Indelibly Stamped (1971)
I hate this album. I think most Supertramp fans do. It bears little or no resemblance even to the debut self-titled, which itself shows little of the flair for catchy and memorable melodies that would characterise their career during the later half of the seventies and into the eighties, and though it's billed as “progressive rock” there's very little to mark it as such, most of the songs being basic rock songs. Even then I don't like them: I think there are two songs I can stick on this album, out of the ten on it.
1. Your poppa don't mind: Starts off with a nice Supertramp-y piano but quickly devolves into a bog-standard twelve-bar blues rocker with a fairly mindless lyric. Kind of reminds me of the Zodiacs' “Stay”. Davies sings this one. Not that it really matters. At least it's short, just under three minutes. Good piano solo, but you can kind of hear early Eagles here too. Not what I had expected even after listening to the debut.
2. Travelled: Hodgson takes a turn at the mike, one of only three tracks he will sing on this album, it being very much a Davies-driven beast. There is some nice flute opening it which kind of reminds me of the likes of “Shadow song” and “Maybe I'm a beggar” from the debut, and it's nicely restrained after the exuberant but very ordinary opener. Problem here is that Hodgson's voice for some reason is very low and quiet. Nevertheless, I could see this on their first album; it certainly fits more into that mould than track one does. Kicks up fairly soon though into a CSNY/Eagles idea. Meh.
3. Rosie had everything planned: This is the only track I can honestly say I like on the album. With a swaying, waltz sort of rhythm it's a song about a girl who I think kills her lover on incorrect intel --- “Acting upon information received/ Rosie had everything planned/ Standing there with a shotgun in hand” --- and Hodgson sings it beautifully. It's a plain, simple tune but cuts to the heart of the issue, and if the rest of the album could have measured up to this it would have been a much better prospect. Some evocative accordion and a lovely rippling piano.
4. Remember: Back to Davies howling his guts out with a lot of hard brass, giving this song a kind of soul feel and I reckon the production is not so hot either. I will say it's the first time we hear sax on a Supertramp album, something that would become part of their trademark sound, but it's not John Helliwell but some guy called Dave Winthrop, and there's also some nice harmonica added. Still hate the song though.
5. Forever: Davies maintains his iron grip on the mike, and we get a sort of sixties Fender Rhodes based ballad, whcih to be fair is not too bad but still a long way from the best Supertramp can do. Lot of blues and soul in this, and with a bit of polishing up I could see it having been on something like maybe
Some Things Never Change or
Free as a Bird. Winthrop does add some nice sax licks, it has to be said.
6. Potter: New man Frank Farrell takes a shot at singing. Unsurprisingly, he, Winthrop and the new drummer Kevin Currie would be gone before the guys went into the studio to begin work on their seminal third album,
Crime of the Century. It's nearly as bad as “Your poppa don't mind”, but with even less of an idea for the song. At least, again, it's short, even shorter than the opener.
7. Coming home to see you: Starts out like a ballad with some sort of discordant piano then throws off the disguise and becomes a rockabilly uptempo tune driven on fast guitar and what sounds like organ. Fun yes, but even the harmonica blast and the long instrumental jam that closes it out can't really save this from going on the meh pile.
8. Times have changed: Another sub-Eagles ballad with echoes of early ELO and a definite Country flavour to the tune
9. Friend in need: Uptempo piano tune with some good backing vocals. At least it's short. Decent piano outro.
10. Aries: Hodgson comes back to close out the album with the longest track on it, nearly seven and a half minutes long. Winthrop bring the flute again and for a moment you get the feeling this could be a return to the debut, but then it gets more psychedelic rock than anything else, too much flute in the end. Jaunty guitar but for such a long song it's quite empty; elements of “It's a long road” but it's nowhere near as good as that song. Like much of this album it's relatively short on lyrics and tries to survive through jams and instrumental improvisations. It doesn't really work and it's something of a damp squib to end on.
So, Love or Hate? If I had to pick my least favourite Supertramp album, it would either be this or
Slow Motion, so it has to be a
Hate.