Customer Reviews

Crime Of The Century

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When English rockers Supertramp released their third album Crime of the Century in October of 1974, the band had been together for almost four years and went through hardships before recording this album. The only holdovers from the original Supertramp lineup in 1969 were the two main songwriters and vocalists, guitarist and occasional keyboardist Roger Hodgson and keyboardist Rick Davies. In late 1973, Hodgson and Davies reformed the group which featured fellow Englishman John Helliwell on saxophones, woodwinds and occasional keyboards (he would also bring along his excellent sense of humor to the band and like Hodgson and Davies was an Englishman), a Scotsman named Dougie Thomson on bass guitar and drummer Bob C. Benberg(Siebenberg), whom hailed from Southern California, USA. The new lineup of the band went into Ramport Studios(owned by The Who) with producer Ken Scott(whom worked with artists like David Bowie, Elton John and The Beatles) and created their first masterpiece. The album kicks off with Hodgson's School with a classic Hodgson guitar riff and the haunting harmonica by Davies and complete with school kids playing. Next is Davies' Bloody Well Right which has a memorable chorus and was Supertramp's first American Top 40 hit in early 1975. Hide in Your Shell is my fave Hodgson track on this album and has a synth effect played by a saw with a violin bow. The first half concludes with my favorite Davies track on Crime entitled Asylum, which is about the character of Rudy going insane and complete with cuckoo clocks at the end and Davies saying he's mad mad mad. Side two(the second half) kicks off with Dreamer, which was Supertramp's first UK Top 20 hit and a classic Hodgson track. Next, is the album's tour-de-force Rudy, which is a classic Rick Davies composition. If Anyone Was Listening is next and has a Beatles kind of vibe to it since Hodgson was a Beatles nut. The album concludes with the title track which had Davies' blues and jazz influences and the lyrics summed up the album in a nutshell. Crime was the beginning of the classic Supertramp era and was the first album to hit the US Top 40 and eventually went Gold(it would hit Gold after the success of Even in the Quietest Moments in 1977). Today, this album stills holds up 30 years after its release, especially with the remastering superbly done by Greg Calbi and Supertramp engineer Jay Messina, whom painstakingly remastered this album in 2002.

I am only 31 years old (only 2 when this album came out!!!) After hearing this album, I must say this is a masterpiece!!!! for 1974, WAY AHEAD OF ITS TIME!!! Beyond Words!!!!!! I am surprised this doesn't stand in the same ranks as Pink Floyd's "The Wall" or "Dark side of the Moon".....So incredible!!!!! Beautiful, emotional, transcendent!!!!! A SHEER MASTERPIECE!!!

I loved ALL the songs on this CD. I can't descripe each one but overall, they have done a fantastic job on this one! Van Horn.

Supertramp hit their stride with '74's "Crime of the Century", and understandably so; this album has some of the best music and lyrics I've ever heard. 'School' is a great opener; 'Bloody Well Right' is an odd, but good, song; 'Hide In Your Shell' is the best 'Tramp song to date (it's even got a saw in it, how could it not be good?); 'Asylum' is another great song, and worthy of following 'Hide In Your Shell'; 'Dreamer' is good, but a little too pop-sounding for for me; 'Rudy' is a wonderful epic, which sounds more like progessive-'Tramp; 'If Everyone Was Listening' is a good set-up for the final track, 'Crime Of The Century', which is a perfect ending to the first great 'Tramp album (they had two before this), and leaves you feeling full, musically. This album should not be missed out on, for it is one the top albums I've ever listened to.

Most Supertramp purists refuse to acknowledge that this is the first album of the lineup that the group would find their greatest success and be known for. The piano jam in "School" is not only ear candy, but recognized as a Rock and Roll classic instrumental break. Enjoy this album. Its' song subject may be somewhat depressing, but these instrumentalists draw the listener right in with their skill of knowing what it takes. Maybe not a classic album, but an album worth putting in a time capsule so future generations will know what good music was in the 1970's!

