Paris (Supertramp album)

Paris
Live album by Supertramp
Released	September 1980
Recorded	29 November 1979 in Paris
Genre	Progressive rock, pop
Length	94:44
Label	A&M
Producer	Peter Henderson, Russel Pope
Supertramp chronology
Breakfast in America (1979) Paris (1980) ...Famous Last Words... (1982)

Paris is a live album by progressive rock band Supertramp, released in 1980 (see 1980 in music). It was recorded on Supertramp's Breakfast in America tour in Paris, France, with most of the tracks taken from a 29 November 1979 show at the Pavillon de Paris, a venue which was once a slaughterhouse. The album was originally going to be called Roadworks. Paris reached #8 on the Billboard Pop Albums Charts in late 1980 and went Gold immediately, while the live version of "Dreamer" hit the US Top 20.

Background and recording

According to Roger Hodgson, Supertramp had several reasons to record a live album at the time, including a desire to introduce their pre-Breakfast in America works to USA listeners and a mutual sentiment that some of their songs were pulled off better live than in the studio. However, he admits that the chief purpose of the album was to buy time; the band was under pressure to produce a suitable follow-up to the immense success of Breakfast in America, and needed to get off the treadmill of touring and recording for a while in order to consider their direction for such an album. Taking such a breather meant the next studio album wouldn't be finished until 1981 at the earliest, and so something was needed "to fill the gap."

Using the band's mobile studio, a number of shows in Canada and throughout Europe were recorded. However, when Pete Henderson and Russel Pope presented the band with unlabeled cassettes containing rough mixes of these recordings, and the members voted on their favorite tracks, the majority of votes coincidentally fell on recordings from the 29 November show at the Pavillion. A few tracks were taken from other concerts during the band's stay in Paris, and studio overdubs were also added, chiefly for the vocals and John Helliwell's organ. However, Helliwell contended that the amount of overdubbing was minimal compared to most live albums of the time: "A lot of people, when they make a live album, just keep the drums and bass and redo everything else."

The album's setlist contains almost all of Crime of the Century (except for "If Everyone Was Listening"), three songs from Crisis? What Crisis?, two from Even in the Quietest Moments, three from Breakfast in America plus "You Started Laughing", the B-side to the track "Lady" from Crisis? What Crisis?. The hit "Give a Little Bit" was played on the tour but not included because, according to Hodgson, "we were shocked when we listened back to the live tapes to find how bad all the versions were. There just wasn't one version that we felt that we wanted to put on the album." Other songs that were on the tour's set list but not on the album are "Goodbye Stranger", "Even in the Quietest Moments", "Downstream", "Child of Vision" and "Another Man's Woman". All of these tracks, including "Give a Little Bit", later showed up on the second live disc included in the deluxe anniversary edition of Breakfast in America.

Remastering

In July 2006, the original master tapes of the album were rediscovered in the barn of the band's drummer Bob Siebenberg, along with video footage. The tapes were sent to Cups 'N Strings Studios in Woodland Hills, California, for digital remastering. The tapes were initially in bad technical shape, but were successfully transferred. The remastered CD version of the original album was released on 30 July 2002.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic

Allmusic's brief retrospective review dubbed the album "a competent but ultimately unnecessary live album that fails to live up to the standards of Supertramp's studio material."

Track listing

All songs written by Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson.

Side one

1. "School" – 5:41
   • Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies
2. "Ain't Nobody But Me" – 5:24
   • Lead vocals: Rick Davies
3. "The Logical Song" – 3:56
   • Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson
4. "Bloody Well Right" – 7:23
   • Lead vocals: Rick Davies

Side two

1. "Breakfast In America" – 3:57
   • Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson
2. "You Started Laughing" – 4:02
   • Lead vocals: Rick Davies
3. "Hide In Your Shell" – 6:54
   • Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson
4. "From Now On" – 7:05
   • Lead vocals: Rick Davies with Roger Hodgson

Side three

1. "Dreamer" – 3:44
   • Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies
2. "Rudy" – 7:08
   • Lead vocals: Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson
3. "A Soapbox Opera" – 4:51
   • Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson
4. "Asylum" – 6:51
   • Lead vocals: Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson

Side four

1. "Take the Long Way Home" – 4:57
   • Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson
2. "Fool's Overture" – 10:57
   • Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson
3. "Two of Us" – 1:25
   • Lead vocals: Roger Hodgson
4. "Crime Of The Century" – 6:31
   • Lead vocals: Rick Davies

Personnel

• Rick Davies – keyboards, vocals, harmonica
• John Helliwell – saxophones, woodwinds, keyboards, vocals, spoken intros
• Roger Hodgson – guitars, keyboards, vocals
• Bob Siebenberg (as Bob C. Benberg) – drums, percussion
• Dougie Thomson – bass

Production

• Producers: Peter Henderson, Russel Pope
• Engineers: Bernie Grundman, Peter Henderson, Russel Pope
• Mixing: Bernie Grundman
• Mastering: Bernie Grundman
• Re-mastering: Greg Calbi, Jay Messina
• Sound & Lighting Engineer: Patrick O'Doherty
• Projection: Gus Thomson
• Art direction: Mike Doud
• Design: Mike Fink
• Cover illustration: Cindy Marsh
• Photography: Mark Hanauer, Steve Smith
• Liner notes: David Margereson

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
1980	Pop Albums	8

Singles – Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1980	"Dreamer"	Pop Singles	15