CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS?

(This review will be made by making contrasts with the following album, Even in the Quietest Moments, which ''shares'' a lot of similarities with this one. It would be like making two reviews in one, yeah I know, very pretentious)

Crisis? What Crisis? is not a improvement over Crime of the Century but neither it is a attempt of making a similar record to it like some bands would do: Crisis? What Crisis? is a fresh album, however Even in the Quietest Moments will do what Crisis? What Crisis? didn't do, it'll take ideas from it's previous album, in this case Crisis? What Crisis?, and craft them somehow in a different manner.

Some examples would be the duet of Easy Does It/Sister Moonshine, a marvellous up-lifting acoustic opening to this album with lot to deliver, in which on Even in the Quietest Moments you can listen to a very similar acoustic tune, the single from the album, Give a Little Bit, it's catchier and well, it's poppier. From this you notice that Even in the Quietest Moments is tend to head more to the friendly side of things, even if it's not a pop album as a whole, you'll find most of the ideas taken from this album transformed into somewhat poppier. By the way the first line from Roger on Give a Little Bit is ''Here we go again'', that can be funnily understood if they had done already, in this case it would be Sister Moonshine. Quite obviously, I prefer the non-pop one to the pop one, it's by far more interesting.

Then, the dramatic acoustic song called The Meaning which slowly develops into a very strong song, can easily be compared to the grandiose title track from Even in the Quietest Moments which also evolves in the same way just that the latter is up-lifting. Also the line from The Meaning ''If you know what the meaning is'' can easily be replaced by ''Come on, let the sun fade and go'' and you'll find the same melody. In this case I tend to prefer the one from Even in the Quietest Moments, however the one featured here is highly original and well-worth a listen from Supertramp fans.

Poor Boy's sentimental and gentle mood can easily be compared to that from Lover Boy, heck both even have the word 'boy' ! However always expect a change, Lover Boy being the up-lifting version of it. In this case I also prefer the latter version, since it seems a bit more elaborated with the piano and all, while Poor Boy is far from being a bad song it just holds up much my interest.

The rest of the songs from both albums could be compared but it would be making quite a bit of a stretch. This means that the rest of the material from Even in the Quietest Moments is almost 100% original, and well the rest featured in here are pretty much in the standards of the already mentioned, highlights not mentioned from here would be A Soapbox Opera with it's pretty elaborated string arrangements within just 5 minutes(!!) and Ain't Nobody but Me with it's dare-attitude ruling all over with electric guitars and organs, even if the sweet melodic vocals are still there.

The stand-outs not mentioned from Even in the Quietest Moments is obviously the 10 minute mini-epic, Fool's Overture, with it's great structure changing from peaceful though dramatic piano interludes to emotive keyboard chords, as well as very epic-ish melodies like those from the saxophone and piano, definitely one of Supertramp's grandiose moments in the Prog world. The other stand-out from this one is From Now On, a Rick Davies original, a simple piano is what stands, however it has a very effective development with one of John Helliwell's most lovely sax solos and even a choir singing the last lines, a very emotive song.

All in all, both good albums by Supertramp, however undoubtely Even in the Quietest Moments is the better one despite it's lack of fresh ideas in which the case with Crisis? What Crisis? it's the contrary, Even in the Quietest Moments is very well more refined and delivered, and even more memorable as a whole. Still, Crisis? What Crisis? stands as one of Supertramp's freshest releases, with some nice stand-outs, but as a whole it doesn't stand alongside it's predecessor or following one.

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