The Very Best of Supertramp

by

Supertramp

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Supertramp was definitely an anomaly in the late 70's musical landscape. They were really too pop to be considered rock, too rock to be considered pure pop, too mainstream to be considered progressive, too quirky and avant garde to be considered mainstream, not quirky and avant garde enough to be considered new wave or punk. And like any great band with a signature sound, they experienced their peak popularity at a time when they were TOTALLY out of place with the predominant music of the time (disco). Now that over 20 years has passed since "Breakfast In America", we can conveniently classify them as "classic rock", but they definitely defied categorization in their heyday. Listening to the tracks from "Crime of the Century", you can definitely sense a jazz and R&B influence woven into their take on progressive rock that made them stand out from the more arty and guitar rock trappings of bands like Genesis, Yes, and King Crimson. Their style evolved over the course of several albums to become something purely their own, a sound which thankfully was never ripped off by a slew of wannabes. One reviewer of BIA classified their sound as almost "carnival-like", which makes sense even though it's not a conventional description. But then few things about Supertramp were convenitional. From the vocals of Roger Hodgson (the nasal-y voiced one) to the viscous sax of John Halliwel, to the jazzy-staccato electric piano work of Rick Davies (also their other lead vocalist - the deeper voiced one), this was a band that had several distinct trademarks.

This collection does indeed copy the running order of the previous best-of "Classics Vol. 9", but ups the ante three different ways:

(1) It adds the track "School"

(2) It digitally remasters all the songs ("Take The Long Way Home" in particular sounds absolutely pristine)

(3) it includes the full-length versions of all songs.

The anemic "Classics Vol 9" included shamelessly edited versions of "Take The Long Way Home" (the intro is what really made the tune cool) and "Goodbye Stranger", which upset me so much I immediately carted it off to the second-hand CD store. I bet on the fact that a better compilation would come along eventually, and my wish came true. There's hardly a hit missing here. If you're a fan of 70's rock, your collection is incomplete without "The Very Best of Supertramp"