307. Crime of the Century - Supertramp

I wasn’t surprised to see a Supertramp album in the 1001, but I was surprised that the one we selected was not Breakfast in America (though that is on the list too). As a result, and having drawn a blank on the tracklisting, my expectations were middling to low.

Whilst certainly a quirky band, I was surprised to see them labelled as prog. However, in true prog fashion, the band was a variation on their initial line-up by this, their third album. It kicks off with School, which is a superb intro, with a pretty upbeat guitar and piano line throughout the first half that descends into a riot of energy and noise. Bloody Well Right follows that up with a more standard structure, a singalong chorus, and a pounding guitar line.

The album is experimental with a small e, with more variations upon safe themes than outright bonkers numbers. Asylum is a good example of this, with a sprawling majesty that never threatens to go too far off the beaten track. Dreamer teases with some falsetto at the outset, but then settles into some more comfortable harmonies and some nice squelchy keyboard offsetting the cutting synth.

I enjoyed this album a lot more than I'd expected to. It's more sensible a piece of work than I'd expected, with a fair amount of kookiness thrown in too. It's not a classic album that makes you want to ignore any other music for a week, but it is a pleasant distraction and one I imagine I will return to on occasion. It certainly means that I can no longer consider Supertramp a one album wonder.

Chloe's album rating: 6
Chloe's favourite track: 4. Asylum
Olly's album rating: 7
Olly's favourite track: 1. School

Next week's album is 649. Nick of Time by Bonnie Raitt.