Even in the Quietest Moments...

Even in the Quietest Moments...
Studio album by Supertramp
Released April 1977
Recorded November 1976 – January 1977 at Caribou Ranch, Nederland, CO and Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles
Genre Progressive rock
Length 43:24
Label A&M
Producer Supertramp
Supertramp chronology
Crisis? What Crisis?
(1975)		 Even in the Quietest Moments
(1977)		 Breakfast in America
(1979)

Even in the Quietest Moments… is the fifth album by the English progressive rock band Supertramp, released in April 1977. It was recorded mainly at Caribou Ranch Studios in Colorado with overdubs, vocals and mixing completed at The Record Plant in Los Angeles and was Supertramp's first album to use engineer Peter Henderson, who would work with the band for their next three albums as well.

Even in the Quietest Moments… reached number 16 on the Billboard Pop Albums Charts in 1977, and within a few months of release became Supertramp's first Gold (500,000 copies or more) selling album in the US. In addition, "Give a Little Bit" became a US Top 20 single and reached number 29 on the UK Singles Chart.[1] While "Give a Little Bit" was the big hit, both "Fool's Overture" and the title track also got a fair amount of FM album-rock play.

A remastered CD version of the album with full original artwork, lyrics and credits restored (including the inner sleeve picture of the band absent from the original CD) was released on 11 June 2002 on A&M Records in the US. The cover photo is not doctored – a grand piano was placed on a mountain top at Eldora Mountain Resort (a ski area near Caribou Ranch Studios), covered with snow and photographed. The sheet music on the piano, though titled "Fool's Overture", is actually the Star-Spangled Banner.

In 1978, Even in the Quietest Moments... was ranked 63rd in The World Critic Lists, which recognised the 200 greatest albums of all time as voted for by notable rock critics and DJs.[2]

Background and recording

Though all the songs are credited as being written by Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson, only "Even in the Quietest Moments" is an actual Davies/Hodgson collaboration. Davies wrote "Lover Boy", "Downstream", and "From Now On" by himself, and Hodgson in turn wrote "Give a Little Bit", "Babaji", and "Fool's Overture" unaided.[3]

Davies said of "Lover Boy" that "I was inspired by advertisements in men's magazines telling you how to pick up women. You know, you send away for it and it's guaranteed not to fail. If you haven't slept with at least five women in two weeks, you can get your money back." Bob Siebenberg recounted that "Rick had been working on 'Lover Boy' for quite a while and finally came up with the long middle section. I just heard that as a really slow, really solid sort of beat, just to give the song dynamics underneath it all, because the song itself is really powerful and it needed something really solid underneath it."[3]

Most of the song "Even in the Quietest Moments" was written during the sound check for a show at the Tivoli Gardens (in Copenhagen). Davies and Hodgson worked out the various parts of the song with Hodgson seated at an Oberheim string synthesiser and Davies at the drum kit.[4] Davies commented on the music, "It starts off in a very standard melody thing and then it notches onto a sort of one chord progression or perhaps we should call it a digression. It's a thing where there's hundreds of sounds coming in and going out, a whole collage thing."[3] Hodgson said of the lyrics, "It's kind of a dual love song – it could be to a girl or it could be to God."[3]

"Downstream" is performed solely by Davies on vocal and piano, which were recorded together in one take. Siebenberg has described the song as his favourite on the album "because it's so personal and so pure."[3]

"Fool's Overture" had the working title of "The String Machine Epic", and according to John Helliwell, "It came primarily from a few melodies that Roger had worked out on the string machine thing we use on stage."[3] Hodgson has stated that the song's lyrics are essentially meaningless, explaining, "I like being vague and yet saying enough to set people's imaginations running riot."[3]

This album is unique in the Supertramp discography as none of the songs features the band's trademark Wurlitzer electric piano. However, a Fender Rhodes piano was used during a short section of "From Now On".

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[5]
Robert ChristgauC+[6]

In a 1981 review, music critic Robert Christgau facetiously remarked that, unlike most progressive rock, which is "pretentious background schlock that's all too hard to ignore", the album is "modest background schlock that sounds good when it slips into the ear."[6]

Allmusic gave a mixed retrospective review of the album, calling it "elegant yet mildly absurd, witty but kind of obscure" but also contending that it "places a greater emphasis on melody and gentle textures than any previous Supertramp release." They criticised the album as not being "full formed", but marked "Give a Little Bit", "Lover Boy", "Fool's Overture", and "From Now On" as highlights worthy of praise.[5]

Track listing

All songs written by Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson, with lead vocals by Hodgson unless otherwise stated.

