Free as a Bird on Credit
Overall Album Score: 6.7 out of 10 This world is full of communists. The reason why I know this is because this is the same world where Supertramp albums such as Famous Last Words... and Brother Where You Bound BOTH make the Top 10 in the charts (when both of those albums were clearly crapola) and then Supertramp comes up with an album like Free as a Bird, which is comparatively much better, and it fails to even penetrate the Top 100. Even the general critical response to this album is misleading. The All-Music Guide awarded this album a mere one-and-a-half stars! (Brother got two stars and Famous Last Words received three.) And, I'm like: are you kidding???? Of course, I'm not advocating that every non-Communist person in the Internet should rush over to Amazon.com and immediately place an order for Free as a Bird. It's not really an essential album at all. However, if you're in the business of listening to Supertramp albums, I think you'll note that this one rocks an entire mountain range over Brother Where You Crapped. And this was done without hide nor hair of that Roger Hodgson guy! He was still off in solo-artist land (...and ... crap! That foo didn't do very many of those, did he!) Rick, who was solely responsible for that HUGE BOMB previous Supertramp album proves with Free as a Bird that at least he isn't a total schmuck. (Well ... he's still a schmuck, but he's not a *total* schmuck.) Oh! And I should mention that this is the final Supertramp album ... until 1997. And really nobody cared about Supertramp in 1997!!!! Overall Album Score: 6.7 out of 10 (This isn't a very good album, but compared to Brother Where You Bound, this is Abbey Road.) Average Song Score: 7.1 (This isn't Beethoven's 5th Symphony, but this isn't Kiss's Unmasked, either.) Album Tilt: 6.5 (Surprisingly not that unbearable to sit through. It's not a very good album, but I have a hard time reason this is so ill regarded.) Artist Rating: 6.5 (I'm not sure if Disco cleverly disguised as 80s pop really counts here!) Track Reviews It's Alright 9.5/10 Verrrrrrry slick and verrrrrry cool 80s pop music! The melody is super-catchy, and the production is so awesome that I cannot contain myself! Did that Rick Davies do a complete 180 on us or WHAT? ... Unless I'm totally hallucinating this or something, this is a remarkably energetic and completely entertaining pop song! ... An unexpected delight of a song! ......... What wonderment of wonderment did Rick do that he suddenly figured out how to be awesome???? No, really. I want to know. If you're reading this, Rick, please e-mail me and tell me, because I'm extremely curious. Not the Moment 8/10 It's not quite as awesome as "It's Alright," but heck, man! This mid-tempoed 80s pop song is scores better than most everything from that last album, which I'm just going to forget that I ever listened to. The melody isn't great, but it's bad, either. The production, while poppy, succeeds totally in making it sound cool'n'slick. It's no "amazing classic," but it's sure passable fare. It Doesn't Matter 8/10 Again, this song isn't great at all, but it *passes* alright. The melody doesn't have any significant hooks in it (but it has some nice moments), and the production and the arrangements with this one in particular is what makes it so bloody awesome. I don't want you to think that this is a "GREAT" song ... but it's certainly a good song. Where I Stand 6/10 Well, this is a bland 80s synth-pop song. Even though the album is underrated quite a bit, it still has its pretty bland pop songs on it. I think the groove is pretty nice on this one, but it's not put to very good use. Needs a better melody! Free As a Bird 7/10 This is a decent adult contemporary song. But still! This is adult contemporary ................................................... I think you know what I mean. At least it's not as crappy as the hair-disaster area spaz Michael Bolton. I've got to be grateful for that at least. This is a bit too overblown, actually, and not enjoyable enough. I'm Begging You 7.5/10 Yes, this is a *little* bit bland ... but it's sure slick, smooth, and super 80s cool! No matter what, you've always got to appreciate a song that's slick, smooth, and super 80s cool. There's no way around that. (...That chorus sounds an awful lot like disco, though ... me scared of disco.) Never Can Tell With Friends 5/10 In every 80s Supertramp album, every Rick must take a crap. That said ... that light pianoey keyboard was a pretty neat idea, even though it never bloomed into much of anything. Overall, this song is a complete mess!!! Thing For You 6/10 Okay, Rick. I've been nice to you in this review. The least you could do is make another awesome song. You are a real untrustworthy son of a @#$*#($ sodding @(@#$(% in a white wine sauce and a stupid #($**%($##$ goat @(@(#)$*%*$!!!!!!!!! This song is booooooooring! It's not as ploppy-crap as "Never Can Crap With Friends Because They Won't Want to Be Your Friends Anymore," but still. This is still pretty smelly. An Awful Thing to Waste 7/10 This song starts off as blaah and overblown as the previous two tracks ... but if you give it time to build up, it turns into this most-bizarre DISCO song. (And I really meant Disco ... this is Disco disguised as 80s music.) Its running length at nearly eight minutes is a bit of a hard pill to swallow ... but the thing is kind of fun to listen to. (Oddly enough, the sections in this song that I identify the closest as being related to disco are the song's greatest moments.) Honestly, this song isn't very good, but it's kind of enjoyable. The Bird (who just got free) kindly requests that you send your thoughts about this album here! |
All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. He's free as a turd.