When English rockers Supertramp released their third album Crime of the Century in October of 1974, the band had been together for almost four years and went through hardships before recording this album. The only holdovers from the original Supertramp lineup in 1969 were the two main songwriters and vocalists, guitarist and occasional keyboardist Roger Hodgson and keyboardist Rick Davies. In late 1973, Hodgson and Davies reformed the group which featured fellow Englishman John Helliwell on saxophones, woodwinds and occasional keyboards (he would also bring along his excellent sense of humor to the band and like Hodgson and Davies was an Englishman), a Scotsman named Dougie Thomson on bass guitar and drummer Bob C. Benberg(Siebenberg), whom hailed from Southern California, USA. The new lineup of the band went into Ramport Studios(owned by The Who) with producer Ken Scott(whom worked with artists like David Bowie, Elton John and The Beatles) and created their first masterpiece. The album kicks off with Hodgson's School with a classic Hodgson guitar riff and the haunting harmonica by Davies and complete with school kids playing. Next is Davies' Bloody Well Right which has a memorable chorus and was Supertramp's first American Top 40 hit in early 1975. Hide in Your Shell is my fave Hodgson track on this album and has a synth effect played by a saw with a violin bow. The first half concludes with my favorite Davies track on Crime entitled Asylum, which is about the character of Rudy going insane and complete with cuckoo clocks at the end and Davies saying he's mad mad mad. Side two(the second half) kicks off with Dreamer, which was Supertramp's first UK Top 20 hit and a classic Hodgson track. Next, is the album's tour-de-force Rudy, which is a classic Rick Davies composition. If Anyone Was Listening is next and has a Beatles kind of vibe to it since Hodgson was a Beatles nut. The album concludes with the title track which had Davies' blues and jazz influences and the lyrics summed up the album in a nutshell. Crime was the beginning of the classic Supertramp era and was the first album to hit the US Top 40 and eventually went Gold(it would hit Gold after the success of Even in the Quietest Moments in 1977). Today, this album stills holds up 30 years after its release, especially with the remastering superbly done by Greg Calbi and Supertramp engineer Jay Messina, whom painstakingly remastered this album in 2002.

THIS ALBUM IS FANTASTIC. IT'S ACTUALLY THE 2ND SUPERTRAMP I PURCHASED BUT IT IS MY FAVORITE(I ACTUALLY HAVE EVERY STUDIO RELEASED ALBUM OF SUPERTRAMP). I REALLY LOVE "HIDE IN YOUR SHELL"(MY FAVORITE SUPERTRAMP SONG). I'VE LISTENED TO THIS CLASSIC SONG 10 TIMES IN A ROW IN ONE SITTING. IT'S A SONG THAT YOU JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH. I ALSO REALLY LIKE SCHOOL, RUDY, DREAMER & ASYLUM. THEY TEND TO BRING OUT YOUR EMOTIONS.

RICK DAVIES & RODGER HODGSON WERE QUITE A DUO. PLEASE DO YOUR FANS A FAVOR & TOUR AGAIN. DO ME A FAVOR & STOP IN KC.

THANKS VERY MUCH!

TOM B

i've listen this album for thousndas twices and always i like it.
'school' and 'crime of the century' are insuperables.

a little too cerebral for someone new to Supertramp like myself

A variant of progressive rock that some have called sophisto-rock, Supertramp never really broke any new ground - beginning with Century, they just produced a consummate trio of albums confirming that meaningful music doesn't have to be obscure and that listen-ability is preferable to the pursuit of originality for the mere sake of originality.

Century wasn't their first album. I still have the vinyl versions of their eponymous debut and their follow-up "Indelibly Stamped". However, Century was the first album to bridge prog for the masses, mixing the layered instrumental harmonics of the prog genre with the hooks and melodies of mainstream rock. The result is an album that progerati will often denigrate as a "sellout", "prog lite" or "dumbed down". Ignore such arrogant snobbery. Century is an inspired album with some truly captivating songs. It starts with one of the most sublime of album intros: "School" is not only a brooding musical statement with a memorable instrumental midsection, but provides an intelligent counterpoint to that other prog anthem, Floyd's "The Wall", making a more thoughtful protest than the trite, "...We don't need no education". Throughout their careers, Supertramp railed against the creativity-stifling straightjacket of rote schooling, but there is a stark clarity and clean simplicity to "School" that sets it above their later efforts in tracks like the "Logical Song".

The remaining songs are just as well crafted. Hide In Your Shell, Dreamer and Rudy decry the isolation that pervades modern culture. Bloody Well Right attacks bloody mindedness. Crime of the Century, the titled album track, rounds things off with a biting indictment: "Who are these men of lust, greed and glory?/Rip off the masks and let's see./But that's not right - oh no, what's the story?/There's you and there's me/That can't be right..."

Want to make the world a better place? Start with the face you see in the mirror.

Any band willing to confront hypocrisy this frankly is worth listening to. And when the message is combined with such fine musicianship, the result is an album of major stature.

A final note on the quality of the recording: make sure you purchase this digitally remastered version. I own both the older A&M disk and the newer one and the difference is like night and day. The murky sludgy sound of the prior effort was a terrible insult to the vinyl original, but this new one sounds, if anything, better than its progenitor.