- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- Their debut album Supertramp is quite different from their later albums and is an early gem in the progressive rock genre.
Supertramp – Supertramp (1970): The English rock band Supertramp struggled on the record charts with their first few albums, until they really hit pay dirt with their #1 album Breakfast in America (1979). Their debut album Supertramp is quite different from their later albums and is an early gem in the progressive rock genre – what I would call the first progressive rock album, In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson, came out the previous year. Like many progressive rock albums, there are long instrumental passages; and even negative reviews note the strong songwriting on Supertramp that would serve the band well on their later albums.
Among these songs, only “Home Again” and “Surely” continued to be played in concert after the band finally had strong sales on their third album, Crime of the Century (1974). Besides those songs, my own favorites on the album include “It’s a Long Road”, “Nothing to Show”, and “Try Again”. Supertramp was not released in the United States until 1977, although the album was available as a British import in many record stores. The original U.K. release of Supertramp was entitled And I’m Not Like Other, although this title was printed on the record labels only. In Spain, the album was called Now and Then; and it had the name Surely in Singapore.