INDELIBLY STAMPED

1.5 stars really!

This sinks deep into the sea of oblivion and really should be avoided. The group almost broke-up after this one but happily they did not, as they made their best work after a complete reshuffle. Their Dutch millionaire mentor gave up after this lacklustre effort. All is not all that negative as I make it out to be though, despite a horrible tattoo artwork on a no-less chilling pair of breast. BTW, I've seen this cover in b&w and in colour.

I'm not going to spend too much time on this set list, but the songwriting is very poor, compared to Supertramp's later works and even compared to their earlier album. Inevitably the proghead's stare is attracted by the closing Aries track, which hovers around the 8-mins track. Indeed; it is the best track of the album with a superb flute sound, but the last three minutes are just the band jamming lightly, therefore instilling a light overstaying its welcome, if it was on any other album that this dud. Rosie could've been another good track if it wasn't for the worst accordion ever played. The shorter track Travelled has a Hodgson feeling that I can't dispel, but let's face it... it's pure pop.

Best avoided, but I guess completists will always find it a saving grace, and let's face it, the closing Aries track I mention could almost justify not hating this album.

I prefer this album more than their first. If in their first album Rogerr Hodgson sang all songs, in this album Rick Davies sang most of the songs. This album is more oriented to blues, and sometimes they show the influence of Traffic (in songs sung by Hodgson like "Rosie had everything planned", "Travelled" and "Aries"). I like this album very much. It was originally released in L.P. with a gatefold cover. I bought my L.P. copy in 1982, and it doesn`t have the gatefold cover. This album is more in the style of Rick Davies, but Roger Hodgson`s songs are good too. An album not very progressive, but good.

Perhaps the most unusual of all Supertramp albums and you can see why it threw so many people. It has a rough edge to it, was totally different to the excellent debut but I will defend that in parts it has some great tracks which showed an inkling of better things to come.' Rosie Has Everything Planned' is a typical Hodgson song full of melancholy. ' Travelled' another soft ballad until it builds to quite a rocking climax.On side 2 Rick Davies has a bit more influence on tracks like ' A friend in Need' and the seven minute ' Aries'. ' Potter' is one of the most unusual tracks they have ever done. Remember without this Crime of the Century probably would not have happened. A good album for greater works in progress.

The second album of SUPERTRAMP ranks among the lowest rating albums of a famous prog band, so Prog Archives seems not to be an exception! Given that the band split upon its release, "Indelibly Stamped" is generally considered so bad that it flopped commercially and thus making the band a history. However, the time passed calls for a re-listening of this work in order to be more objective.

There is no doubt that this album failed to attract the rock audience of the time and it was surely "under-written". But honestly, I just re-listened it several times and cannot see why is it considered so bad. I admit a "special relation" to this album, because it was one of my first listening experience during the period when I started discovering prog and other classic rock of early 1970s. A friend got an LP, from who knows where, and I had a taped version on a cassette. It is clear that this album is seemingly a random collection of songs, so diverse that it often sounds so strange. "Is this all from the same band?" one could ask! Unlike the debut, where the leader was obviously Roger Hodgson, here we have Rick Davies and his piano in the frontline of most of the songs. He brought an inspiration from American-style jazz, blues and soul music into SUPERTRAMP, and one can notice early pieces of what would become their trademark style in the following successful albums; notably - electric piano, aggressive Davies' baritone with harmonica and introduction of saxophones courtesy of Dave Winthrop.

There are only two truly prog tracks, both sung by Hodgson and featuring flutes and acoustic guitars: "Travelled" and "Aries" (one of the best prog jam improvisations IMO in general). The remaining material shows Davies' as a leader, trying to find the right expression for himself and the band alike. Hard-rock, country, folk, jazz, classic r'n'r, soul and some typically British vignette stories a la THE KINKS or THE BEATLES ("Rosie Had Everything Planned", "Coming Home to See You"), are all present on "Indelibly Stamped". "Remember" was recorded with maximum volume, with multi-tracked saxophones, sounding like a wild version of THE BAND's soul and r'n'b performance ("Chest Fever"). Two side-openers, "Your Poppa Don't Mind" and "Potter", were probably meant to be released as hit-singles, and they are both quite good and radio- friendly simple and danceable songs.

