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50 years ago: Crime of the Century

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Steve Wyzard View Drop Down
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    Posted: October 23 2024 at 18:13
50 years ago this week, Supertramp's Crime of the Century album was released to a very unsuspecting public. Their previous 2 albums did have their advocates, and yet they were far from big sellers. The band was almost at "the end of their tether" when Crime was recorded in the obligatory "house in the country" during the spring and summer of 1974. Upon the album's release and hitting the road to promote it, they found they had struck a chord with listeners, first in Europe, and later in the USA. Suddenly they were in demand, and this almost in spite of utter contempt from most of the rock press.

Today the album remains in this site's Top 100 and the band is known worldwide. The Supertramp "sound" was unmistakenly established with Crime of the Century, and to many, all their future albums live in its shadow. As we celebrate the 50th, this would be a great time to share just what this album has meant to you, and how you first managed to discover it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nogbad_The_Bad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2024 at 18:22
Masterpiece, listened to it a ton back in my teenage years. One of my first albums I became engrossed in. Had a bunch of friends interested in rock, metal and the like. It was generally listened to in that crowd and at parties.

Edited by Nogbad_The_Bad - October 23 2024 at 18:23
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bj-1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2024 at 18:51
Masterpiece indeed, and one of my first albums as well. Got into Supertramp in general through 'The Very Best Of' collection when i was a kid, and 'Crime' really stuck with me later on. I think it's one of their best albums, probably THE best.. Approve
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MortSahlFan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2024 at 19:53
One of the greatest albums ever
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2024 at 21:40
Passsed me by completely but then at the time I was into maybe Queen, The Who and Wings and not a lot else. Supertramp only made an impression on me when they released the wonderful Logical Song but I still didn't go back and listen to Crime for many years. It's certainly the perfect 'art rock' album but not at all 'progressive rock' it was a million miles away from ELP, Yes and Genesis and no one would have positioned them with those bands. This was the era of bombast and Supertramp were not that BUT it was changing. Dark Side Of The Moon a year earlier had shown that the bombastic approach was not necessary to win over fans and perhaps a band that concentrated on the 'song' was more welcome. As Mr Bob Dillon would have it 'The Times They Are A Changing'. Good songs and the one of the best produced albums of all time is how I would sum it up. Kind of an interloper that doesn't belong but then that is part of its appeal. That feeling of not really 'belonging' is one that the band were really good at putting out and there were plenty of takers!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jared Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 24 2024 at 01:11
I'd have been about 15/16 (1983/4) when I discovered Supertramp and it, mainly as it was popular with a number of the girls in my social circle and got plays at various meet-ups.

I admit, my first impressions were that it was all a bit light and bubble gum compared to the Rush/Zep/Purple/Sab I listened to at the time, but I came to appreciate it far more in my early twenties, along with artists like Alan Parsons & BJH.

It remains a seminal album of its era and you are right, all their subsequent albums remain in its shadow.
Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Octopus II Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 24 2024 at 01:49
Fantastic album, and one which I play regularly. Smile
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Sean Trane Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 24 2024 at 02:08
First album bought with my own money age 11 (newspaper delivery) 

saw the astounding sleeve in the record shop next to our school, and the next day, I had money to tale it home

I played it transparent. Still one of my faves, and I spin it in the car during the holiday trip for my GF.


Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

It's certainly the perfect 'art rock' album but not at all 'progressive rock' it was a million miles away from ELP, Yes and Genesis and no one would have positioned them with those bands. This was the era of bombast and Supertramp were not that BUT it was changing. Dark Side Of The Moon a year earlier had shown that the bombastic approach was not necessary to win over fans and perhaps a band that concentrated on the 'song' was more welcome.

To each his own, but back then, in Central Canada (and North Am in general) COTC was certainly lumped in with all of those albums you mention.

Us kids/teens didn't feel the need to see what was pegged as "art rock" ("prog rock" was not really in our language back in those years) or not.


.


Edited by Sean Trane - October 24 2024 at 02:17
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jared Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 24 2024 at 02:29
Originally posted by Sean Trane Sean Trane wrote:

Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

It's certainly the perfect 'art rock' album but not at all 'progressive rock' it was a million miles away from ELP, Yes and Genesis and no one would have positioned them with those bands. This was the era of bombast and Supertramp were not that BUT it was changing. Dark Side Of The Moon a year earlier had shown that the bombastic approach was not necessary to win over fans and perhaps a band that concentrated on the 'song' was more welcome.

To each his own, but back then, in Central Canada (and North Am in general) COTC was certainly lumped in with all of those albums you mention.

Us kids/teens didn't feel the need to see what was pegged as "art rock" ("prog rock" was not really in our language back in those years) or not.

To be fair, I think you can both be right, as it's probably a cultural thing.  Certainly in the UK, Supertramp were far more associated with bands like Roxy Music, Be Bop, ELO, Queen and 10CC than they ever would have been with the prog giants... I'd never really heard the label 'Art Rock' used, but the bands grouped were definitely a brand of 'thinking man's Pop-Rock' set apart from Prog. 
Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mellotronwave Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 24 2024 at 06:44
I became an instant fan of this album and it still resists the test of time.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Heart of the Matter Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 24 2024 at 07:29
I began to love it when I first heard School on the radio, never stop since.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 24 2024 at 07:50
Hi,

This is one of the albums that Guy Guden played non-stop in his early days, because the station was more tuned into the hits and well known things than they were new bands and material ... he played the whole album more than once. 

