Album Reviews

When I originally received Supertramp’s 2LP live set Paris as a birthday gift in mid-October 1980 — just a few weeks after its official release on A&M in September 1980 — I was ecstatic, to say the least. At that time in my then-young life, I had probably listened to Supertramp’s full studio catalog on vinyl just as much as I had to the balance of the Yes and Led Zeppelin LPs I had in my collection back in those days, so I was very much looking forward to hearing how the five-man prog/pop British collective performed their often complex, layered studio recordings live.

Paris did not disappoint in that regard, as the level of musicianship evidenced by Supertramp’s five members — vocalist/keyboardist Rick Davies, vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Roger Hodgson, multi-instrumentalist John Anthony Helliwell (on sax, woodwinds, vocals, and keyboards), bassist Dougie Thomson, and drummer Bob Siebenberg (who was credited as “Bob C. Benberg” on that initial Paris release as well as on the band’s prior studio LPs, before his given name was instituted on various reissues) — matched, and sometimes surpassed, what they had done on record. The arrangements were faithful to the original recordings, more often than not mirroring the song lengths as well — not a problem in my book in that regard, because the solo and instrumental sequences I had enjoyed on the studio versions were all intact and played proficiently. Plus, the LP packaging was lavish — a purple-hued, glossy gatefold cover painting with the Arc de Triomphe as its centerpiece (as seen below), with live band photos galore on the inner sleeves along with premium, customized labels on all four sides, all of it befitting a band that had only recently made it to the pinnacle of their career.

Paris was also a listening-time investment, seeing how it clocked in at just under 95 minutes, but I was happy to do it. Before certain songs commenced, I very much enjoyed hearing the quite vocal Parisian crowd (some 8,000 strong) being addressed directly in French, as I happened to be learning the language in junior high school at the time. I had always assumed Davies was the one speaking, considering the cadence seemed similar enough to his singing voice, but it wasn’t until I finally saw the Paris Blu-ray some years later that I found out it was actually the always charismatic Helliwell doing all the native-tongue talking instead. (More on all that shortly.)

And now, some 45 years later, Mercury Studios has seen fit to go all-in on the renamed Live in Paris ’79, having only just released it as a fully expanded complete-concert 3LP set on February 28, 2025. I’ve been living with this new collection for a few weeks now, and I can tell you right upfront that it’s well worth the $49.99 SRP investment. (You can order yours from Music Direct here, or via the MD link graphic below, just ahead of the tracklisting section.)

Some recording/release DNA for Live in Paris ’79 first, before I get into the music and the sound. According to the official press materials, “Unlike the previously released [2LP] 1980 Paris live album featuring selections from earlier shows of this Paris run, the triple LP features the complete Supertramp show from the tour, compiled from recordings during the two December shows.” To clarify that statement a bit more, if you check the credits in the original 1980 2LP Paris A&M package, that specific release was cited as being recorded with the Mobile 1 Remote at the Paris Pavillon on November 29, 1979, mixed at Chateau Recorders in North Hollywood, California, and mastered at A&M Recording Studios by Bernie Grundman. Good DNA, to be sure!

The new 3LP edition was instead compiled from the ensuing shows at Paris Pavillon on December 1 and 2, 1979 — according to those press materials, that is, even though the hype sticker on the front cover shown a few grafs above only references December 1 (“Recorded 12/1/1979”). The LP mastering was done by Mazen Murad at Katara Studios, and the new lacquers were cut by Naweed Ahmed at Whitfield Mastering in London. These standard-weight LPs were, according to the small white sticker on the back cover, “Made in Germany” (as in, most likely, GmbH). There is also a newly added “stereo remix” credit for Peter Henderson and Russell Pope, both of whom were given a “produced and engineered by” credit on the original 1980 2LP release.

Prior to this new 3LP set, Paris had never been reissued on vinyl per se (sans a relatively suspect 2022 color vinyl 2LP edition from Second Records). In 2012, Eagle Vision released a 2CD/DVD and 1BD edition officially renamed Live in Paris ’79 with new cover art featuring the Eiffel Tower in shadow instead, and the now “full concert” newly remixed in stereo and 5.1 (the latter in both DTS and Dolby Digital options) by the aforementioned Henderson and Pope. (The standalone BD was later reissued by Eagle Vision in 2018.) For that reissue, according to a story in Mix, the original master tapes and video footage were “rediscovered in the Northern California barn” belonging to drummer Siebenberg in July 2006. The tapes were duly sent to Cups ’N Strings Studios in Woodland Hills, California, for digital remastering, the likely source material for those CD/DVD and BD releases and the current 3LP (and concurrent 2CD digipak) set.