Frankly, it is hard for me to point at any one song as totally bad ("Friend in Need" being the closest one). That said, of course does not mean that this album is anywhere near the most essential works of the era. No, - you indeed don't miss much if you never hear it. But, all your prejudices aside, if you approach this album like you never heard of SUPERTRAMP before, it may surprise you with some odd but interesting songwriting outputs. SUPERTRAMP fans must have this in their collection, but all the other people would certainly find some occasional surprises too.

One must agree that after "Supertramp" which was not really exciting, what they deliver here is probably the worse of their carreer (we'll have to wait for very long years to find other poor Supertramp albums).

The front cover is probably what's mostly will be remembered. The chest on the album sleeve belonged to Marian Hollier, a twenty-six year old woman . She came from Bristol and was paid £45 for the photo. The album cover caused moral indignation in the early seventies with many record shops refusing to display it. Letters of complaint were printed by UK music papers like in the Melody Maker. In the U.S. some copies had two little stars glued onto the sleeve to cover the "naughty" areas.

A few tracks are worth though : "Travelled", "Remember" (a good rocking song song with strong sax somewhat precursor for "Rudy") and "Forever" (a true Supertramp song) while "Your Poppa Don't Mind", "Potter" and "Aries" are parts of the poorest tracks ever produced by the band.

Three out of ten, really. Let's upgrade it to wo stars (but save your money for better albums to come).

Yes, you can find good piano / keyboard work of Rick Davis but the overall music does not represent what Supertramp is capable of doing. The opening track "Your Poppa don't Mind" does not reflect the band's soul on their music creation as the whole song sounds like a Southern rock music. "Travelled" is not a bad track at all and it has good flute work at the beginning of the song. But when the music moves from one track to another it sounds to me that the band is like losing focus what they trying to do especially on lack of melody and harmonies for almost all of tracks. The insertion of flute sounds help improve the music but it's not until the level that most rock fans are willing to listen. Therefore this album is recommended only for those who just want to complete their collection of Supertramp albums. New fan should not start from this album.

Not making much of an impression

The first challenge with this album is to get past the unnecessarily tasteless sleeve, which not only puts you off buying the album, but sadly also misrepresents the contents.

Prior to the formation of Supertramp, Rodger Hodgson had worked under the band name Argosy, which comprised of Hodgson, plus the required session musicians. One of these session musicians was Reginald Dwight, who later changed his name to Elton John, and the rest as they say, is history. While working in London on his Argosy project, Hodgson met up with Rick Davies, Supertramp was formed, and their credible first album appeared.

While the band would go on to find worldwide acclaim and success with their masterpiece "Crime of the century" and subsequent albums, "Indelibly stamped" represents the period when they were still paying their dues.

Although the Hodgson/Davies core of the band would last for many albums, the rest of the line up has completely changed, and will change again before the next album is recorded. Davies takes on a much greater role for this album than he did for the debut, to the extent that he dominates the vocals and thus by implication the song writing (the credits are shared Lennon-McCartney style). The music here therefore points towards the style of the post Hodgson era Supertramp more than it does the albums which would immediately follow this one.

The opening "Your poppa don't mind" is a straightforward upbeat blues pop song with a catchy rhythm and a ubiquitous theme. "Travelled" sees Roger Hodgson contributing his first lead vocal, the song sounding a little like Simon and Garfunkel or Steven Stills. The song builds nicely for an acoustic start to a repetitive sax backed finale. Likewise, " Rosie Had Everything Planned" has a similar folk flavour but is a less distinguished song.

