Crime of the Century

Yes, cool! Will have to revisit sometime.

Too cheesy for my tastes. The sort of thing that gave prog-rock a bad name.

PROOOOOG

At times this record has been derided as lightweight Floyd, or in some other way derivative. I would only say, just listen to it.

A well-crafted and thoughtful album that blends art rock with pop sensibility, 𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺 showcases Supertramp’s knack for melody and studio precision. The production is spotless, the arrangements clever, and songs like 𝘚𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭, 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, and 𝘋𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘳 still stand out. Yet, despite its polish, the record sometimes feels emotionally distant and overly calculated. Technically impressive, but not always moving — a fine album, just not the masterpiece many claim it to be.

Syns første side av plata er knallsterkt. Åpningssporet er som en slags blanding av Eagles og Pink Floyd. «Bloody Well Right» må være den mest catchy proglåta? Andre halvdel blir litt boogie woogie med strykerpartier. Men fremdeles mange gode deler. Selv om jeg hele tiden får lyst til å hoppe tilbake til start eller høre på David Bowie, Beatles eller Queen.

So Supertramp are the absolute epitomy of uncool, right? Never listened to a Supertramp album in my life.
But I really like this.
I'm reading in other reviews that `Breakfast in America' is better. But seeing as I hate The Logical Song then I formally endose this being on the list and not that.

The first side of this album will always be a 5 for me. I don't even care about the other side. It is better than I remember, but I've been obsessed with the first side since I was in my teens. I think it was the album art that drew me in and the lyrics about existential dread is what keeps me going back.

I rather enjoyed this! :)

I'm not sure how an album could have so much going on and still be boring.

I did however like the sax bit at the very end

rock para papais que acham que gostam de rock progressivo!!

minha mãe gostava muito de supertramp por algum motivo. e até que me surpreendeu, achei que seria bem ruim, mas eh divertidim até.

very enjoyable pop music

Crime of the Century is more rough around the edges than Breakfast in America. It also doesn’t really have any standout hits or anything. But it was pleasant enough for one listen. I’ll probably forget it entirely in a week though

I'd never heard this whole thing, other than the singles. I was entertained all the way through. It couldn't be more 70s if it tried, but it is fun and creative throughout.

Better than coldplay

You know, I don't think I really like Supertramp. I mean it's kind of weird because I love prog, but Supertramp has never really been prog to me. I don't know. They're fine. But they're too, like, squeaky clean or something. I don't really know how to describe it. And I can't really point out what I don't like about it specifically. Maybe the keys/synths are too much for me. It sounds sort of plastic and artificial. I mean I like some songs here and there, Bloody Well Right from this record obviously. But this album came out the same year as the first Rush album and for this type of music there is a clear winner and it isn't Supertramp. 2.5/5

Catchy Floyd-lite.

Now i’m all for a bit of harmonica but the introduction to this album is taking it too far. Aside from from that the tune (eventually) is jolly enough but the singer’s vocal grate on me.

Bloody well right continues the pointless intro issue. Already being to get tedious. When the tune (again eventually) arrives i dont think there’s any doubt, if there ever was, what decade this album is from.

This is just slow boring drivel.

I feared the worst, given my track record with 70s prog rock (and prog rock adjacent stuff) has been patchy at best. But I was already really liking this at least partially due to it being pretty keyboard/piano heavy. Then Dreamer started.

I have rambled on a lot about my Dad during many of the 70s albums on this list, and this is another opportunity. He loved this song. The absolute wave of nostalgia hearing this for the first time in probably 25 years made me a bit misty-eyed on my walk to work. When I started this thing, I wasn't expecting to have days where the album just really, really made me miss my Dad. He would have enjoyed the idea of this project, because he genuinely loved music, though I'm sure would have despaired at some of my ratings (Pink Floyd always worth 5 stars to him).

It made me feel feelings (and listen to Breakfast In America later in the day).

4/5

Soft-core Prog-Rock, but like, not in a bad way? By today's standards, this is classic Yacht Rock(TM), for sure.
I know "Dreamer" was the single, but wikipedia claims that "School" and "Bloody Well Right" are the more enduring hits. It's hard to argue with that as I find Dreamer pretty cloying after about 30seconds. I can’t see School as a hit but as an album opener, you could do far worse. Portions of Bloody Well Right feel like they had direct influence on Pink Floyd's Animals (1977), which surprised me at first. I am much more familiar with the latter, so hearing similar sounds caught me off guard here.
At ~45min, this is a very manageable prog-rock album that never feels like it goes off on a big space voyage for too long despite the slightly ominous album cover or the threatening “will he take a sailboat ride?" in the chorus of “Asylum”. We get harmonicas, saxophones, talkbox guitars, Wurlitzers, all the things I wish we still heard more often. I don't know if I need to revisit this whole album, but I'll spend some more time with Supertramp.