Side one

  1. "Give a Little Bit" – 4:08
  2. "Lover Boy" – 6:49
    • Lead vocals: Rick Davies
  3. "Even in the Quietest Moments" – 6:26
  4. "Downstream" – 4:00
    • Lead vocals: Rick Davies

Side two

  1. "Babaji" – 4:51
  2. "From Now On" – 6:21
    • Lead vocals: Rick Davies
  3. "Fool's Overture" – 10:52

Production

Original release

1997 and 2002 A&M reissue

The 1997 and 2002 A&M Records reissues were mastered from the original master tapes by Greg Calbi and Jay Messina at Sterling Sound, New York, in 1997 and 2002. The reissues were supervised by Bill Levenson with art direction by Vartan and design by Mike Diehl, with production coordination by Beth Stempel.

Both the 1997 and 2002 remasters are heavily criticised by audiophiles who claim they were mastered too loud as part of the "loudness war" mastering trend. Also the song "Lover Boy" was edited and is missing a couple of bars.

Personnel

Supertramp

Additional musicians

Charts

Peak positions

Chart Position
Australian Kent Music Report[7] 5
Canadian RPM Albums Chart[8] 1
Dutch Albums Chart[9] 1
French SNEP Albums Chart[10] 4
New Zealand Albums Chart[11] 2
Norwegian Albums Chart[12] 3
Swedish Albums Chart[13] 5
UK Albums Chart[14] 12
US Billboard 200[15] 16
West German Media Control Albums Chart[16] 14

Year-end charts

Chart (1977) Position
Australian Albums Chart[7] 6
Canadian Albums Chart[17] 7
Dutch Albums Chart[18] 4
French Albums Chart[19] 7
US Billboard 200[20] 41

Certifications and sales

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)[21] Platinum 100,000^
France (SNEP)[22] Platinum 387,200[23]
Germany (BVMI)[24] Gold 250,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[25] Platinum 50,000x
United Kingdom (BPI)[26] Silver 60,000^
United States (RIAA)[27] Gold 500,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ Rice, Tim; Paul Gambaccini; Jonathan Rice (1995). British Hit Singles. London: Guinness Superlatives. p. 303. ISBN 0-85112-633-2.
  2. ↑ The World Critic Lists. 1978. Archived at rocklistmusic.co.uk
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Melhuish, Martin (1986). The Supertramp Book. Toronto, Canada: Omnibus Press. pp. 119–137. ISBN 0-9691272-2-7.
  4. ↑ Melhuish, Martin (1986). The Supertramp Book. Toronto, Canada: Omnibus Press. p. 111. ISBN 0-9691272-2-7.
  5. 1 2 Even in the Quietest Moments... at AllMusic
  6. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (1981). Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. p. 381. ISBN 0899190251.
  7. 1 2 Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  8. ↑ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 27, No. 7" (PHP). RPM. 14 May 1977. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  9. ↑ "dutchcharts.nl Supertramp – Even in the Quietest Moments..." (ASP). Hung Medien (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  10. ↑ "InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste" (in French). infodisc.fr. Retrieved 1 June 2013.Note: user must select 'Supertramp' from drop-down.
  11. ↑ "charts.org.nz Supertramp – Even in the Quietest Moments..." (ASP). Hung Medien. Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  12. ↑ "norwegiancharts.com Supertramp – Even in the Quietest Moments..." (ASP). Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  13. ↑ "swedishcharts.com Supertramp – Even in the Quietest Moments..." (ASP). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  14. ↑ "Supertramp > Artists > Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  15. ↑ "allmusic ((( Even in the Quietest Moments... > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  16. ↑ "Album Search: Supertramp – Even in the Quietest Moments..." (ASP) (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  17. ↑ "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1977". RPM. 31 December 1977. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  18. ↑ "Dutch charts jaaroverzichten 1977" (ASP) (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  19. ↑ "Les Albums (CD) de 1977 par InfoDisc" (PHP) (in French). infodisc.fr. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  20. ↑ "Top Pop Albums of 1977". billboard.biz. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
  21. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Supertramp – Even in the Quietest Moments". Music Canada. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
  22. ↑ "French album certifications – Supertramp – Even in the Quietest Moments" (in French). InfoDisc. Retrieved 1 June 2012. Select SUPERTRAMP and click OK
  23. ↑ "Les Albums Platine :". Infodisc.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 June 2012.
  24. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Supertramp)" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
  25. ↑ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Supertramp; 'Even in the Quietest Moments')". Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
  26. ↑ "British album certifications – Supertramp – Even in the Quietest Moments". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 1 June 2012. Enter Even in the Quietest Moments in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Silver in the field By Award. Click Search
  27. ↑ "American album certifications – Supertramp – Even in the Quietest Moments". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 1 June 2012. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
Preceded by
Rumours by Fleetwood Mac		 Canadian RPM 100 number-one album
14 May 1975 		Succeeded by
Hotel California by Eagles
Preceded by
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
by Santa Esmeralda starring Leroy Gomez		 Dutch Mega Chart number-one album
12 – 19 November 1977 		Succeeded by
News of the World by Queen
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