ROGER HODGSON

Review Nº 813

"Take The Long Way Home - Live In Montreal" is the debut DVD of Roger Hodgson, the only so far as I can remember, and that was released in 2006. It was recorded in Canada on 28 August 2006 and it was a big success, which went to platinum in only seven weeks. The DVD reached hit # 1 in Quebec and reached the double platinum status too.

"Take The Long Way Home - Live In Montreal" includes a seventy-five minutes solo concert filmed live at the Place des Arts in Montreal, Quebec on 6 June 2006. It contains mainly the live versions of Supertramp's songs written by Roger Hodgson plus few Roger Hodgson's solo songs. In addition, it contains over ninety minutes of bonus, features with previously unreleased solo and orchestra performance footage, exclusive interviews with Roger Hodgson behind the scenes footage, a film from sound check, fan interviews, photo gallery and various song clips from Roger Hodgson's. There was a new DVD release in September 2007 by Eagle Vision with a new cover and some new additional material.

The line up on the DVD is only formed by two artists, Roger Hodgson (lead vocals, piano, keyboards and acoustic guitar) and Aaron MacDonald (backing vocals, saxophone, keyboards and harmonica).

"Take The Long Way Home - Live In Montreal" has sixteen tracks. As I said, the set list includes many classic Supertramp's songs, as well as a couple of songs taken from Roger Hodgson's solo career. The original Supertramp's songs performed live are: "Hide In Your Shell", "Dreamer" and "School" from "Crime Of The Century". "Easy Does It", "Sister Moonshine" and "Two Of Us" of "Crisis? What Crisis?". "Give A Little Bit" of "Even In The Quietest Moments...". "Take The Long Way Home", "The Logical Song" and "Breakfast In America" of "Breakfast In America". "Don't Leave Me Now" and "It's Raining Again" of "Famous Last Words". From Roger Hodgson's solo albums, we have: "Lovers In The Wind" of "In The Eye Of The Storm". "Love Is A Thousand Times" of "Open The Door". "Oh Brother", which was a new Roger Hodgson's song that was never released on any solo studio album of him. There was also another song performed live, "Sister Moonshine" from "Crisis? What Crisis?". However, it seems it faded out, but I don't know why.

Roger Hodgson was, until 1983, the compositional half of Supertramp, which refined some of their most famous hits with his characteristically bright vocals. On the stage, we have his white electric piano in the spotlight, next to it a glass of water, behind it a big black grand piano and an acoustic guitar. Headlights dip the stage in red and blue light. Every now and then, the picture turns black and white. In the semicircle, you can see the shadows of palm trees and other plants in large flower pots. Now and then, Aaron MacDonald appears to complement the solo performance of Roger Hodgson. In this live show one could of course ruffle where the extravagances remain the orchestra, the fast paced image editing, the fire eater, the elephant pyramid, etc. Could you, but you would actually be not advised to do that. Because the strength of this concert recording lies precisely in the economy of the means and the intensity achieved with it. There's just this man on his electric piano, his grand piano and his guitar that sings his repertoire of well known Supertramp's repertoire, plus some few solo compositions. An occasional glimpse into the audience shows, they were also sung by the assembled audience. This is just this great musician who exudes so much joy and serenity and love, as you can imagine. And it's that simplicity that delights and that makes you just not miss any extravagances on it.

The bonus material has "Even In the Quietest Moments", "Dreamer" and excerpts from "The Logical Song" and "Fool's Overture", a conversation, a Montreal interview and Hodgson's repertoire. When I see a DVD, what matters to me is the concert. But, I like to hear a few words from the artist in the interview, a bit of backstage shots, a little something from the rehearsal and possibly some second concert bonus material. There are also statements from fans and management.

Conclusion: "Take The Long Way Home - Live In Montreal" is an excellent DVD that became, for me, as in one of the best and most complete DVD's I've ever seen. On it we can hear the purity and the simplicity of the music of the original songs, which sounds probably fresher and more contemporary than the original versions, without losing their original strong feeling. When I saw for the first time this DVD, I was completely amazed with it. How is it possible that only a musician with so few musical instruments and with only some help of another musician can perform live so perfectly without the presence of a band? With this DVD, Roger Hodgson proves how good he is, as a musician, and why he is considered the heart and the soul of Supertramp. So, for all what I said before, I can't give to this DVD less than 4 stars.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Roger HODSON for his 1st personal album, the one that will put the prog sympho into perf, the one that will force the other members of SUPERTRAMP to release the fabulous 'Brother' a year later, with a certain Gilmour on a solo; in short this day we attack, we revise with the album:

