If Everyone Was Listening: Supertramp's "Crime of the Century" Goes Deluxe

With the release of 1974’s Crime of the Century, the members of Supertramp finally got the big break for which they’d been waiting. Songwriter-vocalists Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies were the only two members remaining from the group’s 1970 debut, but with Bob Benberg, John Anthony Helliwell and Dougie Thompson on board, Crime of the Century firmly established the band at the vanguard of both pop and prog-rock. A No. 4 album in the U.K., it also cracked the U.S. Top 40 for the first time in the band’s career. On December 9, the album will receive deluxe 40th anniversary reissues in both the 2-CD and 3-LP formats.

After two unsuccessful albums (each with a distinct line-up) and an unsuccessful tour, Hodgson and Davies recruited new members to craft Supertramp’s third album for A&M Records. After a rehearsal period at a seventeenth-century farm in Somerset, the new band joined with co-producer Ken Scott, former Beatles engineer and then riding high from his work with David Bowie. Reportedly, Supertramp demoed over 40 tracks, whittling them down to eight songs for the final album. Two of them would become among the band’s most enduring classics – Hodgson’s “Dreamer” and Davies’ “Bloody Well Right.” With “School,” “Rudy” and the title song, Supertramp also contributed to the burgeoning AOR (Album Oriented Rock) genre.

The 40th Anniversary edition from A&M and Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) contains the original 8-song album, newly remastered by Ray Staff at AIR Studios on the first disc, while the second features Supertramp’s 1975 Hammersmith Odeon concert, mixed from the master tapes by original on-the-night engineer Ken Scott. At this key performance, the band performed the entirety of Crime of the Century and also offered a preview of tracks from its then-as-yet-unreleased follow-up, Crisis? What Crisis? (1975).

What else can you expect of the upcoming reissue? Hit the jump to find out!

The 2-CD package comes with a 24-page booklet of photographs, plus a new essay written by MOJO Editor-in-Chief Phil Alexander. The notes are drawn from new interviews with Dougie Thomson, John Helliwell, Ken Scott, Bob Siebenberg, Roger Hodgson, and Dave Margereson, Supertramp’s manager from 1973 to 1983.

The heavyweight 3-LP vinyl, housed in a box set format, has been cut by Ray Staff at AIR Studios. The vinyl edition contains all the same material as the two CDs, spread across three 180-gram LPs. The eight-page album-sized booklet boasts a longer version of Alexander’s essay, and two 10x8 prints. Lastly, Crime of the Century: 40th Anniversary Edition will be available digitally.

You can look for Supertramp’s deluxe, expanded Crime of the Century on December 9, and it can be pre-ordered at the links below!

Supertramp, Crime of the Century: 40th Anniversary Edition (A&M SP-3647 (U.S.) – reissued A&M/UMe, 2014)

2-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

3-LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

CD 1: The Original Album

School
Bloody Well Right
Hide in Your Shell
Asylum
Dreamer
Rudy
If Everyone Was Listening
Crime of the Century

CD 2: Live at Hammersmith ‘75

School
Bloody Well Right
Hide in Your Shell
Asylum
Sister Moonshine
Just a Normal Day
Another Man’s Woman
Lady
A – You’re Adorable
Dreamer
Rudy
If Everyone Was Listening
Crime of the Century

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.