"Remember" and "Forever" contains real hints of the direction Davies would have taken the band in sooner, had Hodgson not been present to steady the ship. "Remember" moves from a slow blues into a jazzy workout, while "Forever" is a softer pop blues.

"Potter" is interesting only because neither Davies or Hodgson seem to be singing. Frank Farrell and Dave Winthrop are both credited on the album as vocalists, so presumably one of them has been afforded a very rare foray to centre stage. Unfortunately, the song is instantly forgettable (perhaps why Roger and Rick passed on it!). "Coming Home to see you" is one of the album's more interesting songs, with a fine instrumental shuffle section to end, where the band members take turn on lead instrument.

The final track, "Aires" is the only song of notable length here, running to about 7½ minutes. This flute driven blues shuffle is quite different from, and far more progressive than, the rest of the album. The track has similarities with songs by bands such as The Doors, Family and Traffic from late 1960's/ early 70's and also the Strawbs early days.

In all, it is not too difficult to see why Supertramp had to wait for their next album for their breakthrough. The coherence and quality which made "Crime of the century" one of the finest albums ever made are largely absent here. In their place we have a naïve, almost quaint collection of songs which are pleasant but by and large entirely forgettable.

Listening to this gives you very little in the way of hints about what was to come. Straight-forward early 70s rock of the kind stamped out in tin pan alleys on both sides of the Atlantic, 'Indelibly Stamped' is the sound of a band trying - and failing - to find an audience.

There's no doubt DAVIES and HODGSON could write songs, but also no doubt that few of the songs featured here were anything other than strongly derivative. We hear, for example, SIMON AND GARFUNKEL on 'Rosie', any of a dozen southern blues bands on 'Your Pappa Don't Mind' and 'Remember', and what sounds improbably like FRANK ZAPPA/CAPTAIN BEEFHEART on 'Potter'. The progressive leanings of their debut album have been deliberately cast aside in favour of shorter, simpler tracks (the seven-minute 'Aries' is padded out with a rather tame jam), but none are anything more than mediocre. It all adds up to an album crafted to penetrate the soft underbelly of the American market. I am pleased to report that it failed miserably, forcing the duo to re-form the band and come up with something different.

While this is competent and inoffensive, there's nothing here that invites the listener back for a second listen. Or a first, for that matter.

Second Supertramp album is different from their debut. You will find shorter songs there, but most important, music sounds different. Possibly, they turned a bit to US market side, so all songs are r'n'b, blues or soul based. What doesn't mean that they are bad.

Just it is quite far from usual sophisticated Supertramp sound. No-one can name this music art-rock! Arrangements are more straight rock instead of sound multi layers we're usually waiting from band's music. But there are interesting heavy guitar, some sax solos, some keyboards-driven jazz-rock pieces and very acoustic sound.

So, even if not very usual Supertramp album, still not so bad, as sometimes is spoken about it. Just be ready to hear a bit different side of Supertramp.

This album has more in common with their debut album and less of the feel of their next album the monster masterpiece Crime of the Century. The songs are quite diverse and their sound and production are improved but there is an inconsistency and pop orientation that sometimes turns me off. I love half of the songs and want to skip the other half. "Remember" sounds close to things to come (Bloody Well Right) as does "Forever" (Another Man's Woman) and "Travelled" (4:28) (9/10) and "Rosie" (9/10) are downright pretty pop songs and two of my favorite songs on the album. The album's "epic," "Aries" (7:27) (7/10) is okay--though it sounds more like a VAN MORRISON song. I also hear a lot of JETHRO TULL and STRAWBS in the sounds on this album. I even hear BOB DYLAN! An okay album that in no way predicts the glory and perfection that is to come.

Roger Hodgson and Rick davies were trying to find a successful sound when they recorded this album, but they didn't find it until they dumped all of their backing band, and hired a new group for the next album.