I know there are those of you who disdain any digital sourcing when it comes to the production of modern LPs, but that step doesn’t detract from this particular Paris ’79 triple-vinyl listening experience or enjoyment, imo. Plus, the “complete concert” designation is quite meaningful here, as the 1980 2LP edition did not include such key Tramp tracks like Davies’ hit Breakfast single “Goodbye Stranger” and “Another Man’s Woman” (originally from Crisis), nor Hodgson’s now iconic “Give a Little Bit” (from Quietest) and “Child of Vision” (from Breakfast). The logic at the time was that the band wasn’t satisfied with any of the in-Paris performances of “Bit” (and, probably, “Stranger”), while the other four cuts were more than likely left off due to the time constraints of a four-sided release.

In full comparison, the 1980 2LP Paris offered 16 tracks, while the new 3LP Paris ’79 set serves up 22 tracks. The other two added tracks I didn’t yet mention are the mostly acoustic 5-minute take on Hodgson’s “Even in the Quietest Moments” (albeit 90 seconds shorter than its original 1977 studio version, though the sax/acoustic guitar intro interplay is a nice addition) and Davies’ solo piano elegy “Downstream” (also from Quietest) — both worthwhile additions in their own respective rights.

Certain vocal overdubs, along with some of Helliwell’s organ fills, were added after the fact back in the day — though good luck figuring out which ones, and where. This was pretty much SOP during the ’70s/’80s heyday of live releases, but these overdubs are relatively tame as compared to other, essentially wholesale “live” studio recreations from that era. The bottom line here is that Live in Paris ’79 does indeed sound live, and it very much reflects the band’s performance musculature after close to 100(ish) performances on their Breakfast in America tour.

To get into the Paris swing, so to speak, I relistened to my original 1980 Paris 2LP set as a baseline (back cover shown above) — and found some occasional performance-difference subtleties, but nothing all that dramatic — plus I watched the Blu-ray to see the band’s onstage interactivity. I found it interesting to observe how Hodgson typically placed his upper lip directly on the microphone whenever he sang, whereas Davies would position himself slightly back from his mike, and would occasionally jerk/tilt his head to the side when emphasizing certain words or phrases. I also went back to my original A&M LPs that this setlist was culled from — October 1974’s Crime of the Century, November 1975’s Crisis? What Crisis?, April 1977’s Even in the Quietest Moments. . ., and March 1979’s Breakfast in America — and then I listened to a pair of latter-day Hodgson solo albums too, namely his 2016 self-released, limited-edition 45rpm Open the Door 2LP set (mine is 332 of 500, btw) and the 2018 self-released translucent-blue Classics Live 1 LP to glean just how the character of his voice has remained consistent, pretty much to this day. (I also saw and heard Hodgson perform live in 2014 and 2018, and then I chatted with him after both shows, so I can attest to his vocal strength literally firsthand/first ear.)

All of this leads me to say that Supertramp’s new 3LP Live in Paris ’79 is the best version of the full-show setlist that’s available in the marketplace. The revised gatefold packaging is again pristine and colorful, with LP1 in the inner left sleeve on its own and LPs 2&3 sharing space over in the right. The inner sleeves themselves are clean, but you may want to replace them with inner-lined plastic sleeves, as I have. My trusty Sublima Audio Research Mat Chakra Limited platter mat took up residence directly underneath each side as they played. All six of the deep-black Paris ’79 discs were well-centered and mostly quiet, as I only detected just a hint of surface noise at the tail end of LP3, Side E.

Herewith are some of my favorite, not-quietest Paris ’79 moments. First off, it’s nice to discern the underlying, almost turgid low-end rumble behind the harmonica bleats that precede Hodgson’s lead vocals on the set opener, the Crime-culled “School” (LP1, Side A, Track 1). As Hodgson’s extension of the “oooout” in the word “about” fades, Siebenberg’s cymbal work supports Helliwell’s horns along with Thomson’s bass, and then the tempo begins picking up before Davies’ piano solo takes over. Subtlety, not volume, rules the day here — and there’s also a nice slightly back-in-the-mix placement of Hodgson’s wah-wah countering Davies’ “don’t do this” scolding vocal section. You’re coming along, indeed. Davies’ enunciated, guttural growl of “vicious” (as in, “vish-shuss”) in the next song, “Ain’t Nobody But Me” (LP1, Side A, Track 1), punches that word somewhat more forcefully than on the Crisis studio version.

