5 Out Of 5 Stars
Cross the sonic pallet of Steely Dan with the English cleverness of 10cc (and a dash of Pink Floyd dread for added effect), and you have Supertramp's breakthrough formula for "Crime of The Century." This was the album where their progressive rock instincts of their arty early albums merged with a pop sense, meaning that many of the songs had great hooks and memorable melodies. This meant two things: They scored an American Hit with "Bloody Well Right" and a near miss with "Dreamer," and that this was one of the best sounding albums of 1974.
That didn't mean that Supertramp had turned into The Sweet. They still had it in them to stretch out on a jam like "Rudy" for seven plus minutes, or the orchestral overload of "Asylum." Like Pink Floyd, they took to investigating where the border between sanity and insanity balanced. "Asylum," "Hide In Your Shell" and "If Everyone Was Listening" are cries from a haunted soul (perhaps it belongs to Rudy). "Dark Side of The Moon" may have been a take on full-on madness, "Crime of The Century" wonders how you get there.That kind of thinking extended into other Supertramp albums (think of "Fool's Overture" on "Even in The Quietest Moments" or even the hit "The Logical Song"). However, it was the interplay of band leaders and chief songwriters Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson that made "Crime of The Century" such a thought provoking album, and it still sounds as sonically gorgeous now as it did when it pulled Supertramp into stardom.
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