Thurday, 18th, 2002: The day has finally arrived.

Barcelona, 9:00 a.m.

I meet Miguel Angel Candela at his house. We have in front of us more than 500 kms (300 miles) to reach Benidorm where Supertramp is starting the ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD tour.

Although the highway, it's a long road but we are well provided with CD's and tapes so we can listen to some music. At the same time, Jose Antonio Alvarez is leaving Granada, in the south of Spain. He has already some miles so we will probably meet at the same time around the bullring in Benidorm.

I've been looking for some city maps in the Internet and we finally arrive there safely around 3:00 pm. Bullring is a bullring. But that one does not seems to be a really big one. Full of posters announcing the concert (actually, the city is really full of giant posters...). We go to get the tickets and they say us it's nearly sold out. They wait for 9000 people.

We are able to see the stage, everything seems to be ready....so we decide to go and eat something in a Bar in front of the main entrance.

When we are having coffee we see the band arriving. First the musicians and later Rick. Well, at least they are in the city so it's going to be fine.
We can hear the sound check from outside...with a first surprise hearing something that's similar to "Give a Little Bit"...who is singing?

The show starts at 9:00 p.m. and the doors are open one hour and a half before. We reach the front line but after the first hundred people goes in nothing more happens...everything is nearly empty. We can hardly believe...9000 people?? There are 900 maximum. And the same until 20 minutes ago when people begin arriving. At 9:00 p.m. it's absolutely full.

The stage is a normal one. We can see there is a full video screen, not the little one of 97. Rick's wurlitzer, a grand piano, drums and percussion. Everything's ready.

At 9:15 "School" harmonica leads us to the beginning and the concert begins. I'm not a musical expert so I will not say if the bass is OK or percussion is bad...I don't know at all...but I can say everything sounds fantastic..specially drums.

"Slow Motion" live is really interesting and the same with "10th Avenue...". Piano solo in "AMW" is more or less the same we have in IWTBOT but the surprise comes after. Jesse Siebenberg performs a really nice version of Roger Hodgson's "Give a Little Bit"...I would prefer Roger but this is what we have...I won't make any comments because it's something really hard for me..but I'm there to listen so this is what I'm doing.

The show finishes with "Crime of The Century", as always, with a slightly different video version. It has been fantastic. Sorry for my short comment on the concert itself, but I can not remember too much about specific feelings. I use to sing everysong and try to live the moment so I use to forget....

Curiousity: I've been in a lot of Supertramp concerts. It's the first time I see Rick introducing John.

As a summary. I modestly think it's a better performance than in 97.

Then, at 2:00 in the morning we drive back to Barcelona and I'm going to bed at 7:30 a.m. when the rest of the people goes to work.

I'm happy...the tour has begun.

Rate: between 8 and 9 from my modest musical point of view.
Rate: 15/10 from my "fanatical" point of view

Jordi Sabater

Guardo un recuerdo agridulce de aquel concierto en el mini-estadi aquel verano del 83.
Yo era un joven veinteañero estudiando informática en la Universidad, y a pesar de que Supertramp era el grupo de mi corazón, apenas sabía nada de ellos.
Solo lo que se podía leer en los discos y algunos recortes de revistas de musica que cayó en mis manos.
Pero Supertramp era como un grupo fantasma. Aparte de que vendían millones de discos y sonaban mucho por la radio, nadie en la radio ni en la televisión (mis únicas fuentes de información en aquella época) te contaba nada de ellos. Solo se conocía su música y el nombre de los componentes.

Era una situación muy extraña, comparada con otras bandas o artistas importantes de esa época.
De hecho yo estuve convencido durante muchos años que eran americanos, pues su música tan sofisticada me hacía suponer que tendrían que ser de allí, además de que el disco "Indelebly stamped" suena tan americano (folk/country) como el que más.

Me llevé un shock el día que descubrí que eran ingleses años después .... (en aquellos tiempos no hablaba inglés y no sabía reconocer la diferencia entre el acento inglés y el americano)

Lo peor fué que días antes del concierto, en el artículo de El Periodico sobre la gira de Supertramp, me enteré que esta gira era la despedida de Roger Hodgson, un gran jarro de agua fría para mi, pues intuía que eso significaba la disolución del sueño que me había acompañado tantos años, como así fué en realidad.

Por tanto mi estado de ánimo ante el concierto era algo triste, sabiendo lo que significaba. Pero también una gran ilusión de ver en directo a la banda que adoraba, y justo al lado de mi casa !!! ( a unos metros ....)

Las espectativas que yo tenía eran inmensas, por lo que me habían comentado y había leído (era una mega-gira donde llenaban estadios en todo el mundo) pero a la hora de la verdad salí algo decepcionado. Esperaba algo más de calidad y potencia en el sonido y un mejor show en el aspecto visual.
En aquel tiempo estaban de moda los macro-conciertos, y la verdad, esperaba algo más. Lo encontré muy flojo en varios aspectos tratándose de la banda de moda del momento y comparando con lo que hacían otras bandas.

Para mi quedó claro que la sofistificación de sus grabaciones no se plasmaba en sofistificación en las giras. Y cuando vi a los Pink Floyd en directo todavía me quedó más claro esto, una diferencia abismal.
Yo me enamoré de la música de Supertramp cuando la descubrí en el año 76, y por tanto en el 83 ya llevaba "toda una vida" disfrutando de su música,que escuchaba a todas horas.
Para mi era y sigue siendo, excepcional. Una gran combinación de talento, ironía, misticismo, melodías y cambios maravillosos, pequeñas historias hechas música, practicamente música clásica trasportada a nuestros tiempos modernos.
Para la gira anunciaban miles de watios de luz y sonido, con lo cual el espectáculo sería fantástico.