They jump from style to style on this album, so that Your Poppa Don't Mind sounds like Loggins & Messina (yeah, I know Your Momma Don't Dance came out a year after this album, but the song sounds like them - Hodgson sounds a lot like kenny Loggins on this track), Travelled sounds like Crosby Stills & Nash, Rosie Had Everything Planned sounds like Simon & Garfunkel (with a little Canterbury mixed in), Potter sounds like a lot of southern rock bands, and Aries has a little Steely Dan sound (if they mentioned New York a few times in the lyrics, the illusion would be complete).

There are a few small hints of what would become their signature sound, especially in Coming Home To See You and Times Have Changed. But without the sparkling production that graced the later albums, these songs didn't have a chance.

I'd say this album rates slightly higher than "Famous Last Words", only because by that album they should have known better.

It's hard to see this one as anything other than a mild disaster for Supertramp. To be fair to them, it was recorded under pretty adverse conditions - after the debut album, most of the band left, leaving Hodgson and Davies scrambling to put together a new lineup! The other problem with the album is that the band simply don't know who they are - they don't know what musical direction they want to take, and as a consequence they try a little bit of everything and don't achieve very much in any of the formats they try out.

Album opener Your Poppa Don't Mind adds nothing to a very basic bar band hard rock format beyond a bit of piano work from from Rick, Rosie is a dull attempt at something resembling folk-rock, Forever sounds like a sappy attempt to mimic the late Beatles sound that falls far, far short of the standards of said band, and so on. I suppose Travelled is a pleasant enough prog piece with some nice flute from Dave Winthrop, but it's not exactly memorable or interesting or even, by this point in time, especially novel. Likewise, Aries is alright before it descends into a completely aimless Santana-tinged jam that goes nowhere, giving rise to a mental image of the band noodling away with one eye on the clock, trying to squeeze out enough noise to fill the remainder of the album, as Dave Stewart confesses happened when Arzachel recorded their sole self-titled album.

The problem of course, is that Stewart, Campbell, Brooks and Hillage did the whole "aimless jamming" thing much better... as had Santana... in fact, most early prog, psych, hard rock, folk rock and other such bands had already produced far, far better material than what is present here, and Supertramp neither bring anything new to the table nor grind out the cliched material they have with sufficient flair to convince me to forgive the lack of originality. This is an album which plays like a demo tape, the new lineup trying out a range of different "outfits" only to find that none of them fit. And ultimately, it would take the whole band quitting on poor Roger and Rick *yet again* and for a third new lineup to form before Supertramp really got into their groove.

11/15P. A perfectly well-crafted and eclectic album of art pop music - nowhere near as dull as most critics call it. The ingredients are simple, but thanks to a good sense of melody and arrangement the whole thing becomes really tasty after all.

After having finished a (now forgotten) film soundtrack and their musically independent and critically acclaimed debut album, the first line-up of Supertramp disbanded. The only further relic composed in those days was the mediocre song Gold Rush which ended up on the Slow Motion record. With a new drummer, an additional wind player, a new bass guitarist and Roger Hodgson switching from bass guitar to regular guitar the band conceived their second album in 1971. In 1972 this line-up also composed and debuted some of the classic songs of Crime of the Century and Crisis? What Crisis? for the BBC, such as School and If Everyone Was Listening.

This explains why some of the material on Indelibly Stamped sounds that much like the later Supertramp songs. However little many critics enjoy this album, especially those from the prog realms: this album shows the roots of what was to come later. And you don't only get the roots - at some places the stuff really starts to bloom and shine.

