Supertramp - "Crime of the Century" (1974)

Until 7-8 years ago, I was quite negative towards Supertramp. I had not really heard anything with them, and thought they were a cheesy, super commercial, disco band, who performed songs for the 70's dance floor. Maybe a little like Boney M. It was probably the name that gave me the idea, I thought it sounded like a disco name.

Oh, so wrong I was, and so much good music I missed. Crime of the Century was the third album by the band and their breakthrough, the music is often defined as prog and / or artrock, and i.e. got the 28th spot on Rolling Stone's list of best prog albums of the time. Definitions is a difficult science, and personally I wouldn't put the label 'prog' on this album. Qualitative pop / rock, I think describes it well enough.

The album has consistently good songs, Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson officially share the composing, even though they worked quite individually in reality. The songs often consist of parts that differ quite clearly from each other, but therefore you get a nice variation. They wander a bit like a creek, a little to the left, a little to the right, but undoubtedly the same creek all the time. It is by no means messy, every song has a clear wholeness. The album offers lots of sweeping choruses, and the songs are generally quite epic, what that ever means. I'm a sucker for these things, so I fall for the album.

It has a clear 70s sound, but it still feels fresh. Lots of piano and nice singing gives me Elton John vibes, did he sound like this in the 70s? It is said that he did some groovy stuff then, I haven't heard it, am quite negative against Elton John's music. Have apparently not learned the lesson.


Tracklist

Side A
1. School 5:35
2. Bloody Well Right 4:32
3. Hide In Your Shell 6:49
4. Asylum 6:45

Side B
1. Dreamer 3:31
2. Rudy 7:17
3. If Everyone Was Listening 4:04
4. Crime of the Century 5:30

Marillion - "Clutching At Straws" (1987)

One of my military service buddies sometimes played Marillion in the barracks, and often claimed it was the world's most underrated band. It became one of few lessons I brought home with me from my year in the military. Marillion was a pretty unknown band for me, but I liked what I heard and in the collection there are now a bunch of Marillion albums, almost all on CD (purchased in the 90's, vinyl was out in the cold).

Marillion was one of prog's fan bearers in the 80's, and only that fact deserve them respect. Compared with eg Rush, another prog metal band also active then, Marillion is more in the same niche as Genesis, while Rush is harder, more metal. Before I got to know Marillion a bit better, I thought they were a heavy metal band in the same spirit as Iron Maiden. Mostly because I saw the band name sprayed on walls, and only metal heads did that.

Clutching At Straws was their fourth album, and the last the singer Fish participated in. It's like several of their records, a conceptual album. It's about Torch, who sings in a band and has serious alcohol problems. It's a good album. I'm childishly fond of bombastic choruses, and epic, winding songs. Marillion offers all that without being ashamed. Only the chorus in Slàinte Mhath is worth a purchase of the record, and Marillion's albums are found cheaply, sadly underestimated as they are.

Rocky, progressive music, more accessible than much of 70's prog, that's Clutching At Straws. The music has a more modern touch than prog's earlier incarnations, and Marillion generated regular hits, so it's not difficult music.


Tracklist

Side A
1. "Hotel Hobbies" - 3:35
2. "Warm Wet Circles" - 4:25
3. "That Time of the Night" - 6:00
4. "Just for the Record" - 3:09
5. "White Russian" - 6: 27

Side B
1. "Incommunicado" - 5:16
2. "Torch Song" - 4:05
3. "Slàinte Mhath" - 4:44 "
4. "Sugar Mice" - 5:46
5. "The Last Straw" - 5:58