1. 'Had a Dream ("Sleeping with the Enemy")' for the intro you say to yourself, we are not far from a Supertramp, yes I had to do it; the piano carries well, Roger with his voice shows that the group is well finished; I often think of this album as FISH's, better than the original; lively western piano break; by the way, I no longer remembered that he had given himself so much (watch the wild man clip!); in any case it's simple but it passes quickly 2. 'In Jeopardy' for the synth typed at the start, a title whose musical imprint you will keep; the voice with belched choirs, the rising organ and the bewitching air, echoing; very good recording which marked me almost 40 years ago, yes it hurts, I have the impression that it was before yesterday; a fagot of solo synths and a long finale that rocks you 3. 'Lovers in the Wind' for the ballad with these notes where the shadow of SUPERTRAMP still bathes, yes it seems... or... in short, a melancholy melodic title of great beauty or how 4 minutes flow like a note piano 4. 'Hooked on a Problem' good the surprise effect of the 1st title passed, we are of course Sup... on HODGSON here; how I'm doing, the voice, the intonation of the keyboard, yours while typing on my computer I have the impression that it was me who composed this title... a mixture of before and now ( if I had written in 84!); Scott's sax gives a layer of it; it explodes like on 'Breakfast in America', but the fact of knowing that even a split SUPERTRAMP imprint continued was enough to make me happy; over time it becomes a bit repetitive and redundant, at the time it was 'open bar' the party since the prog or what was left of it exploded everywhere, merged for a time elsewhere before going boom again 5. 'Give Me Love, Give Me Life' piano, languorous keyboard, Roger behind his vocal cords, a touching ballad nursery rhyme and you can feel it going up, on the second title in fact; it rises, rests, rises again; you have to wait for the 'live' mini break to tell yourself that you're in prog and that's when the rise comes to light, making you sweat in front of this cascade of notes, a little YES, in short always pleasantly surprised. 6. 'I'm Not Afraid' yes a bit of Phil COLLINS you thought about it too, like what! shouted voice, harmonica, gripping riff, a progressive title in the oddly constructed length; the final drift can surprise since we were programmed to hear a repetitive title, that nay here a synth and choirs in wave are enough to transcend the piece until the final ecstasy until the second chained centerpiece that is 7.' Only Because of You' where you'll sit and watch the clip, just for beauty, yes the one with the symphony orchestra; just to realize this progressive monument, like the ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA had done in their time, like the BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST; a rise as we dare not imagine, Claire assures the voice, we melt; good the sound of the 'Fool's Overture' is also there for something not to forget; good the solo which arrives, hard, is in itself worth the trip it combines magnificently with the whispered voice; here are some memories to better enjoy today's prog sound!

The OMNI album to have, to possess for the emotions it always provides despite the passage of time; the album which made it possible to buffer between the end of the dinos of the 70s, including them, and the neo revival.

While I'm at it, I want to stay a little longer re-listening -- after decades -- to the songs of Hodgson's solo debut In the Eye of the Storm that I used to have as a teenager. 'In Jeopardy' was the second single, and it's less rocking than 'Had a Dream' and more in the style of the uptempo Hodgson songs on the classic SUPERTRAMP albums. The sharp-toned keyboards are in the leading role in the arrangement, everything played sovereignly by Hodgson except for the drums played by Michael Shrieve of Santana fame. Ken Allardyce adds some Rick Davies-reminding additional vocals, thus increasing the Supertramp feel. The song is not on the same level with the best of what Hodgson had done in the band context but it comes pretty near, and sonically it would be easy to imagine on the first -- and by far the best -- Hodgson-less Supertramp album Brother Where You Bound (1985), if the paths had not separated.

The B side song 'I'm Not Afraid' was also taken from the album In the Eye of the Storm. This song is more aggressive especially for the vocals and it's quite bluesy in music, featuring a harmonica solo from Ken Allardyce. Funnily this all makes it more reminiscent of Rick Davies's style than Hodgson's own! Maybe he deliberately attempted to make a Davies-like song.

As a single with no tracks outside the album this one is as non-essential as 'Had a Dream' which in my opinion has a boring A side rocker and an excellent ballad on the B side. 'In Jeopardy' is notably better hit and it peaked at number 30 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart but failed to crack the Billboard Hot 100.

SUPERTRAMP was among my favourite bands in my late teens, and it was definitely Roger Hodgson's part of the creative partnership that I preferred over Rick Davies's. Hodgson (b. 1950) decided to leave the band while they were on tour for Famous Last Words (1982), mainly because he felt increasingly constrained in the group context, but also the geographical distance affected to the diminishing group harmony, as he had moved from Los Angeles to Northern California. I bought his solo debut In the Eye of the Storm (1984) probably around 1989 very cheaply from a supermarket but didn't keep it to myself very long. I remember partly enjoying it but as a whole I felt disappointed at it. It's worth mentioning that Hodgson plays most of the instruments himself.