El concierto era al aire libre en el mini-estadio del Barcelona (el estadio pequeño, de unos 20 mil espectadores)
Las entradas que teníamos eran en la grada opuesta al escenario, por tanto enfrente del escenario pero a mucha distancia. Buena visión del escenario pero imposible verles las caras..... nunca he vuelto a tomar unas entradas así....
(además en aquellos tiempos no se ponían pantallas de TV para el público como ahora)

Primero tuvimos que "sufrir" un larguísmo concierto de "Chris de Burg", que se me hizo interminable. No es que fueran malos (recuerdo por ejemplo que tocaron su éxito del momento "Don't pay the ferryman", y una bonita versión de "Here's come the sun" ) pero es que no iba a verles a ellos !!!

Tras la larga espera empezaron los Supertramp, y la verdad en el primer tema, Crazy, sonaban muy mal, muchos ecos desde los edificios colindantes, sonaba todo caótico, nada homogéneo ni claro. Primera decepción. Mi hermano mayor me dijo que era normal que al principio sonaran mal hasta que ajustaran el sonido (a mi no me parecía normal....con tanta tecnología) pero la verdad no mejoró mucho a lo largo del concierto. Posiblemente el sitio al aire libre y con edificios alrededor no ayudaba.

Otro de los puntos flojos, pero que ya sabía gracias al disco "Supertramp en Paris" de 1980, es que no trasportaban al directo las preciosas orquestaciones de sus discos (sobre todo en Crime, Crisis y Even in the quietest moments).
Solo se limitaban a mal-imitarlas con burdos sonidos de sinte, muy pobre. En esa época ya se podían hacer sonidos de strings muy buenos con los sintes, pero por algún extraño motivo Supertramp se limitó a usar pobres sonidos sintéticos. ( y así lo han seguido haciendo hasta nuestros días )
Repito, una simple comparación con Pink Floyd y te salen los colores...

Respecto a la presencia del escenario, con los focos en grandes pirámides invertidas y predominancia de colores rosas/purpuras, me pareció muy ñoño y pasado de época. Me esperaba algo más moderno e impactante.

En fin, que no lo disfruté como me hubiera gustado. Aunque seguro que muchos de vosotros guardáis distintos recuerdos de esa velada, y si me los haceis llegar os los publicaré aquí.

Sobre el concierto en sí, hace ya 25 años, recuerdo cosas sueltas, pequeños flases, y lo demás se me ha ido olvidando.
Recuerdo los videos del tren en "Rudy" y los videos que acompañaban a "Fool's overture" y "Child of vision", la primera vez que los veía. El de "Rudy" era y es hoy dia impactante junto con la música.
Pero el mejor el video del firmamento estrellado de "Crime of the Century" al final del concierto. Grandioso.
Además habían colocado cientos de bombillitas en los asientos vacíos de las gradas tras el escenario, y el efecto de firmamento era aún más bonito. Para mi el mejor momento de la noche. Por desgracia era el final.....

También recuerdo unos potentes grupos de focos enfocados dirfectamente hacia el público que te cegaban y que solo se encendieron en los últimos compases de "Dreamer", precisamente cada vez que Roger decía la palabra "Dreamer". Genial.

Para el resto de temas no había nada especial, solo juegos de luces.
También se me quedó grabado el coro final en "Hide in your shell" (unos jovenes vestidos con traje y sombrero de copa)
Quien me iba a decir que yo iba a hacer precisamente eso para Roger Hodgson 18 años después !!!

Hicieron un repaso a sus éxitos y algunos temas del nuevo disco "Famous last words"· Evidentemente no lo podían tocar todo, pero fué bastante completo.

Si uno ha visto giras posteriores, ya sin Roger, habrá observado que han mantenido este esquema de concierto por los siglos de los siglos. Los mismos videos, ni uno más. Las luces, las justitas. Escenario: tela negra. en fin, muy pobre.
Por suerte nos queda su música....

Miguel Angel Candela

La nostalgia de Supertramp en A Coruña ante un Coliseum a medio aforo

• Supertramp inició la gira que conmemora sus 40 años sobre los escenarios
• Unas 5.000 personas recordaron los temas que marcaron varias generaciones
• La voz de Roger Hodgson se echó de menos en los temas más reconocibles
• El alto coste del concierto no fue compensado ante un Coliseum medio vacío

Supertramp invoca a la nostalgia con su repertorio mítico

El grupo celebró su 40.º aniversario ante 5.000 personas en el Coliseo de A Coruña

Autor:Javier Becerra    Localidad:  A Coruña/la voz.  Fecha de publicación: 12/9/2010

Supertramp no Pavilhão Atlântico, Lisboa

Banda britânica aqueceu esta noite a alma dos fãs saudosos. Os êxitos estiveram todos lá, em duas horas de concerto... Faltou só mesmo Roger Hodgson.

A expectativa era muita e os fãs acorreram à chamada em peso. Os britânicos Supertramp voltaram este ano à estrada e uma das paragens foi o Pavilhão Atlântico, em Lisboa, que assistiu emocionado esta noite a uma prestação competente (por vezes monótona, dizemos nós) da banda de "Breakfast in America" e "Dreamer".

