...Famous Last Words...

...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
Paris (1980) ...Famous Last Words... (1982) Brother Where You Bound (1985)

...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 to pursue a solo career.

...Famous Last Words... reached number 5 on the Billboard Pop Albums Charts in 1982 and was certified Gold for sales in excess of 500,000 copies there. It also peaked at number 6 in the UK 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.

Background and recording

Though Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson had long been writing their songs separately, they had always conceived the theme and overlying direction for each album together. ...Famous Last Words... became the exception to this rule: having been living in different parts of California in the months leading up to the recording, they each conceived their own vision for the album. Hodgson wanted to do another pop album in the vein of Breakfast in America, while Davies had envisioned a heavy progressive rock album with a 10-minute song called "Brother Where You Bound" as its centerpiece. According to Bob Siebenberg, "In the end, they both kind of changed their formats and their picture of what they thought this album should be. It became a diluted version of what it started out to be. It was really neither here nor there." In particular, the band decided to leave out "Brother Where You Bound", since it was too "heavy" to fit alongside Hodgson's pop compositions. Supertramp used Davies's concept for their next album, including "Brother Where You Bound" (which had by that point evolved from 10 minutes to 16 and a half through the addition of some new sections).

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.

At the time of the album's release, many interpreted the title and cover art as thinly-veiled hints that Supertramp were breaking up. In fact, there was no threat of a breakup at this point in the band's history. To help dispel the rumor, John Helliwell explained the actual meaning of the title: "We wanted a phrase that bore some relationship with what we were doing but was enigmatic at the same time. We always like to have enigmatic titles like Crime of the Century... This last LP we thought was going to be real quick. We thought we were going to rehearse it and record it real quick and it ended up taking longer than any other so we had to eat our words again. For the past three or four LPs we've been saying, 'Let's be well prepared.' So the title sprung out of that as well. I can't remember who first thought of it. The graphic design came directly from the title."

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic

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."

Track listing

...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.

Side one

1. "Crazy" (Hodgson) – 4:44
   • Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson
2. "Put on Your Old Brown Shoes" (Davies) – 4:22
   • Lead vocals: Rick Davies
3. "It's Raining Again" (Hodgson) – 4:24
   • Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson
4. "Bonnie" (Davies) – 5:37
   • Lead vocals: Rick Davies
5. "Know Who You Are" (Hodgson) – 4:59
   • Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson

Side two

1. "My Kind of Lady" (Davies) – 5:15
   • Lead vocals: Rick Davies
2. "C'est le Bon" (Hodgson) – 5:32
   • Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson
3. "Waiting So Long" (Davies) – 6:35
   • Lead vocals: Rick Davies
4. "Don't Leave Me Now" (Hodgson) – 6:24
   • Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson

Personnel

• Rick Davies – keyboards, lead and backing vocals, melodica solo on "It's Raining Again", harmonica on "Put On Your Old Brown Shoes" and "Don't Leave Me Now"
• John Helliwell – saxophones, keyboards
• Roger Hodgson – guitars, keyboards, lead and backing vocals
• Bob Siebenberg – drums
• Dougie Thomson – bass

Additional personnel

• Claire Diament – backing vocals on "Don't Leave Me Now"
• Ann Wilson – backing vocals on "Put On Your Old Brown Shoes" and "C'est Le Bon"
• Nancy Wilson – backing vocals on "Put On Your Old Brown Shoes" and "C'est Le Bon"

Production

• Producers: Peter Henderson, Russel Pope, Supertramp
• Engineer: Peter Henderson
• Assistant engineer: Norman Hall
• Mastering on original issue: Doug Sax, Mike Reese
• Mastering on 2002 Remaster: Greg Calbi, Jay Messina
• Concert sound: Russel Pope
• Technician: Bud Wyatt
• String arrangements: Richard Hewson
• Art direction: Mike Doud, Norman Moore
• Design: Mike Doud, Norman Moore
• Cover design: Mike Dowd, Norman Moore
• Cover art concept: Mike Dowd
• Artwork: Mike Dowd
• Photography: Jules Bates, Tom Gibson
• Cover photo: Jules Bates, Tom Gibson
• Sleeve photo: Tom Gibson

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.

Charts

Album – Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1982	Pop Albums	5

Singles – Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1982	"Crazy"	Mainstream Rock	10
	"Don't Leave Me Now"	Mainstream Rock	32
	"It's Raining Again"	Adult Contemporary	5
		Mainstream Rock	7
		Pop Singles	11
	"Waiting So Long"	Mainstream Rock	30
1983	"My Kind of Lady"	Adult Contemporary	16
		Pop Singles	31