THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SUPERTRAMP

From the book of the same name

"The autobiography of Supertramp" offers a good cross section of the band's better known work. It rightly concentrates on their most successful period when Roger Hodgson was with them, but also includes one track, "Cannonball", recorded after he left.

Their two most successful albums "Crime of the century" and "Breakfast in America" provide the bulk of the tracks, with the singles taken from them being well to the fore. Two of the longer, more progressive tracks, from COTC, "Rudy" and the wonderful "Hide in your shell" appear. Having got so used to hearing the tracks in the sequence they appear on the original album, hearing them out of context here can be a bit disconcerting.

This album offers no surprises, and fans of Supertramp will already have all the tracks in their original form. This is however a fine collection of their more commercial works. Do not however assume it to be a complete collection of their best works. The title is a reference to the source of the band's name, the book "The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp" by William H. Davies.

It seems that releasing numerous compilation albums from the same band have become a trend over the years, but also a rather irretating clichè. Though this was the first Supertramp compilation released there's no need for it now ever since the two "Very Best of Supertramp" volumes was released in 1994, and they're both a much better representation of the bands most known work. Of course, this compilation does have slight collectors value if you find a vinyl copy but don't even bother track down the CD of it (titled 'Classics Vol. 9') unless you are a true fanatic of this band.

I normally avoid reviewing compilations because usually the labels hungry for fresh money from bands that left their best days in the past, focus in the more commercial songs rather than in the most challenging stuff, and this album is not the exception to the general rule.

Maybe the problem is that the title "The Autobiography of SUPERTRAMP" is too pompous, being that it's really a "Greatest Hits" because except "Crime of the Century", Give a Little Bit" and "Even in the Quietest moments" we find stuff from SUPERTRAMP POP albums and poppy songs from their early and more Progressive releases.

But it's not a bad option, the selection is pretty good except for It's Raining Again" and the awful "Cannonball" where I miss the compositional skills of the usually annoying voice of Roger Hodgson, until those tracks that gladly were placed in the end making easier to avoid them, the album flows gently and fulfills its purpose which is to entertain.

Won't review three songs being that this has been done repeatedly in the studio albums and it's unnecessary for people familiar with them but wanting to know if his compilation is worth the 7 or 8 bucks they will have to expend (BTW: It's worth).

I usually play this good even when not remotely Prog compilation during summer, when driving to the beach with people who won't enjoy the music I normally play when alone without being insulted and saves me from listening the boring mainstream that my ex- girlfriends used to force me to play.

Three stars for a good and entertaining album with no pretensions and leaves the listener with a smile in the face after passing a nice moments with catchy and simple music.

For some time, during the late 80's and early 90's this compilation was the only way to get some Supertramp songs in the CD format at a reasonable price in Brazil. So it was quite popular, since Supertramp was big in my country. However, it does not contain any unreleased material, nor live tracks or anything interesting or unavailable on their original albums. They do contain their most well known songs and some (Rudy, Crime of The Century and Hide In Your Shell) that were not singles. At 67 minutes, it was a good buy at the time, I guess, but it did not make justice to this great band. Many key songs are missing, especially if yo want to get their most pregressive numbers (like Fool's Overture).

This a kind of hits only and even then some are not included (like Babaji, what a shame!). I can recommend this album to anyone but the casual listener who wants to get the radio hits and the occasional good CD track here and there. There are better, more complete Supertramp compilations nowadays, though.

A Supertramp album is always likely to be "non-essential" in a prog collection, and a supertramp compilation even less-so.

But there's nothing wrong with this. You wouldn't have found yourself saying "Oh god, not another Supertramp compilation" in 1987 because this was the first one. And I generally don't have any problems with compilations, regardless of how commercially-inclined they are; what bothers me is why distributors insist on having more than one for a band. Some record companies release another almost-identical compilation annually, just to pay the bills. But that's not an issue here.

Supertramp's output is consistently high-quality and they are very good single-generators. This makes a compilation such as 'The Autobiography...' very nice to listen to, especially when like myself, you are only a casual fan. Album greats are mixed with famous hits, and some lesser-known stuff. It's all very generic but inoffensive. I'm sure a lot of middle-aged couples have this disc wedged in a small CD pile in their car glove-boxes, coming out every so often for a friendly spin during a long drive. Maybe it's the soundtrack to their lives. Or maybe they have one song which "belongs to them". In any case, this mediocre compilation has served it's purpose.