Faltavam dez minutos para a hora marcada e ainda eram grandes as filas, ordeiras, para entrar na sala maior da sala de espetáculos à beira Tejo. Ao nosso lado, alguém se queixava de nunca ter encontrado um cenário assim, "nem no concerto de Santana, nem sequer no dos Metallica", o que denotou desde cedo que a faixa etária que acorreu esta noite ao Pavilhão Atlântico era bem mais elevada que o habitual. A média só seria "estragada" por todos os filhos que acompanharam os pais neste regresso ao passado.

A sala maior do Pavilhão Atlântico estava praticamente lotada quando, 15 minutos depois da hora prevista para o início do concerto, as luzes se apagaram. Tudo a postos para o festim das recordações. O palco bastante simples punha a tónica na música - os Supertramp não estavam ali para brincar. Foram poucas as vezes que as cortinas no fundo do palco se afastaram para a exibição de vídeos e os ecrãs laterais também estiveram desligados boa parte do espetáculo.

"You Started Laughing" abriu o concerto, com a voz de Rick Davies a ecoar pela sala. "Gone Hollywood" manteve o registo calmo de um início a meio gás, com imagens de Los Angeles "by night" a distraírem-nos, entre néons de "Nude girls" e estrelas do passeio da fama. A balança lá foi pendendo entre o rock e o jazz, com muitos solos à mistura (piano de Davies e saxofone de John Helliwell a revezarem-se no protagonismo), mas os aplausos só se tornaram mais intensos quando finalmente o vocalista se dirigiu pela primeira vez à plateia, depois de "Ain't Nobody But Me", para dizer: "Boas noites, Lisboa. Estamos muito felizes por vos vermos de novo. Obrigado por virem. Portugal é um lugar lindíssimo e que comida fantástica têm aqui".

Uma piada sobre bacalhau serviu depois de introdução a "Breakfast in America" que, como todos os grandes sucessos da banda originalmente cantados por Roger Hodgson (que não faz parte desta reunião dos Supertramp), seria apresentado por Jesse Siebenberg. Os aplausos que seguiram não deixavam sombra de dúvida: o público estava a marimbar-se completamente para quem canta, o que interessa são mesmo as canções. Quase de seguida chegaria "Poor Boy", mas ao fim de meia hora de concerto o tédio parecia querer instalar-se (seríamos os únicos a notar?). A melancolia dos grandes solos não matou, mas moeu bastante.

"Não sabia que sabiam cantar! Cantam muito bem", bajulou Davies o público antes de voltar a entregar as vocalizações a Siebenberg, munido de guitarra acústica, para "Give a Little Bit", mais um previsível momento alto do concerto. Em "Rudy", Davies brincou com o piano e levou o comboio a bom porto com ajuda de um coro competente, mas foi com "It's Raining Again" que as emoções voltaram a ficar alvoroçadas.

A harmónica deu um colorido agradável ao gingão "Take the Long Way Home" e já bem perto do final do corpo principal do espetáculo ouviram-se ainda as camadas instrumentais de "Bloody Well Right" (solo de saxofone de Helliwell muito aplaudido), a nostálgica "The Logical Song", que levou o Pavilhâo Atlântico ao rubro, e já depois das apresentações e despedidas um final em alta com "Goodbye Stranger". Aplausos de pé durante alguns minutos seguiram-se, sem esmorecer, até a banda voltar para um curto, mas eficiente, encore.

"School" trouxe a harmónica de volta, mas foi com "Dreamer" que tudo dançou em direcção ao grande final - palmas descompassadas, como é hábito - que aconteceria ao som do épico "Crime of the Century". Revista de uma ponta à outra, a carreira dos Supretramp subiu ao palco esta noite e o público lisboeta agradeceu, saindo de alma cheia (o que importa, afinal, se a voz de Jesse Siebenberg não é tão boa quanto a de Hodgson?).


Texto de: Mário Rui Vieira
Fotos de: Rita Carmo/Espanta Espíritos

The first name of the band in 1969 was "DADDY".
The name SUPERTRAMP cames to Rick Davies inspired in a book that Richard Palmer was reading at that time,
called "Autobiography of a Supertramp" by W.H. Davies (don't confuse with Rick Davies !! ) Early 1970.
And that was the definitive name for the band for their first album in July 1970.


La formación inicial de Supertramp en 1969 se llamó "DADDY".
El nombre de SUPERTRAMP se le ocurrió a Rick Davies inspirado en un libro que estaba leyendo Richard Palmer,
llamado "Autobiography of a Supertramp" de W.H. Davies (¡¡ no confundir con Rick Davies !! ) Era a principios de 1970.
Y ese fué el nombre definitivo del grupo a partir de 1970 para su primer disco (Los Supervagabundos) publicado en Julio.

Welcome !
I guess you know Supertramp, the band and their albums, and, you would like to know, in a quick view, what's available around the world apart from the official discography.
Congratulations !! You are in the right place !!
After many years in touch with the band and the fans, exchanging material over the years, I was able to list all the material, both Audio and Video recordings.

Obviously I've listed the more interesting, best (or acceptable) quality, aired on radio and TV the most.
I didn't included lot of audience-recordings I got due to the bad quality and low representative.
If you love the band, this is much more than you need, for sure.
All this is not too difficult to get thanks to teh Internet, just exchanging material with other fans, forums.
There are a lot in Youtube also. You don't need to buy things to a collectors. All this material is shared by the fans.

