The Crime of Supertramp

When I was in high school I used to take out records from the library I worked at all the time.  It was a great way to not only expand my musical palette, but to good way to hear something I liked and the go record shopping with my friends and pick something out to bring home.  The library had about 5000 records in it's collection and about 300 in the children's department.  Overtime, I would explore everything in the Rock collection and then go back and listen to the ones I like.  Between what I heard on the radio, what was in the library collection, and me purchasing I had a lot to listen to.  Over time I would branch to different genres or styles of music but I stuck to the Rock area for quite a while.

One day working in children library I decided to to clean up their collection of records.  They had spoken word section where these records were basically the story of a book but put to record.  This included the likes of Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss.  Those were in one section.  Another section was a section of children's songs and such.  That was a big section because the librarians would use these for story time with the youngest children that came in.  There was a holiday section and a section that for Disney and or Muppets or anything else that fit the pop culture kid category.  These were easy to fix up and get ready for a patron and a child to go find and bring home and play.  Then there was a section marked miscellaneous.  I never noticed it because there was ten records and they barely got checked out.

I decided to go over that miscellaneous section and see what was there.  A patron returned a few records and they needed to be reshelved.  Upon closer inspection these Rock albums that somehow got placed down here for checkout.  The albums included The Who The Kids Are Alright, Tom Petty Southern Accents and one album by Supertramp called Breakfast In America.  What I found odd was that same Supertramp album was in the adult section too.  Why two copies?  Did we get two by accident? Was it a very popular album?  I decided to take them over a friends house after work.  It was after work that my friend and I would go shopping for a few hours and my mom would make us dinner.  It was also there where we played what we bought and had our parents listen.  On this day it was my friends parents who invited me over for dinner.

When we got back, my friends father greeted us with a few albums.  He also had a smirk and a smile. He asked me about the Supertramp album.  I told him the library owned two copies and I wanted to hear it for myself.  He told me if your going to listen to that then you need to hear Crime Of The Century.  The album is five years younger then Breakfast In America, but their songwriting skills led them to one of their most popular albums.  That album is one that gets heavy airplay.  "Check it out and let me know what you think," he said.

At first listen Crime of Century was pretty cool. My friends father had a cassette copy for me to listen some more. My friend told me that he really liked Breakfast In America and that Crime Of The Century was the next step.  Songs like "Dreamer", "Bloody Well Right" and "Rudy" were pretty awesome.  I liked the electric piano parts it gave the impression and a good one that they had some Progressive Rock feel to them.  Allmusic said it is atmospheric like Dark Side Of The Moon and had a Beatles bent to it.  I can agree with that too. What also made it the album was the use of saxophone.  That was a big hit in our house because my dad was a player in his previous life.   Supertramp had their own identity and when Crime Of The Century came out it showed.  It was also their first year to tour the US. I can only imagine what it was like to go to a show that this band was unknown even though they had two albums behind them.

I can only imagine that people who know Supertramp only know Breakfast In America.  They are totally missing out on this album.  If you do know them then you you know this is the gem.  My only question why did the library have two copies of Breakfast In America?  No one knows the answers, but I'm happy i discovered them and was pointed in the right direction.  The music here is great and by far one of my favorite albums of the 1970's.  After a few listens you will see as well.  Enjoy!!