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Crisis? If yes, then click on this link that will take you back to the main Supertramp page. YELLING PROBLEM? WHAT YELLING PROBLEM?
Overall Album Score: 7.7 out of 10 Dude!!!!!!! Why is it always like this with sequels? After seeing some wonderful things with Crime of the Century, Supertramp immediately follows up on that with Crisis? What Crisis?, and it's ... almost exactly the same thing (but with different songs, of course) and it's much paler! Oh well! I guess it was to be expected. Like Crime of the Century, this album sorta follows the same pattern. It has its entirely lovely and, every once in a while, there comes an almost stunningly gorgeous moment (mostly at the very beginning). At the end, it then sort of tapers off with a bunch of entirely insignificant but nice songs. And, really, this album is just unimpressive. Only if you really enjoyed Crime of the Century should you consider getting this album. It doesn't have an equivalent of "Hide in Your Shell" in it. ("Sister Moonshine" comes close, but it's just not as wonderful.) Nevertheless, isn't that a little bit too demanding ... wanting so badly another "Hide in Your Shell?" I suppose. But that doesn't mean I have to praise the ever-daylights out of Crisis? What Crisis? Overall Album Score: 7.7 out of 10 (Supertramp strikes again with their mild pleasantness! Unfortunately, this is more mild than usual.) Average Song Score: 8.0 (This is another mildly enjoyable Supertramp album ... but compared to their previous album, the richer parts are less rich, and the bleaker parts are more bleak.) Album Tilt: 7.5 (It's kind of boring, but it's far from being a big bomb.) Artist Rating: 7.5 (Sort of by definition, this is an artistic album. But it's hardly different from Crime of the Century, and it's a paler version at that.) Track Reviews Easy Does It 9/10 I like Supertramp. They might not be insanely talented or insanely brilliant. But they are intelligent. BOY are they intelligent! And they know precisely what it takes to make an interesting album full of enjoyable songs. This song starts out with sound effects of walking and listening. This part might have been rather boring, but it's pleasant. And, if Supertramp were slightly more brilliant, this might have actually become boring! BUT THEY'RE NOT GENIUSES! THEY ARE JUST REALLY SMART!!!! And this is a nice, light pleasant song with a nice catchy tune that you'll listen to quite pleasantly ... heck, it won't change your life, but why should it? I WISH ALL THESE STUPID ART ROCKERS WOULD QUIT TRYING TO CHANGE MY LIFE WITH THEIR STUPID PRETENTIOUS ART CRAP!!!!! And Supertramp steers clear away from this entirely as always! That is why I like Supertramp. They believe in music for music's sake, and not music for being-really-boring's sake. ... Sorry, this was probably a bad place for me to go off on that rant ... but ... eh! This is a nice, two-minute song, and I like it! Sister Moonshine 9.5/10 This one is breathtaking at times!!! ... Although, I won't give it quite the credit that I gave Supertramp for their masterpiece "Hide in Your Shell" from Crime of the Century. Yeah ... this one isn't quite as symphonic or moving ... but it's mildly breathtaking! And memorable! (That chorus, the thing that goes: "Heyyy Sister Moonshine" is really what's so splendid about this song.) The rest of the song is very fun, entertaining, and very well done! I can have little complaints about a song such as "Sister Moonshine." Ain't Nobody But Me 7.5/10 Unfortunately, the negative thing about being not brilliant is that when your songs don't 'got it,' they don't got it! Roger Hodgson can put a lot of feeling and emotion in his songs, but ... really ... if it's not something like "Sister Moonshine" or "Hide in Your Shell," it's just empty! Yes, "Ain't Nobody But Me" was well done and all that ... it's listenable and polished and ... all right. But, crap, I don't want to listen to something that's simply "all right!" I'm a demanding listener and I want more "Hide in Your *$*&ing Shell!!!!" A Soapbox Opera 9/10 The beginning of this is kinda surrealistic. (It has long drawn out synth-lines and some muffled voices.) This part is good because it's interesting and it doesn't overstay its welcome ... but it's not innovative at all. It doesn't take long for the actual tune to strike up. And it has a very well written melody! It has some very catchy lines, and this pretty good chord change and stuff. Yes, this is very enjoyable. It just evades my ever-pressing demand for Supertramp songs to be breathtaking ... but only barely. This one is perfectly enjoyable. It's even symphonic! And, I'm a true stickler for this type of music. (If you're not, then please just subtract a point from all track reviews from Supertramp's post-1971 albums.) It's really quite lovely. It's not really breathtaking or "special," but I like it quite a lot. Another Man's Woman 8/10 This one starts out like it might turn into another gorgeous stunner with that lovely piano sequence! This sequence pops up at various times during this 6-minute song (and that's easily the best part of the song). The rest of it is harder and more rockingful. Not that I don't like 'rockingful songs' it's just that this one is rather weak on the melody-front. Lady 7.5/10 Didn't Styx have a song called "Lady?" ... (Ah ... Styx ... I was a Styx fan for about four months, you know ...) Anyway, this has no relation to that Styx song. This has those pulsating keyboards like they had on "Hide in Your Shell" and the future Supertramp radio staple "The Logical Song." But just because it shares a quality of those other songs, doesn't mean that that it is as good. "Lady" does have some good qualities to it and a nicely written line of melody or two, but ... it's kinda blah. It's mildly enjoyable. Poor Boy 7/10 That saxophone thing (or whatever the heck that strange sounding instrument is) is the rather interesting bit amidst the more boring background stuff. Even as the song picks up speed, it's still boring. But what it is is pleasant. I suppose. Just a Normal Day 6/10 Dude!!!!! This song is just a big fat nothing! Umm... hmmm... This almost makes me appreciate "Poor Boy." The Meaning 7.5/10 Better! ... But this still isn't Supertramp Gold. At least it's a slightly entertaining addition to this album that has grown rather bleak lately. I mean ... it's still a little bit bleak, it's just not crap ... completely. Two of Us 8.5/10 This, at least, was a nice little ditty to close the album with! It's not really that significant of a song, but at least it has a nice melody and it's certainly thoughtful. The unexciting instrumentation is nice, quiet and pleasant (it basically just utilizes an acoustic guitar, an electric organ, an oboe or some weird instrument like that, the occasional drum, and ... that's really about it. So, yes. This is a good one! Comments? What comments? Oh! Those comments! Send them here, please! slb23@shaw.ca (Simon B.) received Sept. 6, 2004 This was one of the first records I bought with my own money
way back in 1995. I must say that it isn't the greatest Supertramp
album, but it certainly shines in a lot of places throughout. The one song
I *still* don't like is "The Meaning". But the rest of the songs are
pretty good. This is probably the 'forgotten' classic-era Supertramp
album.
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All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. He welcomes construction criticism.