I've classified it in two areas:
Supertramp (with and without Roger) and Roger Hodgson (after Supertramp)

SUPERTRAMP

SUPERTRAMP Video Footage

SUPERTRAMP Audio rare recordings

ROGER HODGSON

ROGER HODGSON Video Footage

ROGER HODGSON Audio rare recordings

ROGER HODGSON Other works

¡ Bienvenidos !
Se supone que sabeis bastante sobre Supertramp, el grupo y su discografía, y os gustaría saber de un vistazo qué os que corre por ahí además de la discografía oficial.
Felicidades !! Habeis caído en el sitio perfecto !!
Tras muchos años en contacto con la banda y con fanse intercambiando material, he podido elaborar esta exhaustiva lista de todo lo que han dado de si tanto en Audio como en Video.

Evidentemente aquí he relatado todo lo más interesante y de mejor calidad, emitido por radio y TV la mayoría.
No he incluido muchas grabaciones privadas que han llegado a mis manos por su baja calidad o poca representatividad. Si os gusta la banda, esto es mucho mas que suficiente.
Todo esto es relativamente fácil de conseguir con un poco de interés intercambiando con fans en foros de Internet.
También hay mucho de esto en Youtube.
No necesitais acudir a coleccionistas a gastaros los dineros. Todo este material está muy repartido entre los fans y nadie posee nada en exclusiva.

Lo he separado en dos partes: Supertramp (con y sin Roger) y Roger Hodgson (tras Supertramp).

 MAC

Source: SOUNDandSOUND

CLASSIC TRACKS: Supertramp‘s 'Logical Song'
Producers: Supertramp, Peter Henderson
Engineer: Peter Henderson
Studios: The Village Record, Crystal Studios

Producer and engineer Peter Henderson spent nine months recording an album that neither he nor the A&M label could afford to fail. Yet when he handed in the masters, Henderson was convinced that Supertramp's Breakfast In America would finish his career...

Richard Buskin

Peter Henderson started out as an assistant at AIR Studios on Oxford Street in 1973, and quickly teamed up with Grammy Award-winning engineer Geoff Emerick, who served as his mentor over the next couple of years. During that time, Henderson also worked with other seasoned pros such as Bill Price and John Punter, yet it was Emerick who taught him the fundamentals, from recording vocals to entire orchestras, while working with artists such as America and Robin Trower.

"When I began working with Geoff the standard was 16-track," Henderson recalls. "He would put two [Coles] 4038 ribbon mics over the drums and wouldn't even mic the toms. There'd be [an AKG] D90 on the snare and probably [an AKG] D12 on the bass drum, and that was it. There wasn't even a hi-hat mic. We had Neve consoles and Fairchild limiters, and everything leaned towards performance. I remember one of my first engineering jobs, working with Paul McCartney on Wings At The Speed Of Sound [1976] — he'd do two vocal takes and ask, 'Which is the better one?' And when he played guitar, he'd really lean into it and give it everything he got. Well, Geoff was very much like that. Everything had to be performed, and he'd always say that he liked the sound to jump out of the speakers."

That having been said, Peter Henderson's very first engineering gig was alongside another Beatles alumnus, producer George Martin, on the 1976 Jeff Beck album Wired. "I listened to that a few years later and it sounded like it had been recorded direct to cassette," Henderson remarks. "I don't think it was one of my finer moments. The thing is, when you started off at AIR, you'd usually spend about 18 months assisting and then overnight you would become an engineer. You'd do adverts and record orchestras, and as time went on you'd be trusted to work with better and better artists."

Going South

After engineering Supertramp's Even In The Quietest Moments and Frank Zappa's Sheik Yerbouti, Henderson went freelance in 1978 and co-produced the Climax Blues Band's Gold Plated and a Tubes live album. The following year he nabbed his biggest album production credit to date, collaborating with Supertramp on Breakfast In America. "Geoff Emerick had been asked to engineer Even In The Quietest Moments, and when he couldn't do it I ended up doing the recording and he ended up doing the mix," Henderson explains. "Then I was asked to engineer the follow-up, and ended up co-producing with the band."

By 1978, Supertramp — then comprising keyboardist/vocalist Rick Davies and his songwriting partner, guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Roger Hodgson, together with vocalist/saxophonist/woodwind player John Helliwell, bass player Dougie Thomson and drummer Bob Siebenberg — already had five albums behind them, and hit singles like 'Dreamer', 'Bloody Well Right' and 'Give A Little Bit'. Courtesy of producer Ken Scott and concert sound engineer Russell Pope, the British five-piece had established a reputation for lush, catchy, carefully crafted pop, and it was in the middle of a post-tour break that Roger Hodgson wrote the lyrics to 'The Logical Song', a wistful four-minute ode to separation from the simple, innocent joys of childhood and the confusion this engenders. It was just one of nine new compositions demoed at Southcombe Studios, a rehearsal space within the band's management office in Burbank, California, during late April and early May of 1978.

"I went to LA thinking we were going to start recording, but nothing was quite ready, so we ended up doing very, very basic eight-track demos for the whole album," Peter Henderson recalls. "As it turned out, this was a good opportunity to work out the arrangements for most of the backing tracks — 'Take The Long Way Home' wouldn't arrive until much later in the project — and we even assembled the running order for the album. We were pretty organised.

"The home demos of each song were pretty much all keyboard-based — vocal and piano or vocal and Wurlitzer — and then [at Southcombe] the whole band would run through them. However, by the time we completed the eight-track demos, we didn't have any of the parts that would be overdubbed on the finished record. We just worked on the live backing tracks and overdubbed the guide vocals."

