INDELIBLY TRAMPED

Within the space of a few years Supertramp went from niche prog underperformers to radio-friendly hitmakers. Michael Heatley looks at the band’s classic years, with the help of founder member Roger Hodgson, plus bursts from saxophonist John Helliwell

For most of the world, the Supertramp story can be summed up in the handful of “greatest hits” that have been radio staples since the late 70s. Which self-respecting baby-boomer isn’t word perfect on It’s Raining Again, The Logical Song or Breakfast In America? 

Yet wind back a decade earlier and you’d find an infinitely less-promising story – a band, briefly funded by a young Dutch millionaire, with a rotating-door personnel policy which resulted in two unsuccessful albums recorded by radically different outfits. By the time the third line-up coalesced around the core of Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies, it was shit or bust. Fortunately, 1974’s Crime Of The Century delivered both creatively and, perhaps more importantly, commercially. 

The three named hit songs were written by Hodgson, who left the band in 1983 and has toured as a solo act ever since. He visits the UK in April 2016, while the current Supertramp, headed by Davies, had been due to tour Europe last November but the shows were postponed due to their leader’s health problems. It’s unlikely Hodgson and Davies will ever reunite, but at least fans can still enjoy both sides of a legacy that’s sold 60 million albums and counting. 

When a …

by Michael Heatley
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