EVEN IN THE QUIETEST MOMENTS ...

SUPERTRAMP are an interesting and occasionally brilliant blend of art-rock and pop-rock and, as they progressed through the 1970s, leaned more and more heavily on the latter. 'Give A Little Bit', this album's opener and their breakthrough single, is pure pop, which in my book is not automatically a bad thing. However, unlike 10CC, David Bowie and other prog-related purveyors of intellectual pop, this song has no redeeming features. Banal lyrics, a oh-so-repetitive hook and a structure that loses momentum halfway through the song suggest this is nothing more than a shallow number, and so it proved. 'Babaji' is a far more impressive single, though of course it did far less well as a consequence.

'Lover Boy' is equally as inconsequential as the song preceding it. The title track has more substance, and features a solid, though understated, build to a satisfying finish. 'Downstream' is filler, a piano ballad without dynamics. 'From Now On' is one of the album's better tracks, almost worthy of a place on an ELTON JOHN album (some will see this as damning by faint praise, but to my mind 70s JOHN is the standard to which piano-based art rock should be compared). All of which leaves 'Fool's Overture', a ten-minute epic - of sorts. Actually, it's far more a pastiche of material than a strong epic prog number: those looking for a standard prog epic will be disappointed by this. Yet it has charm and meaning on its own terms, as it sets out to encompass the follies and triumphs of WWII Britain. To my mind it doesn't quite work, failing to fill the canvas devoted to it by a band eager to achieve commercial success without shedding all their prog-loving supporters. Nevertheless, it's by far the best track on this album, and the sole reason to purchase a copy.

SUPERTRAMP made their fortune on the album after this one, and in my opinion the public were right on the mark. This falls between the proverbial two stools, the pop not strong enough, the art not clever enough. Well-performed as ever, but empty as a hollow drum. To my mind the nadir of 70s SUPERTRAMP.

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