Village Life

Next stop was Studio B at the Village Recorder in West LA, housed within a Masonic temple and featuring a 48-channel Harrison console, as well as two Ampex 1200 24-track machines. The band members all gathered there on the first day, yet Peter Henderson didn't show — while driving to the studio from Topanga Canyon, he and his new wife were involved in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. Fortunately, nobody was too badly injured, and Peter eventually turned up at the Village Recorder with two enormous black eyes. "I looked like I'd been in the ring with Muhammad Ali," he says. "It wasn't the best of starts, but we were very lucky to get off so lightly."

The delayed start was then compounded by a week-long effort to determine the desired sound setup, which involved positioning the drums in various parts of the room, experimenting with mics and even trying out three different grand pianos.

"We weren't going to start recording until everything was just right," Henderson says. "No one was prepared to compromise on anything, and although I remember the management raising their eyebrows, I really think it paid off in terms of the results. That having been said, we took this approach because we didn't want to spend a lot of time on the mix, but as it happens the mixing process was quite laboured and we did actually run into some difficulties."

In 1978, the Village Recorder's Studio B comprised a control room facing the wooden-floored live area and adjoining drum booth at the far end. For 'The Logical Song', the backing track consisted of Bob Siebenberg's drums, positioned close to the main room's left-hand wall; Dougie Thomson playing bass, also in the live room; Rick Davies on the right side of the live room, playing a Clavinet part that was subsequently mixed out; Roger Hodgson's Wurlitzer electric piano, placed in the drum booth; and John Helliwell's sax, played in that smallest room of all, the toilet.

"John kept moaning about his lot, but I think he actually quite enjoyed it," asserts Henderson. The same setup largely applied to all of the tracks, and about two or three days were expended on each song.

"We'd get the sound, do a couple of takes and then take half an hour off while Russell Pope and I would tune the drums with Bob," Henderson recalls. "Russell was another ear, almost part of the band, so we'd go in there while Bob was having a breather and change a few things. The whole idea was to get a really good band performance, and I think the backing tracks we got were terrific. Everything was fresh, and that's what I liked about the album — even though it ended up taking about nine months to complete, there's still a really, really vibrant, fresh feel to the tracks. For instance, on the song 'Child Of Vision' the entire grand piano solo was live, and across the whole record we did get to keep a lot of stuff that never needed to be redone. It was just five people playing in a room. There were no click tracks and there was no splicing of the backing tracks."

DIAGRAM
The layout of Village Recorder Studio B during the
band recordings for Supertramp's Breakfast In America.

A Relaxed Schedule

After each backing track had been completed, a slave reel was made with the drums bounced down from nine tracks to four, comprising bass drum, snare, cymbals and toms. Within four weeks, the live band sessions were at an end and the multitracks were put away until the mix. However, since said mix would take about four weeks and the overall project about nine months, that leaves seven months for overdubbing... That's right, seven months.

"Considering how much we'd actually managed to achieve, I do have to say the overdubbing took a long time," Henderson admits. "After we'd bounced down and made a slave for all the songs, we then began working on the missing parts. With vocals, we would try one, and if it worked that was great, and if it didn't, we'd come back to it later. Again, it was always about trying to get a fresh performance and not over-labouring. We'd spend a lot of time getting sounds, particularly guitar sounds, and then return to a vocal and try doing it again."

Again, the Neumann U47 came into play for Roger Hodgson's lead vocals, recorded through an 1176, and although Peter Henderson would have normally opted to use a Fairchild limiter, none was available at the Village Recorder. Hodgson double-tracked his vocal lines and took care of the backing harmonies, and this was the case for the choruses and third verse of 'The Logical Song' while verses one and two remained single-tracked. Still, he felt that something extra was needed to lift the number. He just didn't know what. Only towards the very end of the project did the answer come his way.

"Rick came up with the answering vocal on the second chorus and Roger was really pleased with that," Henderson recalls. "Roger himself was a really good singer and he was brilliant at double-tracking, although you had to catch him on the right day. Sometimes he would over-sing and he'd have to make the effort to sing a little bit quieter. When he did that, it was more natural and it kind of helped the sound. And we also did some punching in with the vocals."

In the meantime, the song's percussion intro combined John Helliwell's heavy breathing with Bob Siebenberg hitting a small cymbal and playing the castanets... after a fashion. It took some time for Siebenberg to master the little clickers, but master them he did, and he also played cowbell and timbales for the song's outro, which was further embellished with overdubs of Rick Davies' wah-wah Clavinet and the 'd-d-digital' sound emanating from a Mattel football game that belonged to English producer/engineer Richard Digby-Smith, who was working in the next room.

On the choruses, the arpeggiated guitar part was created via two Les Paul electrics going through Leslies and miked with a couple of Neumann U87s top and bottom, compressed with two 1176s, as well as a pair of double-tracked Guild 12-string acoustics miked with U87s. Synth strings comprised 'cello in the form of an Oberheim Four-voice, and an Elka Rhapsody string ensemble fed through the Boss chorus pedal for the high parts. "We did that pretty much throughout the whole album," Henderson states. "We used a lot of Oberheim Four-voice, and the Elka just sounds brilliant going through the Boss chorus."

The normal working day during the Breakfast In America sessions was 2pm to 11pm, Monday to Friday, yet while these hours contributed towards the lengthy timeframe for overdubbing, everything was on course and going according to plan.