It wasn't the only time guy did that ... same thing with Average White Band (at least one person called it trash !!!), Golden Earring (it's not rock'n'roll -- and Guy slowed the song and said ... who cares ... it's great music and re-started on the same spot -- song? Are You Receiving me? ... the same issue here all the time!!!), Gentle Giant, Gryphon, Fairport Convention, Manfred Mann's Earth Band ... his list is endless ... and no one here cares, anyway!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Grumpyprogfan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 24 2024 at 08:00
It's a decent album. I heard "Bloody Well Right" on the radio a lot. "School" is my favorite tune from the album. I haven't heard the entire album in decades.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Saperlipopette! Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 24 2024 at 08:56
Originally posted by moshkito moshkito wrote:

Hi,

This is one of the albums that Guy Guden played non-stop in his early days, because the station was more tuned into the hits and well known things than they were new bands and material ... he played the whole album more than once. 

It wasn't the only time guy did that ... same thing with Average White Band (at least one person called it trash !!!), Golden Earring (it's not rock'n'roll -- and Guy slowed the song and said ... who cares ... it's great music and re-started on the same spot -- song? Are You Receiving me? ... the same issue here all the time!!!), Gentle Giant, Gryphon, Fairport Convention, Manfred Mann's Earth Band ... his list is endless ... and no one here cares, anyway!
It's great that you could tune in to Guy Guden playing endless lists of music we/I can only dream of hearing on on any kind of radio station in this millennia. But I wasn't around back then. Even if I was I would have lived in the wrong country and wrong continent to experience it. So you're right; outside the "oh, wow cool, he played a full Gentle Giant album... that would never happen now" - I don't "care".
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Logan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 24 2024 at 09:42
I’ve heard the whole of Crime of the Century played on commercial radio in the 80s. My brother was a big fan of the album. I like Supertramp and this album but I have not listened to it much since the 80s into 90s. I do have it on CD in storage. This is one of those albums that I might have thought that every older brother would have in their collection at one time. Not that it matters, but I don’t think of it as Prog either. Art Rock or what I most likely would call classic rock. By the way, I considered myself lucky to have programs on UBC radio that played all sorts of unusual and quirky music. A lot of post-punk, first heard Pere Ubu there, some Henry Cow, Cardicas, maybe Slapp Happy.., I think Univers Zero,

Edited by Logan - October 24 2024 at 10:01
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mellotronwave Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 24 2024 at 10:21
^Agree , Sp is not a prog band per se.
Note that I never used the words 'prog rock' before about 20 years. probably like everyone here and who belongs to my generation
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 24 2024 at 10:44
Jeremy Clarkson:- "Hide in Your Shell is the finest piece of music ever written by a group of human beings."

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 24 2024 at 12:16
Originally posted by Saperlipopette! Saperlipopette! wrote:

 
...
It's great that you could tune in to Guy Guden playing endless lists of music we/I can only dream of hearing on on any kind of radio station in this millennia. But I wasn't around back then. Even if I was I would have lived in the wrong country and wrong continent to experience it. So you're right; outside the "oh, wow cool, he played a full Gentle Giant album... that would never happen now" - I don't "care".

Hi,

I think you missed the idea ... at the time, and it is getting to be exactly the same thing on PA and most "progressive" websites, the idea of something new and different is not going far enough for folks to get a decent ear to it.

I like it when so many folks post on PA in the new materials ... however, ... look at the bands that post links further down, and asking for comments ... AND NO ONE IS THERE!!!! That is the issue for me ... the newer folks don't have a chance ... and here we are saying that because one person played a whole album, that you have never heard on radio ... well, I know there are folks out there that do so ... but FOR ME the discovery is what makes it far out ... and I think that many folks don't know where to look, or find new sites ... and end up coming to PA, RYM or other places for ideas ... you must realize that in those days, we did not have the toob, and no one knew anything about anything new whatsoever ... so the discovery was far out ... but now ... everyone wants it sugar coated with a ranking, and then say that it would not happen now ... I am not sure you are correct on this, as I have been on the air on the Internet, and I not only played whole albums, I also played several hours of one band ... Caravan, Roxy Music, Man, Hawkwind, over 3 hours of ECM, Gong, gong Family and solos, Groundhogs, Can, Amon Duul 2, Guru Guru, Ange, Banco, PFM ... and I can't even remember them all ... somehow I lost a copy of those shows and even the web pages I made for them ... sadly enough!

In the end, it is all about your desire to hear something new that you have not heard before ... nothing else ... it's the only, and best way, to learn and appreciate new music.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Logan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 24 2024 at 12:28
I continue to discover music that is new-to-me and awesome for me from many decades. The internet is a wonderful thing and there are many paths to discovery. It's not about right ways or wrong ways, it's hopefully finding ways that work for the individual.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Saperlipopette! Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 24 2024 at 14:35
Originally posted by moshkito moshkito wrote:


In the end, it is all about your desire to hear something new that you have not heard before ... nothing else ... it's the only, and best way, to learn and appreciate new music.

Oh ok. I hear something new every day. Always. For years. It's never been easier. You just have to want to hear something new. And I do.
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