CRIME OF THE CENTURY

'Crime of The Century' was the album that started Supertramp's commercial career, and at the peak of their musical career they where ''The most famous band in the world that could walk down a street and not get recognized''. Perhaps that's true. Anyway, this album is one of the finest pieces of art rock music that I know of when it comes to more mainstream progressive rock. The album consists of mostly short tracks, but there is one at 7 minutes. If you want to check out Supertramp, this is the ultimate album for you. I also want to thank the people who have P.M.ed me about my reviews. Thanks a lot guys! Now, on with the review:

01. School (05.34) = This album starts out with 'School'; which introduces us to a loud, almost piercing harmonica note, soon joined by low synthesizer notes. Now the beautiful vocals by Roger Hodgson arrives, with a stunning guitar line in the background. The first verse is absolutely perfect, with the interesting lyrics which are dark yet humorous. You hear a school class screaming in the background while the guitar slowly plays. Now the drums join to keep a steady beat going. Another verse with even better lyrics graces our ears, another 'instrumental' section comes in, with a great, emotional guitar solo while the piano is playing steady in the background. Cool percussion also joins, making this the pinnacle of the song easily. Soon the drumming is apparent again, getting louder; and we are after that blessed with a beautiful piano solo. It goes on for a good while, until we get vocals by Richard Davies, whose voice is a lot darker than Rogers. After this small bridge, another verse kicks into gear. After this suberb verse, you hear the last words of Roger; ''You're coming along...'' and the song ends on a loud note until it leads over into...

02. Bloody Well Right (04.32) = Starts out with a bluesy honky tonk piano, which is pretty cool. This however is not something that sounds like Supertramp in general; far too poppy for die hard prog fans to digest. Anyways, this intro goes on until there's an crescendo and it then leads into the rather cool guitar solo; and after this comes the verse. Vocals by Richard Davies. The verse is quite heavy; especially for Supertramp with distorted guitars and heavy, loud drumming. The chorus comes in directly after; and I don't know why, but I just don't like the chorus. It's to Beatles-like, but soon the guitar plays the verse patterns again, which of course kicks ass; and then the real verse kicks in again. Again, distorted guitars and loud drumming just makes it awesome. But then the Beatle-esque chorus comes. Somehow it sounds better this time. The saxophone is introduced to us here which I enjoy a lot; great sound and it plays over the vocals of the chorus. The song ends with a great saxophone solo that fades out. This leaves us with...

03. Hide In Your Shell (06.49) = This is one of the albums best tracks to me. It starts out with beautiful keyboard playing and great bass. Soon the soothing vocals sings the stunning verse, and I have to say the chords in this song are just perfect! Anyways, after the beautiful verse, the strange bridge comes in that somehow separates the quiet sections from the loud ones. The end of the bridge is awesome, and we are introduced to drums here, and then the beautiful (Yes, I use that word a lot; I know) chorus is brought to us, with great saxophone playing and stunning vocals. After this the intro is played again, with great succession, and then the nice little verse comes again. The lyrics are again very interesting here. Vocals are top-notch as always with Supertramp. Then we get another bridge by the boys, which might seem out-of-place, but it will grow on you eventually. After this we get another crazily beautiful chorus, with the great saxophone again being present here. After the chorus (Which has great drumming if I forgot to remark that) we're left with only drums and the bass. Soon however the piano and vocals join. You hear Roger screaming ''I WANNA KNOW YOU! LET ME KNOW YOU!'' and things like that while accompanied by heavy drumming and great piano playing. Another chorus comes in, which is arguably the climax of the song, which directly makes it awesome of course. The song ends with the chorus slowly fading out. Really great song...

04. Asylum (06.44) = Perhaps one of the most beautiful piano intros ever is present here, and soon after that the really interesting lyrics come along with beautiful Bruce Springsteen-like vocals by Richard. The chorus is very beautiful here as always with Supertramp. He tells us he doesn't want to be sent to an asylum. The piano gets louder on the second verse, with the vocals being at the same rate. Another beautiful chorus. Again, the lyrics are really interesting. Heavy drum fills leads into the great bridge, which again has great vocals by Richard. Richard then sings about things which you will find out on your own later, and then Roger sings as the protagonist of this story; which makes for a really cool effect. Just really great. Another heavy drum fills leads into bridge stunning verse with more great piano playing, however to some this is another form of the verse. I have no idea, but I know that it's absolutely great. Another chorus comes in, and after that we get more heavy drum fills which leads into an even louder bridge which is awesome. More of the Roger-playing-protagonist material comes in here, which makes me smile every time. The song carries on with the vocals of Richard and the loud music co-operating with him. The guitar then gets distorted and makes for a rather sad section, where Richard screams out ''NOT QUITE RIGHT!''. The beautiful intro is played after that, which ends the song as beautifully as it was introduced to us.