"Sometimes, for inspiration, we'd go down to SIR — Studio Instrument Rentals — and see what was lying around," says Henderson. "I remember we rented a calliope and various percussion instruments, and some of these things helped inspire ideas. We might spend a whole day just doing one part — getting the sound for it and then working on the performance — so it was a slow process, but an interesting one, and it was a very, very joyous experience for everybody."

Then came the mix. Suddenly, it was as if everyone had lost the plot.
"We spent three or four days trying to mix at the Village, but the Harrison EQ was so harsh, it was impossible to brighten things without making them sound electronic," says Henderson. "The funny thing was, before we started mixing I spent a couple of hours doing rough mixes of the whole album on that Harrison desk, and for a long time afterwards a lot of people really liked those mixes, even after we finished the main mixes as well. However, part of the problem we had was that, over a long period, you get so used to hearing things a certain way, you almost need to go somewhere else to re-evaluate."

Soft And Bright

For the recording of Breakfast In America, Bob Siebenberg's Ludwig drum kit — featuring a more pop-oriented 24-inch bass drum in place of his usual 26-inch kick, Superphonic snare, and Fiberskin-covered 13, 14, 16 and 18-inch toms — was accorded an unconventional miking setup that Peter Henderson has never used again: a Sennheiser 421 on the bass drum, 421s on the toms, a Neumann KM84 on the snare, and AKG 451s overhead and on the hi-hat.

"The main thing about the drum sound was probably the KM84 on the snare, influenced by Alan Parsons' work on [Pink Floyd's] Dark Side Of The Moon," Henderson explains. "It's very soft-sounding, but it's also right in your face, very bright, and it added so much energy. It was just a weird combination of mics, and although one could use it again, these days I think people want more power from the drums."

Meanwhile, Dougie Thomson's brand-new Music Man Stingray bass, DI'd with plenty of EQ, was, according to Henderson, "one of the best basses I've ever recorded. He played with flat-wound strings, and while I wasn't a big fan of the Harrison desk, it really worked well for bass. We put a ton of EQ on it — literally +10dB at 100Hz and +10 at 200Hz — and then put it through a [Urei] 1176. The console had a really good low end, and the way Dougie played it, the bass also had so much depth. Dougie was very underrated as a bass player, even within the band, but I think his contribution was great. He'd always play the right thing for the song and I particularly like his bass parts on 'Take The Long Way Home' and 'Child Of Vision'. What's more, because Bob played the bass drum very lightly, we had the bass guitar very, very loud in the mix."

Roger Hodgson's Wurlitzer, fed through a Roland Jazz Chorus on previous albums, was DI'd and the signal then split through a Boss chorus pedal to create a semi-straight, semi-modulated sound. "Roger's a naturally gifted musician — everything comes very easily to him — but he always employed a very heavy-handed style for the Wurlitzer," Henderson says. "John used to refer to him as 'Hammer hands'. He was also singing the entire track, miked with a U47, and we ended up keeping his vocal on the end section from the original track."

Not that this was sufficient excuse for John Helliwell to find himself with nowhere else to play sax but the loo. Still, he plunged on, so to speak, his instrument recorded with an STC 4038 ribbon mic in the bell and a U87 about two feet away. "Everyone was playing together on the track, and we couldn't have John's sax bleeding onto the drums," says Henderson. "As I've said, he made a song and dance about it, but in a nice way. The live sax solo from the backing track was fantastic, so we kept that except for one small punch-in and re-recorded the end section."

Crystal Balls

Thus, the decision was made to relocate to Crystal Studios, famous as the Hollywood facility where Stevie Wonder had recorded Songs In The Key Of Life, and now called Barefoot Studios. Back then, Crystal had two studios: the one in which Stevie had recorded and a small mix room that had just opened, housing a custom 56-channel console with no automation. It was here that the problems really kicked in.

"Having worked on the record for so long, everyone had different ideas as to what it should be," Henderson explains. "For some reason we weren't pressurised, although we should have been pressurised because it was a very tough time for A&M and this was kind of a pivotal album for them. Some band members wanted it to be a little bit more hi-fi and ultra-clean, while the others kind of liked the way it was sounding, which was a more full sound. As a result, we ended up going around in circles — when we tried to clean it up, it lost a little bit of the energy, and then we went through the process where we had the drums too loud. After that we had a big meeting, and then we started again. This was nearing the last week of February '79, and now we were up against a really, really tight deadline to get the album mastered by the 22nd.

"We were mixing half-inch but we were doing the mixes in sections. We'd mix a verse up to the chorus, and then, because we didn't have enough hands on deck, we'd mix the chorus, mix the next verse, and literally do the whole song like that. In the end, we mixed each song three or four times, and we were losing our objectivity as well as our patience. I mean, the stuff generally sounded pretty damned good as it was, but over the months we'd developed different ideas as to how the record should sound and now we were each trying to get back to that point. It was really confusing. What's more, there was a lot of concern over the effect this was having on the budget and whether or not somebody else would be brought in. No one could decide which was the final mix, and there was tremendous pressure on us during the last three days. In fact, on the final day we literally worked through the night remixing four songs and pretty much went straight to the mastering. It seems that when you're doing something by instinct, you can do it really quickly, whereas when you go into mix mode you quite obviously start thinking about things. Well, as time ran out and we got down to the wire, the instinct came back in a hurry and we just got on with it. Thank God it all kind of worked out."

He can say that again, and the A&M execs certainly did when Breakfast In America topped the US charts for a month and went on to sell 18 million copies worldwide. Thereafter, Supertramp would make one more studio album, 1982's ...Famous Last Words..., before mounting tensions between Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson would come to a head and Hodgson would depart to pursue a solo career. However, there was evidently no such animosity between the two men during the Breakfast sessions.

