BROTHER WHERE YOU BOUND

The departure of Roger Hodgson from Supertramp was a crippling blow to the band, whether they admit it or not. While he was there, Rick Davies jazz influence and gutsy blues voice were kept in check by Roger's pop and rock sensibilities. With the shackles off, the days of melodic singles such as "Dreamer" and "The logical song", along with more progressive songs like "Hide in your shell" and "A soapbox opera" were gone. In their place came a pronounced move into the heavily jazz influenced preferences of Davies. Many fans therefore lost interest with the departure of Hodgson, the band failing to replace such followers with new ones in sufficient numbers to prolong their early success.

All the songs on this album are written by Davies alone. The line up, which is now reduced to a quartet, does not include a permanent guitarist or second vocalist, Marty Walsh being brought in to provide guitar parts as required. The music here is not bad, but the concentration on one style of music throughout is at odds with the band's previous output. It is surprising (to me at least) how tedious Davies work can become when it is not interspersed with the more melodic rock offerings of Hodgson.

With just six tracks, including a 16+ minute epic, this is arguably Supertramp's most progressive release in their entire catalogue. Add to that the presence of David Gilmour on that 16 minute track, and you would expect prog fans to be falling over themselves to get hold of the album. The reality is though that the album bears comparison to Dire Straits "Love over gold", with most of the prog being confined to that one track.

The Dire Straits comparison is actually appropriate for the opening "Cannonball", an up tempo DS type song. The track, which was released as a single in edited form, features a variety of lead instruments on the solos, the overall feel being rather funky. It is that generally funky direction which is the main reason I tend to have an aversion to this album. "Still in love" is slower, but continues in a very similar fashion, the jazzy sax leaving me quite cold.

"No in-between" is lyrically a sort of "Comfortably Numb" telling the tale of a rock star (Hendrix maybe?) who is struggling to keep things going. The song changes the mood of the album completely, being much darker with a sparse arrangement. "Better days" seems to be inspired by the unfulfilled promises of our politicians. Scott Page adds some nice flute to this mid-paced, once again quite funky, song. The call and response between the vocals and the keyboards emphasises again the funky feel of the song which also includes extracts of political speeches.

The title track dominates the second side of the album. There is not just one lead guitarist here, but three, Scott Gorham (Thin Lizzy) and Marty Walsh providing the rhythm while David Gilmour plays the solos. The song tells a disturbing story of the perceived threat from the communist east, with lyrics such as "I can feel them all around me, they could be here any day" and "they got a hatred deep down inside, Ain't gonna let them take me alive" displaying a morbid obsession. As with the aforementioned "Telegraph road" by Dire Straits, the vocal part of the song occupies the first part of the track. After this, the music breaks down completely into a phase of random piano and cymbals. As order is restored, a fine instrumental passage develops with Gilmour's guitar playing out the track. While you have to admire Rick Davies for putting together such a well constructed and arranged piece, I cannot in all honesty put it up there with the best Supertramp material.

The closing "Ever open door" sounds a little like a Billy Joel song. Davies gives his best vocal performance here, the song being a powerful ballad. The lyrics could be Rick reflecting on the break-up of his professional partnership with Roger, and the challenges he faces running the band on his own, while putting a positive spin on the situation. "I'm gonna take all my chances, gonna make my advances, gonna see what my life has in store."

In all, while I can find a lot to admire in the spirit and composition of this album, I have difficulty in recommending it. For me, the direction Rick Davies takes the band in is not entirely to my taste, leaving me frustrated by an album with a lot of unfulfilled potential.

The sleeve design is rather disappointing and unimaginative, the band photo on the inner sleeve appearing to have inspired Genesis' "We can't dance".

Roger Hodgson now admits all too readily that he regrets giving up the band name so easily. At the time he did so, he was very much in the minority, the remaining four members being keen to carry on. When three further members later quit though, Davies was left in sole charge of the "Supertramp" name. I cannot help but feel that had Hodgson inherited the name, it would have gone on to find far greater commercial success than it has under Davies stewardship.

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