It's not quite 6am and already I feel I'm part of a Supertramp back catalogue ..
"It was an early morning yesterday, I was up before the dawn". Hurricane Henri is beating against the windows so "It's raining again" and I'm about to have my "Breakfast in America".
Two things about this post. Firstly, it's because of another reader request, this time from a fellow Yorkshireman. Secondly, this is a bait and switch.
Although the heading and photograph are for 'Indelibly Stamped' - because that is the only Supertramp vinyl album I have - the ramble is going to be more generically Supertramp. What I will say about 'Indelibly Stamped' is that the cover is VERY distinctive and the graphic on the inner sleeve was very nice. The photo of the heavily tattooed lady is believed to be Marion Hollier who had the inking done in the 60's. The music inside is unmistakably a newer version of Supertramp from their first album but with only one single release coming from the LP, 'Your Poppa Don't Mind' which didn't make the charts, it was a bit of a flop all around. It was only years later that it grew in acclaim.
Before Supertramp formed there was The Joint. They were a group backed by a Dutch millionaire, 'Sam' Miesegaes. He became disillusioned with them but thought the keyboard player, Rick Davies, had hidden talents. He switched his monetary backing to Rick on condition that Rick formed a group, so after advertising in the Melody Maker (the bible for musicians and fans alike) he gathered Roger Hodgson on bass, Keith Baker on percussion and Richard Palmer on guitars, with everyone having a go at vocals. Rick and Roger immediately fell into the role of songwriters and it stayed that way throughout. In 1970 they flew over to Munich to play a few concerts at the P.N. Club. At the time they were calling themselves 'Daddy' and as luck would have it, a filmmaker by the name of Haro Senft captured them doing a 10 minute version of Dylan's 'All Along the Watchtower' (I love it when I can sneak in a Dylan reference). Keith Baker left shortly afterwards and was replaced by Robert Millar and around the same time they dropped the name 'Daddy' (there was a band called Daddy Longlegs) and adopted a new name, Supertramp.
That was the line-up they used for their 1970 debut eponymous album. By 71's 'Indelibly Stamped' Davies and Hodgson were the only 2 originals with 3 new members. In 1974 for 'Crime of the Century' the line-up had changed again with Davies and Hodgson joined by a different 3 extras, John Helliwell, Bob Siebenberg (a.k.a. Bob C. Benberg) and Dougie Thompson. That formation remained intact for quite a few years and albums, including my favourite 'Breakfast in America'.
If you thought the cover of 'Indelibly ..' was striking, check out the cover of 'Breakfast ..'. It's amazing. So amazing in fact that it won the 1980 Grammy for Best Recording Package. Lower Manhattan as a selection of plates, salt and pepper pots, cereal boxes and so much more. Then add Kate Murtagh doing an impression of the Statue of Liberty while dressed as a waitress holding a glass of orange juice and a menu all seen through an airplane window.
Apart from the aesthetic, the album also produced no less than four charting singles - 'The Logical Song', 'Goodbye Stranger', 'Take the Long Way Home' and the title track 'Breakfast in America'. That title track, and in fact the album title itself could have been totally different. Roger Hodgson wrote the song and Rick Davies didn't like the opening line "Take a look at my girlfriend, she's the only one I got." He also didn't want the album named after the song. Looks like he lost on both counts !
It's often thought that 'Goodbye Stranger' has references to giving up pot. "Goodbye Mary, goodbye Jane" .. Mary Jane, slang for whacky baccy .. ??
'The Logical Song' apart from being deep and meaningful (IMHO) also has a subtle sound effect that easily gets missed. Just after the line "d-d-digital" near the end of the track there's a sound byte from a Mattel handheld football game. It's a layered bleep. It very nicely fits in with the mindset of the singer, in the game it indicates that the player has lost control of the football.
Although 'Breakfast ..' may be my pick of the albums I think 'From Now On' from 'Even In the Quietest Moments' is probably my pick of the singles. Musically it has depth, stylistically it has variety and for a song that last more than 6 minutes it has enough to hold my interest until the end. John Helliwell's saxophone is magical, up there with Raphael Ravenscroft on 'Baker Street' and Clarence Clemons on anything by Springsteen.
Supertramp is one of those groups who peppered their albums with commercial singles and so unless you are a devotee and want to collect everything, some form of compilation is needed. To stay with vinyl there was the 1986 release 'The Autobiography of Supertramp' or you could jump ship and go to the dark side with a CD, in which case the 1989 'Very Best of ..' is a good deal.
Everybody knows one or many Supertramp songs and just as there's a rousing chorus of "Five gold rings" when singing Christmas tunes, so it is that the whole room yells out ..
"Right (right), you're bloody well right, You got a bloody right to say" when Supertramp let loose.
No comments:
Post a Comment