Supertramp: Crime of the Century - Extended Play Lounge (Episode 14)
Added 2022-02-23 21:33:57 +0000 UTCThis is my first 'Doug's Choice' for an EPL episode in a while. But, it comes after we've just started implementing our recommendations portal on the discord. And, this album was highly supported by the community...and Supertramp is a band I'm not very familiar with. So, join me for a full album listen. I quite enjoyed it!
Private Vimeo Link: https://vimeo.com/680954907/bd98b358e1
Comments
The electric piano on most of these tracks is a Wurlitzer. Supertramp used the Wurly a lot.
Bill Coonley
2022-12-02 01:02:05 +0000 UTC"Expertly crafted album." Oh hell yes.
Paul Halicki
2022-06-19 22:47:33 +0000 UTCCrime of the Century is nowhere near the strongest song of the album. It's good but the first few on side one are much better imo.
Paul Halicki
2022-06-19 22:41:51 +0000 UTCRudy wants to be normal but just doesn't fit in.
Paul Halicki
2022-06-19 22:34:14 +0000 UTC"Rudy felt that all good things come to those who wait." As a teenager, this was a key line in the album. As a teen I was more of a spectator than a doer, and hoping that eventually those good things would come to me. It was a wistful longing for life to begin. This album touches on that theme a lot and it resonated with teen me. And now, after the years have past I can remember exactly what teen me was like. Life has worked out fine so far, but when Crime of the Century was new to me I was afraid that it never would. I think this album captures that uncertainty and longing of early adulthood.
Paul Halicki
2022-06-19 22:33:00 +0000 UTCFurther listening: Roger Hodgson's Magnum Opus, from the album Even in the Quietest Moments. It was written for orchestra but recorded by the band with what they had. The best way to listen to it is with the full orchestra: Fool's Overture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBefDWSMNaQ (Maybe you've already done a reaction video to it; I can't recall.)
Paul Halicki
2022-06-19 22:26:28 +0000 UTCAsylum: The more the narrator asserts they are not insane, the crazier he sounds.
Paul Halicki
2022-06-19 22:20:55 +0000 UTCI enjoy your attempt at understanding the meaning of the lyrics. You bring out things I never noticed, listening to this since it first came out.
Paul Halicki
2022-06-19 22:13:10 +0000 UTCHide in Your Shell to me sounds like someone who's never had a true friend but finds their soul mate- "If I can help you, let me know..." "I want to know you...." This is the beginning of a romance. Yes, vulnerable! When you first open up and show your soul to someone, with the hope they'll accept you.
Paul Halicki
2022-06-19 22:11:40 +0000 UTCHide in Your Shell: The introvert's anthem.
Paul Halicki
2022-06-19 22:07:17 +0000 UTCI think Supertramp is kind of like Rush, kind of a "boutique" band. Not for everyone but perhaps in the second tier of great bands behind Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Beatles, etc. One might argue that Rush is in that top tier but when they were first emerging they were more of a cult following band than a mainstream band. But for those people who like them, they can be one of their extreme favorites. (I really really like both Supertramp and Rush.)
Paul Halicki
2022-06-19 22:06:31 +0000 UTCIts driving me nuts when he start talking about the lyrics, especially on the second half of Crime... dude just listen to the music you are missing out on so much stuff ^^
Damien S
2022-06-18 12:18:36 +0000 UTCI caught up with this one last night. I really enjoyed it. This album was a must-have when I was a school back in the mid '70s. Breakfast in America also recommended.
Les Mable
2022-05-08 12:34:41 +0000 UTCOne of the best live records I have ever heard (including Seconds Out and YesSongs)...awesome
Paul Hoyle
2022-05-05 21:18:55 +0000 UTCThe song, Rudy, on the album Crime of the Century, includes the sound of a station announcer at Paddington Station (London) announcing a train departure, and of a Class 50 locomotive pulling its train out of the station. Rather confused by your comment Doug of 'I quite enjoyed it', as having seen many of your EPLs, I'd say it 'blew you away' really...I've never seen you so engrossed and concentrating on what you are listen to, as much as this one...it truly is a masterpiece LP and I have only discovered this over the past 2 years.
