Track Listing

1. School
2. Goodbye Stranger
3. The Logical Song
4. Bloody Well Right
5. Breakfast In America
6. Rudy
7. Take The Long Way Home
8. Crime Of The Century
9. Dreamer
10. Ain't Nobody But Me
11. Hide In Your Shell
12. From Now On
13. Give A Little Bit
14. It's Raining Again
15. Cannonball

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #742 in Music
• Released on: 2001-12-11
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered

Amazon.com
In the midst of the late 1970s punk/new wave revolution, England's Supertramp tore a page from the Genesis playbook, suffusing their previously overwrought prog-rock influences and bittersweet hippie optimism gone sour with muscular pop hooks. They eventually became one of the world's foremost rock acts--and later a rich source for contemporary TV commercial music. But while Supertramp peaked quickly, they nonetheless spawned at least two bona fide classic albums--Crime of the Century and Breakfast in America--and a slate of FM radio staples, all of which are included on this near 80-minute anthology. Fully three-quarters of Crime is represented, and rightly so. That 1974 album both stripped down and reinvented the band's sound, centering it around the songs of Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson, pulsing electric piano chords, and distinctively reedy vocals on tense, spare songs like "Bloody Well Right" and "Dreamer." But by the time of the multiplatinum Breakfast, they had refined their edgy prog sensibility to virtual extinction with well-crafted pop hits like "The Logical Song" and "Take the Long Way Home." This well-chosen collection spans a decade, but focuses intently on the five great years that cemented Supertramp's reputation. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Pure Pop Rock Heaven
Supertramp was definitely an anomaly in the late 70's musical landscape. They were really too pop to be considered rock, too rock to be considered pure pop, too mainstream to be considered progressive, too quirky and avant garde to be considered mainstream, not quirky and avant garde enough to be considered new wave or punk. And like any great band with a signature sound, they experienced their peak popularity at a time when they were TOTALLY out of place with the predominant music of the time (disco). Now that over 20 years has passed since "Breakfast In America", we can conveniently classify them as "classic rock", but they definitely defied categorization in their heyday. Listening to the tracks from "Crime of the Century", you can definitely sense a jazz and R&B influence woven into their take on progressive rock that made them stand out from the more arty and guitar rock trappings of bands like Genesis, Yes, and King Crimson. Their style evolved over the course of several albums to become something purely their own, a sound which thankfully was never ripped off by a slew of wannabes. One reviewer of BIA classified their sound as almost "carnival-like", which makes sense even though it's not a conventional description. But then few things about Supertramp were convenitional. From the vocals of Roger Hodgson (the nasal-y voiced one) to the viscous sax of John Halliwel, to the jazzy-staccato electric piano work of Rick Davies (also their other lead vocalist - the deeper voiced one), this was a band that had several distinct trademarks.

This collection does indeed copy the running order of the previous best-of "Classics Vol. 9", but ups the ante three different ways:

(1) It adds the track "School"
(2) It digitally remasters all the songs ("Take The Long Way Home" in particular sounds absolutely pristine)
(3) it includes the full-length versions of all songs.

The anemic "Classics Vol 9" included shamelessly edited versions of "Take The Long Way Home" (the intro is what really made the tune cool) and "Goodbye Stranger", which upset me so much I immediately carted it off to the second-hand CD store. I bet on the fact that a better compilation would come along eventually, and my wish came true. There's hardly a hit missing here. If you're a fan of 70's rock, your collection is incomplete without "The Very Best of Supertramp"

A Super Compilation, but...
CONSUMER ALERT: A prior review by Terrence J Reardon claimed that this compilatation has the full length versions of the songs. THIS IS NOT TRUE ON ALL VERSIONS, that is there are at least TWO BEST OF's on the market. I purchase a copy from E-Shops on Amazon and received a South American printing. The tracks are the same as on the the 25th Anniversary classics edition. Goodbye Stranger still has a whole verse missing and the outro is dramaticly shorter. Same is true on Take The Long Way Home as the end fades out much too soon. All the other tracks run the same time as the albums they originally appear on. Only the US printing seems to have the full length versions. Both printings include includes School, a good track but you wouldn't miss it. If you don't have any Supertramp recordings, then you should defenitely get this (you really should have "Crime Of The Century" and "Breakfast In America" anyway as they should be heard in their entirety, truly classics). If you have the 25th A&M Anniversary copy of Supertramp Classic, then it's worth replacing. Just make sure you're getting the right version of The Very Best Of Supertramp. If the timing on "Goodbye Stranger" is under five minutes, then it's the bad one (It should run 5:40). "Cannonball" should be over 7 minutes too.

Loved it
This album is near perfect. It's loaded with hits and is very fun to just sit back and listen to. I bought it for some key songs, such as "Take the Long Way Home" and "The Logical Song" which gets lots of radio play. Ever since I got it I can't stop listening to it, its just an all around great CD. Supertramp's music is both unique in the melody and vocals alike, and none of their songs are annoying and tiresome like many other artist out there. But one thing you have to take into consideration with a greatest hits album is how the tracks are put together. That is why I gave this a 4 out of 5. I would have mixed the tracks differently, I thought "Goodbye Stranger" should have been closer to the end and maybe "Breakfast in America" should have been one of the fronts. But that stuff isn't that important, and it doesn't really take away from the CD at all. In closing, this compliation was very pleasing and a delight to listen to.