The Supertramp split

The single edit of "Cannonball" is on the Classics Volume 9 CD that A&M put out that contains all of their single edits.

 

This thread gets extra points for somebody using the word, pedantic, in a post.

 

Thanks for that information! I own a bunch of those "Classics" CD's from that series, but I never got the one for Supertramp, probably because I already owned all of the full albums on CD.

 

I can understand both guys position. When Rick was continuing to lead Supertramp, he's going to play the hits. As I mentioned, most audience members don't care if Rick or Roger wrote the songs they enjoy. They just want to hear them. If I had been Rick at the very least, I would have introduced the song as being written by Roger and asked for his permission to play the two or three that they do live. For "Breakfast" and "Long Way" which Rick jad nothing to do with, he could have easily just stating it was a tribute to his departed partner whereas in the case of "The Logical Song", Rick did contribute the counter melody which is contributing to the song and arrangement so that's a little more difficult to call it only Roger's song as those two pieces improved the songs.

According to Doug Thompson, "Nobody except Rick and Roger were privy to that conversation. Rick and Roger had several dialogues that no one else was privy to. Again, that's hearsay." Given that Rick has never discussed this, we don't have the full story.

As I said, when and if we ever hear the whole story from Rick, we will have a better sense of what they discussed, the context and final agreement. In the mean time, Rick doesn't need permission to play the songs anymore than anyone else does. The main point beyond the agreement that bugs Roger I think is the fact that having Supertramp play the song implies that Rick had a hand in writing them. Hardcore fans though know who wrote them, sang them and appreciates Roger's position a bit more.

As far as Roger being mad that Rick didn't want to include "Brother" on their last album, it really wouldn't have fit style wise because most o the marerial that Roger brought was more pop orientated and "Brother" has a jazzy, prog element to it (they could, however, have done it much like they did with "Child of a Vision" on "Breakfast").

I think that you could thematically tied Roger's "In the Eye of the Storm" and "Brother Where you Bound" to create a great two disc finale to the band's career.

I think "Hooked on a Problem" could have been dropped but the rest of "Storm" would have worked well with the theme of "Brother". "Storm" also suffered from not having a full band on it and the members of a Supertramp would have pulled it altogether.

 

RH's "Open The Door"album is as good as any by Supetramp. Trust me.

 

It's as close "sounding" to an old Supertramp album that we will ever get! I doubt that Rick ever makes another album again, but who knows and after the effort that Roger put into making "Open The Door" so good and then, have it basically be forgotten, that must have been a huge disappointment to him?

 

I would agree.

I also feel that way about "Slow Motion" although it is very much. Ore in a jazzy-prog direction. "Somethings Never Change" hinted that the band would have reclaimed their classic sound as Roger and Rick worked at recording "You Win I Lose" along with "And The Light" we're both starting points when a Roger agreed to work with Rick again. Unfortunately, that went off the rails. "change" is a good album and suffers from too much material--it could have easily been pruned back by three or four tracks and bee a much better album as a result.

I disagree that it is as close as we are ever goi g to get. The best material on "Change" uses the classic Supertramp sound on the best tracks and is only hampered by the lack of Roger and too much material.

I doubt we will see another album from Roger or Ric, but I,would like to be surprised.

 

I agree that Rick came the closest to a true classic Supertramp "sound", on the "Change" album and I totally agree that album hugely misses Roger and that it has too many songs for it's own good.

 

At the top of the following link, is a photo of the band with David Gilmour, while they were recording "Brother Where You Bound". David looks less than amused to be there ...

Breakfast In Spain - Roger Hodgson and Supertramp website - SUPERTRAMP: Did you know ? - ¿ Sabías qué ? »

 

Look at all of that gear. *drool*

 

Could be any of parts of lots of reasons:

Maybe he never liked the way they interpreted his songs? Maybe he didn't like them personally? Maybe it was band politics i.e. if they were part of the "Rick camp" and he felt out-numbered.

Band relationships can be quite complex

 

That's your reward for starting a thread about a group who used to refer to their style as "sophisto-rock."

 

LOL. I will go one better than pedantic. As Roger and Rick musically moved further apart the band's music and their personal views as well each regarded the other's beliefs as schizotypal and it was reflected in their music about each other and the world at large.

There. It's been elevated into academic range.