Review Nº 522

"The Autobiography Of Supertramp" is the debut compilation of Supertramp and was released in 1987. It was the first greatest hits of the band and contains a compilation of some of the most popular songs of the band from their albums "Crime Of The Century", "Even In The Quietest Moments?", "Breakfast In America", "Famous Last Words" and "Brother Where You Bound". On the original edition of the compilation with only eleven tracks, no songs from "Crisis? What Crisis?" were chosen to be part of it. Still, the remastered edition of 2001 includes a song from that studio album.

The compilation was also released in the USA market, in 1987, as "Classics, Volume 9". It was part of the A&M's 25th Anniversary series. The compilation was re-released as "The Very Best Of Supertramp", in 1990 in the US, with digitally remastered sound and the bonus track "School". It also contains the original album's versions of the songs "Goodbye Stranger" and "Cannonball", instead of the original edited versions which were taken from the singles of those songs.

The cover art of "The Autobiography Of Supertramp" shows a suit-wearing, faceless man seated in a train carriage reading a book with his own face on the front cover of the book. The view from the train carriage window shows the wall of the platform with stylised versions of the front cover art taken from three of the Supertramp's studio albums.

"The Autobiography Of Supertramp" has fourteen tracks from the following albums: "Bloody Well Right", "Rudy", "Crime Of The Century", "Dreamer" and "Hide In Your Shell" are from "Crime Of The Century". "Ain't Nobody But Me" is from "Crisis? What Crisis?". "From Now On" and "Give A Little Bit" are from "Even In The Quietest Moments?". "Goodbye Stranger", "The Logical Song", "Breakfast In America" and "Take The Long Way Home" are from "Breakfast In America". "It's Raining Again" is from "Famous Last Words". "Cannonball" is from "Brother Where You Bound". "Goodbye Stranger" is a song with great melody and with a good rhythm section and where the interplay between Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson's vocals is really perfect. "The Logical Song" is a typical classic Supertramp's song with wonderful harmony, great vocals and good keyboards, and with a nice final touch of the saxophone of John Helliwell. "Bloody Well Right" is a good song that, for the type of music of Supertramp, we may say this track is almost a hard rock song with a little funky rhythm. "Breakfast In America" is a classic melodic short song and a big hit on the radio stations. Personally, I've no problems with it, really. I really like this song. "Rudy" is one of their best, most progressive, sophisticated and elaborated songs, with many rhythm changes and some instrumental breaks. I think it's one of the best songs made by Rick Davies. "Take The Long Way Home" was also a big hit, another top ten single. This is a great musical moment with the saxophone and the piano in evidence. "Crime Of The Century" is a magnum opus, a wonderful song with an orchestration completely divine. It has great lyrics, good lead guitars and a nice sax solo. This is a highlight and it's one of my favourite songs of them. "Dreamer" is an irresistible melodic song, a big hit, reaching the top of the charts. Its impact was so huge that we can say that "Dreamer" was one of the most popular singles made by any prog band. "Ain't Nobody But Me" is a very good composition combined with piano and vocals. It's a prog song with rock and jazz influences. "Hide In Your Shell" is a masterpiece of the melodic prog rock with a supreme melodic structure. It's one of the best prog melodic songs ever made. "From Now On" is a nice and mellow ballad with some complexity and it's full of great keyboard and saxophone works. This is a great Rick Davies' song. "Give A Little Bit" is a simple and catchy song. It's a song commanded by acoustic guitar with a good and impressive saxophone work by John Helliwell. "It's Raining Again" is a typical pop song made to be released as a single. It's a perfect example how to create a great pop commercial song with good quality. "Cannonball" is a nice and enjoyable song to hear. It's a kind of a jazz song with a disco-funk style. It has a nice atmospheric ambient but is a bit too lengthy and repetitive for my taste.

Conclusion: "The Autobiography Of Supertramp" is a good compilation of Supertramp that covers some of the best songs of the band. It covers some of their best songs released on their best six studio albums. About the selection of tracks, is lamentable and inexcusable that had been left out songs like "School" from "Crime Of The Century" and "Even In The Quietest Moment" and "Fool's Overture" from "Even In The Quietest Moments?", which are probably the three best and most progressive songs ever made by them. Once more, the usual commercial criteria prevailed over the quality, leaving out their lengthiest and less commercial songs. So, "The Autobiography Of Supertramp" is a good compilation with great songs, but it isn't very well representative of Supertramp's music. In addition to all I mentioned, "The Autobiography Of Supertramp" doesn't covers all the musical career of the group at the time. It doesn't cover their two first studio albums, the eponymous debut and the second studio albums "Supertramp" and "Indelibly Stamped", respectively. Despite they aren't great albums they have some good songs, especially "Try Again" from "Supertramp".

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)