Search - Supertramp :: Crime of the Century

Great album but the sonics could have been better

associate | Mid Atlantic USA | 07/25/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The album is great & I try to play it from beginning to end, as it seems to flow from one tune to the next. There's some of what goes on in every day living in the words and what I find especially apropos in the summer of 2009 (in the USA) is the title song.



I bought this specifically to critique against my MFSL copy and what I hear is a boost in the mid & upper mid frequencies that make vocals and the higher piano notes a bit harsh. What this leads to is listener fatigue & you either find something else to play or turn off the stereo. Unfortunately, that is enough for me to not want to play this particular CD.





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Essential 70's rock.

Joseph M. Perorazio | Columbus, OH USA | 11/10/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This ranks alongside Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" in terms of engineering success and recorded sound quality. Even after 25 years, this LP still sounds better than many recordings made today. Supertramp's 8-song suite was never equalled, not even by themselves on their subsequent recorded output. One of the few rock-era bands to rely on keyboards for their rhythmic center, Supertramp only ever sounded like Supertramp; never dated, never derivative of any other band. "Crime of the Century", although not their biggest seller, retains the honor of being their best album, and one of the essential LP's of the decade."

'it seems a time of sadness is a time to understand'

Deven Gadula | san francisco, ca, united states | 12/05/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Listening to many songs by Supertramp was like looking in the mirror at ourselves and our world and seeing the aspects either hidden from view or not considered before. Musically Supertramp was able to deliver these melodic beauty moments which flow straight into our hearts and souls. Their lyrics suited their powerful music perfectly and played a major role in the development of many personalities of us growing up in the 1970s. The thoughts of especially Roger Hodgson but Richard Davies as well are some of the most inspiring to me personally. When I got my first audio editing and disc burning software back in 1996 the first thing I did was compiling the songs of Supertramp I loved.



Although my favorite two songs by Supertramp might be located on their 1977 Even In The Quietest Moments and another one on 1975 Crises? What Crisis? I consider this album from 1974, Crime Of The Century as their most even album overall. This was as close to a progressive rock concept album as Supertramp was ever going to get. The action of this play might appear to be insanity. However, beneath the surface the real concept was to lead the listeners into believing the above and to open their eyes within the last songs to the fact that most of us are the actors, our world is the stage and the lack of love is the reason (for this show).



My favorite songs of this album are: Crime Of The Century, If Everyone Was Listening, Hide In Your Shell and School. If Everyone Was Listening is starting to explain the concept of this album to us. I find this song musically powerful in the typical Supertramp way, with plenty of quiet and loud parts intermixed. Lyrically it tells us that perhaps being proper citizens does not make us human beings in its full meaning. Crime Of The Century is excellent musically, with a middle instrumental symphonic section on par with the one we can find in Fool's Overture or A Soapbox Opera. This is my favorite song of this album and its words (especially by now in 2009) sound to me like a prophecy so clear to see. We do have ourselves to blame for the direction our world has taken. We are running to get there faster and faster but we are loosing clear vision of where we are heading, more and more. We have become perfect consumers of gadgets and reality shows, to the point where we - the ones in the driver seat of this global tour bus... on a national level (and hello England) have paid with our freedom for what we think we need. We are maxed out on our credit cards, are mortgages are under water and...what have we got to show for it? What tremendous experiences have we gone through in the last decades that make that debt worthwhile? Are our children smarter and happier that they were 25 years ago? Have we invested the money into their future? Greed (hello New York and London) and stupidity (hello Hollywood) has taken us for a ride on a global and personal level. The lyrics of Hide In Your Shell are spectacular. On the surface this song might appear to be addressing some poor thing we feel sorry for, but let's get a bit deeper into it and all of a sudden Hide In Your Shell could be addressed to all of us walking across these fields of life with our guard on, expecting the worst from the ones we pass by. Well, but that is what we are supposed to do, right? Local media is full of horror stories about psychopaths and perverts and criminals, and we do have the duty to protect ourselves and our loved ones, and teach our kids to stay away from harm. Well, yes...and no...because such attitude develops the space we are in. Perhaps focusing on cause more than effect could start changing the latter. Some of the simplest but strongest lessens in my life I have learned in my Sunday school when I was a little boy... You can't expect people to trust you if you don't trust them; open your heart to others and they may open theirs to you; give someone something for nothing if you can, so perhaps they will do the same and we can start improving our status quo. Looking at this song from such prospective all of a sudden is so much more meaningful. School starts this album and I have always loved the music of this song and find it very powerful. This song is addressed straight to the young, and rightfully so. They are our only chance...we are way to far gone and our credibility is gone. As I said, back in 1996 I put my favorite songs by Supertramp and used their words to name it:

`It Seems A Time Of Sadness Is A Time To Understand':



1. Edit

2. Babaji

3. Lord Is It Mine

4. Fool's Overture

5. The Meaning

6. If Everyone Was Listening

7. A Soapbox Opera

8. Even In The Quietest Moments

9. Breakfast In America

10. School

11. Give A Little Bit

12. Child Of Vision

13. Hide In Your Shell

14. Two Of Us

15. Gone Hollywood (3:44)

16. Crime Of The Century

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