Supertramp
Crime Of The Century (2CD Deluxe Edition)

They did not collect mega-halls, packed to the eyeballs with raging fans. Most of their appearances were attended by an aesthetic audience who preferred a chamber setting, and by definition there could not be many such public. In addition, after the release of the triumphant "Crime Of The Century", too little time passed and that album, like the group itself, did not have time to find its upcoming titles. Although all the prerequisites for this have taken place. But at the same time, no one would have been surprised if everything had been reduced to the creative burnout of the young quintet. Fate, however, prepared for Supertramp a different development. It all started with the fact that due to a hand injury on guitarist Roger Hodgson, they had to complete the Crime Tours North American Leg ahead of schedule. This led to dissatisfaction on the part of A&M Records management, which forced the group to fill this unforeseen downtime with the preparation of a new record. The musicians had no choice but to start the session in one of the studios in Los Angeles, although they were not at all ready for this. After a busy touring schedule, new ideas did not want to come into the heads of the leaders and authors of the entire Supertramp repertoire, Rick Davis and Roger Hodgson - the group needed a break. But meanwhile, he was short of time for everything - just a few weeks instead of the usual several months. They were saved then by the fact that a lot of previously unrealized material of dubious quality had accumulated in Supertramp's storerooms. And also an excellent relationship with sound engineer Ken Scott, who “polished” their previous “Crime ...” and whose participation in the work on the new LP as a co-producer inspired hope that this seemingly doomed record was still will sound. Back in March 1975, four previously unreleased songs ("Sister Moonshine", "Lady", "Just A Normal Day" and "Another Man's Woman") were voiced by a group in London's Hammersmith Odeon and even recorded by the British Air Force. From hopelessness, it was decided to take them as a basis, despite the fact that these semi-finished products did not inspire the musicians themselves. In addition, rehearsals were difficult at first. And in general, the situation that prevailed at that time in the studio was far from ideal. The musicians did not like the atmosphere, did not like the material that they obtained. New compositions of “Ain't Nobody But Me” by Davis and “The Meaning” by Hodgson have identified yet another “Crime ...” that has been outlined, but is not yet an acute problem to start beating all the bells. The creative disagreement between the two leaders of Supertramp was finally exposed and made itself felt. A story that is as old as the world. And if in life these two kept completely companionship, then in the work of Rick and Roger appeared as convinced antagonists. There were only memories of the past spiritual unity of the first years of the existence of Supertramp. Years later, R. Hodgson told the popular music publication "Sound": "Crisis? ..." for us began to mean more than for everyone else just the name of our next record, because it really was a crisis album. He could become even better than "Crime Of The Century", but he didn’t, we had too much negative in our studio. We really did not like what we were doing, in the end we got a kind of craft that many even liked. But that wasn’t enough for us. "However, later, Hodgson somehow somehow let slip that Crisis? ... was his favorite album from Supertramp. A set of ten seemingly diverse compositions does not contain an obvious favorite with claims to a hit. But at the same time, a surprisingly compact, smooth and holistic program developed. Davis and Hodgson, two very different musical personalities, whose directly opposite creative principles, contrary to, rather than due to, contributed to the appearance of attractive harmonies, equally repulsive and aspiring to each other. On this contradiction came "Just A Normal Day" and "A Soapbox Opera", incredibly sincere novels. The melancholic blues "Just A Normal Day" for this album is simply unique - with the string section of Richard Hewson and the touching Davis keyboards, which provided the instrumental segment of the composition, but most importantly, with the mesmerizing vocal relay race of Rick and Davis. A rare example of the unity of opposites. But the proximity of such seemingly different in style styling introduces a positive dynamic contrast, such as the "Sister Moonshine" of sophisticated Hodgson and the "Ain't Nobody But Me" of heavyweight Davis. The LP program should perhaps be considered conceptual if you penetrate the lyrics and deduce as a result the general wording. Each of the songs is a separate story, and at the epicenter of this kaleidoscope of events is a rushing man, a kind of collective image that overcomes problems that are crumbling with him with varying degrees of success. As an illustration to this thesis - the front cover of the album.