Breakfast In America

This should have been on the original list!

Though Pop-Prog sounds like an oxymoron, this is probably the finest example of it of all time. This album is a nonstop stream of memorable hits. Not an ounce of fat. No skips. Even the low point in the momentum of the album, "Lord Is It Mine," is still a decent ballad. Shocked this isn't their official inclusion on the list as it's superior to "Crime of the Century."

Progressive pop, art rock, soft rock. Tres megahits. Está bien. Vinilo, va.

Whatever the original concept for this album was, and no matter how the songwriters scrapped their ideas, what I take away from this incredibly catchy pop album is this: here’s a story of a bloke who decided to go to Hollywood to make it big, had a mental breakdown, and realized that all is vanity. He became living proof of that ancient wisdom, having gone around the sun to find the moon. It’s got incredibly depressing themes couched in bright, fun, poppy sounds. This is exactly the kind of pop I like: cynical themes embedded in fun tunes. Also, this is one of the few albums in my collection that came from a real life recommendation, not something I either found on my own or was recommended by someone on the internet.

This to me is the definitive Supertramp album. Thanks to this project I restarted listening to Crime of the Century, but no matter how great that album is I'm still closest to Breakfast In America. From the iconic cover image to every song this is one of my favorite all time albums. Incredible keyboards on this throughout, the slow fade in on Gone Hollywood makes for such an interesting start that erupts and still can give me goosebumps. Speaking of slow fade ins.... Take the Long Way Home is another brilliant example that builds the tension until the train-like wail of the harmonica emerges and sets a tone for an incredibly wistful song. Supertramp has incredible arrangements and thoughtful lyrics that never fail to engage me. This album will always represent peak Supertramp to me I love it!

The "Crime Of The Century" was that *Breakfast In America* was not included in the original list of the 1001 Albums book. Its ratio of legendary hits ("The Logical Song", "Goodbye Stranger", "Breakfast In America", "Take The Long Way Home") is superior to all other Supertramp albums. They're also hits where a ton of things happen arrangement-wise, which makes their replay factor strong to this day for me, and some of the less known songs in the tracklist are still a joy to go through: trippy opener "Gone Hollywood", cool ballad "Oh Darling", epic closer "Child Vision"... I have a wild theory that Supertramp were like the Tame Impala of the late seventies. Their soft-rock was certainly not as challenging or substantial as some other rock acts of their time, and there was something a little streamlined in their sound, but their ability to create earworm after earworm, pen memorable lyrics, craft terrific arrangements, record insane-sounding instrumentation, and try their hand at long hypnotic pieces at times -- all of this reminds me of the early success of Kevin Parker's endeavor, stamping the era that saw that success happen -- whether you subjectively like the artistry or not. "Classic" stuff in both counts. It took me longer to make my peace with Tame Impala (and attending their visually boring live show at a festival one night didn't help me digging them as fast as I could have). But at least, I have made my peace with *Lonerism* and *Currents* today, and readily recognize how those records are iconic now, in spite of their little flaws. If I can do this with Tame Impala, I can certainly do this for Supertramp. Just like for *Currents*, *Breakfast In America* can harbor the occasional dud (here "Casual Conversations", definitely too... casual). But the rest of that tracklist, good heavens! Hogdson and Davies were terrific writers and performers, and for this one record, the tapped into a vein that yielded tons of gold. Even the artwork speaks volumes here. Rarely has a breakfast felt so consistent. "Iconic" is indeed not even strong enough a word for all this. 4.5/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums, rounded up to 5. 9.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 4.5/5) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 92 (including this one) Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 112 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 230 --- Hey Émile, j'ai répondu sous Demon Days ET ta sélection pour la users list ! 🙂

Breakfast in America is the sixth album by progressive pop band Supertramp. It contains the classics "The Logical Song", "Breakfast in America" and "Take the Long Way Home". Too bad the other songs are not that great, but a pleasant background listen and some are even weak ("Lord Is It Mine"). All in all it's still an ok album and for the three outliers it deserves just over three stars.

Back in my late teens and early twenties, I would get obsessed with a band and go deep into all their music. It happened over and over again - first with the Beatles, then Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, Jethro Tull. I would buy all the albums, even the less popular ones, and listen over and over. During my freshman year of college I was actively seeking candidates for the band that become my next obsession. For a short time, I thought it might be Supertramp. But then, my girlfriend's roommate Marilyn was talking to me about how much she loved Supertramp. I didn't have the fondest view of Marilyn - she just seemed sort of pedestrian to me. And I'm not proud of this, but when I found out she loved Supertramp I moved on and never got very deep into them. Anyway, this is a great album. I'm a bit surprised it wasn't on the original list. 4 stars.

The vinyl LP was in the family library in its original era, my sister's purchase I believe, and I listened to it a lot in the 80s. Now one of these oddballs where the album is on YouTube music but missing three of the hits (the title track along with The Logical Song and Take the Long Way Home). So I had to piece it together with official and unofficial tracks on YouTube. It holds up, although the sound is pretty dated, more in some parts than others. Still, pretty peak for this era and style, and fair play, those hit singles they held out on are bangers. I read it's getting a fancy vinyl repress.

These guys can really cook. COOK BREAKFAST THAT IS!

One of my FAVORITES!

In light of my review for Supertramp's first (wow, third!) album, in the main list: Decent listening, and I'd say one of the more significant releases of the late 1970s. It has The Logical Song, which is Supertramp's best track. Expanding on that review for the user submission: Exquisitely produced. I have to say that Take The Long Way Home is also a superb track, and I absolutely would swap out this album for Crime of the Century.

Some classics here

Lots of hits.

Good stuff 4

Pretty shocking this wasn’t on the original list. This is some pretty great pop rock music that has that prog 70s sound while also feeling a bit inventive prior to the 80s tech sounds. This album has several great hits that still play great today. I always enjoy this album and feel it’s a bit underrated when compared to other 70s classics. 8.0/10

I didn’t rate crime of the century highly on the original list. I feel I need to compensate for that with this rating. This to me is peak supertramp and an album ahead of its time, but maybe that shows I prefer more accessible music.

Bangers!

Yep, a fun listen! I gave it a spin when the other Supertramp album came up on the main list. Fave tracks - "The Logical Song" is maybe the only one I recognized first time around. "Goodbye Stranger" is a bop! "Child of Vision" is a great closer...

Surprised it’s not in the original list.

Forgot how many classic rock staples this LP contains, each infused with a heavy dose of Mellotron and melody. The album is a bit front-loaded and seems to lose steam in the back half, taking on a bit of bloat as the instrumentation starts to wear thin. Even then, the front is so packed with memorable tracks that I can forgive a bit of excess. One of those albums that hits the sweet spot of being so clearly of its time but without feeling dated, solid addition to the list!

This is rock that to me is classic

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Breakfast in America

"Progressive Pop" sounds like something that should land right in my lane, but somehow it never quite does.

I feel like I could turn on the local radio and hear any one of The Logical Song, Breakfast in America, or Take the Long Way Home within the hour. Similarly, walking down the main street of town, surely at least one of the pubs will have Supertramp blaring. As with my review of Crime of the Century — a nice album to visit and hear as a whole.

Not super familiar with Supertramp. Obviously a band who are well known and have hits, and listening to this record, there were songs I instantly recognized as being ubiquitous in culture. Kind of surprised this wasn't on the initial list to be honest as it just seems like such a foundational record to pop culture. Enjoyable enough. Killer album artwork.

This one squarely lands in the category of I would have sworn it was on the main list.