On the album the opening song 'Had a Dream (Sleeping With the Enemy)' starts promisingly in the similar ambitious and dramatic approach, loaded with sound effects, as for example 'Fool's Overture' in the Supetramp output, but despite the near 9-minute length it turns out to be rather an uninspiring straight-forward rock song extended in a pretentious way; I never felt it carries its length very succesfully. The single version is much shorter (4:24) as both the intro and the soloing at the end have been edited. That makes the song tighter and more radio-friendly for sure, and it did peak at 48 on the billboard Hot 100, but the editing doesn't make the essence of the composition any better. Nope, this song is nowhere near Hodgson's best achievements as a songwriter.

The album's highlight is the equally long closing piece 'Only Because of You'. It's beautifully melancholic and feels also symphonic the same way as Hodgson's most impressive and most emotional Supertramp songs, in particular 'Don't Leave Me Now' on Famous Last Words, with which it also shares the use of additional wordless vocals of Claire Diament. Sadly I didn't find the Special Version (4:40) featured as the B side of this single, but I presume it works just fine, although the full version is undoubtedly more rewarding especially for a prog oriented listener. Anyway, I was now gladly impressed listening to this song for the first time in probably two decades. Had this song been the main dish of the single, I might even consider giving a better rating.

1987 was a bad year for the left over remnants of Supertramp as Rick Davies released the awful "Free as a Bird" (under the Supertramp moniker that he continued to keep alive) and Roger Hodgson released the uninspired pop of "Hai Hai". The previous albums both artists released close to the same time ("Brother Where You Bound" and "In the Eye of the Storm") were pretty decent and would have made quite an amazing album if the two previously co-leaders of Supertramp had stayed together, and it seemed as if the two artist might be able to be respectable on their own. But, 1987 proved that this was a false hope as this time, both albums would be releases that should be forgotten.

"Hai Hai" follows Hodgson's previous album by continuing on the pop path, but leaving out any indication that much of his previous music at least followed some progressive practices. This album was a half-hearted attempt to go completely commercial. This time there were no long tracks and any of them were playable on the radio, for the most part. Hodgson could have at least tried to make a decent pop album by giving it some heart, but instead, he leaves it out. Sure, the album starts out with some nice bright pop with the first three songs; "Right Place", "My Magazine", and the reggae- influenced "London" tries to find a foot hold in the synth-laden pop of the 80's, and just about gets there, but, all hope is lost when you reach the completely washed-out, assembly-line pop sound of "You Make Me Love You". It seems that Hodgson can't redeem the album after this point, and the rest of the songs just don't seem to create any excitement becoming quite pointless and uninteresting. Not even "Land Ho", a leftover song from the Supertramp days, written by both Hodgson and Davies, can't save this.

Since I had been a long-time Supertramp fan, I was very disappointed after hearing this album the first time. Even after hearing it several times, it fails to make any impression on me, even in a pop-music sense. Hodgson just didn't seem to be sold on these tracks much either. There was no tour for this album either, as Hodgson was involved in an accident a week after it was released, that left him unable to use his hands for quite some time. After this point, I lost all interest in his solo career and didn't take any time to hear any of his following albums for quite some time. I did keep some interest in Rick Davies' Supertramp, but not a lot of hope. However, at least they were able to release one decent album many years later, however Hodgson has failed to impress on his own after this point, as much as I hate to say that. It has been a sad loss to what had been a respectable career previous to this album.

Most all of you already know the story, I suppose: Blockbuster album right in the middle of Synth-Pop golden age , namely "In The Eye Of The Storm", needed of promotion via singles, and all comprised itself by potencial (and actual) hits, leads to this release.

On the A side, we find the born-for-radio "Jeopardy", a perfect pop song where the polished sound of keyboards meets the not less polished vocals of Roger in a call for awareness to all citizens of this mad world.

On the flip, "I'm Not Afraid" brings out a slightly more rough side of our artist (or least polished, at least), with percussive piano and nice rythm on the electric guitar.

Review Nº 222

"In The Eye Of The Storm" is the debut studio album of the former Supertramp's member Roger Hodgson, as a solo artist. It was released after Roger Hodgson decided to leave Supertramp. That decision was taken by him during the live tour of Supertramp's seventh studio album "Famous Last Words". So, it became to be the last Supertramp's album with their classic line up. Somehow, "In The Eye Of The Storm" is seen as the Spertramp's lost album, by some of their fans.

