Supertramp Album: “Indelibly Stamped”

This album sheds some light on Supertramp's early musical endeavours. Their sound is still raw and bold. Hodgson is still experimenting with his vocal abilities and so is the rest of the band. This album, along with Supertramp(another early album), are essential to any Supertramp fan who likes to know more about how the group had developed its unique sound. Definitely not for a beginner though. If you've never heard Supertramp, you'd better start with Even In The Quietest Moments or Crime Of The Century.

Long before "Crime Of The Century", I bought a promo copy of this LP (their 2nd LP, the first issued in the US) and fell in love with the quirkiness of the music and Roger Hodgson's voice. I quickly discovered their first LP "Supertramp" and became a died-in-the-wool fan long before they got big.

This CD is an exact duplicate of the once-available US issue; complete with the black and white cover (the vinyl LP was in color in both the US and UK).

The same bass overmodulation (distortion) is present here, the sound is crisp, but the distorting bass is a bit annoying.

Oh well....I've lived with distortion since 1971!

It's musically more diverse than later albums, but anyone who loved Supertramp during their big-hit period will find this a welcome addition to their collection.

It's just a shame it's so expensive!

It's too bad that this album and their debut have been disregarded when they became more successful. Both are excellent Supertramp "starters". Bit this album is the beginning of the "classic" Supertramp sound that's captured fans all over the world. If "Supertramp" was Roger Hodgson's go at the mike, than this is Rick Davies turn to clearly show what he's got to offer us. Unlike their debut, this album is more upbeat, rock-oriented atmosphere, and also has a mixture of different musical styles. "Your Poppa Don't Mind" "Remember" and "Potter" all have the rock/jazz/blues hybrid to them, while songs like "Travelled" and "Aries" tend to have the sad mood from the first album, and all the other songs songs have pretty much everything inbetween. Overall it's not a bad album, weak in some spots though, especially "Rosie Had Everything Planned" seems a little pointless. But don't let that stop you from getting this album! It's an intro to the Supertramp "sound" and I recommend it highly as well their first!

Supertramp's second album (no longer available in the US) has pieces of the band's classic sound scattered throughout the album. The songs showcase influences of Traffic, Yes and Blind Faith. Although it lacks the originality seen with later albums, the songwriting is quite solid and the performances excellent throughout the recording.

The generic sound surprisingly sustains the album on many of the weaker tracks. Although the songs lack the personality of later Davies-Hodgson songs, they lend themselves well to the extended soloing found throughout the record. Even at this stage, the Davies sung pieces exhibit a strong flavor of r&b while the Hodgson sung pieces are more pop sounding.

This probably isn't the album to get your feet wet with Supertramp if you don't have many of the band's albums. I'd recommend Crime of the Century, Breakfast in America, Even in the Quietest Moments and Crisis? What Crisis? before purchasing this album.

This is a rougher sounding Supertramp then there later Albums but I love the Album.

Its a much younger band and very much so less polished but thats part of what makes it very good.

I like all there LPs even there newer ones that people tend not to like but I really like the early stuff the best

This is definatly worth checking out

Buy the Vinyl LP for the Great cover and have fun listing to it also.