| ...Famous Last Words... | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Supertramp | ||||
| Released | October 1982 | |||
| Recorded | November 1981 to summer 1982 at Unicorn, Nevada City, CA; The Backyard, Encino, CA; Rumbo Recorders, Canoga Park, CA; Bill Schnee's Studios, North Hollywood, CA | |||
| Genre | Pop, rock | |||
| Length | 47:35 | |||
| Label | A&M | |||
| Producer | Peter Henderson, Russel Pope, Supertramp | |||
| Supertramp chronology | ||||
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...Famous Last Words..., the eighth album by progressive rock band Supertramp, was released in October 1982.
The album was the studio follow-up to 1979's Breakfast in America and was the last with guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Roger Hodgson, who left the group so that he could spend more time with his children.[1]
...Famous Last Words... reached number 5 on the Billboard Pop Albums Charts in 1982[2] and was certified Gold for sales in excess of 500,000 copies there.[3] It also peaked at number 6 in the UK[4] where it was certified Gold for 100,000 copies sold.
A remastered CD version of the album was released on 30 July 2002 on A&M Records. The remastered CD comes with all of the original artwork and the CD art features a green pair of scissors and a black background.
Contents |
The album was mainly recorded and mixed at Hodgson's home, Unicorn Studios in Nevada City, California, as he did not want to leave his wife, his then two-year old daughter Heidi, and newborn son Andrew behind. Davies wound up recording his vocal parts at his home studio, The Backyard Studios, in Encino, California. Other overdubs were at Bill Schnee Recording Studios in Los Angeles.
Hodgson later said that he regrets recording the album, calling it "a last ditch attempt to try and make things happen" after the life had gone out of the band.[5]
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [6] |
Allmusic found the album overly tailored towards commercial success, claiming that the group in general and Roger Hodgson in particular were too fixated on producing more hits, and that as a result "romantically inclined poetry and love song fluff replaces the lyrical keenness that Supertramp had produced in the past, and the instrumental proficiency that they once mastered has vanished."[6]
...Famous Last Words... was the first time that songs were credited to Hodgson and Davies separately in the sleeve notes, although they were still credited to Rick Davies/Roger Hodgson in the liner notes and on the label.
Additional personnel
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.
Album – Billboard (North America)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Pop Albums | 5 [2] |
Singles – Billboard (North America)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | "Crazy" | Mainstream Rock | 10[2] |
| "Don't Leave Me Now" | Mainstream Rock | 32[2] | |
| "It's Raining Again" | Adult Contemporary | 5 | |
| Mainstream Rock | 7 | ||
| Pop Singles | 11[2] | ||
| "Waiting So Long" | Mainstream Rock | 30[2] | |
| 1983 | "My Kind of Lady" | Adult Contemporary | 16 |
| Pop Singles | 31[2] |
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