Your Poppa Don't Mind with its rolling electric piano licks begins the album in a similar fashion to Rocks Off on Exile on Main Street. Listeners who knew the band from their sophisticated debut album might have been surprised, but in retrospect R&B and soul always were the basis on which Rick Davies created his music, in a way. Many rock'n'roll or boogie pieces are pretty meaningless and stay safely on the well-known Carol pattern - or whichever piece you may associate with these genre. But the chorus of this song is simply awesome: harmonically it's pretty basic, but the rhythm is effortlessly tricky and the melody - including Rick Davies' slightly bored delivery - totally catchy. A tinkling Wurlitzer solo to swinging walking bass lines is the icing on the cake - and the chorus even provides enough substance for a short electric guitar lead-out after the solo. I totally like this song!

The introspective ballad Travelled, written by Rodger Hodgson, is a completely different affair and gives you a clue how the black-and-white album cover with the tattooed and tough nude lady misled many potential album buyers. The song begins quietly with gentle but restless acoustic guitar picking and a huge and deep two-part flute arrangement. Roder Hodgson takes over with his lamenting vocals and leads the song into an - as you might put it - aggressively happy part with biting vocals and an endlessly cumulating coda of multi-tracked vocals and an improvising saxophone. I don't know and don't care if this is an expression of euphoria or of anger - it's emotionally resonant without doubt. The repetitive coda, however, might have been a bit shorter and the acoustic beginning a bit longer.

Rosie Had Everything Planned, on its surface, is a romantic pop waltz somewhere between a French chanson and a folk song. The lyrics, sophisticatedly looking into the life of a woman who murdered her putatively deceitful husband, are a completely different take on a love song (it is a love song, after all!), raise quite a lot of empathy for both persons and give the ballad a somber background. Frank Farrell is on accordion, Rick Davies contributes a classicistic and sparkling piano backing and Roger Hodgson gives a heartfelt vocal performance which I appreciate a lot.

Remember itself is a brute piece of blues rock with ferocious lead vocals by Rick Davies, a mighty saxophone riff by Dave Winthrop (think Bloody Well Right) and lots of solos on the harmonica, the saxophone and the piano. Again I don't miss the delicacy which Supertramp implanted into their heavier songs in the mid-1970s, simply because the melodies are that great. Listen to the so every way you go, you go alone part with the dual lead vocals by Hodgson and Davies. Still I'm a bit ambivalent about the purpose of the overdubbed crowd noises which, as I read somewhere, were taken from some 1964ish Beatles live concerts. It's a funny idea to emulate a rough live atmosphere, but this sounds a tad too artifical in my opinion. Rick Davies once complained that the shows which accompanied Indelibly Stamped were genuine rock'n'roll concerts in small venues which mostly ended in a complete mess. Although I really believe that the live shows around that time weren't their best ones, I'm astonished what a unique and recklessly savage album this group accomplished. Usually I don't like retro albums like these, including jazz ballads and boogie woogie and all that kind of stuff, but Indelibly Stamped is of a piece and amazingly consistent in its inconsistency.

Forever, the first song which displays Davies' staccato electric piano playing and totally sounds like a later Supertramp number, is a R&B ballad in 6/8 measure in the vein of Oh Darling - both the Beatles and the Supertramp ones. Great saxophone work, a lengthy and ever-growing chorus and a superb rhythm section. Nothing more to say about it, actually.

Rick Davies' eccentric Coming Home To See You is another of these intelligent cuts. The first part, performed entirely by Davies on keyboards (predominantly a tacky but chiming piano) and vocals, is an incredibly atmospheric piece of music - thoughtful and intense despite the sarcastic and tongue-in-cheeck lyrics which are what a lover tells his girlfriend about her and her family. The second part which starts after the lover announces his upcoming visit is, after some busy verses, an unexpectedly rapid duel between Davies' Hammond organ and a harmonica on top of a quick groove of drums, percussion and bass guitar.

