THE VERY BEST OF SUPERTRAMP - VOLUME 2

"The Very Best Of Supertramp ? Volume 2" is the fourth compilation album of Supertramp, which was released in 1992. This one was released two years after the release of their previous compilation album "The Very Best Of Supertramp".

"The Very Best Of Supertramp ? Volume 2" contains tracks from five of their studio albums, which are in general regarded as their five best studio albums "Crime Of The Century" from 1974, "Crisis? What Crisis?" from 1975, "Even In The Quietest Moments?" from 1977, "Breakfast In America" from 1979, "Famous Last Words" from 1982 and "Brother Where You Bound" from 1985. In addition, it has also the title track from their studio album "Free As A Bird" from 1987.

"The Very Best Of Supertramp ? Volume 2" is the only compilation of Supertramp with new tracks, until that moment, because the first two "The Autobiography Of Supertramp" and "Classics, Vol. 9" have the same fourteen tracks, and the third "The Very Best Of Supertramp" has also the same fourteen tracks plus the additional fifteenth track, "School".

The front cover of "The Very Best Of Supertramp ? Volume 2", depicts the band's name in colours with the starry backdrop and gate from the cover of "Crime Of The Century", with the hand carrying the glass from the cover of "Breakfast In America", and the orange umbrella from the cover of "Crisis? What Crisis?", put in a black background. "The Very Best Of Supertramp ? Volume 2" has fourteen tracks from the following albums: "If Everyone Was Listening" is from "Crime Of The Century". "Lady" and "A Soapbox Opera" are from "Crisis? What Crisis?". "Even In The Quietest Moments?", "Babaji", "Downstream" and "Fool's Overture" are from "Even In The Quietest Moments?". "Oh Darling", "Gone Hollywood" and "Just Another Nervous Wreck" are from "Breakfast In America". "Waiting So Long", "Don't Leave Me Now" and "My Kind Of Lady" are from "Famous Last Words". "Free As A Bird" is from "Free As A Bird".

"Lady" is a song with a nice combination between piano and vocals. It represents to "Crisis? What Crisis?" the same that "Dreamer" represented to "Crime Of The Century". It was a big hit single that reminds me Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. "Oh Darling" isn't a very memorable song and is, for me, a perfect failure because it failed as a great commercial song. "Even In The Quietest Moments?" has a melodic, an idyllic and a nostalgic sound, where the acoustic guitar and the piano combine perfectly well, as only the band could do so well. "Waiting So Long" is a great song, well arranged, very progressive and with great performances. The development of the song can be connected with the great classics made by them all over the years. "Babaji" is a powerful melodic song with spiritual lyrics and good arrangements. It shows the perfect combination of two styles, the prog and the pop. "Gone Hollywood" is a good melodic song and the interplay between Rick Davies' and Roger Hodgson's vocals is perfect, as always. "If Everyone Was Listening" is a melodic and beautiful song with an easy tune, beautiful vocal harmonies and great orchestration. It shows that is possible compose beautiful songs with quality. "Just Another Nervous Wreck" is a weak song, as happened with "Oh Darling". It's another song made to be a big hit and that has failed to do so, too. "Don't Leave Me Now" is another pearl, one of the best Roger Hodgson's songs. It's a sad song with pessimistic lyrics about solitude and fear of loneliness. This is a very powerful song. "My Kind Of Lady" is a Rick Davies' love ballad well sung by him, who harmonizes his natural voice with a falsetto vocal. It's a typical and decent Davies' song. "A Soapbox Opera" is a classic Supertramp's composition. It's a melodic song, with orchestra and choir, and it has also excellent progressive arrangements. "Downstream" is an acoustic beautiful and melodic ballad only performed by vocals and piano. It's a song with a simple structure but with a great charm. "Fool's Overture" is a lengthy song, probably their most progressive song in their entire career. It's a great song with an intense ambient, definitely a gem in Supertramp's career. "Free As A Bird" is an average sounding pop song with some meaningful lyrics and a choir added to the chorus. This isn't a bad song, really.

Conclusion: Like their previous compilation "The Very Best Of Supertramp", "The Very Best Of Supertramp ? Volume 2" is also a good compilation from the band. It doesn't repeat any song of that compilation and it also covers some of the other best material of their career. It covers some of their best songs released on their best six studio albums. The main difference between both compilations was the shift of a song from "Brother Where You Bound" for a song from "Free As A Bird", continuing without "Supertramp" and "Indelibly Stamped" be represented here. It's worth to have here the presence of one of their lengthiest, best and most progressive songs, "Fool's Overture". As I wrote before, when I reviewed the previous compilation, "The Very Best Of Supertramp ? Volume 2" is the perfect companion to "The Very Best Of Supertramp". If you want have a real anthology of Supertramp you need to buy both, or alternatively, buy their compilation "Retrospectable ? The Supertramp Anthology". Still, "Retrospectable ? The Supertramp Anthology" is probably a better option because is more representative and cheaper, and has songs from their eleven studio albums.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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