TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME - LIVE IN MONTREAL

I see that this DVD is rated very, very highly here at Prog Archives. I think the explanation for this is simple; only the truly hard core Roger Hodgson fans will buy a DVD like this. And me. I think that this DVD is good, but that's it. The performance is inspired, the sonic quality is very good, the songs chosen are great. But they are stripped bare here; Roger is basically alone on stage (he has a guy playing sax for him though). No drum kit in sight, no electric guitars, no bass, no backing vocals, nothing!

This DVD is a very personal statement by Roger. Indeed, way too personal! A bit egotistic even. This is even more apparent on the extra material where Roger felt he had to point out about ten times in the interviews how important he was for Supertramp and that he wrote most of the songs alone. Come on Roger!

For those hard core Roger Hodgson fans I was talking about however, this DVD is truly essential! For the average prog fan, however, this is certainly not an essential DVD. Not even for Supertramp fans is this essential. As I said, this is a very personal statement by Roger. A bit of a celebration of one man.

Roger Hodgson is a great singer/songwriter here - in the pop realm, and a great one man performer at that. The audience here love him, of course. But for people who want Supertramp or any kind of progressive rock this DVD is a let down. Both the progressive credentials and the rock credentials are highly questionable.

Good, but hardly essential for anyone but the hard core fans of this man.