Why am I just discovering this album now? I was put off by the overly pop ( though infectious) Breakfast In America that I never gave them serious consideration. This album is a masterpiece! Not one bad cut. I even enjoy the extended version of Dreamer. Does anyone feel they get short shifted when it comes to prog rock credibility?
It is SO much better than Breakfast in America. BiA is nice art-pop, but IMHO it's not that substantial. Crime of the Century is their masterpiece.
It is a great album, one of the great bands.. "Crisis? What Crisis?" is another with nothing but greatness. I also don't like songs like "Dreamer", "It's Raining Again", "Bloody Well Right", and its not an indicator of the band.
The great Ken Scott engineered on that album. Amazing sound, terrific band, great writing and performances. A desert island album for me.
I actually like Bloody Well Right, of course I guess I am not burned out on it like some others. School is probably my favorite cut as of now, but that could change to Everyone Was Listening or Hide in Your Shell tomorrow!
It's Supertramp's best album, and best sounding (in my opinion)...I own several different variations on cd and vinyl
I agree it's their best album, but we just recently had a thread on this (which seems to be closed) and a whole bunch of BIA fans almost tore the OP to pieces for daring to say he wasn't too impressed with the album. Crime of the Century is the proggiest album they did. BIA is an excellent collection of pop songs. Crisis What Crisis and Even In The Quietest Moments are in between these two. In the end of the day, all four albums are essential imo. Oh, and get Paris as well.
That's because Supertramp is not a prog band! Which is not a putdown at all because those four albums are great.
My favourite Supertramp album and the one I return most often to. Quite unique musical combination, though maybe more prog-poprock, than rock. Speakers Corner reissue sounds perfect to me.
I would say that Crime Of The Century is one of those rare albums where, by some curious combination of a spark of creativity, an in tune collection of musicians, some skilled production and engineering, and a little bit of luck, you end up with a solid, cohesive, and flawless piece of work. I've never seen Supertramp as a "prog" band. I'd categorize them as an imaginative pop/rock band.
Great band. Never really cared to the "categorisation" purists always end up giving to their music though. And I couldn't care less either if my favourite tunes were massively played on FM radios or MTV or whatever... their so-called "progish" or ''proggy" (always feverly disliked these adjectives) stuff never grabbed me as my favourite Supertramp songs (with the exception of ''School", which is the first of my very favorites ever.) BIA and CoTC are equally great in my book, and my favourite albums, hands down, a couple of favourites on each one: ''School'' and ''Dreamer" on the latter; "Take The Long Way Home'' and "The Logical Song" on the former. "Goodbye Stranger" runs close behind them though. So then, come to think of it, a slight edge to BIA
You may be right. To be honest, I listened to both only once or twice a looong time ago and remember I didn't like them. Perhaps I should revisit.
Not in my country (Netherlands). Every year, one of the main radio stations (mostly listened to by boomers, I must admit) compiles a list of the 2000 best songs of all time, based on lists sent in by listeners, and broadcasts the entire list non-stop during the last week of the year. In 2019, Supertramp was in the list with a whopping 11 songs. "School" is the highest in the list at #41, followed by "Fool's Overture" at 71, "The Logical Song" at 286 and "Dreamer" at 515. Not bad for an underrated band.
I've been to The Netherlands (as an American citizen) 6 times, and always found more Supertramp fans there than here. I wonder if it has anything to do with Sam Miesegaes financing the band.
Absolutely. Glad you discovered it, it's really great. Better late than never...and it would be boring if we had heard it all! The songwriting as well as the production are good. Great sounding album. Actually, an edited version of "Rudy" was the b-side to "Take the Long Way Home".