Despite Roger Hodgson plays the vast majority of the musical instruments by himself along the all album, he also invited several musicians to collaborate with him on this album. So, the line up on the album is Roger Hodgson (lead and backing vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass guitar and drums), Claire Diament (vocals), Ken Allardyce (backing vocals and harmonica), Scott Page (saxophones), Jimmy Johnson (fretless bass) and Michael Shrieve (drums).

"In The Eye Of The Storm" has seven tracks. All songs were written and arranged by Roger Hodgson. The first track "Had A Dream (Sleeping With The Enemy)" is a long version of the minor hit "Had A Dream (Sleeping With The Enemy"), the album's first single with about four minutes long. This long version features an extended introduction full of great sound effects like a child birth, an emotional middle part and a longer musical section full of those so typical Hodgson vocal improvisations. This is a great beginning to the album, a song very powerful and where Roger plays some amazing piano and guitar. The second track "In Jeopardy" is a song with a bluesy feeling. This was the second single from this Roger's solo album, and in reality, it didn't too much at all. This is a track with a lower tempo and leaned strongly with the piano and keyboards. Musically, it consists of a repetitive hook with a very slight variation, each time. This is another song that keeps in a very high level the general quality of the album. The third track "Lovers In The Wind" is the first ballad on the album and represents, indeed, one of the highlights of the album. I first met this song trough his DVD "Take The Long Way Home ? Live In Montreal", and I must confess that I fell deeply amazed with that song. This is a very beautiful ballad with an almost classical piano play, a warm fretless bass combined with a soft percussion and nice vocal work, making of this song a magic and dreaming ballad that is very unusual to be heard. The fourth track "Hooked On A Problem" sees the return of the typical Roger Hodgson singing, along all the track, supported by a friendly catchy chorus coupled with Scott Page's saxophone playing. This is probably the weakest song on the album. It's nice and well delivered, but isn't as great as the others. However, it represents a happy and enjoyable way to close the first side of the album, if we have the vinyl version. The fifth track "Give Me Love, Give Me Life" is, in my humble opinion, one of the two epic tracks of the album and is probably one of Roger Hodgson's most amazing, complex and most progressive musical creations. The track can be divided into several musical segments. It starts with a hopeful sounding section with vocals and piano, which soon explodes in the most energetic and powerful song on the album. This is one of the three my favourite songs on the album. The sixth track "I'm Not Afraid", as happened with "In Jeopardy", has also a bluesy feeling. It features the repetitive musical sequence that Roger Hodgson so likes to use. It starts in a dark and bombastic mood and features some great harmonica work. Then, the mood switches to a more up tempo pace and the song gets more joyful for a while. Finally, the track ends with an atmospheric vocal play and a big bang. The seventh and last track "Only Because Of You" represents the emotional progressive ballad of the album. This is definitely the great highlight of the album and one of the most progressive tracks of it too. It's also, without any doubt, the best progressive ballad of Roger Hodgson, which unfortunately Supertramp never recorded. This is a song that reminds me very strongly "Don't Leave Me Now", the best song composed by Roger Hodgson to Supertramp's seventh studio album "Famous Last Words". This song represents simply a fantastic way to conclude this great album.

Conclusion: "In The Eye Of The Storm" is simply the best Supertramp's album released outside of the band's musical catalogue. We even can say that "In The Eye Of The Storm" is the Supertramp's lost album. It's, in my humble opinion, better than Supertramp's eighth studio album "Brother Where You Bound", released in 1985, a year after this album, and is definitely better than the rest of the studio albums released by the group after Roger Hodgson departure. "In The Eye Of The Storm" is, as far I'm concerned, Roger's best studio album, to date, and represents also one of my favourite Supertramp's albums. It's perfectly at the same level of the Supertramp's albums, "Crisis? What Crisis?", "Breakfast In America" and "Famous Last Words". Who read my review of "Famous Last Words" knows I love that album. Sincerely, I think "In The Eye Of The Storm" was only supplanted by "Crime Of The Century" and "Even In The Quietest Moments?". If it wasn't because of "Hooked On A Problem", I probably would have given to this album 5 stars too.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Having been such a huge Supertramp fan, I was really excited for this album when it came out, and I wasn't disappointed back then either, I thought the album was terrific. Now, many years later, I still enjoy it, but I don't love it as much as I did. It is a well crafted album, for sure, but it is an album that tends to lose it's draw after time, unlike the Supertramp album released around the same time under the direction of the other Supertramp leader, Rick Davies. That album has definitely withstood the test of time and has actually gotten better over the years. It's too bad that the two leads had to break up because they were perfect together, and they probably would have continued to produce top quality work. While Supertramp's "Brother Where You Bound" was top notch progressive rock, Roger's "In the Eye of the Storm" only retained progressiveness in the length of the songs on this album, but it is definitely a pop album, even though the music is of the best quality of pop.

