BROTHER WHERE YOU BOUND

After their excellent "Famous Last Words" album, Supertramp lost a major part of their voice with the departure of Roger Hodgson, who sang many of the band's biggest hits ("Give A Little Bit," "The Logical Song," "Take The Long Way Home," "It's Raining Again," etc.). This departure was a trauma from which the band has yet to recover. Most post-Hodgson albums do not measure up to the output of the classic 'Tramp lineup.

The sole exception is "Brother Where You Bound," the first post-Hodgson outing. Without the balance of Hodgson's stylistic leanings, the album had a new sound, based more around the blues tendencies of newly-sole mainman Rick Davies in a base of polished art-pop. Unlike the insipid fluff that would follow this album, however, such as the largely uninspired "Free As A Bird" record, "Brother Where You Bound" has a crisp, propulsive energy and deep emotional content, making it a riveting listen. Its dark themes are most evident on the absolutely killer 17-minute title track --which also features guitarists Scott Gorham (Thin Lizzy) and David Gilmour (Pink Floyd)-- but secondary tracks like the foreboding "Better Days" and the starkly effective "No Inbetween" are also outstanding, artful pop-rockers.

Don't be too misled by the synth-washed, darkly bouncy hit single "Cannonball"; as good a song as it is, it is *the single*, and it doesn't really reflect the profound visceral impact of the album as a whole. Overall, "Brother Where You Bound" is a superb, provocative, and engrossingly ominous album for serious fans of keyboard-centered classic rock and art-pop. It works on every level: it is catchy, yet deep; it is instantly engaging, yet its power requires repeat exposure to be fully appreciated. And it definitely commands such repeated listens. It may not quite be at the level of Supertramp's very best work, which is arguably among the very best classic art-rock ever crafted, but it's damn close. Overlook it at your own risk.

The fine remastering on this new "Brother" reissue makes it an even more high-impact experience; there are several nuances to the album which are more clearly heard this time around. It is not at all clear, however, that these differences merit upgrading one's original CD to this new version. There are no bonus tracks on this reissue.