05. Dreamer (03.31) = Dreamer is the weakest track on the album to me, but that doesn't make it bad. It begins with loud vocals and fast piano. The lyrics are... strange in a way. This song is the most poppy on the entire album, so prog fans; get ready to get turned off. The chorus comes in after that, and after that another verse comes in. A pretty cool middle section comes in, then a chorus comes again, which after that leaves us with a section where the piano is present. Richard then sings ''If I could see something...'' and then Roger sings ''You can see anything'' and they continue with these kind of lines for a while and then another section where it's only Roger and the piano are present, but soon the drumming joins along. Another verse comes up again and then the song ends.

06. Rudy (07.21) = This is the longest and saddest song on the album. The lyrics are very touching to me, and so is the melody. It starts out as with many other songs on here; with great piano playing. A really fast section of only piano and train noises is the intro here. Soon the beautiful, jazzy verse comes in with the sad vocals. Apparently, Rudy isn't ''Sophisticated, nor well-educated. The really great chorus comes in after this, and after that the electric guitar is introduced to us. Great piano playing and vocals comes after this, and leaves us with one of the albums few guitar solos, unfortunately it's a very short one. A bridge arrives after this, with absolutely stunning saxophone playing, but then we get more electric guitar playing and drumming. This section reminds me a lot of early Gentle Giant stuff. We're left with the piano after this, playing beautiful licks and then we hear more noises from a train station, with the man announcing which trains are going and such. Pretty sad to me. After this a quite groovy section arrives, with heavy bass and loud piano playing. The drumming keeps a solid beat here, and then Roger sings, soon followed by Richard. Then Roger comes again, and soon after that Richard answers. This for goes on for a while, which is the most awesome section on the song. You just have to love it! The last line by Richard is repeated, which leads into a new brigde with interesting lyrics. All of this leads into a crescendo which leaves us with more noises of people walking by and such. Another beautiful verse arrives, perhaps the saddest moment on the entire album. The song ends with fast notes on a string instrument. Awesome song.

07. If Everyone Was Listening (04.05) = Another sad song. Starts with cool piano playing of course, and then Roger sings the vocals. Really cool lyrics here actually. The verse is jazzy, and just great. This leads into the pre-chorus which is awesome; really beautiful. Then a really heavy drum fill kicks in and leads into the real chorus. This is of course another awesome section of the song, with the chord choice being stunning. The end of the chorus is just beautiful and after this the clarinet is introduced to us; played by the awesome John Anthony Helliwell who has been playing the saxophone until now. This is a ver beautiful section, which after a while leads into another verse with great vocals by Roger. Another heavy drum fill leads into the beautiful chorus. The song ends after this, with great playing by everyone. It fades out on a sad note.

Now people; this next song is not only the climax of the album, but it is the climax of Supertramp's career, and perhaps one of the best songs in art rock history. This next song is...

08. Crime of The Century (05.36) = This song is one of the best songs I've ever heard. It kicks into gear right at the start with a loud piano chord directly followed by Richard's beautiful vocals. The lyrics are the best of the album here, about how they're planning the crime of the century; and what it will be. This is the verse I suppose, which is the most beautiful on the entire album, if not the most beautiful verse ever by Supertramp. Suddenly you hear Richard screaming ''SO ROLL UP!'' and this leads into a chaotic, loud section where Richard screams out things like ''How they're raping the world!'' and stuff like that. Really cool, but of course this leads into another beautiful verse. Richard asks us who these men are, and this beautiful verse leads into Richard just saying ''...That can't be right'' and this leads into one of the most beautiful guitar solos I've ever heard; now you perhaps understand why there weren't many guitar solos on this album. They were saving the best for last. Soaring notes flow greatly; and I can easily say that this is the climax of the album for any guitarist. Incredibly beautiful. It eventually fades out to leav us with the world known piano riff. It's inexplainable. This section is the best piano section I've ever heard in my life; let me tell you that. Soon jazzy drumming plays over the piano riff, which leaves place for an incredibly beautiful section, however this is soon overpowered by the stunning saxophone solo! Incredible! The soaring, loud saxophone notes are almost drowned out by the string instruments and the heavy drumming and the piano riff still going strong. Amazing section; nothing else can be said. It's really unexplainable. I suggest that you DO NOT listen this song on the free MP3 stream here on Progarchives; since that will just ruin the ''climax'' feeling of the song. So don't you dare! :P The song eventually fades out, leaving only the harmonica notes that started the album making it a complete circle. One of the best songs ever.

This album is one of the best I've heard. I don't give out five stars often, but this one deserves it! Of you haven't heard this, make sure you buy it. Thank you for reading this review.