After the death of co-frontman Rick Davies, we survey the best of the songwriting partnership with Roger Hodgson that propelled them to mass success in the 70s
Rick Davies, Supertramp frontman and co-founder, dies aged 81
Supertramp spent their early years exploring, developing a flair for soft-focus introspection and muscular adventure without quite finding melodic hooks for their stylistic acumen. Crime of the Century, their third album, is where things started to change for the group and School provides the bridge between their art-rock beginnings and the clever pop polish that brought them fame. One of the rare full collaborations between Rick Davies and his singer/songwriter partner Roger Hodgson, School takes flight once Davies’ jazz-inflected piano pushes Hodgson’s sarcastic swipes at educational bureaucracy toward an open-ended space, the sweeping solos suggesting worlds far away from dreary institutions.
Davies had a peculiarly symbiotic relationship with Hodgson. It wasn’t merely that the two musicians complemented each other’s strengths, with Hodgson’s pop inclinations sweetening the jazzier proclivities of Davies. The duo shared similar vocal timbres, to the point where it could be difficult for casual listeners to separate their two voices. This is brought to a head on Dreamer, an ebullient single from Crime of the Century, where Davies and Hodgson’s voices and keyboards intertwine as if they were one. Although they would continue to split songwriting credits, the pair’s creative partnership would soon grow distant, making the effortless effervescence of Dreamer particularly noteworthy.
