Album #66 : Supertramp - Even In The Quietest Moments

Supertramp

Even In The Quietest Moments (1977)

Confession time, everyone.

Firstly, I quite like the music of Supertramp, especially everything from Crime of the Century through to the commercially successful Breakfast In America. 

Secondly, when I was younger I used to get quite confused by photos of the band. Where's the chick, I used to ask myself. There's clearly a chick singing on this album. Why are there five dudes?

Turns out singer/guitarist/keyboard player/co-songwriter Roger Hodgson is in fact not a chick, he is just a dude with a really high voice. So....there you go.

Even In The Quietest Moments was released in 1977, and showcases the band's not-quite-prog, not-quite-rock and not-quite-pop style. Despite never really receiving massive critical praise, it's been a guilty pleasure of mine for a long time. So, today, I felt I should explore it with a more critical eye and see what I think of it today.

The Album

The album opens with the fairly successful hit, Give A Little Bit. This delightful slice of tuneful acoustic guitar-driven pop is a pleasant way to start, even if it bears no resemblance to the rest of the album. It demonstrates Hodgson's pop crafting skills to perfection as he creates a hooky melody. After that, though, there's some remarkably different tunes. 

Lover Boy is intriguing from a structural standpoint. The quite poppy, upbeat piano and vocal verse sections are almost whimsical about the titular character, a man who has ordered a book that guarantees him luck with the ladies. It's the swirling, foreboding long middle section though, punctuated only by a whimsical verse and a pick-up in tempo, that are really appealing, giving the impression that the 'lover boy' is somewhat nefarious. There's also some decent guitar work here, which adds a nice touch to a fine tune. Even In The Quietest Moments is shiny and shimmering, if that makes sense; the guitar sound is bright and summery, even though the melody it plays isn't; Hodgson's vocal is at its finest as well. The only negative part is the slightly too long middle section, though the clarinet is nice and prevents the song from being boring. Downstream is a really classy song; it's just Rick Davies (also a piano/vocal/co-writer) on piano and vocals, and his deeper, bluesier voice is in fine fettle, delivering a passionate vocal about just getting away from it all.

Babaji is a pleasant enough song (fantastically sung by Hodgson too), but a bit like Even In The Quietest Moments, I find it just goes a touch too long. The opening is, however, very beautiful music. It could have been a tremendously gorgeous pop song with just a little bit of focus. Next is the great (but a touch too long....are you seeing a pattern here yet?) From Now On. A great piano riff/melody from Davies is matched by an equally gritty vocal; Davies was always at his best when singing about a man battling the odds. But although the band goes for the choral vocal at the end a la Hey Jude, and it sounds alright, by the time you get there you are just a touch sick of hearing Davies sing that 'that's the way it's got to be/from now on'.

Closing track Fool's Overture is pure progressive rock. The opening few minutes (bar the strange horns, bells and playing of a famous Winston Churchill speech) are played entirely on string synthesisers and the melody is strangely appealing. The piano/bass/drums section, when it kicks in, is supported by a wistful synth melody and equally wistful saxophone solo. The Hodgson solo piano/vocal sections are goosebump-providing; magnificent vocals and that part sorrowful, part foreboding piano section combine beautifully. 

Whether the song needed the long section with the wind and choir (and snippet from a previous Supertramp tune...) that gradually reintroduces that opening synth string riff is debatable; personally I think the song can live without it; but it is more proof of the purely progressive nature of the track. I really like the song from a personal opinion standpoint, but again, some of it is either ridiculously pretentious or, worse, completely pointless.

The Verdict

Yeah, you know what? I still like Even In The Quietest Moments. Some moments on the album are absolutely beautiful and show that Supertramp, for all their naffness, could produce wonderful pop/prog/rock music. Putting that critical hat on though shows that this album, like most of their releases, was inconsistently outstanding; generally very good but occasionally pointless.

This may explain why they were successful, but not massively so; the singles could be very, very good, but sometimes the album tracks were lacking a certain urgency.

Still, it's a decent album with a few rather good songs.

Most pleasingly, even at the age of 33, it still makes me feel like I did listening to it when I was 10.

My rating: ***

Standout Tracks

Give A Little Bit

Lover Boy

Downstream

Tomorrow, I welcome you to a place where we've got fun and games. I'm on the road tomorrow too, so my bulk reviews will be posted again on Monday...possibly with guest comments! See you soon!