Supertramp - Crime of the Century

It was like the crime of the century how dirty this copy of Supertramp's Crime of the Century was. Still scratchy and in need of a deep clean, but it's at least listenable after a quick dawn bath. This is their third album after a lineup change and no longer being supported by a Dutch millionaire. They lived and made demos of 42 songs at a farmhouse in Dorset, and picked 8 for the album.

It's not a concept, it's named after the final track, but there is a definite theme of being alone in your own insecurities, afraid of the wider world and what everybody else is thinking. 

Their first two albums were panned for containing too much self indulgent instrumental music. That's nonsense in my book, but this is definitely a stellar album. I love Supertramp regardless, but there's an almost "psychological thriller" aura to the album. The band all felt like this was their creative peak, but they hadn't written Breakfast in America yet, so...

The clash between Richard and Roger was always the focus of the band. Rick was the working class blues and jazz kid who happened to have a financial backer, Roger was the prep-school pop insider. They eventually grew apart and found writing together difficult, and Roger didn't like Rick's wife's Sharon Osbourne impression (she was their manager), so he quit.

The thing about Supertramp i love is that what they're really saying is that life would be fantastic if we didn't have to go through all the competition and antagonism. What's wrong with being a dreamer? What's wrong with working hard to achieve those dreams? Why does everybody want to tear each other down? The answer is that we are our own villains.