Supertramp – Live in Paris ‘79

Supertramp was at all times a curious band. Showcasing inerrant pop songwriting values, the British group scored a powerful run of hits. The band’s sixth studio album, 1979’s Breakfast in America spawned three hit singles – “Goodbye Stranger,” “Take the Long Way Home” and “The Logical Song” – all of which soared to the Top 20 within the U.S. Those songs had been melodically wealthy and accessible within the excessive. But their success highlighted solely a part of what made the group outstanding.

From its early days, Supertramp was a musically formidable outfit, with sturdy progressive inclinations. Though the high-pitched vocals of Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson may convey a type of twee pop sensibility, Supertramp songs like “Bloody Well Right” from their 1974 LP Crime of the Century mixed that radio-ready catchiness with a heavier, rocking sound. Clever and creative music constructions served up prog and pop in equal measure. Even “Goodbye Stranger” alternates between Dylanesque vocal phrasing and a chirpy refrain.

Touring in help of Breakfast in America – their greatest success – Supertramp performed a run of dates that included reveals on the Pavillon de Paris; these concert events had been professionally recorded, and a dwell set titled Paris was compiled from one of the best of the tapes. Released as a stopgap throughout a interval when the group members had determined to take a break, the double-LP Paris climbed to the Top Ten in 9 international locations (together with the U.S. and UK), reaching the Top 20 in three others.

While it could inevitably function songs from Breakfast in America, the set record for the Pavillon de Paris present was particularly designed to spotlight the work Supertramp had carried out previous to their business breakthrough. Boiled all the way down to 86 minutes in order to suit on a pair of vinyl records, the next dwell album trimmed greater than half-hour from what may need been a whole doc of a dwell date.

A brand new set out there in 2CD and 3LP codecs, Live in Paris ‘79 makes issues entire once more. Drawn from two nights – December 1 and a couple of – the album options the group’s full set record from these dates. Songs from earlier – and on the time, lesser-known – Supertramp albums together with Crisis? What Crisis? (1975) and 1977’s Even within the Quietest Moments are showcased. As on the unique Paris set, the latter’s prolonged centerpiece “Fool’s Overture” is included, together with almost the whole thing of Supertramp’s artistic pinnacle, 1974’s Crime of the Century.

But it’s the six songs not included on the earlier 2LP launch that make Live in Paris ‘79 really particular. Three from Even within the Quietest Moments, two from Crisis and a Breakfast in America deep reduce (“Child of Vision”) spherical out the set. And whereas “Give a Little Bit” had been left off of Paris as a result of band members discovered their efficiency wanting, the model on the brand new set has the entire irresistible romantic appeal of the studio recording.

The enjoying and singing on the album are impeccable, and the manufacturing values are equally top-flight. Supertramp’s profitable mixture of complicated music construction and pop virtues is brilliantly highlighted on this archival launch. The group’s collectively heat and fascinating persona shines by way of in between-song banter (typically delivered in trying-their-best Française) and within the music.

While from a distance Live in Paris ‘79 could be considered merely an expanded model of the 1980 Paris launch, the truth is – particularly now that’s its on vinyl, and in spectacular sound high quality – it’s really a worthy substitute for that launch. It additionally serves as a superb overview of Supertramp’s prime-era work, one that ought to lead these new to the group’s music on a path of back-catalog discovery.

Vinyl

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April 16, 2025 at 11:58AM