Forgotten Music Thursday: Supertramp - ...Famous Last Words (1982)

After the smash success of their Breakfast in America album, Supertramp bought themselves sometime by releasing the live album, Paris in 1980 and re-grouped in 1982 for what would be Roger Hodgson's final album with the band.

While not as commercially or critically successful as Supertramp's seventies material, ...Famous Last Words is still a strong album and is still very faithful to the sound and musical style that the band had made their own in the previous decade.

The biggest hit from this album, It's Raining Again is perhaps one of the weaker songs on the album.  It has that fun whimsical style but it also comes across as the band merely going through the motions.

The real meat & potatoes of the album are some of the deeper cuts like Crazy & Put On Your Old Brown Shoes.  Both of which take full advantage of the vocals of both Hodgson & Davies not to mention the superlative woodwind skills of John Helliwell and apparently the band thought well enough of both of those songs as they did make it onto the setlist of Hodgson's farewell tour with the band.

While both Hodgson & Supertramp would later find some success separately there was a lightning in a bottle magic that crystallized on Crime of the Century and remained present through Hodgson's final show with the band in Munich in 1983.  And admittedly, this album isn't as good as Crime of the Century, Breakfast in America, or even Crisis?  What Crisis?! but it is still quite enjoyable and remains a worthy bookend to Roger Hodgson's tenure in the band.

Related Links & Media
Supertramp Crisis? What Crisis?! (1975) review
Supertramp Even In the Quietest Moments (1977) review
Supertramp Breakfast in America (1979) review
Roger Hodgson In the Eye of the Storm (1984) review
Supertramp It Was the Best of Times (2000) review
Roger Hodgson Open the Door (2000) review
Something Else Reviews: Featured Artist - Supertramp

One Track Mind: Nick Cave - Into My Arms (1997)

Nick Cave is a brilliant songwriter. Admittedly much of his material is a bit dark for my tastes but the first time I heard Into My Arms it moved my soul.  A person's religious beliefs are very personal and I dare say that no two people hold the exact same beliefs.  The song is a testament of love and respect of one another's beliefs and how love can bridge those differences.

The song is sung from the perspective of a non-believer addressing his love who is a believer.  The song says, I may not believe in God, but if I did I'd ask him to protect you, to watch over you, and to guide you to me.  The non-believer after going through a litany of things he doesn't believe in says he does believe in love and that his belief in love should be enough to bridge the differences in belief between he and his love.

Stripped down to just Cave on vocals and piano the song grows even more starkly personal and moving with Cave's deeply emotive vocal delivery and subtle understated piano playing.  Both lyrically and musically the song is a touching and at times haunting baring of a soul.  The vulnerability goes far beyond moving and is easily one of the most emotionally wrenching songs ever recorded.

The song works on both a deeply personal level and on a grander all-encompassing level.  We may have our differences but don't most of us at least believe in love?  Isn't that belief something to build on, to get past that which divides us?

"But I believe in love
And I know that you do too
And I believe we can choose our path
And we can walk down, me and you"