Times Have Changed is reminiscent of both The Band and A Salty Dog-era Procol Harum due to the maritime lyrics, but in fact it's the second piece which - with a smoother production - wouldn't be out of place on any of the following albums. Don't get me wrong, the production is totally brilliant, but especially Kevin Currie's drums have a rootsy Levon Helm punch which Bob Siebenberg later replaced with a more elaborate styling. Times Have Changed, however, is a stirring mid-tempo ballad with a plaintive chorus (sung by Davies) backed by a clean bluesy electric guitar and a low-key saxophone drone. The 12-bar bridge again makes good use of the dual Hodgson-Davies lead vocals and makes up the dramatic peak of the piece. A spine-tingling song and perhaps my favorite one off the album.

The heavy blues pop number Potter and the ragtime-like Friend in Need are two brief pieces I could also live without, although they really do not hurt in the context of such an eclectic album. Friend in Need even features a tuneful and really decent instrumental part which actually takes most of the two minutes and benefits from competent saxophone playing and the swinging honky-tonk piano; the few verses, however, aren't really convincing and only work as a jaunty gap between the more serious compositions. Potter riffs along aimlessly - except for the pretty enjoyable up-beat part which should be the chorus, but Dave Winthrop is by far more convincing as a flautist than as a singer.

When before having bought this album I read that Aries was an extended jam for acoustic guitar, flute and bongos I expected one of those typical late-60s hippie work-outs which drift through time without direction. It could well have been one of those pieces, but the band doesn't indulge in pseudo-spiritual rambling but really cook and drive the matter on. The percussion rattles and knocks all the way through, Roger Hodgson's bluesy and haunted vocals are meaningful and honest while the interplay of electric piano and flute is stellar. After some minutes things become a little bit more free-form, but they never lose track at all. This line-up played really tight, had a perfect timing and featured two great improvisers. It's hard to understand why no-one actually noticed this album in 1971 - it even comprised possible hit singles! 'Let's get the hot thing cookin', Hodgson mumbles into the microphone in the beginning - I always have to smile when I hear that. Frank Farrell is also credited with playing the acoustic and electric piano somewhere on the album. This could be a piece in which his keyboard duties could be found at some place.

When you get this album don't hope for the operatic and sound-effect-laden sound of Crime of the Century. Some reviewers argue that songs like Aries or Travelled sound like progressive rock, but I don't think that's true. Indelibly Stamped is genuine art pop, mostly closer to R&B than to folk or jazz, but this shall not keep you from buying it - many different genres are touched and sometimes mixed, but it all comes together in the British melancholia which shapes and defines the compositions. In spite of some fillers and odd moments Indelibly Stamped shall be highly recommended for open-minded prog listeners who also enjoy more 'immediate' music.

This would be the last Supertramp album I would discover when I was on my big Supertramp binge back when "Breakfast in America" came out. It was a total surprise to me because, first of all, I didn't know it even existed back then, (I even had the odd debut album at that point). My 2nd surprise was the album cover which had the Supertramp name on it. I'm sure there was a big "WTF?" expression on my face there. At first I thought it was some odd import that I ran across, but after a little research, which back then consisted of asking the expert at the record store, I found out it was their 2nd album. Well, since I had everything Supertramp back then, I had to buy it and hide it from my mother who would have been offended at the cover and would have condemned me to hell for it.

So, I expected to hear something similar to the debut album, which concentrates on acoustic and electric guitars more than keyboards like the more familiar Supertramp would. The first track "Your Poppa Don't Mind" was the 3rd surprise....I wasn't expecting to hear something so similar to the Supertramp sound that everyone was so familiar with. There was that familiar piano-laden sound with the catchy rhythms and happy songs that I loved so much.

Now, after all these years, it is obvious that this was one of Supertramp's first album, because it isn't as polished and seems slightly rushed in some parts. Apparently, the band was in trouble because their debut album flopped and this was a last ditch effort to put something together. Hence, the feeling that the band was attempting to find their sound. This album, however, is a step in the right direction and is the bridge between the completely different sounds of the debut album and the amazing "Crime of the Century". After listening to this album, the transition makes a lot more sense. At least, it does when it comes to Rick Davies.

