IN THE EYE OF THE STORM

ROGER HODGSON left SUPERTRAMP to make this mildly Orwellian album, which sounds like his former band affected by PINK FLOYD's pessimism and paranoia. It's an ambitious record, HODGSON handling everything from writing and playing to production, but better to save your appetite for "Breakfast" than this bitter entry. Hopefully, you'll already own most of SUPERTRAMP's albums before venturing into these waters, and for those fans this may indeed be smooth sailing. Yet the opening moments, clearly inviting comparison to PINK FLOYD, set my expectations for a concept album that never arrived. "Had A Dream (Sleeping With The Enemy)" is a logical launching point for an anti-war album, but the remaining songs point to a more general malaise borne from modern life. "In Jeopardy" wonders "where is the golden age", while "Give Me Love, Give Me Life" looks for hope in a better tomorrow. The appeal of Supertramp, so it seemed to me, was their ability to match upbeat melodies with downbeat observations. That happens on "Hooked On A Problem" (which would have been my choice for the single), but otherwise In The Eye of the Storm takes itself seriously. That's not a bad thing in and of itself, leading to a nice ballad ("Lovers In The Wind") and an atmospheric closer "Only Because of You." But it could have been a better album if Hodgson had been able to step away from his creation and add the requisite dramatic touches: additional sound effects, better separation of the instruments in the mix, more instrumental passages.

Someone did a very good job of promotion at A&M, because this album (and the single "Had A Dream") managed to tap into SUPERTRAMP's US fan base despite the fact that HODGSON was hardly a household name. He leveraged the opportunity by producing an ambitious, impressive album that goes well beyond the scope of most DIY efforts. Ultimately, it's not a case of what HODGSON would do without SUPERTRAMP but what he could do without them.