...Famous Last Words... Arizona

...Famous Last Words...

Supertramp

A&M Records, 1982

REVIEW BY: Eric E5S16

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 11/08/1999

The year was 1982 and Supertramp was riding high since their breakthrough album Breakfast In America was released in 1979. The band had been around since 1970, with numerous albums and few hits, but it wasn't until Breakfast where the band received more radio airplay they should have deserved with their previous releases.

With a live 1980 album and 1982's ...famous last words..., it was announced that lead singer Roger Hodgson was leaving the group for a solo career. With an album title such as ...famous last words..., it was assumed that we had seen the last of Supertramp. However, the band went on without Hodgson, as he would begin his solo career.

...famous last words... to describe it, is half pop, half progressive. The pop half I'd have to compare it to the style of R.E.O. Speedwagon when they became more of a pop-rock band, and/or Styx, another band that went in that direction.

The only big hit from this release is "It's Raining Again," and how pop can you get with that song? It's a nice up-beat pop song, and if you are familiar with this tune, it sounds as if the rest of the album may be as up-beat pop sounding.