As I said earlier, the first track is surprisingly close to the perfected trademark sound that Supertramp would acquire. "Travelled" comes next, and is Roger Hodgson's turn to be vocalist. This one is more similar to the debut album with more emphasis on guitars, but there is some added brass towards the end of the song. It is more upbeat than most of the songs on the debut though, which is overall more darker. Roger sings on the next track also "Rosie Had Everything Planned". This one is more of a folksy song in 3/4 time starting with only an acoustic guitar accompaniment, but later with an addition of keys and accordion. This will be the last song you will hear Roger on until the last track. Rick sings the next 2 tracks. "Remember" is a upbeat rocker with a good mix of keys and guitar, and with the Supertramp sound that we are more familiar with. There are audience sounds here, but they were added to a studio track. He follows with "Forever" which is a mid tempo song with a strong beat, somewhat similar to "Oh Darling" from Breakfast in America believe it or not.

The next track sounds the least like anything by Supertramp and is sung by David Winthrop. It is a more blues-rock sounding and a heavier song. David's vocals are a little similar to Roger's in these earlier years, but that is hard to discern because you won't hear from him again on Supertramp's albums. Not a bad song, but completely out of character for the band. Rick returns again with 3 songs in a row, each one different in it's own right, but very foreshadowing of their future sound. "Coming Home to See You" is a piano centered rocker with a nice instrumental ending which features a call-and-answer format between an organ and a harmonica, again shades of future Supertramp here. "Times Have Changed" is more bluesy with the familiar Davies' back beat sound. "Friend in Need" is more upbeat again, but has a nice New Orleans sound to the last part of the song. Roger finally returns to lead vocal duties for "Aries" which is over 7 minutes long, but is mostly consisting of a long instrumental section that again (like the other Roger songs here) stay away from the future Supertramp sound, concentrating on acoustic guitars, flutes and marimbas, sort of like a folky sounding Santana. Not bad, but not the sound we would become familiar with.

So it seems that Rick Davies found the trademark and famous sound before Roger did. That sound that Rick taps into here would become the sound that would make them superstars. Even though Roger was the more commercial sounding of the two, it was Rick that hit on the sound first. It is also interesting to note that Rick only sung on one track on the debut album (The Shadow Song) and it sounds nothing like what he does on this album. Roger sings most of the songs on the debut, but only 3 songs on "Indelibly Stamped". Any of the Davies songs could have been easily redone to fit on any of Supertramp's later albums, but any of the Hodgson songs would have taken a complete reworking to be included successfully.

All in all, this is not a bad album if you consider when it was made (early in their career) and the stress they were under to throw something good together quickly. "Crime of the Century" is still light years away in masterpiece status than this album could ever be, but I still find it a nice surprise, especially if you are hungering for the beautiful and happy sounds of this band, but you are tired of the same songs. Again, you have to realize that the best songs here are from Davies, but fortunately, he leads on most of the tracks here. It's not a perfect album, but it is fun and it is interesting to hear the way their sound changed. And it is still much better than the not so great "...Famous Last Words" when they (especially Roger) should have known better. Personally, I like this enough to give it 4 stars, but because of a lack of progressiveness on the album and for the purposes of ProgArchives, I'll give it a strong 3 stars. Not perfect, not prog, but still a lot of fun.

Review Nº 362

'Indelibly Stamped' is the second studio album of Supertramp and was released in 1971. Like their eponymous debut studio album, 'Indelibly Stamped' was also a commercial disappointment, which resulted in the loss of their sponsor and the dissolution of the band at that moment. Musically, this was the most rock and roll of all their albums and it's also usually considered the weakest musical work made by the group while Roger Hodgson was a band's member.

The art cover of the album depicts a photo of an image of the torso and arms of a topless woman with several multiple tattoos. The original edition brings the cover photo in colours, but my CD version has a black and white cover, indeed.

