Another crazy day with too much to
do and too little time. If you’re also
feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of life’s demands, here’s a review to let you
know that forty years ago people felt exactly the same way.
Disc 558 is…. Crime of the Century
Artist: Supertramp
Year of Release: 1974
What’s up with the Cover? What happens when you commit the crime of the
century? According to this cover you’re
not only put in jail, you’re put in an extradimensional prison located in the
depths of space! Who could be capable of
a crime so heinous that it would warrant such a punishment? Read the review and find out.
How I Came To Know It: I’ve known the hits off this record since I heard
them on AM radio as a child. In terms of
actually owning the album, I got this one from my friend Gord when he
liquidated his CD collection last year. Thanks,
Gord!
How It Stacks Up: We have three Supertramp albums. Of the three, I’d put “Crime of the Century” second,
just a step behind “Breakfast in America” but in front of "Even in the Quietest Moments."
Rating: 4 stars
Some albums are perfectly of their time, and “Crime
of the Century” is one of those records.
This album speaks strongly to 1974.
The decade of youthful disillusionment was settling in for a long stay,
as the optimism of the sixties faded away in the face of stagflation and lost
opportunity.
Into this gap stepped Supertramp with their third
studio album, putting a voice to a generation that was ready to embrace the
absurdity of modern life. The musical
style they chose for “Crime of the Century” was a sort of progressive pop,
mixing horns, guitar riffs and the tinkling of piano into a sound that was very
innovative for its time.
For the most part I admire the result, although some
of the longer songs drag in places, descending into piano solos that shift
about too aimlessly for my tastes. These
are still well crafted, even if they’re not entirely to my tastes. In many ways the band had me thinking of
Jethro Tull a few years earlier, except replacing the role of the flute with
piano.
It all comes together beautifully with “Bloody Well Right” which was seized on
as an anthem at the time and was an early memory for me. Even though I was very young and the delivery
system was AM radio, I can still remember hearing this song as the car drove by
the pulp mill that fueled the economy of my home town and knowing something
important was going on. Or maybe I just
liked the beat.
Either way, as an adult I recognize “Bloody Well Right” as one of rock’s
great songs of rebellion. Holding to the
spirit of 1974, it is an anthem that offers up some unpleasant observations –
“So you think your schooling’s
phoney
I guess it’s hard not to agree
You say it all depends on money
And who is in your family tree.”
- But doesn’t offer much in the way of solutions. Instead it just tells you you’re right to be
unhappy about the unfairness of it all, and that you have the right to say so,
but beyond that there isn’t much solace for the situation.
The song is thematically bookended by the album’s
other big hit, “Dreamer” which feels
like an indictment of the hippie generation and its notions of utopia and free
love. Instead we’re reminded that
dreamers can’t put their hands in their heads and shape their dreams into
reality (oh, no!). They’re stuck in the same world as the rest of us, making
do.
Later in the record “Asylum” plays with notions of sanity in the increasing moral
uncertainty of the age. The song has an
unhealthy mania to it, even as the singer pleads not to be sent to the asylum,
claiming:
“I’m just as sane as anyone.
It’s just a game I play for fun –
for fun.”
I love the rising, orchestral nature of this song,
as it slowly builds, only to fall back into a simple piano melody in the middle
that Elton John would be proud of.
I found some of the songs felt a bit too much like show
tunes. In particular, “Hide In Your Shell” which is overly
maudlin, and easy listening and “Rudy”
which is frantic and changes pace too often, even for progressive music.
The album’s final song is the title track, and ties
a nice little bow on the album with a few choice words, delivered with an
oppressive finality:
“Now they’re planning the crime
of the century
Well what will it be?
Read all about their schemes and
adventuring
It’s well worth the fee
So roll up and see
How they rape the universe
How they’ve gone from bad to
worse
Who are these men of lust, greed
and glory?
Rip off their masks and let’s see
But that’s not right – oh no,
what’s the story?
There’s you and there’s me
That can’t be right!”
Lyrically and musically, it feels like Pink Floyd’s “The
Wall” fifteen years early. Who committed
the crime of the century? We did of
course.
“Crime of the Century” is a deeply cynical album,
but it is what the age called for, and Supertramp delivered. When I began listening to it I was certain I’d
give it only three stars. Yet as I
finish this review I’m just about through my third listen, and its genius is
speaking to me more than its flaws, so I’m upgrading to four stars.
Best tracks: School,
Bloody Well Right, Asylum, Crime of the Century
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