"They got along fantastically well and everyone was really happy," says Peter Henderson who, in addition to Supertramp, has since produced and/or engineered records by Paul McCartney, Rush and the Raindogs, among others, and has most recently been working on an updated version of Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music and Toontrack's Custom & Vintage virtual drum instrument with drummer Chris Witten. "There was a very, very good vibe and I think everyone was really buoyed up by the recordings and A&M's response to them. The only contention I remember had to do with the first track, 'Gone Hollywood', which originally had different lyrics. Roger and the other guys in the band thought they were too downbeat and not very commercial, so they asked Rick to rewrite them and, although he wasn't too happy, he did go along with it."

PHOTO
Supertramp: left to right, Dougie Thompson, Roger Hodgson,
John Helliwell, Rick Davies and Bob Siebenberg.

A Moment Of Doubt

'The Logical Song' became one of the fastest-breaking singles in A&M's history, reaching number six on the Billboard singles chart, and Breakfast In America spawned other hits in the form of 'Goodbye Stranger' and 'Take The Long Way Home', turning out to be Supertramp's finest hour; critically, commercially and artistically.

"The success of that record was basically down to its great songs," Henderson comments. "I never tired of hearing them over the entire time, and I think the album has a very uplifting feel to it. To my mind, it still sounds fresh, the tracks have a real energy and a real vibrancy to them, and it doesn't sound dated. Despite the time we spent on it, [Breakfast In America] still sounds like a band album. At one point, there was a discussion as to whether or not we should use sound effects — because they'd used them on their previous albums — and real strings, but I personally preferred the intimacy of the band feel, and fortunately that's what we went for."

It was a wise decision. As for Peter Henderson, he scooped the Grammy for Best Engineered Album of 1979. However, when he accepted the award, it wasn't without a sense of irony.

"The album was mastered by Bernie Grundman at A&M," he recalls. "Russell and I arrived there having had virtually no sleep following the final mix, and when Bernie first listened to the tape there was a lot of chin-scratching going on, along with worried looks. Then, I remember we did a test pressing and it was taken up to a guy called Marv Bornstein who was in charge of quality control at the time. Again, there was all this shaking of heads and discussions between the two men. Bernie was saying 'You've put a lot of bass on here,' and I said 'Well, actually, that's the way we do it in England. We like a lot of bass on our records.'

"Still, the head-shaking continued along with the worried looks and negative comments. They were kind of intimating 'I'm not sure about this,' and by the time I left that mastering session I was convinced that the whole thing had been totally fucked up. It was literally a 'This is the end of my career' situation, and the next day I got on a plane and was out of there.

"Well, when I won the Grammy, I made my speech and said thank you to the members of the band, their management, Russell Pope and also to Bernie Grundman. Then I saw him afterwards and he said 'Thank you for mentioning me. I always knew, from the first time I heard that album, that it was going to win a Grammy.' I don't know if he remembered all the shaking of heads, but he was dead serious, and that was a sweet moment, I guess."

What a business.

Photo: Grammy's awards

1. Best Selling International Album -- WINNER
1980 11th Juno Awards
Breakfast in America - Supertramp

2. Best Music Video - Short Form -- Nominee
1986 29th Grammy Awards
"Brother Where You Bound - Supertramp. Rene Daalder,
director"

3. Best Engineered Recording -- WINNER
1979 22nd Grammy Awards
Peter Henderson - Breakfast in America (Supertramp)

4. Best Engineered Recording -- Nominee
1974 17th Grammy Awards
"Ken Scott, John Jansen - Crime of the Century
(Supertramp)"

5. Album of the Year -- Nominee
1979 22nd Grammy Awards
Breakfast in America - Supertramp

6. Pop Vocal Group -- Nominee
1979 22nd Grammy Awards
Supertramp - Breakfast in America

7. Best Album Package -- WINNER
1979 22nd Grammy Awards
"Mike Doud, Mick Haggerty - Breakfast in America
(Supertramp)"

8. "Favorite Band, Duo or Group - Pop / Rock" -- Nominee
1979 7th American Music Awards
Supertramp

22/08/1972 - Supertramp
TX - 12/09/1972
Pony Express
School
Everyone Is Listening
I Can See

LINE UP
Richard Davies (Organ, Vocals)
Frank Farrell (Guitar, Vocals)
Dave Winthrop (Saxophone, Vocals)
Kevin Currie (Drums)
Roger Hodgson (Bass, Vocals)

20/11/1972 - Supertramp
TX - 23/11/1972
Summer Romance
Rudy
Pony Express
Dreamer

LINE UP
Richard Davies (Organ, Vocals)
Dougie Thompson (Bass)
Dave Winthrop (Saxophone, Vocals)
Kevin Currie (Drums)
Roger Hodgson (Bass, Vocals)

25/06/1973 - Supertramp
TX - 05/07/1973
Chicken Man
Down In Mexico
Just A Normal Day
(& Land Ho, 2/3/74, Rock On)

LINE UP
Richard Davies (Organ, Vocals)
Dougie Thompson (Bass)
Dave Winthrop (Saxophone, Vocals)
Kevin Currie (Drums)
Roger Hodgson (Bass, Vocals)

23/05/1974 - Supertramp
TX - 06/06/1974
TRACKLIST
If Everyone Was Listening
School
Bloody Well Right

LINE UP
Richard Davies (Organ, Vocals)
Dougie Thompson (Bass)
John Anthony Heliwell (Saxophone, Clarinet, Vocals)
Bob C. Benberg (Drums)
Roger Hodgson (Bass, Vocals)

You can also check the Official website

OFFICIAL Recordings

You started laughing
Despite you can listen a live version of this song in the "Paris" album (1980) this song was released as a single in 1975, just the B-side of the song "Lady" (Crisis ? What crisis? album ), but not included in the album due to no room enough in the vinyl. (in order to do not decrease the sound quality of the album, just a technical problem).
This studio version is a very interesting listening.