I still marvel at Hodgson’s vocabulary and self-analysis in “The Logical Song” (LP1, Side A, Track 3), not to mention Helliwell’s expressive sax solo. And I remain beyond pleased they were able to insert/retain the double-pumped Mattel Electronics’ Electronic Football “punting” sound effect, which appears right after Hodgson stutter-sings the word “digital” — something that’s instantly recognizable to any respectable, presentable handheld gameplayer from when the studio version of this Breakfast song was initially released as a single in 1979. (Yep, I still have both — the game, and the 45.)

Helliwell’s in-French “champagne du fromage” introduction before the ever-jaunty cabaret reverie “Breakfast in America” (LP1, Side B, Track 1) is worth finding the full translation. His hard-charging sax playfully wafts around Hodgson’s “ba-da-da-bum” vocal breaks, and you’ll enjoy picking up the added syllable at the end of the singer’s to-do list hope to “see the girls in Californ-yer.” Davies’ piano intros to “Bloody Well Right” (LP1, Side B, Track 2) and “Asylum” (LP2, Side D, Track 1) are both a bit faster in tempo than on their respective Crime studio versions, but no matter. True, the bass isn’t ultra deep on this live recording (and, frankly, it isn’t meant to be), but the mids are palpable and the harmonies shared between Hodgson, Helliwell, and Davies are a fine blend of sweet, high, and low. The alternating of Davies and Hodgson’s lead-vocal taking — essentially track for track, except for some back-to-back mid-set doubling up on both Sides C and D of LP2 —is textbook for how to pace a live set that equally showcases two distinct, yet complementary, songwriting styles.

The aforementioned, 7½-minute “Child of Vision” (LP2, Side C, Track 1), which was left off the original 1980 release, is a rescued Breakfast-born highlight, with its keyboard-swelling opener and tough drum counters from Siebenberg, plus an extended funky, stop/start piano solo from Davies that’s punctuated with Hodgson’s light scatting throughout and Helliwell’s wailing sax to carry it home. Meanwhile, a pair of Davies’ story-song highlight pieces, “Asylum” (LP2, Side D, Track 1) and the sad train travelogue “Rudy” (LP3, Side E, Track 1), are arrangement marvels — whether it be the whooping, hollering, British diction-countering, and tinging finger-bells of the former, or the trade-off vocals and wah-wah chugging midsection of the latter Crime-bred cut.

The 11-minute Quietest triumph “Fool’s Overture” (LP3, Side F, Track 1) is the full set’s linchpin, a grandiose historical chronicle of post-war Britain that throbs with low-end propulsion, uplifting sax and string effects, dramatic/symphonic keyboard interplay, and a stay-vigilant lyrical warning that seems all-too-prescient for the here and now. Hodgson’s acoustic Crisis reverie “Two of Us” (LP3, Side F, Track 2) is a nice, necessary encore bridge breather before the ominous, volume-swelling, seen-the-enemy “Crime of the Century” finale (LP3, Side F, Track 3) hurtles toward the finish line, replete with the “School” harmonica callback as the concert’s perfect bookend.

Ratings-wise, the Music here is a solid 9, and the Sound is an 8.5. (If not for that likely digital stage, it could have been a half-tick higher.) Paris ’79 is a better spin than the still enjoyable 2LP Paris, which itself would be an 8 for Sound. Finally, to sum it all up by borrowing a few words from the vocal button that appears at the end of “The Logical Song,” Supertramp’s 3LP Live in Paris ’79 is nothing short of b-b-b-b-bloody marvelous — and I say you bloody well ought to get your hands on a copy of it today. Tres bon!

Author bio: Mike Mettler is the editor of Analog Planet in addition to being the music editor of our sister site Sound & Vision, and he’s also a contributing music editor to one of our other sister sites, Stereophile, in addition to being a frequent Vinyl Icons scribe for Hi-Fi News. Plus, he’s quite partial to vintage 1967 Mustang fastbacks, but that’s a story for another time and place.

SUPERTRAMP
LIVE IN PARIS ’79
3LP (Mercury Studios/UMG)

LP1, Side A
1. School
2. Ain’t Nobody But Me
3. The Logical Song
4. Goodbye Stranger

LP1, Side B
1. Breakfast In America
2. Goodbye Stranger
3. Hide In Your Shell
4. From Now On

LP2, Side C
1. Child Of Vision
2. Even In The Quietest Moments
3. You Started Laughing (When I Held You In My Arms)
4. A Soap Box Opera

LP2, Side D
1. Asylum
2. Downstream
3. Give A Little Bit
4. Dreamer

LP3, Side E
1. Rudy
2. Take The Long Way Home
3. Another Man’s Woman

LP3, Side F
1. Fool’s Overture
2. Two Of Us
3. Crime Of The Century