Retrospectacle - The Supertramp Anthology

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2009-01-10 rating:
Nice Retrospective Journey.
This 2 CD compilation of Supertramp has really been a pleasant surprise. I liked them quite a lot when "Crime of the Century" came out in 1974, and enjoyed their following 3 studio-albums too. With "Famous Last Words" from 1982, it seemed their glory days were over, and when Roger Hodgson left I lost interest in the band. br / br /The compilers of this fine collection have logically chosen to put their main focus on this period of the band's career and only the 5 albums released during 1974-82 are represented by more than one track. A scoop too, of course, to have the two non-album tracks "Land Ho" and "Summer Romance" originally released in 1974 and which feature their classic line-up. Both tracks are very good, and especially "Land Ho" is a catchy song in the same vein as "It's Raining Again". br / br /I had more or less expected that I would find their music somewhat dated, but this was not the case at all. The sound is perfect and clear (to my ears), and it's big pleasure to re-hear their great catchy songs like "Dreamer", "Sister Moonshine", "Give a Little Bit", The Logical Song" or "It's Raining Again". Also their more complex songs like "School", "Crime of the Century" and "Even in the Quietest Moment" still sound important and appealing. br / br /Of course there must be tracks from the other stages of their career on a retrospective collection like this, but only few songs outside the aforementioned period really have the same qualities. br / br /From their debut album the short "Surely" is a very nice song - and a good choice. From the post Hodgson era I also quite like "Over You". br / br /Great to relive the strong songwriting and playing of one of the best British bands of the 1970's.

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review by: fleet22 date: 2008-01-23 rating:
Wot - no Fool's Overture'
This is a pretty good overview of the work and career of Supertramp but who decided to leave out their masterpiece - 'Fool's Overture'. It's like a Zeppelin best of without 'Stairway to Heaven' or a Beatles Collection without 'A day in the life'. Also for newcomers to Supertramp it would be better to start off with the 'Crime of the century' or 'Breakfast in America' albums where the tracks are in a more natural order, the way the band meant it to be. For these reasons I can only give it three stars.

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review by: date: 2008-01-08 rating:
Some inspiring moments...
Supertramp were in some ways an enigma. Clearly capable of listenable pop songs, they also chose to deliver weighty and occasionally pompous tracks worthy of the prog rock era. br / br /More to the point, they were capable of catchy, exciting and memorable songs with an edge but chose on occasions to repeat lazy 50s pastiche ballads which certainly does appeal to the soft rock/MoR community, even if that was not their natural home. When inspired, as on the Crime of the Century and Breakfast in America albums, Supertramp were capable of producing an amazingly high and consistent standard of music. br / br /This collection provides examples of both, though it suffers slightly from the usual greatest hits syndrome, whereby tracks are selected because somebody deems them to be essential, not because they are the best (we might otherwise have had Hide in Your Shell and Asylum from CotC!) Make allowances for some so-so early work and the fact that the later material is lacking something after Roger Hodgson had gone solo (whatever became of his career?), and what is left? br / br /The downside is tuneful throwaway numbers like My Kind of Lady and It's Raining Again, not to mention some early material but look harder and you'll unearth some real gems. Crime of the Century is still the prophetic masterpiece it ever was (a green song years before the term was coined?), driven by a Rick Davies piano, soaring sax from Anthony Heliwell and billowing strings. Look also at some lesser-known works - the jazz-funk of Cannonball and a magnificent extended live version of Another Man's Woman, for example. Within this lavish 2 CD set is a first-rate single CD collection fighting to get out - and that would have been worth the full 5 stars!

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review by: Wormdazzler date: 2007-02-15 rating:
Five star content, but 3 star recording quality
Although this is undoubtedly an excellent compilation, just a word of warning for audiophiles - the quality of this CD (2) is not as good as as the originals and certainly not as good as the relatively recent "remastered" versions of the original albums. Buy it to play in the car, sure, but not on a really good hi-fi system. br / br /It's worth noting that there is some uncertainty over whether or not this is a "remastered" CD at all. It certainly does not promote itself, or list itself as "remastered" but in the very small print in the CD notes it says mastered in 2005. Personally I wouldn't want to claim this was a remastered disc!


review by: Ronald Ager date: 2006-06-27 rating:
Please don't call them soft-rock
It's just about impossible to find fault with this collection of Supertramp's best known tracks, either on a value or completeist basis, and it is certainly a better package than earlier attempts at a "Best of..." br / br /The label "soft-rock" has been slapped on them largely as a result of the tendancy of their later albums to be made up of three or four minute US radio-friendly pop/rock material. Fans of the band at their peak, creatively and melodically, will say that the three albums "Crime of the Century / Crisis What Crisis / Even In The Quietest Moments", from which most of CD1 is made up, were definitely not soft rock (they will, in fact, probably argue that you should leave this release alone and buy the three individual CDs, and turn the volume up loud when you play them). br / br /Rick Davies supervised the compilation and all the tracks have been digitally remastered. Comparing them with the vinyl originals does reveal a slight loss of edge and clarity but most people won't notice. Overall it's an excellent review of one of Britain's (yes, they were British) best rock bands of the late 1970s.

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