Paul Hoyle
2022-05-05 21:06:51 +0000 UTCThanks Doug .. one of my all time top 5 albums. A ‘beautifully crafted’ (as you said) piece of work that was a huge level up from their first two albums. I got this (as a cassette) from a record shop in Dundee, Scotland at the age of 15 and had to wait until I got home to play it - the days before Walkmans etc.. I remember thinking it came over as quite ‘classical’ with lots of darkness but strength. Dreamer was a UK hit single so I gravitated to that and after a few listens through the whole album, I was engrossed.. Rudy being a fave (It’s a train station announcer at the beginning and the sound of old diesel trains - I did laugh when you thought it was ‘clean-up on aisle 4’ lol). Of course School is amazing - the opening harmonica solo a steal from Ennio Morricone’s Man with Harmonica from Once Upon a Time in the West - but hey!.. And Bloody Well Right was also a reflection on the Miners strikes that were around at the time.. and If Everyone was Listening was a piece I learned to play when in a band much later - still brings a lump to my throat. Next album was ‘Crisis? what Crisis?’ with fabulous artwork including John Cleese on the cover. Features more Hodgson 12-string guitar skills and more ‘rock-ish’ sounds - again - all beautifully put together. Similar in overall feel - kinda before major commercial success kicked in and they began having Breakfast abroad! Hehe. Good one Doug .. listen again ;) G.
Graeme
2022-03-25 15:45:02 +0000 UTCGreat album by a great Band
Patrick Nicolucci
2022-03-17 00:43:17 +0000 UTCI always heard Supertramp on classic rock stations growing up. I didn't think much of them until I joined a band that did a cover of a Supertramp song. I liked the original much more, so i started listening to them a little more. The Logical song really stuck out and i took notice how good the lyrics were. I decided to listen to Breakfast In America cover to cover and it hit me how good this band actually was. This is my first Crime Of The Century listening and I'm enjoying it too.
Bryan Sheehan
2022-03-06 19:42:15 +0000 UTCGosh, that took me back. Not heard it since the 70's myself but such a great album. 'Dreamer' actually charted as a single in the UK at the time. 15p would buy you a loaf of bread back then.
Sian Podmore
2022-03-06 11:18:20 +0000 UTCI probably haven't listened to this one since my 20s...but I listened to it a TON from about 7th grade on. I think it fell away from me because I thought the lyrics were maybe a bit naive...and maybe they are, but hearing them now, I think the writers were trying to say something about a youthful perspective. And regardless of the lyrics, the music is just really well done. I'd forgotten the depth and detail of the parts, the way the writers work through their chord voicings, and the occasional contributions (from arranger Richard Hewson) of strings, which although rare, are very effective when they come in. Thanks for reminding me that my younger self was not wrong in thinking this was a great record!
Jeff Norman
2022-03-04 04:51:33 +0000 UTCWonderful album, wonderful journey watching and listening to your exploration. To me, their premier album was Even in The Quietest Moment, with the title song peaking the entire suite. Well worth a listen, even if you dont review it here. Excelsior!
Jim Wilde
2022-03-01 22:54:05 +0000 UTCThank you for doing this. Great, as always, to hear your reaction and take on one of my favorite albums. I can't listen to Supertramp without thinking about my father who sadly died a month ago. He was a tremendous influence on making me love music of good quality, regardless of genre - and as with so much of the older music, he was the one who introduced me to Supertramp. Such fond memories of us sitting together, more often than not with a whisky or cocktail or beer, just talking and listening to wonderful music, and enjoying each other's company. While this ("Crime of the Century") is my favorite album by Supertramp, his was "Breakfast in America". They're both great and with no weak tracks. If you do another full Supertramp album, well... guess I agree with Stuart Money that "Famous Last Words" is a good choice. Really love that album, especially the last two tracks. Or BiA... but I can't help but think that you've heard most of those songs. Or at least some of them. (Which might not be a bad thing when reacting!) Don't know about the US, but at least here in Norway, it's the only Supertramp album that gets any airtime at all on the radio (esp. "Logical Song" and the title track).
