CRIME OF THE CENTURY

It's hard to believe I haven't reviewed this album yet. I only became aware of Crime in the spring of 1977. I had already been a big fan Supertramp, having been introduced to them through 1976's Even in the Quietest Moments and having proclaimed Crisis? What Crisis? my favorite album throughout the fall of 1976. I guess I was a bit resistant to the possibility that something could actually be better than Crisis or Quietest Moments. I got it. I liked it. I purchased Supetramp and Indelibly Stamped. Like them both. A lot. But by then I was into all of the back catalogue of Yes and Genesis and Renaissance and Focus and had very little time for the 'tramp. Then Breakfast in America came out. 79. An album full of very catchy pop songs (though "Child of Vision" and even "Take the Long Way Home" are excellent prog tunes.) I got tickets to a show on their Fall of 79 tour. GREAT seats! While they played nothing from Crisis or the first two albums, they played almost everything from Crime, Quietest Moments and Breakfast. But what occurred for me at this concert was a spiritual awakening; every, and I mean EVERY song from Crime of the Century was not only head and shoulders above the other albums' songs but were ten times better in concert than they were on the album. I mean, "School" and "Bloody Well Right" were of course great, but "Rudy!" "Dreamer!"--songs that I really didn't like before!--and the show-stopping finale, "Crime of the Century," were (and still are) some of the peak concert moments of my life!

Needless to say, I returned home to Crime of the Century with a newly found appreciation (call it 'reverence'), bought the Mobile Fidelity copy and immersed myself in the magic. I still listen with raptured awe, revisiting in my mind that concert, whilst listening to "Dreamer," "Rudy," "Hide in Your Shell," "If Everyone Was Listening" and "Crime." And "School" is just one of the all-time greatest songs ever written.