Sunday June 19, 2022 “My Kind of Lady” Supertramp
Today’s band, Supertramp, originally called Daddy but later changing to a name inspired by the tte of a Welsh novel by William Henry Davies, falls into the musical category of ‘progressive rock’. Now we have dealt with musical categories before but I was curious as to what qualifies as music in the progressive rock genre so here you go.
“Progressive rock is based on fusions of styles, approaches and genres, involving a continuous move between formalism and eclecticism. Sometimes limited to a stereotype of long solos, long albums, fantasy lyrics, grandiose stage sets and costumes, and an obsessive dedication to technical skill.” Now we can impress our friends should they ever ask the question about progressive rock.
Supertramp with more than twenty members off and on over the band’s existence was essentially built around singer/songwriters and multi instrumentalists Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies, no apparent relation to author Henry, or Kinks members Dave and Ray Davies. That’s a lot of Davies…by the way pronounced as ‘Davis' in the UK.
Their 1979 album Breakfast in America elevated Supertramp to true superstar status with three of its songs, "Goodbye Stranger," "Take the Long Way Home," and "The Logical Song" that would became Top 20 hits, and the album went to number one on the Billboard charts, selling four million copies in the United States and reaching platinum status in Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Today’s very un-progressive rock “My KInd of Lady” was a top twenty hit from the 1982 Supertramp album Famous Last Words the title of which would be somewhat prophetic as Hodgson would leave the group after that album and the band would have little future charting.
Those of you familiar with Supertramp may not recognize the band members in the videos as they cut their hair and shaved off their trademark beards, but trust me that is the Supertramp. Bet the decision to do that was an interesting band meeting.
Stay safe and well…and enjoy this very retro black & white video which does not include Roger Hodgson as he was late for the filming and they simply left him out.