Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Supertramp
Label: A&M Records / Interscope
Released: 1971
Length: 40:33
Rating: 3.5/5
Before Supertramp became one of the most exciting and successful British art rock acts, they were quite literally scraping by on watery soup and stale bread crusts, because money-wise things were anything but smooth sailing. Their very good self-titled debut had earned them cult status, and in 1970 they’d played a hugely important set at the legendary Isle of Wight festival. Even so, commercial success was nowhere to be seen after their second album “Indelibly Stamped” either, so their patron, the Dutch millionaire Stanley August Miesegaes, decided to pull the plug on his support once he’d paid off all their debts, which very nearly led to the band’s breakup. Thanks to the stubbornness and persistence of the two leading members, guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Roger Hodgson and pianist/vocalist Rick Davies, Supertramp rose from the ashes like the mythical phoenix three years later with their next album, the prog rock masterpiece “Crime of the Century” (1974), and enjoyed unimaginable commercial success. But that’s material for another review, about a band that was almost completely different.
At the time of “Indelibly Stamped”, Supertramp were still a band searching for their true sound and experimenting like crazy with different styles. Plenty of reshuffling within the band helped that along, as did the important and cunning decision that Hodgson would move from bass and acoustic guitar to electric guitar. Hodgson also convinced Davies that, besides handling the usual backing vocal harmonies, he should step up as a lead singer too (he sang most of the vocals on the album). That gave birth to their trademark vocal contrasts between Roger’s angelic warbling and Rick’s far grittier voice. The many lineup changes also had a big hand in the shift in sound. The original guitarist Richard Palmer and drummer Robert Millar (the latter left after suffering a sudden nervous breakdown) were replaced by bassist Frank Farrell and drummer Kevin Currie, who were only stopgap solutions. An important addition, also temporary, was the arrival of flutist/saxophonist Dave Winthrop, whose sax brought in a bit of jazzy sentimentality that would become indispensable on later Supertramp records. Winthrop also took the lead vocal on “Potter” (written, of course, long, long before anyone had heard of Harry Potter).
The end result was their hardest and most rock’n’roll-leaning album, packed with vocal harmonies in the style of the immortal duo Simon and Garfunkel and with Beatles-inspired melodic arrangements. That later, instantly recognizable and wonderfully witty Supertramp sound was still only in embryo. Despite being a total commercial flop, and despite the fact that the band barely remembers it today, “Indelibly Stamped” was a very solid record, one that can only be judged somewhat objectively these days, after the big commercial breakthrough brought by the far more famous “Crime of the Century”.
The album’s notoriously controversial cover (it has turned up more than once on lists of the worst album covers of all time) shows the bare-breasted torso of Rusty Skuse, reportedly the most tattooed Englishwoman of the time (a pretty obvious bid for more commercial attention, which of course ran straight into censorship on the American market). Judged against the later masterpieces, the record has plenty to be faulted for, but certainly not a lack of art rock eclecticism, innovation, and the incredible heart with which Hodgson and Davies built individual arrangements and already-witty vocal harmonies. Even though Supertrtamp were English in heart and soul, a combination of some blues variations, decisive use of harmonica, and Davies’s frequently practiced “Yankee” accent let them create an oddly American sound again and again, which later came in handy for their mischievous parodies of American “culture”.
That kind of joking around is already there on the opening hodgepodge “Your Poppa Don’t Mind”, which has more in common with blues and hard rock than with classic British-school prog rock. Davies’s usual cheeky vocal performance is backed by saloon-style piano passages that conjure up the vibe of some half-collapsed Wild West watering hole. With the excellent folk rock ballad “Travelled”, elegant, pastoral-flavored acoustic guitar passages summon a completely different, much more English, antique-shop ambience. Plenty of people will still notice some kinship here with the early work of Caravan, the Canterbury prog giants, as Hodgson’s vocal oddly veers toward Caravan singer/guitarist Pye Hastings, something that didn’t happen very often later on. “Rosie Had Everything Planed” is another cheeky-yet-sentimental ballad, steeped in British black humor, where Farrell’s harmonica playing stands out in particular, while Hodgson proves himself a first-rate singer whenever melancholy and sarcasm need to be blended perfectly.
With “Remember” they finally wade into somewhat rougher waters, with no shortage of spirited sax outbursts, bluesy guitar phrases, and Rick’s aggressive singing, all laid over simple rock’n’roll rhythms. The sentimental ballad “Forever”, with Rick’s dreamy singing, sharp woodwind and piano arrangements, and well-timed handclaps in the background, packs quite a bit of that thoroughly likable pop rock hypnotism they’d perfect to the bone in later years. “Potter”, the one-off vocal venture of saxophonist and flutist Dave Winthrop, is surprisingly interesting as a hard rock experiment, with a ton of cowboy, “dixie” flavor thanks to the very witty interplay of Hodgson’s guitar phrases. “Coming Home To See You” is a cross between a sentimental ballad and a Beatles-minded melodic rocker, with a generous gallon of black humor and psychedelic-sounding organ passages that are soon overshadowed by “cowboy” harmonica.
The nostalgic ballad “Times Have Changed” could easily sit on any of their later records, as it positively brims with tasteful vocal harmonies and subtle symphonic touches. “Friend In Need”, on the other hand, is a relatively atypical piece built on Simon And Garfunkel-style vocal harmonies, while the central, wonderfully witty arrangement once again veers toward something the legendary Beatles might have come up with back in the day. The closing, nearly eight-minute folk-jazz rock hybrid “Aries” is the most ambitious piece on the album, and in its experimental nature and overall vibe it’s closest to the adventurous undertakings of some of their prog rock peers. It’s defined above all by simple pastoral melodies on flute and acoustic guitar that create a light ethnic ambience, plus sudden flights into more jazzy waters, while Roger’s singing is tailor-made for such a complex and varied composition.
Despite the low commercial profile it picked up when it came out, “Indelibly Stamped” is an interesting record that shows a young band’s creative cross-section, still searching in a big way for its own sonic vocabulary just before the big artistic breakthrough that would make it one of the most beloved art rock bands of all time, yet already showing the first signs of later compositional brilliance. You can definitely feel quite a bit of obvious searching for a clear sound of their own on the album, and some talent that isn’t fully tapped, the talent that was hiding in individual band members, above all Hodgson and Davies. They’d only use it to the fullest in later years, but as said, “Indelibly Stamped” shouldn’t be compared too much with their future achievements, where an entirely different, almost completely rebuilt Supertramp showed up, and should be viewed in the spirit of its time.
After the commercial pogrom against this still rather overlooked record, the two chiefs of the band were left all alone, and many had already started counting down the final days of their shared musical child. So no wonder they retreated from the scene for three years to dodge the pesky media mosquitoes, boldly started forging new creative plans, and built a completely new lineup around themselves. It paid off big time, as with “Crime Of The Century” they pulled off one of the most successful comebacks in rock history. And “Indelibly Stamped” has, over the years, much like the debut, earned a cult status and is today a prized piece of “furniture” among most music collectors.
Line-up
Roger Hodgson – vocals, acoustic guitar, guitar, bass guitar
Rick Davies – vocals, keyboards, harmonica
Frank Farrell – bass guitar, piano, accordion, backing vocals
Kevin Currie – drums, percussion
Dave Winthrop – flute, saxophone, backing vocals
Production
Supertramp
Track list
1. Your Poppa Don’t Mind
2. Travelled
3. Rosie Had Everything Planned
4. Remember
5. Forever
6. Potter
7. Coming Home To See You
8. Times Have Changed
9. Friend In Need
10. Aries