If this album and "BWYB" had been release together as a double Supertramp album, we would have had a Supertramp album as good as any of their best. That would have been in a perfect world. Alas, the next albums that Roger and Supertramp put out were both mediocre attempts at trying out new sounds to fit with the 80s, and that was a sad thing.

This album, even if it does grow old after a while, is still a great album and shouldn't be totally ignored, especially by Supertramp fans. You will be satisfied with the piano led songs, that sound like they could have been written at the same time as Roger's "Breakfast in America" songs. They are still very listenable and catchy, sometimes very emotional and beautiful. Those of you that missed Roger's voice in the later years of Supertramp should try to find this album. Then do the same thing I did, make a mixtape of this and "BWYB" albums and alternate the tracks of the albums, and you will have a real Supertramp album. The opening track "Had a Dream" is some of the best Roger Hodgson music ever, and the song immediately draws you in with it's infectious rhythm and lyrics. "Give Me Love, Give Me Life", once the rhythm kicks in will also get you happy with it's bright beat and piano hooks. "Only Because of You" is also a beautiful ballad along the lines of Roger's previous lovely ballads "Lord Is it Mine" (from Breakfast in America) and "Fool's Overture" (from Even in the Quietest Moments). Unfortunately, the other tracks take on a lot of the same style and sound. The tracks "In Jeopardy" and "I'm Not Afraid" are just too repetitive, especially for the length of the songs. I think the main problem is we don't have Rick Davies to balance out the music creating more of a dynamic and variable album that was one of Supertramp's strengths.

Anyway, it's a great album, but I can't bring myself to consider it excellent or essential like I once did. It's not progressive music, it's just highly enjoyable, especially with the first several listens. For that reason, it is a worthy purchase. But, it doesn't hold up for me over the years like BWYB does. 3 stars.

Roger Hodgson's best work came with Supertramp. He seems to understand this. But while his voice was the most recognizable part of their music, he needed Rick Davies to elevate the music above stylized pop.

On this, Hodgson's third solo studio album, he makes a valiant attempt to create his own Supertramp album, but for the most part fall short.

On the up side, Along Came Mary has some of the choral features that make Jon Anderson's solo work distinctive and pleasant. Death And A Zoo has a very strong rhythmic base, and is very listenable, although the main drum lick is a bit too reminiscent of Phil Collins' work on In The Air Tonight. The best track is Open the Door, the only truly prog track, that actuall captures the essence of Supertramp with some orchestration that captures Davies' style.

The rest, well is sounds like a struggle to sound like Supertramp, with too many tracks sounding like weak imitations of classic tracks.

After taking some time off to recover from the misfire that was Hai Hai, Roger Hodgson returned to the familiar territory of art rock with Open The Door. This record is not the triumphant return to the Supertramp sound even though this seems to be the general consensus whenever the album is described. My reasoning is based on the fact that Open The Door lacks the grand sound of the band's work where even some of the big sounding tracks, like the title track or Showdown, still feel quite low key in comparison to Supertramp. Luckily, what this album lacks in arrangements it more than makes up in excellent songwriting and strong melodic sound!

There are plenty of nice melodies and vocal deliveries that will sweep pop music fans right off their feet. Some of my personal favorites are The More I Look, Say Goodbye and For Every Man. Even though I do enjoy these songs quite a bit, they manage to sound more like Cat Stevens than Roger Hodgson - the voice of the legendary art rock band Supertramp. It doesn't necessary diminish the quality of these compositions but I find it hard not to compare these compositions with the much more sufficiently arranged In The Eye Of The Storm. Even the two nods at art rock, on Death And A Zoo and Open The Door, fall slightly short when compared to Lovers In The Wind and Only Because Of You off In The Eye Of The Storm.

It's difficult to dislike Open The Door due to strong songwriting but I still feel slight underwhelmed by the low key arrangements that Roger Hodgson uses all throughout the album. The long list of guest and session musicians does little to remedy this problem. Having said all that, this is still the closest that most fans will get to hearing any new material from Supertramp. This alone will probably make this record a must for fans of Roger's previous endeavors.

**** star songs: The More I Look (4:56) Hungry (4:27) Death And A Zoo (7:32) Love Is A Thousand Times (3:30) Say Goodbye (3:57) Open The Door (8:54) For Every Man (4:44)

*** star songs: Along Came Mary (6:25) Showdown (5:20) The Garden (2:15)