Land Ho
Despite you can listen a new version in the "Hai Hai" album (1987) of Roger Hodgson, this song was released as a single together with the song "Summer Romance", in 1974, when Roger was in Supertramp.
Both original songs were included for the first time in CD in the "Retrospectacle" album year 2005 (Supertramp compilation)
The versions of "Land Ho" and "Summer Romance" on Retrospectacle are the 1975 re-mixes which the band intended to use on Crisis? What Crisis? but left off at the last minute.

Aunque Roger grabó una versión en 1987 para su disco "Hai Hai", en realidad ya la había grabado con Supertramp años antes en 1974, en un single junto con el tema "Summer Romance".
Ambas canciones del single se incluyeron en el recopilatorio "Retrospectacle" por primera vez en CD en 2005.
Estas versiones de "Land Ho" y "Summer Romance" del Retrospectacle son las re-mezclas de 1975 que la banda pretendía usar en el album Crisis? What Crisis? pero que fueron descartadas en última instancia.

Summer Romance
Released as a single by Supertramp in February 1974 together with "Land Ho" and included in the "Retrospectacle" album for the first time in CD in year 2005.

Publicada en single por Supertramp en Febrero 1974 junto con "Land Ho" e incluida en el album "Retrospectacle" por primera vez en formato CD en 2005.

Gold Rush
This song was the "opening song" in the Supertramp shows during the early years.
Lyrics by R. Palmer and music by Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson, was included finally in the "Slow Motion" album year 2002.

Con esta canción abría Supertramp sus conciertos en los primeros años, cuando aún no eran conocidos.
Finalmente la han grabado e incluido en el album "Slow Motion"de 2002.

Fegefeuer/Purgatory
This is a soundtrack Supertramp recorded in Germany in 1970 for a 20 minutes film. Just 8 tracks, instrumental. (no vocals)
The dramatic start is very very similar to "School" song (harmonica), but also a percussion slow rythm like Pink Floyd style imitating the sound of the heart.
Recently was released as a Limited edition in DVD (Supertramp do not appears in the movie) You can order it This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 BOOTLEGS. UNOFFICIAL recordings

During the 70's and 80's it was easy to find some unofficial recordings in the music shops (first in vinyl and later in CD) from the 1975-1976 tours.
The name of the albums: Dreamer, Dreamers, Lady tour, Easy guitar, etc, ...
It's not too clear the exact source of these recordings, there are songs from different shows, and even some songs are from the "Paris" album (believe it......)
But one thing is sure: Dreamers album was recorded in Hammersmith (London) in 1975, due to some "clues" you can find just listening the John's speeches.

In 2001 other unofficial CD was released called "Is everybody listening", but this recording is nothing but the old "Dreamers" album.
You can read "Recorded live in Cleveland, Ohio, 1976", but that's not true, as I explained before.

In December 2014, this concert is included in the "Crime of the Century DELUXE EDITION".

Unfortunatelly there are not too good unoffical recordings from the next tours, cause most are audience recordings.
But the recordings of Munich, Milwaukee and Dallas are pretty good.
Below, the summarize of the best.

En los 70 y 80 no era difícil encontrar en las tiendas una serie de grabaciones piratas (primero en vinilo y luego en CD) de las giras 75 - 76. Los discos se llamaban: Dreamer, Dreamers, Lady tour, Easy guitar, etc, ...
Es difícil saber el contenido exacto de dichas grabaciones, pues se mezclaban conciertos diferentes e incluso se incluyen grabaciones del Paris, aunque no os lo creáis ....
Lo que si es seguro es que el disco Dreamers contiene la grabación del concierto en Hammersmith (Londres) de 1975, por las pistas que se pueden obtener de las presentaciones de John durante el concierto.
En 2001 salió al mercado un disco pirata llamado "Is everybody listening" que no es más que el album Dreamers reeditado, a pesar de que en la portada podais leer que se trata de un concierto grabado en Cleveland, Ohio en 1976, lo cual no es cierto.

En Diciembre de 2014 dicho concierto es incluido en la edición "Crime of the Century DELUXE EDITION".

Desafortunadamente no existen muy buenas grabaciones piratas de las giras siguientes, pues la mayoría son grabaciones caseras, aunque las grabaciones de los conciertos de Munich, Milwaukee y Dallas que circulan por ahí son más que aceptables.
Aqui teneis un resúmen de lo más destacado:

Concerts:

Supertramp live 1977 Seattle
Supertramp live 1979 (double) Milwaukee
Supertramp live 1983 (double) Munich
Supertramp live 1985 Dallas
Supertramp live 2002 several audience recordings

BBC sessions

Around 1972 - 1974 Supertramp performed some numbers live for the BBC. This versions are a bit different from the final ones (studio version), mainly the song Dreamer, but the copies I've found are in not good quality sound:

- Dreamer
- Rudy
- Summer romance
- Ponny express
- School
- And other songs.

See the full info about these sessions: BBC Peel Sessions