PARIS

"Paris" is the debut live album of Supertramp and was released in 1980. It was recorded on Supertramp's "Breakfast In America" tour in 1979 in Paris, France at the Pavillon de Paris. It was originally going to be called "Roadworks" and was to be recorded in the Quebec City in Canada, but their record label A&M wanted it was recorded in a mainstream city.

"Paris" was originally released as double vinyl record and was a big success that reached 8 on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart in 1980 and immediately went Gold. The live version of "Dreamer" was a big success hitting U.S. Top 20.

"Paris" has sixteen tracks. Of the six studio albums of Supertramp released until that moment, only tracks from four of those albums are represented here, I mean, "Crime Of The Century" from 1974, "Crisis? What Crisis?" from 1975, "Even In The Quietest Moments..." from 1977 and "Breakfast In America" from 1979. From the first two studio albums of the band, "Supertramp" from 1970 and "Indelibly Stamped" from 1971, none of their tracks are represented on "Paris".

So, from "Crime Of The Century" we have "School", "Bloody Well Right", "Hide In Your Shell", "Dreamer", "Rudy", "Asylum" and "Crime Of The Century". From "Crisis? What Crisis?" we have "Ain't Nobody But Me", "A Soapbox Opera" and "Two Of Us". From "Even In The Quietest Moments?" we have "From Now On" and "Fool's Overture". From "Breakfast In America" we have "The Logical Song", "Breakfast In America" and "Take The Long Way Home". We have also "You Started Laughing", which was originally the B side of their single "Lady" of "Crisis? What Crisis?".

About the tracks, "School" is a fantastic song, one of the best composed by the band. "Bloody Well Right" is almost a hard rock song, for their type of music, with a little funky rhythm. "Hide In Your Shell" is a masterpiece of the melodic progressive rock with a supreme musical melodic structure. "Asylum" is an interesting and nice melodic song, well composed and good orchestration. "Dreamer" is an irresistible melodic song, one of the most popular singles made by them. "Rudy" is one of the most progressive, sophisticated and elaborated songs ever composed by them. "Crime Of The Century" is a wonderful magnum opus with a great orchestration. "Ain't Nobody But Me" is great song, a mix of rock and jazz influences. "A Soapbox Opera" is a melodic song, with orchestra and choir, and has great arrangements. "Two Of Us" is a song with a nice melody where the acoustic guitar and vocals prevail. "From Now On" is a nice mellow ballad full of great keyboard and saxophone works. "Fool's Overture" is a great magnum opus and is probably their most progressive song in their entire career. "The Logical Song" is a typical classic Supertramp's song with wonderful harmony, great vocals, good keyboards and a nice touch of sax. "Breakfast In America" is a classic Spertramp's song, one the most commercial and a big hit on the radio stations. "Take The Long Way Home" represents another great moment with the saxophone and the piano in evidence. "You Started Laughing" isn't bad but it's less interesting to me.

About the performance of the live show, the first disc of the double live album shows the two different sides of Supertramp, the catchy commercial tunes of Hodgson and the bombastic compositions of Davies. The concert starts with the harmonica of "School". From then, it's a constant switch between Davies' and Hodgson's compositions with the powerful "Ain't Nobody But Me", the mega hit "The Logical Song", an extended version of "Bloody Well Right", "Breakfast In America", the previously unreleased "You Started Laughing", "Hide In Your Shell" and finally "From Now On". The second disc contains another two hits, "Dreamer" and "Take The Long Way Home". The rest are filled with several less familiar tunes, again nicely split between the typical Hodgson tunes like "A Soapbox Opera" and Davies' compositions like "Asylum" and "Rudy", which is an incredible track. The 11- minute "Fool's Overture" is a perfect example of diversity and "tension building" and features the famous speech of Churchill. In a strong contrast with this epic was the very short "Two Of Us". The final song, the encore for the show, was the title track of the "Crime Of The Century" album, which had almost been played in its entirety. We may say that it was a perfect closing to the concert.

Conclusion: "Paris" was released when the band was at the peak of their fame and when they attracting enormously large audiences. The sound of the album is excellent, the instruments are very well balanced and about the choice of the songs for the concert and also about their alignment, I have no objection. The songs are performed live practically equal of their studio versions. In reality, it never was much room in Supertramp's live for improvisations. Usually, I prefer that a live album be performed a bit different from the original studio works. However, I really think that "Paris" is a very good live album which represents the best period of the band. And, above all, it's a very important album for almost all their fans because it's the only live album released by the band, in those days, with the presence of Roger Hodgson. So, "Paris" is, in my humble opinion, a necessary and excellent addition on the group's discography, really.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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