SUPERTRAMP

Kind of find this one difficult to review without the obvious comparisons to their slighty later work - ie 1974 onwards. It's hard to imagine that if A&M had let them go after one or two albums, they would have been destined for obsurity. Fortunately, this was not the case - can't imagine living life without Crime of the Century. This LP, their debut, is vastly underated. I can already hear the beginnings of the successful Supertramp sound. Lots of quiet moments, combined with bursts of energy and power. Highly melodic throughout. The more laid back passages, almost have a folky feel, reminding me at times of GENESIS - Tresspass. Roger Hodgson handles the majority of the vocal duites here with plenty of nice harmonies. And I'm glad to say, not a weak track. This would certainly be my favourite, if Crime.. had not exsisted. Only flaw from stopping being a 5 star, is the slightly muddy, raw production. If you listen to it enough times, there are one or two 'fluffs' by the musicians. Like most debuts of the time, they probably had a low budget and not a lot of recording time to polish things up, so I'll let them off!

4.5 stars for this.