Free as a Bird (album)
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| Free as a Bird | |||||
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| Studio album by Supertramp | |||||
| Released | October 1987 | ||||
| Recorded | 1986 | ||||
| Genre | Progressive Rock | ||||
| Length | 43:50 | ||||
| Label | A&M | ||||
| Producer | Rick Davies, Tom Lord-Alge, Supertramp |
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| Supertramp chronology | |||||
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Free as a Bird is the tenth album by progressive rock band Supertramp, released in 1987 (see 1987 in music). Originally, the vinyl album featured three colour variants - blue (pictured), green, yellow. The bird in the picture was a cut-out.
The album was the first Supertramp album to feature guitarist Mark Hart.
The album was a turn of direction of sorts, with most of the songs being with a synthetic dance beat and turning away from their progressive rock sound.
Despite the fact "I'm Beggin' You" was a club hit and Free as a Bird's title cut was a minor hit, the Free as a Bird album did not do well peaking at #101, making it the first Supertramp album since 1971's Indelibly Stamped not to crack Billboard's Top 100 on the album charts.
The band disbanded after the tour in support of the album and would not re-convene until 1997 without Dougie Thomson.
A remastered CD version of the album was released on July 30, 2002 on A&M Records. The remastered CD comes with all of the original album artwork, lyrics and credits. Currently, though, it is out of print again, as it is the least selling of the remastered Supertramp CDs.
[edit] Track listing
All songs written by Rick Davies, except where noted.
Lead vocals by Rick Davies, except where noted.
- "It's Alright" – 5:01
- "Not the Moment" – 4:37
- "It Doesn't Matter" – 4:53
- "Where I Stand" (Davies, Hart) – 3:42
- Lead vocals: Rick Davies and Mark Hart
- "Free as a Bird" – 4:25
- "I'm Beggin' You" – 5:30
- "You Never Can Tell With Friends" – 4:19
- "Thing for You" – 4:00
- "An Awful Thing to Waste" – 7:50
[edit] Personnel
- Rick Davies - keyboard, timbales, vocals
- John Helliwell - saxophone, brass
- Bob Siebenberg - drums
- Dougie Thomson - bass
Additional personnel
- Mark Hart - guitar, keyboard, vocals, background vocals
- Linda Foot - background vocals
- Nick Lane - brass
- Lise Miller - background vocals
- Scott Page - brass
- Lon Price - brass
- Steve Reid - percussion
- Evan Rogers - background vocals
- Lee Thornburg - trumpet, brass
- Marty Walsh - guitar, background vocals
- Karyn White - background vocals
- David Woodford - brass
[edit] Production
- Producers: Rick Davies, Tom Lord-Alge, Supertramp
- Engineer: Norman Hall
- Assistant engineers: Bob Loftus, Jeff Lorenzen
- Mixing: Tom Lord-Alge
- Mastering on original LP: Bob Ludwig
- Remastering: Greg Calbi, Jay Messina
- Art direction: Richard Frankel
- Design: Richard Frankel
- Photography: Raul Vega
2002 A&M reissue:
The 2002 A&M Records reissue was mastered from the original master tapes by Greg Calbi and Jay Messina at Sterling Sound, New York, 2002. The reissue was supervised by Bill Levenson with art direction by Vartan and design by Mike Diehl, with production coordination by Beth Stempel.
[edit] Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | The Billboard 200 | 101 |
Singles - Billboard (North America)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | "I'm Beggin' You" | Hot Dance Music/Club Play | 1 |
| 1987 | "I'm Beggin' You" | Hot Dance Music/Club Play | 3 |
| 1988 | "I'm Beggin' You" | Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales | 48 |
| 1988 | "I'm Beggin' You" | Adult Contemporary | 42 |
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