This is the sixth studio album by British band, Supertramp. They started out in 1970 as a full on Prog rock band. It wasn’t until they released their third album, Crime of The Century, and especially the single Dreamer, that they moved into a more commercial direction. Breakfast in America was probably the pinnacle of their careers as it spawned four Top 40 singles in America alone – where they toured endlessly. They first came onto my radar while at school with Dreamer. Even though this is not my favourite album by them, there is not a bad song on here.
Starting things off with Gone Hollywood, this sees them at their best with a trademark huge song that takes the listener everywhere across their musical spectrum – complete with a groovy breakdown. Next up is The Logical Song, which was a huge hit everywhere. It is followed by Goodbye Stranger – another typical song, and then into another huge hit with the title track, Breakfast in America. Last track on Side 1, Oh Darling, is probably the weakest on the album but still a good tune.
Side 2 kicks off with yet another classic Tramp tune, Take The Long Way Home. The two main protagonists Rodger Hodgson and Rick Davies vocally, although very different, compliment each other perfectly. Both of them are the main song writers, they sing their own songs, and they seem to have very different outlooks on life judging by the lyrical content of the songs. This would prove to be the down fall of the band at a later point. Last song of the album, Child Of Vision, starts off with that Wurlitzer organ sound first heard on Dreamer, that feels like an old friend, and builds into this huge closing piece with an almost jazz like piano section with a cool groove.
There is no other band like Supertramp. Nobody writes the way they do, and no matter what song is played, you instantly know who it is. It’s really hard to pin them down when someone asks you “what style of music do they play?”. My reply is “well, it’s Supertramp!”. Obviously this album sold squillions, and was 300 times platinum or something like that…so I guess somebody likes it.
8.5/10 from The Grooveman.
