INDELIBLY STAMPED

'Indelibly Stamped' is the second studio album of Supertramp and was released in 1971. Like their eponymous debut studio album, 'Indelibly Stamped' was also a commercial disappointment, which resulted in the loss of their sponsor and the dissolution of the band at that moment. Musically, this was the most rock and roll of all their albums and it's also usually considered the weakest musical work made by the group while Roger Hodgson was a band's member.

The art cover of the album depicts a photo of an image of the torso and arms of a topless woman with several multiple tattoos. The original edition brings the cover photo in colours, but my CD version has a black and white cover, indeed.

With the abandonment of the group by Richard Palmer-James and Robert Millar, three new band's members Kevin Currie, Frank Farrell and Dave Winthrop were recruited shortly before the recording sessions of 'Indelibly Stamped'.

So, the line up on the album is Roger Hodgson (vocals, acoustic and electric guitars and bass), Rick Davies (vocals, harmonica and keyboards), Dave Winthrop (vocals, flute and saxophone), Frank Farrell (backing vocals, piano, electric piano, accordion and bass) and Kevin Currie (drums and percussion).

'Indelibly Stamped' has ten tracks. All songs were written by Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies, except 'Rosie Had Everything Planned' which was written by Roger Hodgson and Frank Farrell. The first track 'Your Poppa Don't Mind' is sung by Rick Davies and is influenced by the blues. It's an interesting song to open the album with a catchy rhythm and the final result is nice to hear. The second track 'Travelled' is sung by Roger Hodgson and is basically an acoustic song, especially in the beginning. It's a song with a very simple structure, very nice to hear and with also an interesting repetitive saxophone work on its finale. The third track 'Rosie Had Everything Planned' is sung by Roger Hodgson. It's a different song relatively to the two previous songs. This is a nice and calm song made in the vein of a folk song, and like the other two, it's also nice to hear. It's a melancholic song, probably the main thing that has a real appealing effect on me. The fourth track 'Remember' is sung by Rick Davies. It's a good rock song and it has a nice saxophone work all over the song. This is a song that moves between the influences of blues and jazz. It's interesting that, while we hear the song, we have the sensation that it was recorded at the maximum volume. The fifth track 'Forever' is sung by Rick Davies. It's another interesting song, this time totally influenced by the blues. It's interesting to note some similitude between 'Remember' and 'Forever'. I think we can see here the future musical direction of the next songs composed by Rick Davies on the future works of the band. The sixth track 'Potter' is sung by Dave Winthrop. This is an interesting and curious fact, because from what I can remember, this is the only track in the entire career of the band that was not sung by Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies. It's a nice and a catchy simple rock song, very short, as many songs on the album. But, it has nothing to do with the future Supertramp's sound. The seventh track 'Coming Home To See You' is sung by Rick Davies. This is one of the most interesting songs on the album. It's a song with fine instrumental sections where we can hear the different music instruments performed by all band's members as lead instruments. This is one of the songs on the album where we can hear what would become their signature sound. The eighth track 'Times Have Changed' is sung by Rick Davies and represents also one of the finest moments on the album. We may say this is a typical song of Rick Davies, and like the previous song 'Coming Home To See You', this is another song on the album where we can hear what would become their future sound. The ninth track 'Friend In Need' is sung by Rick Davies and is the smallest song on the album. However and despite be also a good and nice song it's, for me, clearly inferior to the most of the songs on the album composed by Rick Davies, and in the end, it doesn't remains in our memory. The tenth track 'Aries' is sung by Roger Hodgson. It's the lengthiest song on the album and it's the only song with a notable lengthy. This is a quite different song on the album and it's also, without any doubt, the best and most progressive song on the album. It's a song with many similarities with songs of some other bands, in those times, such as The Doors, and particularly, it reminds me very strongly some songs of the early days of Strawbs.

Conclusion: Although 'Indelibly Stamped' be inferior and less progressive than their eponymous debut studio album 'Supertramp', and it's also very far away from be as good as their studio albums that belonging to their golden musical era, it's, in my humble opinion, a good album that deserves to be rated with 3 stars. However, it's also, without any doubt, the weakest studio album released by the group while Roger Hodgson was a band's member. Anyway, if you're a Supertramp's fan, even moderately, you might very well find something quite enjoyable here, because it has some interesting things to offer, I think. Despite some flubs and flaws, I still continue like it, really. Certainly it falls just short of being considered a great album, but it's definitely a good one, not prog but good. So let's be fair and give it 3 stars.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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