THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SUPERTRAMP

"The Autobiography Of Supertramp" is the debut compilation of Supertramp and was released in 1987. It was the first greatest hits of the band and contains a compilation of some of the most popular songs of the band from their albums "Crime Of The Century", "Even In The Quietest Moments?", "Breakfast In America", "Famous Last Words" and "Brother Where You Bound". On the original edition of the compilation with only eleven tracks, no songs from "Crisis? What Crisis?" were chosen to be part of it. Still, the remastered edition of 2001 includes a song from that studio album.

The compilation was also released in the USA market, in 1987, as "Classics, Volume 9". It was part of the A&M's 25th Anniversary series. The compilation was re-released as "The Very Best Of Supertramp", in 1990 in the US, with digitally remastered sound and the bonus track "School". It also contains the original album's versions of the songs "Goodbye Stranger" and "Cannonball", instead of the original edited versions which were taken from the singles of those songs.

The cover art of "The Autobiography Of Supertramp" shows a suit-wearing, faceless man seated in a train carriage reading a book with his own face on the front cover of the book. The view from the train carriage window shows the wall of the platform with stylised versions of the front cover art taken from three of the Supertramp's studio albums.

"The Autobiography Of Supertramp" has fourteen tracks from the following albums: "Bloody Well Right", "Rudy", "Crime Of The Century", "Dreamer" and "Hide In Your Shell" are from "Crime Of The Century". "Ain't Nobody But Me" is from "Crisis? What Crisis?". "From Now On" and "Give A Little Bit" are from "Even In The Quietest Moments?". "Goodbye Stranger", "The Logical Song", "Breakfast In America" and "Take The Long Way Home" are from "Breakfast In America". "It's Raining Again" is from "Famous Last Words". "Cannonball" is from "Brother Where You Bound". "Goodbye Stranger" is a song with great melody and with a good rhythm section and where the interplay between Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson's vocals is really perfect. "The Logical Song" is a typical classic Supertramp's song with wonderful harmony, great vocals and good keyboards, and with a nice final touch of the saxophone of John Helliwell. "Bloody Well Right" is a good song that, for the type of music of Supertramp, we may say this track is almost a hard rock song with a little funky rhythm. "Breakfast In America" is a classic melodic short song and a big hit on the radio stations. Personally, I've no problems with it, really. I really like this song. "Rudy" is one of their best, most progressive, sophisticated and elaborated songs, with many rhythm changes and some instrumental breaks. I think it's one of the best songs made by Rick Davies. "Take The Long Way Home" was also a big hit, another top ten single. This is a great musical moment with the saxophone and the piano in evidence. "Crime Of The Century" is a magnum opus, a wonderful song with an orchestration completely divine. It has great lyrics, good lead guitars and a nice sax solo. This is a highlight and it's one of my favourite songs of them. "Dreamer" is an irresistible melodic song, a big hit, reaching the top of the charts. Its impact was so huge that we can say that "Dreamer" was one of the most popular singles made by any prog band. "Ain't Nobody But Me" is a very good composition combined with piano and vocals. It's a prog song with rock and jazz influences. "Hide In Your Shell" is a masterpiece of the melodic prog rock with a supreme melodic structure. It's one of the best prog melodic songs ever made. "From Now On" is a nice and mellow ballad with some complexity and it's full of great keyboard and saxophone works. This is a great Rick Davies' song. "Give A Little Bit" is a simple and catchy song. It's a song commanded by acoustic guitar with a good and impressive saxophone work by John Helliwell. "It's Raining Again" is a typical pop song made to be released as a single. It's a perfect example how to create a great pop commercial song with good quality. "Cannonball" is a nice and enjoyable song to hear. It's a kind of a jazz song with a disco-funk style. It has a nice atmospheric ambient but is a bit too lengthy and repetitive for my taste.

Conclusion: "The Autobiography Of Supertramp" is a good compilation of Supertramp that covers some of the best songs of the band. It covers some of their best songs released on their best six studio albums. About the selection of tracks, is lamentable and inexcusable that had been left out songs like "School" from "Crime Of The Century" and "Even In The Quietest Moment" and "Fool's Overture" from "Even In The Quietest Moments?", which are probably the three best and most progressive songs ever made by them. Once more, the usual commercial criteria prevailed over the quality, leaving out their lengthiest and less commercial songs. So, "The Autobiography Of Supertramp" is a good compilation with great songs, but it isn't very well representative of Supertramp's music. In addition to all I mentioned, "The Autobiography Of Supertramp" doesn't covers all the musical career of the group at the time. It doesn't cover their two first studio albums, the eponymous debut and the second studio albums "Supertramp" and "Indelibly Stamped", respectively. Despite they aren't great albums they have some good songs, especially "Try Again" from "Supertramp".

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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