Crime of the Century (album)

For other uses, see Crime of the century (disambiguation).

Crime of the Century
Studio album by Supertramp
Released	September 1974
Recorded	Ramport Studios (South London), Scorpio Sound Studios (London), and Trident Studios (London) from February to June 1974
Genre	Progressive rock, art rock
Length	44:10
Label	A&M
Producer	Ken Scott and Supertramp
Supertramp chronology
Indelibly Stamped (1971) Crime of the Century (1974) Crisis? What Crisis? (1975)

Crime of the Century is the third album by the progressive rock band Supertramp, released in 1974. The album was Supertramp's first to feature its classic lineup and co-producer Ken Scott (who previously worked with David Bowie and The Beatles).

Recording

The album was recorded at a number of studios including Ramport Studios (owned by The Who) and Trident Studios. While recording the album, Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson recorded approximately 42 demo songs, from which only 8 were chosen to appear on the album. Several other tracks appeared on later albums (Crisis? What Crisis?, ...Famous Last Words....) Hodgson and Davies both stated that communication within the group was at a peak during the recording of this album, while drummer Bob Siebenberg stated that he thought it was this album on which the band hit its "artistic peak".

Lyrical concept

Crime of the Century is a concept album about a person named Rudy who becomes disillusioned with the educational system, his friends, and ultimately, with society in general. By the end of the album, it is revealed that the phrase "Crime of the Century" is in fact meant literally - i.e.it does not mean the most nefarious crime committed in the 20th Century, but the 20th Century's crime against the individual people living in its society.

In the first song, "School", Rudy becomes disillusioned with the educational system, which he perceives as conformist to the point of being soulless. He tries to convince his friends to fight against the system, but they prefer to benefit by conforming to it. In response, Rudy joins the local troublemakers, but in "Bloody Well Right", they ridicule his high-minded ideals; though they agree with him about the system's problems, their rebellion is driven by apathy, not idealism. Their scorn and lack of sympathy, combined with his other struggles, causes Rudy to be overcome by feelings of isolation in "Hide in Your Shell". He opts to shut himself off from other people rather than risk being hurt again. Someone - either a friend or a romantic interest - tries to get him to open up, but Rudy pushes him/her away out of fear.

As years go by, Rudy's self-imposed isolation and disillusionment with social conventions bring him to a mental breakdown, and he is committed to a psychiatric hospital. Treatment there restores him to a state where he can function in society, but leaves him in a deep existential crisis.

The album essentially climaxes in "Rudy", which, contrary to the conventions of popular music, has no repeated sections and instead flows through a series of short "movements". Rudy is at the height of his internal crisis: "Rudy's on a train to nowhere, halfway down the line". Referring to earlier songs on the album, including "School"("He ain't sophisticated, nor well-educated") and "Hide in Your Shell"("Someone said give, but I just didn't dare"), the song shows Rudy struggling to reconcile himself with the society he has scorned. However, the struggle ends full circle: "he'll soon be back on his train".

The story concludes in "If Everyone was Listening", in which Rudy mourns both what modern society has done to humanity and his own failure to find his place in the big picture. The last song, "Crime of the Century", is mostly instrumental; its brief lyrics serve only to summarize the message of the album.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Crime of the Century was Supertramp's first U.S. Top 40 album and was eventually certified Gold in the U.S. in 1977 after the release of Even in the Quietest Moments. The album, accompanied by the hit single Dreamer, also marked the first evidence of success for the band in the United Kingdom; Crime of the Century itself reaching Number One on the album chart there in 1975, and Dreamer number nine on the singles chart the same year.

In 1978, Crime of the Century was ranked 108th in The World Critic Lists, which recognised the 200 greatest albums of all time as voted for by notable rock critics and DJs.^[2] In the 1987 edition of the publication, CBC's Geoff Edwards ranked Crime of the Century the 10th greatest album of all time.^[2] A 1998 public poll, aggregating the votes of more than 200,000 music fans, saw Crime of the Century voted among the all-time top 1000 albums,^[3] and it was listed in the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.^[4]

Many of the songs on the album are still staples of the band's shows ("School", "Bloody Well Right", "Rudy", and the title cut). Almost all of the album appears on the band's 1980 live album Paris although the tracks which featured orchestrations on the studio versions ("Asylum", "Rudy", and "Crime of the Century") were replaced by string synthesizers or Oberheim synthesizers, which were played mainly by John Helliwell with some help from Roger Hodgson.^{[citation needed]}

Track listing

All songs written by Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies.