Steinar Haugen
2022-03-01 19:44:21 +0000 UTCFantastic as always...of course Supertramp relied heavily on Canadian fan support during the period of this album and the following two...touring repeatedly here in the Grat White North until, at last, the band broke through in America with, well..."Breakfast in America". Doug, if you ever return for an extended visit with the band, my choice would probably be "Famous Last Words", the last album with the classic line-up, and truly a breakup album with Rick and Roger trading barbs through their lyrics. And yet, through it all, musically a tour de force IMHO. But hey, I'm a fan...so a reaction to any other Supertramp album would always be welcome. Cheers.
Stuart Money
2022-02-28 17:44:21 +0000 UTCAwesome! Listening to such albums of quality musicianship and songwriting is what I joined this site for. What can I say, there are so many more genuine classics out there, let’s have more of this quality rather than underwhelming mediocre that seems to be getting more prevalent on the site. Nothing beats a good songwriter supported by quality musicians.
Itsfun2listen
2022-02-27 20:23:42 +0000 UTCTop 5 album of all time for me and its not because I'm fat! No, theres more to it than that.
Ken Slater
2022-02-26 10:18:17 +0000 UTCI said this in the Discord as well, but I wanted to repeat it becaure this one hit me hard. I actually cried during the Crime of the Century EPL. It's such an incredible album, I know it so well but hearing Dr. Doug connect the dots on the emotional throughline, it all landed on me in a new way. Here's a story. My introduction to Supertramp was on a dubbed VHS I bought for $4 on the internet in 1999. It was one of the many lower-budget Jesus biopics, with the audio removed, overdubbed with a bunch of Supertramp songs. I was expecting it to be rather irreverent and humorous, but it was profound. The person who made it said that Supertramp's music had been important to them spiritually. "If Everyone Was Listening" from Crime of the Century underscores the Last Supper. "We dreamed a lot, and we schemed a lot, and we tried to sing of love before the stage fell apart" hits me really hard, and I always think of this scene. I wish I still had the VHS, or any way to find the random dude I bought it from.
KB Gardner
2022-02-26 05:15:44 +0000 UTCI'm glad to have listened to this album with you. I have always been a big friend of Supertramp's music, I recently saw Roger live here in Rotterdam and was thrilled. But this listen made me apprechiate Their music even more. Thank you Doug.
Jan Michael
2022-02-25 22:07:59 +0000 UTCGreat to go back to this after so long away. I think many of these late 60'/early 70's albums reflect the turbulent nature of the UK at this time and the major questioning of the prevailing status quo. Incidentally the education questioning returns in'The Logical Song' on breakfast in America and seems to be an ongoing beef. Also at the time a penny was about cent, and us Brits used the expression of going cuckoo for what would now be called a mental disease - hence the use of a Cuckoo clock on Asylum. Keep up the great work Doug and let us hear some Traffic soon.
Nick Pordham
2022-02-25 16:41:21 +0000 UTCMaybe its just me but, a lot of these songs are better in the Supertramp Paris album to me./
Pedro E Briceno
2022-02-25 02:57:29 +0000 UTCGlad you enjoyed it Doug. Just think: this is what Top 20 chart music was like in 1974 in the UK! What a time it was to be a teenager into prog rock!
Chris Ramsbottom
2022-02-24 20:50:58 +0000 UTCYes a classic album with no bad track on it. I enjoyed your reactions but to talk over the sax solo and long dramatic end of Crime of the Century was a crime by you!
Bernard Dawson
2022-02-24 12:17:27 +0000 UTCIf you ever get the chance to see Roger live, do it! He is truly one of the warmest people I have ever seen on a stage. And just like Geddy Lee, his voice never get old.
