another popular track, particularly on album rock-oriented radio stations. The album was eventually certified Gold in the US in 1977 after the release of Even in the Quietest Moments.... In Canada, it was eventually certified Diamond (sales of one million copies). The album was Supertramp's first to feature drummer Bob Siebenberg (at the time credited as Bob C. Benberg), saxophone and clarinet player and vocalist John Helliwell, bassist Dougie Thomson, and co-producer Ken Scott. The album has received critical acclaim, including its inclusion in Rolling Stone's "50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time".
The album's dedication reads "To Sam", which is a nickname for Stanley August Miesegaes, the Dutch millionaire who supported the band financially from 1969 to 1972.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_of_the_Century_(album))

Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

01. School (05:34)
02. Bloody Well Right (04:31)
03. Hide in Your Shell (06:48)
04. Asylum (06:54)
05. Dreamer (03:28)
06. Rudy (07:23)
07. If Everyone Was Listening (04:04)
08. Crime of the Century (05:33)

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Supertramp - Free As A Bird (1987)

Year: 23 October 1987 (CD 1987)
Label: A&M Records (Germany), 395181-2
Style: Pop, Soft Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 44:11
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 269 Mb

The album was a turn of direction of sorts, with most of the songs stepping back from their progressive rock sound, employing synthesised dance beats and rhythms. Chief songwriter Rick Davies later recalled, "Free as a Bird was an experiment to try and be modern and build it up with computers and drum machines and have people come in one by one, which makes you lose the band spirit a little bit."[4] In the liner notes to the 2005 compilation Retrospectacle, Davies said, "Each time we went in, we would try to give it something a bit different. Free as a Bird was a lot more machine-based than anything we'd done before. That was good and bad, but it had some interesting songs on it."
Free as a Bird was the first Supertramp album to feature contributions from guitarist/vocalist Mark Hart. He would later become a full-fledged member of the group, as would trumpet player Lee Thornburg.
The group disbanded after the tour in support of the album and would not reconvene until 1997. They did so without bassist Dougie Thomson.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_as_a_Bird_(album))

Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

01. It's Alright (05:00)
02. Not The Moment (04:37)
03. It Doesn't Matter (04:53)
04. Where I Stand (03:41)
05. Free As A Bird (04:22)
06. I'm Beggin' You (05:30)
07. You Never Can Tell With Friends (04:18)
08. Thing For You (03:59)
09. An Awful Thing To Waste (07:47)

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Supertramp - Supertramp (1970)

Year: August 1970 (CD 1987)
Label: A&M Records (Germany), 393 149-2
Style: Progressive Pop, Progressive Rock, Soft Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 47:50
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 267 Mb

Charts: CAN & FRA: Gold.
It was not released in the United States until late 1977.
All the album's lyrics were written by Richard Palmer, since none of the other members of Supertramp were willing to write any. Palmer himself later said that he considered writing lyrics "like having to do school work" at the time. The music to the songs were all composed jointly by Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson.
The album was recorded entirely at Morgan Studios in night sessions running from 12 midnight to 6 am, due to a superstition on the part of the band members (fuelled by their having heard that Traffic and Spooky Tooth recorded at late hours) that there was some "magic" to recording at night. Hodgson later recalled "Invariably our engineer, Robin Black, would fall asleep on us in the middle of the sessions, which were pretty intense as it was, because we fought a lot with Richard Palmer." He was fond of the resulting album, however, and commented over a decade later that "It was very naive, but it has a good mood to it."
To promote the album, the band played at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970, held a few weeks after release.
Songs from this album, including "Words Unspoken" and "I Am Not Like Other Birds of Prey", were used as part of the soundtrack for the UK film Extremes (1971), along with music from other groups.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertramp_(album))

Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

01. Surely (00:31)
02. It's a Long Road (05:34)
03. Aubade and I Am Not Like Other Birds of Prey (05:17)
04. Words Unspoken (03:59)
05. Maybe I'm a Beggar (06:43)
06. Home Again (01:14)
07. Nothing to Show (04:53)
08. Shadow Song (04:24)
09. Try Again (12:02)
10. Surely (2) (03:09)

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