CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS?

'Crisis? What Crisis?' is the fourth studio album of Supertramp and was released in 1975. After the great commercial success of their previous third studio album 'Crime Of The Century', in 1974, the pressure was on for Supertramp to deliver a follow up, and the record company pushed them to begin work as soon as the live tour for 'Crime Of The Century' was finished. While touring the west coast of North America, Supertramp entered in A&M's Los Angeles recording studios to work on it. So, it was the first album of the band to be recorded in America. It seems that the title of the album was taken from a line of Fred Zinnemann, 'The Day Of The Jackal', a motion picture released by him in 1973.

'Crisis? What Crisis?' has ten tracks. All songs were written by Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson. The first track 'Easy Does It' which has lead vocals by Roger Hodgson is the shortest song on the album, and sincerely, it isn't the type of song that you can expect to open a Supertramp's album. It's a very nice, calm and mellow acoustic guitar based ballad, a kind of an introduction song to the album. This is a very beautiful song which gives to us a nice, pleasant and serene musical moment. The second track 'Sister Moonshine' which has also lead vocals by Roger Hodgson is the follow up song and is another acoustic guitar based song with very beautiful arrangements. It's a quite poppy song with great potential to be released as a single. This is s a song with very good musical performances by all members of the band, with a special mention to the sound of the harmonica that brings some extra colourful to the song. The third track 'Ain't Nobody But Me' which has lead vocals by Rick Davies is a very good musical composition basically combined with piano and vocals. It's a different song with more rock and jazz influences, and clearly with more progressive influences then the two previous songs on the album too. The fourth track 'A Soapbox Opera' which has lead vocals by Roger Hodgson is a classic and typical Supertramp's musical composition. It represents one of the highest moments on the album. This is a very melodic song, with orchestra and choir, and has also excellent progressive arrangements. It's one of the most beautiful songs created by this great band. The fifth track 'Another Man's Woman' which has lead vocals by Rick Davies is another song based on piano and vocals. It's another song on the album with more complex and progressive arrangements and the instrumental finale represents an excellent moment on their music. This is another great moment on the album. The sixth track 'Lady' which has lead vocals by Roger Hodgson is for 'Crisis? What Crisis?' what 'Dreamer' was to 'Crime Of The Century'. It's, without any doubt, the best known song of the album, especially for those who are unaware with progressive rock music. This is the only song on the album which was a big hit single. It's a song with a nice combination between piano and vocals. Personally, this is a song that reminds me strongly the music of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. The seventh track 'Poor Boy' which has lead vocals by Rick Davies is another song that explores basically the piano with a very unique and special chanting style, accompanied by a woodwind work. It's a song influenced by the sound of the old jazz. This is a song with less quality, and sincerely, it represents one of the weakest moments on the album. The eighth track 'Just A Normal Day' which has lead vocals by Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson is an unusual song with a nice vocal duet between Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson. It's a very calm, nice, peaceful and melancholic song, with good orchestration and with some interesting saxophone moments. However and despite that, this is the other weak point on the album. The ninth track 'The Meaning' which has lead vocals by Roger Hodgson is another very good and melodic song with an accentuated vocal line and some magnificent solos by the saxophone of John Helliwell. The tenth and last track 'Two Of Us' which has lead vocals by Roger Hodgson is the song that finishes the album in a ballad style. It's a song with a nice melody in which acoustic guitar and vocals prevail, with the organ's sound on the background. This is a nice way to close this very good album.

Conclusion: It's commonly accepted that the best four studio albums of Supertramp are the third album 'Crime Of The Century', the fourth album 'Crisis? What Crisis?', the fifth album 'Even In The Quietest Moments'' and the sixth album 'Breakfast In America'. Of all those albums, 'Crisis? What Crisis' is also commonly accepted as the least good of the four. Sincerely, I've some doubts about that. It's clear, for me, that 'Crime Of The Century' and 'Even In The Quietest Moments'' are, without any doubt, their better studio works. However, I probably disagree that 'Breakfast In America' be a better album than 'Crisis? What Crisis?'. 'Crisis? What Crisis?' may not have given to the band the great commercial success as 'Breakfast In America' did, but it helped and cemented their sound and it did help them to capture a solid fan base. By the other hand, 'Breakfast In America' is an album made with a more commercial objective than 'Crisis? What Crisis?' and sounds more poppy than this one. Maybe is better produced but surely is less prog.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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