...Famous Last Words...

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...Famous Last Words... (stylised in all lowercase), released in October 1982, is the seventh studio album by the British rock band Supertramp. It was the studio follow-up to 1979's Breakfast in America and the last album with vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist Roger Hodgson, who left the group to pursue a solo career. Thus, it was the final album to be released by the classic lineup of the band (Hodgson, Davies, Helliwell, Thomson, and Siebenberg).

The album reached number 5 on the Billboard Pop Albums Charts in its third week on the chart dated November 27, 1982,[1] and was certified Gold for sales in excess of 500,000 copies there.[2] It also peaked at number 6 in the UK where it was certified Gold for 100,000 copies sold.[3]

A remastered CD version of ...Famous Last Words... was released on 30 July 2002 on A&M Records. The remastered CD comes with all 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.[4]

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."[4] In particular, the band decided to leave out "Brother Where You Bound", since it was too "heavy" to fit alongside Hodgson's pop compositions.[4] Supertramp used "Brother Where You Bound" for their next album, Brother Where You Bound (1985), though it had by that point evolved from 10 minutes to 16 and a half through the addition of some new sections.[citation needed]

As usual, the songs are all officially credited as being written by Davies/Hodgson. However, the sleeve notes colour-code the songs' lyrics by individual author. The lead vocalist on each song is the same as its writer: "Crazy", "It's Raining Again", "Know Who You Are", "C'est le bon", and "Don't Leave Me Now" were written by Hodgson, and "Put on Your Old Brown Shoes", "Bonnie", "My Kind of Lady", and "Waiting So Long" were written by Davies.[citation needed]

The album's working title was Tightrope.[5] 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 and keyboard parts at his home studio, The Backyard Studios, in Encino, California. Other overdubs were at Bill Schnee Recording Studios in Los Angeles.[citation needed]

At the time of the album's release, many interpreted the title (which at that point became ...Famous Last Words...) and cover art as thinly veiled hints that Supertramp was breaking up.[4] In a 2015 interview, Hodgson confirmed that he and Davies decided on the title because "we weren't doing [a record] again".[6] He 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.[7] Conversely, John Helliwell said in 1986: "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."[4]

Reception

Template:Album ratings A contemporary review in Creem savaged the album for its nondescript nature, concluding "this stuff is so soddenly bland already that the Muzak folks are going to have their work cut out for them".[8] AllMusic, in a retrospective review, 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."[9]

Track listing

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Personnel

Supertramp
  • Rick Davies – lead and backing vocals, organ (tracks 1, 7, 9), piano (tracks 2, 4, 6, 8), electric piano (track 2), synthesizers (track 3), harmonica (tracks 2, 9), melodica (track 3)
  • Roger Hodgson – lead and backing vocals, electric guitar (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9), 12-string guitar (tracks 2, 5, 7), piano (tracks 1, 3, 9), pump organ (track 1), synthesizers (track 5), glockenspiel (track 3)
  • John Helliwell – saxophones (tracks 1–3, 6, 8, 9), clarinet (tracks 7, 8), synthesizers (tracks 3, 4, 6, 8, 9)
  • Dougie Thomson – bass (tracks 1–4, 6–9)
  • Bob Siebenberg – drums (tracks 1–4, 6–9)
    • This was the first Supertramp album for which Siebenberg was credited under his real name. All previous Supertramp albums on which he had appeared credited him as "Bob C. Benberg".

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

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.

The intro to "Bonnie" contains a glitch in the piano part on the 2002 remaster, and has never been fully explained (whether it was a mastering error, or an intentional alteration to the track). [citation needed]

Charts

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Certifications and sales

Template:Certification Table Separator
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[24] Platinum 50,000 
Brazil — 200,000[25]
Canada (Music Canada)[26] Platinum 100,000 
France (SNEP)[27] Platinum 0 
Germany (BVMI)[28] Platinum 500,000 
Netherlands (NVPI)[29] Gold 50,000 
New Zealand (RMNZ)[30] Platinum 15,000 
United Kingdom (BPI)[31] Gold 100,000 
United States (RIAA)[32] Gold 500,000 
Yugoslavia — 26,565[33]
Europe
1982-1985 sales 		— 2,000,000[34]

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."allmusic ((( ...Famous Last Words... > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."RIAA Gold and Platinum". RIAA.com. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Tsort. "Albums from the Year 1982". tsort.info. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d e Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Melhuish, Martin (1986). The Supertramp Book. Toronto, Canada: Omnibus Press. pp. 167–175. ISBN 978-0-9691272-2-2.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Pfenninger, Leslie J. "Supertramp | On A&M Records". www.onamrecords.com. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.ROCK ANTENNE (16 July 2015), Roger Hodgson: Will Supertramp reunite? - Wird es eine Supertramp Reunion geben?, archived from the original on 12 December 2021, retrieved 4 March 2018
  7. ^ (2009). 30th Anniversary Breakfast in America Feature, In the Studio. Script error: No such module "webarchive".
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Riegel, Richard (April 1983). "Supertramp: ...Famous Last Words... (A&M)". Creem. Retrieved 25 July 2018 – via Rock's Backpages.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference allmusic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Supertramp - "... Famous Last Words ..."". Austrian Charts. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Supertramp - "... Famous Last Words ..."". Dutch Charts. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Le Détail des Albums de chaque Artiste – S". Infodisc.fr (in français). Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2012. Select Supertramp from the menu, then press OK.
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Classifiche". Musica e dischi (in italiano). Retrieved 5 January 2025. Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Titolo" field, search "Supertramp".
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in 日本語). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  16. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Supertramp - "... Famous Last Words ..."". NZ Charts. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Supertramp - "... Famous Last Words ..."". Norwegian Charts. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  18. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Supertramp - "... Famous Last Words ..."". Swedish Charts. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  19. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Official IFPI Charts Top-75 Albums Sales Chart (Combined) – Εβδομάδα: 32-35/2025" (in Ελληνικά). IFPI Greece. Archived from the original on 3 September 2025. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
  20. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Les Albums (CD) de 1982 par InfoDisc". Infodisc.fr (in French). Archived from the original (PHP) on 14 June 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  21. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Austriancharts.st – Jahreshitparade 1983" (in German). Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 20 July 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  22. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in Deutsch). GfK Entertainment Charts. 1983. Archived from the original on 5 October 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  23. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Billboard BIZ: Top Pop Albums of 1983". Billboard.biz. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  24. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Platinum Albums 1982 (Continued)". Kent Music Report. No. 453. 18 February 1983 – via Imgur.
  25. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Brazil - Viva Latino! - Talent Seeks". Billboard. Vol. 97, no. 4. 26 January 1985. p. VL-24. Retrieved 24 September 2021 – via World Radio History.
  26. ^ Script error: No such module "cite".
  27. ^ Script error: No such module "cite". Select SUPERTRAMP and click OK. 
  28. ^ Script error: No such module "cite".
  29. ^ Script error: No such module "cite". Enter Famous Last Words in the "Artiest of titel" box.
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  31. ^ Script error: No such module "cite". Select albums in the Formats field. Type Famous Last Words Supertramp in the "Search:" field.
  32. ^ Script error: No such module "cite".
  33. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hudelist, Darko (1 October 1984). "Rang-lista licencnih izdanja". Yugopapir. Archived from the original on 31 October 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  34. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hennessey, Mike (9 June 1985). "International Viewpoint" (PDF). Billboard. p. 69. Retrieved 30 November 2021 – via World Radio History.

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