Side one

1. "School" – 5:35 (Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies)
2. "Bloody Well Right" – 4:32 (Lead vocals: Rick Davies)
3. "Hide in Your Shell" – 6:49 (Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson)
4. "Asylum" – 6:45 (Lead vocals: Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson)

Side two

1. "Dreamer" – 3:31 (Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies)
2. "Rudy" – 7:17 (Lead vocals: Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson)
3. "If Everyone Was Listening" – 4:04 (Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson)
4. "Crime of the Century" – 5:32 (Lead vocals: Rick Davies)

Release history

The first release was on vinyl by A&M Records in 1974. In 1977 it became the first pop music LP title re-issued by the audiophile label Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab. A&M released it as one of their first CDs as part of their "Audio Master Plus" series in the 1980s. Mobile Fidelity also released its own remastered CD version on a gold disc as part of its "Ultradisc" series also in the 1980s.

A new remastered CD version of the album was released by A&M in 1997 followed by a different remaster on 11 June 2002. The newer A&M remasters feature all of the album art restored plus credits and full lyrics which were missing from some earlier editions. Both 1997 and 2002 A&M reissues were mastered from the original master tapes by Greg Calbi and Jay Messina at Sterling Sound, New York, in 1997 and 2002. The reissues were supervised by Bill Levenson with art direction by Vartan and design by Mike Diehl, with production coordination by Beth Stempel.

Both the 1997 and 2002 remasters are heavily criticised by audiophiles who claim they were mastered "too loud" as part of the "loudness war" mastering trend. The 1997 remaster has all tracks peaking at 100 percent, significantly altering the original dynamic range of the recording and effectively adding new distortion to the sound. The 2002 edition is not quite as loud but still has much of the same effect.

The album was re-issued in 2010 by the German audiophile label Speaker's Corner as a 180 gram vinyl LP. This version has received praise from collectors for its outstanding sound and faithfulness to the original packaging. It has none of the dynamic range compression applied to the recent A&M remastered CD versions.

Personnel

Supertramp

• Bob C. Benberg – drums, percussion
• Roger Hodgson – vocals, guitar, pianos
• John Anthony Helliwell – saxophones, clarinets, vocals
• Dougie Thomson – bass
• Richard Davies – vocals, keyboards, harmonica

Other performers

• Christine Helliwell – Backup vocals on "Hide in Your Shell"
• Vicky Siebenberg – Backup vocals on "Hide in Your Shell"
• Scott Gorham – Backup vocals on "Hide in Your Shell"
• (Uncredited, unknown street musician) – Saw on "Hide in Your Shell"
• Ken Scott – Water gong on "Crime of the Century"

Production

Original Release

• Producers: Ken Scott and Supertramp
• Engineers: Ken Scott, John Jansen
• Original Vinyl Mastering: Ray Staff Trident Studios
• String arrangements: Richard Hewson
• Cover design and photography: Paul Wakefield
• Art direction: Fabio Nicoli

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1975	Billboard Pop Albums	38
	UK Albums Chart	4[5]

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1975	"Bloody Well Right"	Pop Singles (Billboard – North America)	35
	"Dreamer"	UK Singles Chart	13[5]

References

1. ^ link
2. ^ ^{a b} The World Critic Lists. 1978. Archived at rocklistmusic.co.uk
3. ^ Virgin: All-time top 1000 albums. Archived at rocklistmusic.co.uk
4. ^ 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
5. ^ ^{a b} Supertramp in the UK Charts, The Official Charts. Retrieved July 26, 2011.

External links

• Supertramp.com – official website
• RogerHodgson.com – co-founder/former co-frontman of Supertramp