Retrospectacle - The Supertramp Anthology

by Dave Thompson
Considering their career spanned close to 30 years, it's amazing how condensed most people's vision of Supertramp has become. Or maybe not. Few listeners, after all, would disagree that their prime period encompassed the mere six or so years that divided Crime of the Century (their third album) from Breakfast in America (their sixth), and that the pile of vinyl on either side of that is more or less padding. Certainly Retrospectacle has no problem with that scenario. A completist's eye for affairs does permit the first two albums to enjoy a quick look-in, with one song apiece; and similar treatment is meted out to the seven albums that took the band through the '80s and beyond. The meat of the moment, however, arrives with "Land Ho," the first vinyl manifestation of the so-called "classic" 'tramp lineup, and a lost 45 from early 1974. And, from thereon in, it's all plain sailing -- five songs from Crime of the Century, four apiece from Crisis? What Crisis and Even in the Quietest Moments. . ., and a whopping six from Breakfast in America, all selected to depict the band at the peak of its creative and musical powers -- the haunted harp that opens "School," the staccato percussion that powers "Lady," the lurid harmonies of "From Now On," and on to the sheer illogical madness of "The Logical Song" -- in fact, the only weakness here is the substitution of a live "You Started Laughing" for the vastly superior studio B-side. That aside, though, Retrospectacle tells its story with as much panache as the best of Supertramp could ever demand.

By WTDK "If at first the idea is not absurd, the...

Unlike the previous releases, "Retrospectacle" focuses on material from the band's entire career including their poor selling first two albums and the single they released prior to "Crime of the Century". The first disc takes 1 track each from the band's first two albums. We get a rare single the band released prior to "Crime of the Century". "Crime" deservedly gets five tracks while "Crisis? What Crisis?" has four from this fine album. "Even in the Quietest Moment" also features four strong tracks including the hit single "Give a Little Bit". For fans of the band the real highlight here is the release on CD of the band's virtually unheard single "Land Ho"/"Summer Romance". This was the first single recorded by the band's most successful line up and the same one that would record every album from "Crime of the Century" to "Famous Last Words". If you've leard Roger Hodgson's solo album "Hai Hai" you've heard "Land Ho" as Hodgson did a virtually identical remake of the original version but with different production touches. A note to fans who may have purchased the single--this is not the original 1973 mix of the song but, instead, a previously unreleased 1975 remix when the song was being considered for inclusion on "Crisis? What Crisis?". The flip side of the single features Rick Davies on lead vocals on the R&B inflected "Summer Romance".
The second disc opens with six tracks from "Breakfast in America" ("Another Nervous Wreck" should also have been included but that's just my personal opinion). We get "You Started Laughing" the only new song on "Paris" and then three tracks from the most popular line up's swan song "Famous Last Words". The second disc goes on to document the post-Hodgson line up including the marvelous "Cannonball", overlooked "Free as a Bird" (the best song on the weak "Free as a Bird" album even if it had too much of a techno element to it), "You Win, I Lose" (which was originally supposed to be a reunion album featuring Roger Hodgson. It didn't work out) from the band's first studio recording in a decade "Some Things Never Change" and the big bandish "Over You" from the last release by the current line up "Slow Motion". While "Over You" is a marvelous song I would have gone for the marvelous jazz inflected "Tenth Avenue Breakdown".
The booklet has comments from Davies as well as a discography for the band and which songs were culled from which albums. It's not a complete discography though as there's nothing mentioned about "Extremes" a soundtrack the band did in 1973 which I've never heard. A very nice job all around this is the anthology to get if you want all the hits and some additional pleasant stuff as well.
Davies and co-producer Bill Levenson (who has done some marvelous reissues by the way. My hat's off to Bill who has continued to be a guiding force behind a series of excellent remastered/reissued albums and new compilations/boxed sets) have picked the cream of the crop for the band's albums. Sure, you could argue about songs NOT being included but just about every song on this anthology DESERVES to be here.