Review Summary: Supertramp’s most successful record may appear in the form of Breakfast in America; instead, the band’s creative peak is evident in their breakthrough record, Crime of the Century. The commercial success of the record may have been awarded in terms of
At times, success arrives in the most sudden of ways. For some, it requires focused reinvention and reanimation to achieve such a goal. Following a complete remake of their recording group, Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson expected 1974 to be a year where their finances would take the biggest hit, thus spitting them out of the music industry entirely. Much to their astonishment, it was their most fruitful year, at the time, in their career. The revitalized Supertramp released Crime of the Century, the album that launched them into the UK and US markets. Due to such difficulty in coming to this spontaneous success, one may be inquisitive as to how.
History aside, what makes this album the defining moment in their early career is the band’s masterful fusion of Progressive Rock and Pop Rock. Perhaps the leading band in the dual genre, Supertramp’s main songwriters, Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson’s blend is best characterized in the US hit, “Bloody Well Right,” the UK hit, “Dreamer,” and other compositions like the remainder of Side B, “Rudy,” “If Everyone Was Listening,” and the title track. The success and overall praise of the album is definitely, or should be, rooted in the combination of the bandleaders’ personalities.
Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson share entirely different backgrounds and personal characters. Regardless of their contractual bind of the Davies/Hodgson songwriting credit, the two at times did not work together on material, but in doing so, fed from each other’s mutual influence. Davies’s contribution to Supertramp’s sound is his sophisticated Progressive Jazz style, his virtuosic piano performances, and his distinctively natural raspy baritone vocal style. When juxtaposed to his musical counterpart, Roger Hodgson, the differences are stark. Hodgson’s style is evident in his Pop inclinations, highly personal lyricism, and mainly his infantile tenor voice.
These personality differences lend the most influence to the songs on the record. For Davies’ work, “Rudy” arguably represents the band’s best Progressive Jazz effort as self-reflective lyrics lead the song to a climax where Davies and Hodgson’s voices engage in call and response driven by the dynamic rhythm section. The ensuing track, Hodgson’s theatrical “If Everyone Was Listening” denotes the band’s refined use of dynamics and showcases the ever-emotional voice of its writer. The title and closing track, Davies’ magnum opus perhaps, continues to prove his virtuosic piano abilities. The composition starts off on Earth and launches 1,000 feet in the sky when Davies utters his final words that get swept up by Hodgson’s David Gilmour-esque guitar interlude. Thus, the song’s three-minute outro and its nail-biting build up mirrors the style of the famed outro section, “Würm” from Yes’ “Starship Trooper.” As the final moments of “Crime of the Century” feature embellishment from John Helliwell’s saxophone outing and Davies’ harmonica, the album fades away into the rhythmic crackling of vinyl.
Supertramp then leaves you mouth agape in awe as the still-spinning record awaits you on the turntable.
