{"id":28216,"date":"2024-09-29T05:30:15","date_gmt":"2024-09-29T09:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=28216"},"modified":"2024-09-18T11:01:35","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T15:01:35","slug":"take-five-standout-rick-davies-tracks-by-supertramp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/29\/take-five-standout-rick-davies-tracks-by-supertramp\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Five: Standout Rick Davies Tracks by Supertramp"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While Supertramp enjoyed a comparatively brief time in the spotlight \u2013 mostly around the release of their sixth album, 1979\u2019s <em>Breakfast in America<\/em> \u2013 the group\u2019s catalog is filled with gems. Supertramp\u2019s progressive strengths tend to be discounted in favor of their pop smarts, but the group had much to offer in both categories. One of two primary songwriters, keyboardist Rick Davies is responsible for composing some of the band\u2019s best songs. On the occasion of Davies\u2019 80th birthday this year, here are five notable tracks he wrote, played and sang with Supertramp.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cBloody Well Right\u201d from <em>Crime of the Century<\/em> (1974)<\/strong><br \/>\nAfter a somewhat conventional rock debut, the second album from Supertramp signaled a change in style: songwriter Rick Davies took on a larger role, and the band\u2019s sound shifted in a more progressive direction while maintaining pop appeal. An exemplar of that balance on this record \u2013 considered by many fans to be their finest effort \u2013 is \u201cBloody Well Right.\u201d Davies\u2019 tune was released as the b-side of a single, with \u201cDreamer\u201d on the plug side. But many deejays ignored it, flipped the disc over and played \u201cBloody Well Right\u201d instead; it eventually climbed to the #35 spot on the <em>Billboard<\/em> singles chart. In an ironic twist, \u201cDreamer\u201d would be released \u2013 in a live version \u2013 on 1980\u2019s <em>Paris<\/em> LP; a single of that track charted at #15 in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/noSXUmwiF9M?si=RgJrmuLSGkOiKol8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cAin\u2019t Nobody But Me\u201d from <em>Crisis? What Crisis?<\/em> (1975)<\/strong><br \/>\nThe quickly-recorded <em>Crisis? What Crisis?<\/em> is nonetheless a fine album, albeit one that\u2019s often overlooked by today\u2019s listeners. Per Supertramp\u2019s standard practice, songwriting duties were fairly evenly split between Hodgson and Davis. The strongest track from the latter is \u201cAin\u2019t Nobody But Me.\u201d But strong songwriting is no guarantor of a hit: One of only two singles from the album, it charted only in Canada, at a lowly #64.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bNMpe5XMbPA?si=Ysy81f0PJTxKGzrV\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cFrom Now On\u201d from <em>Even in the Quietest Moments\u2026<\/em> (1977)<\/strong><br \/>\nSomething of a deep album track on Supertramp\u2019s fifth long player, Rick Davies\u2019 \u201cFrom Now On\u201d wasn\u2019t released as a single or even as b-side. But with it\u2019s brilliant and expressive piano work, it\u2019s a solid tune and arguably a highlight of <em>Even in the Quietest Moments\u2026<\/em> Bigger things were just around the corner for the group.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/i9DcQtpfwAk?si=n0S31zRuJkgp8Sv4\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cGoodbye Stranger\u201d from <em>Breakfast in America<\/em> (1979)<\/strong><br \/>\nSongs from Supertramp\u2019s sixth studio album were all over the airwaves in 1979. <em>Breakfast in America<\/em> spawned no less than three hit singles. Composed by Roger Hodgson, \u201cThe Logical Song\u201d and \u201cTake the Long Way Home\u201d both made it into the <em>Billboard<\/em> Top Ten. A third single, Rick Davies\u2019 \u201cGoodbye Stranger\u201d fared nearly as well, climbing to the #15 spot on the singles chart. To date <em>Breakfast in America<\/em> has sold well in excess of 20 million units.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9aykOwwRf-Q?si=V7fsud1rqRQwH7mY\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cBrother Where You Bound\u201d from <em>Brother Where You Bound<\/em> (1985)<\/strong><br \/>\nThough 1979\u2019s <em>Breakfast in America<\/em> was a runaway success, things began to unravel for Supertramp not long thereafter. Songwriter Roger Hodgson would leave the group after the release of 1982\u2019s <em>&#8230;Famous Last Words\u2026<\/em> Though that album was a hit worldwide, its creation was fraught and tension-filled. By the time of the group&#8217;s 1985 album, Rick Davies was effectively Supertramp\u2019s sole songwriter. The album\u2019s title track was a return to progressive form, and featured two guest musicians. Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham plays rhythm guitar, and for the last two minutes of this epic track, Pink Floyd\u2019s David Gilmour adds his distinctive lead guitar.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xqVEe5mcmbc?si=J0fgLMn8_3_HQjEw\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While Supertramp enjoyed a comparatively brief time in the spotlight \u2013 mostly around the release of their sixth album, 1979\u2019s Breakfast in America \u2013 the group\u2019s catalog is filled with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9844,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[5516,2094],"class_list":["post-28216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-rick-davies","tag-supertramp","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28217,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28216\/revisions\/28217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}