Supertramp Breakfast In America Torrent
Pilato Hull
The album's front cover resembles an overlook of Manhattan through an aeroplane window. It was designed by Mike Doud and Mick Haggerty. The image depicts Kate Murtagh, dressed as a waitress named "Libby" from a diner, as a Statue of Liberty figure holding up a glass of orange juice on a small plate in one hand (in place of the torch on the Statue), and a foldable restaurant menu in the other hand, on which 'Breakfast in America' is written. The background features the southern tip of the New York City borough of Manhattan, with the Lower Manhattan skyline represented through a cornflake box, ashtray, cutlery (for the wharfs), pancake syrup bottles, egg crates, salt and pepper shakers, coffee mugs, ketchup and mustard bottles, etc., all spray-painted white. The twin World Trade Center towers appear as two stacks of boxes, and the plate of breakfast represents The Battery, the departure point for the Staten Island Ferry. The back cover photo, depicting the band members having breakfast while reading their respective hometown newspapers, was taken at a diner called Bert's Mad House.
The balance of the cityscape includes buildings and waterfront features made from such items as vinegar, ketchup and mustard bottles, breakfast cereal boxes, cutlery and most anything else you would associate as coming from a roadside diner. All of these elements are spray painted white. Two stacks of boxes form the World Trade Center and Battery Park, the Staten Island Ferry terminal is formed in the plate of breakfast.
A person who is pretending that they have a girlfriend, but really they have no interest in getting one, they have started to become disillusioned and know that it is a real stunt, inline with alot of the album there is existentialism and falsehood. They have become americanised, they quote and feed americanisms in the home, america, fast food and hollywood. I imagined in the mirror they renact telling someone to stop looking at their girlfriend at hand-gun point. The person dreams of going somewhere else, but in reality it will be their same body but in a foreign place. A person who is bound in the same position with the illustrated map of what life should look like.
After the healthy sales of Moments, Supertramp decided to indeed concentrate on the North american market and was ready to go at lengths to achieve massive success, as the title and the wink New York City artwork indicates. Still with its classic line-up, this album is loaded with hits, although I think that even the group was surprised at the number of successfull 45 rpm singles they pulled out of this monster album, again mostly Hodgson's, most likely on the strength of his instantly recognizable voice. I'm sure that this Hodgson preference did unsettle the balance and ambiance in the group on the mid-term range, because Davies' tracks are at least as good, but not getting the deserved success, despite the success of Goodbye Stranger, one of the most cynical song of the group. The All-For-America intent is blattantly expressed in the excellent and cynic Davies-penned Gone Hollywood album-opener, with its outstanding middle section. Unfortunately, this type of track gets shunned by the monstrous hits like the superb-but-overexposed soul-baring Logical Song and the wanker melody of the title track, the album's first two hits. Inbetween these mega successses Davies's Goodbye Stranger tunes does manage to pull some attention, but it is mostly due to the song's bitterness, a good guitar solo and unfortunately the awful Hodgson-sung chorus. The flipside is of the same accabit, opening on the interesting (no more) but also mega-selling single Take The Long Way Home, followed by Hodgson's very personal and emotional Lord Is It Mine track. Rick's Nervous Wreck is another fine Davies track that got shunned by Hodgson's mega-selling hits. I've always wondered if Casual conversations shouldn't have been sung by Helliwell, though. Closing the album is the fantastic Child Of Vision tune, the only track on BIA that reminds us of the progressive slant of the group, with its awesome contrast between the Hodgson vereses a,nd the Davies chorus and the long instrumental finale. In fact, Child Of Vision is simply a stupendous track that would have not been out of place on Crime - its lyrics approach that concept.If it wasn't the last track, Child of Vision, I would hate this album (well mostly its commercial aura). Although this vinyl has superb pop music, but outside of the scope of this site, this was a major let-down for prog fans, who after Crime and Fool's Overture, expected much more than this collection of pop songs, no matter how beautiful some could be. I still have problems about this album; because of its over-exposure at the time (although I've re-warmed to it in the last decade or so), but the most of the tracks are very Supertramp-worthy. Unavoidable in Supertramp's discography, despite its not-always disserving over-exposure, but I wouldn't call BIA essential listening. social review comments Review Permalink
Posted Wednesday, February 4, 2004 Review this album Report (Review #6775)