 

I'm sure David is thinking..."hey I can do this with Pink Floyd--replace Roger with a great session player and keep the music coming!"

 

Cool that John Helliwell played sax on A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Never knew that.

 

I was a late bloomer to Supertramp- the Breakfast in America album. Played that one consistently in 79. I brought Brother Where You Bound when it came out, and I would say that it and Tears For Fears' Songs from the Big Chair, where my two favorite albums from 1985. A year later (in '86) I picked up Famous Last Words and and Roger's Eye of the Storm. I didn't care much for either of them. So still craving for Supertramp, I picked up Crime of the Century, Crisis What Crisis, Paris Live and Even in the Quietest Moments.

Out of them all EITQM is my favorite followed by BIA. I brought Supertramp's follow-up to BWYB. I didn't like it much and I haven't listen to it since probably the early 90's. Have you ever noticed that Roger's In the "Had a Dream" sounds a lot like the bridge in ABBA's record "SOS"?

 

I'd say so!

 

Glad you enjoyed Quietest Moments. It is also my favorite, which considering how amazing Crime and Breakfast are, that is quite a compliment. My first thought when reading your comments was how lucky you were to get all those awesome albums all at one time while the rest of us had to wait while they trickled them out every two years! Isn't it amazing they went from Quietest Moments to Breakfast in one album? Hardly sounds like the same band. It's really a shame they broke up. I agree with your comments with their material after the breakup. I recently found a copy of their follow up to Brother, on vinyl, but I still couldn't get into it. They just weren't the same as soloists, and most good bands aren't.

 

As look back to the 70's I realized I had a strong affinity for, hard to categorize bands, with excellent musicianship. Earth, Wind & Fire, Steely Dan, and after watching the live in Paris '79 video, I can certainly add Supertramp. There's just something about the visceral experience of seeing them perform live (often changing instruments on the dime) that makes me finally realize just how multi-talented the band was. That and maybe because the sound quality far exceeds the cds and cassette version of the Paris shows.

All these years I swore that it was Rick's voice introducing the songs on the Paris LP. I don't why I made that assumption since (even now), I don't think I've ever heard him speak. But it was actually John A. Helliwell. Rick (just like Rodger) simply wanted o stay out of the spotlight and focus on the music. It's amazing to see how much the two, and bassist Dougie Thompson are seen locked into the zone- eyes shut and feeling it! There's rarely a glimpse of Bob Siebenberg, but I can clearly hear how tight he's driving the groove.

My favorite moment from that video? Man, that's a tough choice. But I thought that Rodger pretty much owned the show. That is, up until Rick's solo on "Child Of Vision". That pretty much helps to even it up.

 

Did you know that Roger had a band in 1970, that had a one-off single release, which featured Elton John, Nigel O. and Caleb Q?

Thanks again for this info! I found a used copy locally for a whopping $3 bucks yesterday and now I'm enjoying the radio edited versions of "Cannonball", "Goodbye Stranger" and "Take The Long Way Home". Honestly, I never cared for the radio edit of "Take The Long Way Home", as it cuts the opening and completely omits the great LP long "longggg wayyyy hommmme" ending!

 

I think it's an enjoyable record. I popped it in the car CD player the other day after having not played it in a long time and gave it a couple of spins. Some of the lyrics aren't great but I don't mind. I can imagine Rick directing some of these lines at Roger, but by 1987 he probably wasn't. Then again, I'm not caught up on whatever might have been going on between them at that time.

 

Funny...I did the same thing recently. I found a rare vinyl version and I keep putting it on every now and then trying to "make" myself get into it. I really like a couple songs, but overall I just can't get into it. But I have always preferred Roger's stuff so maybe I'm just too biased. I think they both put out debut strong albums but the wheels came off after each did their second on their own, though Roger has had some pretty okay stuff here and there the last 10 years. Rick doesn't seem to be recording so I guess we'll never know if anything is left in him. But that's okay...they gave us some really great music while they were together.

 

I read an interview with Nigel where he said he was approached to join Supertramp and spend a year rehearsing with the millionaire paying them, but he wanted to be playing live instead of rehearsing for that amount of time.

 

One can only imagine what Nigel would've brought to Supertramp, not that I have any issues with Bob.

 

I'd say it worked out well for both parties. I wasn't aware of Argosy - can't find them on youtube with a quick search.