SUPERTRAMP

I picked up 'Even In the Quietest Moments' the other day and still have not listened to it. There is something about Supertramp that just never grabbed me. Their radio hits ('Breakfast in America', 'The Logical Song', 'Goodbye Stranger', on this album) I adore, but apart from select tracks, not too much listening time for them. But it is the time to listen to a Supertramp album. The record starts with 'Gone Hollywood'. The music sounds a bit like Rush and the vocals are a bit kooky in classic Supertramp style. This song is dramatic and slow, but keeps you hooked. There are some great sax moments in this song. About four minutes in, the song restarts, more aggressive and powerful then ever. There is an amazing sax solo and the music leaves. 'The Logical Song' is a fun little song (not the lyrics!) that still gets radio play today. It has a great chorus and lyrics. About three minutes the song gets even more fun with bouncy instrumentation and funky sax. It fades away, leaving you satisfied with all you heard. 'Goodbye Stranger' has great vocals. It builds for about a minute and a half until the instantly recognizable chorus begins. This song is very fun. Little nuances that you can only catch after multiple listens, making this song a little less accessible than it already is. This statement is relevant for most of the album, as well. Around the three-minute mark the track just explodes and gets so fun you can only boogie. The title track is my favorite song on this album. I can't help myself - the lyrics are just so fun and the music as well. From the beginning to the end you are hooked by weird horns, overtly British backing vocals, goofy vocals, and other amazing stuff. This might honestly be my favorite pop song. Amazing. 'Oh Darling' is kind of funky. It gets really good about a minute and a half in. It is probably one of the weaker songs on this album, but on its own is great. 'Take the Long Way Home' opens with some piano and harmonica. The lyrics are good and the vocals are great. Every moment of this song is memorable and fun. A great Supertramp track. 'Lord Is It Mine' is a somber little number that I found just so grabbing. Pretty, yes; well-arranged, definitely; enjoyable, absolutely. A beautiful song. 'Just Another Nervous Wreck' takes too long to really pick up, but once it does, oh boy, those aggressive drums are great, and the vocals are as strong as Supertramp ever had. It just feels like a three-minute crescendo. 'Casual Conversations' has some great lyrics and sax. It is my least favorite song on this album, but not by a wide margin. 'Child of Vision' has a long opening, but, like with 'Just Another Nervous Wreck', can't slow down once it's rolling. About three minutes into the song vocals end for good and you are left with a great piano solo, although it is quite simplistic. This is a great example of prog pop from a good prog pop band. Prog on.

1. School and the harmonica, that's it, the man with the harmonica, a duel? Nah, it's school, just the bell; the sax on the left, yes from the time when we liked stereo effects; hold an arpeggio on G, another on D and the cries of the schoolchildren... let's go; the sound is used yes, the progression does not care, it wants to be latent and brings this rise which is good for morale, yes the gallop of the drums, you had almost forgotten, and the piano which suddenly snorts Also; it's beautiful, inscribed in our ears between the anvil and the stirrup; grand finale but it's not over a chorus for fun come on 2. Bloody Well Right on the crystalline piano, half jazzy half pop-rock, a sound apart, well, we're on SUPERTRAMP; the croaking guitar, the bass struggling and trying to forget that it doesn't have enough strings; this hard riff, yes I say it, or I write it, it's up to you, all right? The simplet piece from Simplet that works on its own, the sax adds a layer of it, not for nothing is it an OMNI 3. Hide in Your Shell yes deep in your eyes, look who pumped on the other; in short, here we are talking about one of my favorite tracks from the album, everything is the intoxicating keyboard... water only water, the rise in several times, the explosion I would even say, the echo drums, the diphthong voices, the musical saw, in short everything 4. Asylum piano input yes, any voice, yes .... bof; this is where I find the original sound of the intro of 'Fool's, but hey it's so fleeting that I keep it to myself; I feel that it will rise, in a symphonic way, like pompous titles by BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST, melodic, soporific but with enough rhythm to make great pieces; aside on these 2 unloved groups of the progeux because having passed on the radio... ah the poor, if they had known they would have acclaimed them rather than thus letting punk and other derivatives come on this same radio; boom boom, the chorus with vilons, bells, just to remind us that creation already existed at that remote time, what are you talking to me about now, good OK; final with a hardos solo guitar, the notes spurt, the voices of Roger and Richard in osmosis, hello. 5. Dreamer give me a more meaningful intro than this, give me a 3 min track that seems like 10... yes the 'Good Vibrations' I grant you, but still it's good. .. the stereo for the voice and the choirs, maybe that also made me dream, like THE BEATLES of yesteryear even more with this sound that fills the room; that's it, it goes, it hits everywhere, dreaming you hear it, when the musical oxymoron is set up by proposing unmentionable things. 6. Rudy sic piano arpeggio, jazzy variation where you're alone at the bar, hold a whiskey I need a pick-me-up; well it's cool this title ah well he starts to shout, well the piano keeps the atmosphere; boy a second another yes that one with the thread, it must be an old Ardmore I guess, just peated as it should be; but it's really not bad this piano, it reminds me a little of the 'Fool's' that I will listen to a few years later, the intro ... progressive with the megaphone; no thank you no third, we need moderation otherwise Méta will still look for us nouases (baffles... but shhh don't spread the word otherwise we'll be censored, ah damn it's over I hear people leaving; this end worthy of a melodrama of the 30s what can I still like it now; Rudy I have you under my skin and it's not that dram, oh yes two I forgot thank you for following me, 7. If Everyone Was Listening ballad for 'And we schemed' which I translated as 'and a whiskey' as everything has a link; ballad, flute, restful nursery rhyme, clarinet, remember the cellos and other trumpets of today integrated into pieces ... of now are not avant-garde; the violins hurt my heart ah ok it's a coded message instead of 'The long sobs of the violins of autumn hurt my heart...' come on let's attack 8. Crime of the Century for the title everyone knows there; for this attack... again... of pads, of voices, of this intoxicating rhythm; this hard voice, this accordion, but where are we going? the solo that comes, yes, the one we all know, it's one of the most beautiful for me, more moving, more more; oh yes the piano cover too, the pad massacred too; you will have understood it, one of the most striking progressive titles of the last 50 years, I don't really need much, the violins twirling around reassure me... if I still like it, it must be damn good!

Good 5 for CRIME of course!

Crisis isn't a bad album. But it doesn't aspire to what makes Supertramp so good. Supertramp fans yearning for more of the sound will find some of that here--the basic elements are all present, harmonica and all, but the songwriting isn't nearly is strong. No doubt part of that is because there was only one year between their last album and this one-- less time than they usually had to write songs. Reportedly much of this album is leftover songs from their previous albums. Favorite song is "The Meaning." More energetic than the rest of the album.

Recommended for Supertramp fans, assuming they already have Supertramp's better albums. 3.5 stars.