Slow Motion

by

Supertramp

Edit

I cannot understand some of the lousy reviews about this album! But I think it's typical for customer who espect Supertramp as it was in the seventies. For the last 20 years this band has changed its style. Nevertheless they do not lose the typical Supertramp-elements (wurlitzer; sax; distinctive voice). Sometimes I also miss the good old days of Supertramp but I accept that Rick Davies prefers R&B. Today the music of Supertramp therefore is R&B and jazzy. If you like this kind of music you will love this CD. If you don't like R&B/Jazz you will probably hate it. For me this album is simply perfect and one of the best Supertramp-albums at all. Favourite tracks are "Little By Little" (an earwig with a nice melody) and "Tenth Avenue Breakdown" (dramatic and varied). Try this CD and listen to it carefully at least three times. I predict you will love it the more you listen to it !

Let's stop comparing Supertramp Mark 2 to Mark 3. This edition of Supertramp has recorded a fine collection of music that has a bluesy edge that was only hinted at on previous recordings. The shift to a bluesier sound actually works. Sure, there's the trademark Supertramp sound but that's missing the point. Every Supertramp album sounded a little bit different from the one before. The template that Davies (and Roger Hodgson for that matter) always used for Supertramp was the Beatles. None of The Beatles albums sounded quite the same.

Is Slow Motion a success? Partially, yes particularly on the numbers that don't look to the past. The closing track Dead Man's Blues manages to recall the extended prog rock closers by the band in both its length and the solos. Beyond that, though, this track (which is stunning and the best piece on the album)along with most of the record really doesn't have much to do with the band that recorded Breakfast in America. Slow Motion is an elaboration on the style and sound of Crime of the Century.

I have to give Rick Davies and his band mates credit for trying something daring and new. Yes, there are times it does recall previous attempts to go down the same road (Some Things Never Change, Famous Last Words or parts of Free As A Bird), but Slow Motion is at its most successful when it abandons the very things that made Supertramp successful in the past.