With the abandonment of the group by Richard Palmer-James and Robert Millar, three new band's members Kevin Currie, Frank Farrell and Dave Winthrop were recruited shortly before the recording sessions of 'Indelibly Stamped'.

So, the line up on the album is Roger Hodgson (vocals, acoustic and electric guitars and bass), Rick Davies (vocals, harmonica and keyboards), Dave Winthrop (vocals, flute and saxophone), Frank Farrell (backing vocals, piano, electric piano, accordion and bass) and Kevin Currie (drums and percussion).

'Indelibly Stamped' has ten tracks. All songs were written by Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies, except 'Rosie Had Everything Planned' which was written by Roger Hodgson and Frank Farrell. The first track 'Your Poppa Don't Mind' is sung by Rick Davies and is influenced by the blues. It's an interesting song to open the album with a catchy rhythm and the final result is nice to hear. The second track 'Travelled' is sung by Roger Hodgson and is basically an acoustic song, especially in the beginning. It's a song with a very simple structure, very nice to hear and with also an interesting repetitive saxophone work on its finale. The third track 'Rosie Had Everything Planned' is sung by Roger Hodgson. It's a different song relatively to the two previous songs. This is a nice and calm song made in the vein of a folk song, and like the other two, it's also nice to hear. It's a melancholic song, probably the main thing that has a real appealing effect on me. The fourth track 'Remember' is sung by Rick Davies. It's a good rock song and it has a nice saxophone work all over the song. This is a song that moves between the influences of blues and jazz. It's interesting that, while we hear the song, we have the sensation that it was recorded at the maximum volume. The fifth track 'Forever' is sung by Rick Davies. It's another interesting song, this time totally influenced by the blues. It's interesting to note some similitude between 'Remember' and 'Forever'. I think we can see here the future musical direction of the next songs composed by Rick Davies on the future works of the band. The sixth track 'Potter' is sung by Dave Winthrop. This is an interesting and curious fact, because from what I can remember, this is the only track in the entire career of the band that was not sung by Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies. It's a nice and a catchy simple rock song, very short, as many songs on the album. But, it has nothing to do with the future Supertramp's sound. The seventh track 'Coming Home To See You' is sung by Rick Davies. This is one of the most interesting songs on the album. It's a song with fine instrumental sections where we can hear the different music instruments performed by all band's members as lead instruments. This is one of the songs on the album where we can hear what would become their signature sound. The eighth track 'Times Have Changed' is sung by Rick Davies and represents also one of the finest moments on the album. We may say this is a typical song of Rick Davies, and like the previous song 'Coming Home To See You', this is another song on the album where we can hear what would become their future sound. The ninth track 'Friend In Need' is sung by Rick Davies and is the smallest song on the album. However and despite be also a good and nice song it's, for me, clearly inferior to the most of the songs on the album composed by Rick Davies, and in the end, it doesn't remains in our memory. The tenth track 'Aries' is sung by Roger Hodgson. It's the lengthiest song on the album and it's the only song with a notable lengthy. This is a quite different song on the album and it's also, without any doubt, the best and most progressive song on the album. It's a song with many similarities with songs of some other bands, in those times, such as The Doors, and particularly, it reminds me very strongly some songs of the early days of Strawbs.

Conclusion: Although 'Indelibly Stamped' be inferior and less progressive than their eponymous debut studio album 'Supertramp', and it's also very far away from be as good as their studio albums that belonging to their golden musical era, it's, in my humble opinion, a good album that deserves to be rated with 3 stars. However, it's also, without any doubt, the weakest studio album released by the group while Roger Hodgson was a band's member. Anyway, if you're a Supertramp's fan, even moderately, you might very well find something quite enjoyable here, because it has some interesting things to offer, I think. Despite some flubs and flaws, I still continue like it, really. Certainly it falls just short of being considered a great album, but it's definitely a good one, not prog but good. So let's be fair and give it 3 stars.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)