I've long been a fan of the band Supertramp, thanks in part to the exposure afforded to me by my childhood friend DK. Albums like "Crime of the Century" and "Even In The Quietest Moments..." were early favorites and then they took off with the popular success of "Breakfast in America"
Part of why I liked them and maybe also part of their success was the fact that the two key members, Rick Davies and Roger Hodgeson both shared vocal duties as well as song writing. Maybe not the Lennon and McCartney of there time, but more comparable to Dillford and Tilbrook of Squeeze. There is something about the two different voices on these albums (and yes, in these times they were indeed big, black, 12" albums) that raised them above other bands with a narrower vocal sound.
The band continued on after Roger left in the early '80s for a solo career and I was afraid that their best years were indeed behind them. I was surprised and pleased by there first post-Hodgeson album, "Brother Where You Bound?" and it was even one of the first CDs I ever bought. Some of the lyrics I think may even be pointed towards Roger but it was the continued use of longer compositions that impressed me. One more plus may have been the lack of Rogers input.
As I've said, I'm a big Supertramp fan, but it seems like on almost every album there was one song that I grew to hate and it was always a song sung by Roger Hodgeson. Crime of the Century had "Dreamer"
Even In The Quietest Moments had "Babaji". Breakfast In America had Lord, Is It Mine?" and Famous Last Words has "It's Raining Again". Brother Where You Bound had nothing that tends to drive me nuts after repeated listens and it also had the benefit of some killer Dave Gilmore guitar solos.
There have been ups and downs in there output since. I was excited for the follow up to Brother but was disappointed with Free as a Bird. Some Things Never Change was a solid recording as was Slow Motion. There have also been countless compilations and live releases and they all have the strong material but that we've all heard before, but I don't think there will ever be another Crime of the Century.
"It's Raining Again" makes me want to drink poison. The others you mention irritate me less. "Child of Vision" from Breakfast illustrates both points for me; the diversity of their voices (in the call-response section) and the possibility of Roger's voice being irritating.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I love me some Tramps!