BREAKFAST IN AMERICA

With Davies and Hodgson finding it increasingly difficult to work together, Supertramp continued their shuffle towards the mainstream with this finely crafted art-pop album. This wasn't a creative compromise on the scale of, say, Genesis' We Can't Dance or Yes' Big Generator - unlike other prog bands, Supertramp only became good once they dropped their aspirations to complexity and started crafting lovingly polished art rock hits from Crime of the Century onwards. However, the material here shows a marked step down from that classic, or even from the moving Even In the Quietest Moments.

The Logical Song is decent enough, though overplayed, Breakfast In America was another pop hit but has little to recommend it, and on the whole the album presents a stripped down and simplified version of the band's Wurlitzer-heavy sound which flags badly in the second part. Slick and polished, but scratch the surface and it turns out there's nothing underneath.