Joakim Skurk
2022-02-24 11:54:55 +0000 UTCThis is one of the albums I´ve been listening to from my teenage years. Supertramp began with this album a golden era that goes through Crisis? What Crisis?, Even in the quietest moments, and Breakfast in America. Even Famous last words is a great album. Then Roger Hodgson left the band and the magic was gone. By the way, Roger Hodgson once said that he liked to combine happy melodies with sad lyrics, he liked that contrast. A very good example is It´s Raining Again, one of their most famous songs, from Famous last words.
Carlos Regidor Iglesias
2022-02-24 10:28:09 +0000 UTCHas anyone tied in the album cover to the theme, if not the concept, of the album? The "prisoner" trapped in a "jail" of bars on his window, without walls, floor, or ceiling? That perhaps, with a change of perspective, those of us "trapped" by our attitude and perception of the things around us can manage to "break" free. At least, it's how I always interpreted what the cover art is saying.
Illume Eltanin
2022-02-24 02:58:39 +0000 UTCToday is the first time I have listened to this album in its entirety, seen many, many bands and bought a ton of LP's/CD's over the years, Supertramp didn't stir me with their music. After the Mersey sound including the Beatles, and the birth of Progressive/symphonic rock including Yes, I can appreciate they have talent and they do deserve recognition, they just didn't get my full attention.
Newt
2022-02-24 02:06:22 +0000 UTCI have all the songs from this album on my phone but haven't listened to the album straight through for quite some time. I am glad to have done this with Doug.
Richard Rathbun
2022-02-24 01:51:10 +0000 UTCCrime of the Century is in my personal all time top10 albums. Production and arrangements are just perfectly crafted. Songs are quite poppy at their core (harmonically and rhythmically) but the arrangements make them appealing to prog listeners. Maybe with the exception with Rudy – with such rich dynamics it is truly a prog song from every perspective. And that's one of my favourites along with title track. And because the album is so tight-packed and rich, you can discover new things no matter how many times you've heard that album. I hope you will come back to more Supertramp. Even In The Quietest Moments and Breakfast In America are also excellent albums. And even some tracks from early and later Supertramp are also fun to listen.
Einaras Sipavičius
2022-02-23 23:53:15 +0000 UTCThanks for this one Doug. When I was at the university in the mid 70s we played this album constantly. It has been on my list of 5 albums to take with me on an island ever since. Along with Selling England by the Pound. The other 3 choices change but those two are constants.
Old Rocker
2022-02-23 23:35:58 +0000 UTCWhen you said that he had some Plant in his voice, I thought you meant "plant" sans cap...which was probably also true. They are, yes, a bit of a hybrid of Yesmas, Beatiality, Billijoelitude, and etc., but, as you also reported, they are an aboriginal. It was great to listen to the whole enchilada on headphones. I like them even more now. Funny...I heard that Tiny Dancer bit same time you did. When are you gonna review "Light Up Or Leave Me Alone"? For me, a concept album is more than just an uncurated collection of songs. The concept album (or "record" as the younguns are calling it) begs to be heard as a holistic whole, as opposed to a halfistic half. And this one seems to reward such an investment. And the song do seem to be an interlocking unity. Wonder if they ever go to Interlochen? Only their hairdresser knows for sure. And their hair chest of drawers."
MrWondrous David Beckwith
2022-02-23 23:04:08 +0000 UTCBloody Well Right is a cracking track!
Shane Day
2022-02-23 22:49:36 +0000 UTCAwesome choice. I get back to listening to Supertramp time to time. It's one of my "evergreen" favorites.
Zsuzsanna Vázsonyi
2022-02-23 22:27:23 +0000 UTCGreat choice. Massively underrated band nowadays.
Mike Hill
2022-02-23 22:05:25 +0000 UTCSuch a great album. I'm so excited to hear what you think of it. Gonna send the kids to bed early, make a nice white Russian, bust out the herbal, and enjoy it properly. Cheers, y'all.
Scott Stone
2022-02-23 21:47:04 +0000 UTCLooking forward to this. Glad you enjoyed. I'm swamped so I won't get a chance to listen till Friday afternoon sometime. I'll definitely have a cocktail and cheers you. Thanks Doug.
Bryan Tursk
2022-02-23 21:38:50 +0000 UTC
