Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Free as a Bird (album)

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Released
  
13 October 1987

Genre
  
Pop, dance-pop, rock

Label
  
A&M

Recorded
  
1986

Length
  
44:17

Producer
  
Rick Davies, Tom Lord-Alge, Supertramp

Free as a Bird is the ninth studio album by the English rock band Supertramp, released in 1987.

Contents

The album was a turn of direction of sorts, with most of the songs stepping back from their progressive rock sound, employing synthesised dance beats and rhythms. Chief songwriter Rick Davies later recalled, "Free as a Bird was an experiment to try and be modern and build it up with computers and drum machines and have people come in one by one, which makes you lose the band spirit a little bit."

Overview

The album was the first Supertramp album to feature contributions from guitarist/vocalist Mark Hart. He would later become a full-fledged member of the group.

Despite the fact that "I'm Beggin' You" was a club chart-topping hit and Free as a Bird's title cut was a minor hit, the album did not do well peaking at No. 101, making it the first Supertramp album since 1971's Indelibly Stamped not to crack Billboard's Top 100 on the album charts.

The band disbanded after the tour in support of the album and would not reconvene until 1997. They did so without bassist Dougie Thomson.

Originally, the vinyl album featured four colour variants – blue (pictured), green, yellow and pink. The bird in the picture was a cut-out.

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 album artwork, lyrics and credits.

Reception

Allmusic's brief retrospective review dismissed the album as "a colorless and tuneless collection of prog rock meandering".

Track listing

All songs written by Rick Davies, except where noted.
Lead vocals by Rick Davies, except where noted.

  1. "It's Alright" – 5:01
  2. "Not the Moment" – 4:37
  3. "It Doesn't Matter" – 4:53
  4. "Where I Stand" (Davies, Mark Hart) – 3:42
  5. Lead vocals: Rick Davies and Mark Hart
  6. "Free as a Bird" – 4:25
  7. "I'm Beggin' You" – 5:30
  8. "You Never Can Tell with Friends" – 4:19
  9. "Thing for You" – 4:00
  10. "An Awful Thing to Waste" – 7:50

Personnel

  • Rick Davies – keyboards, timbales, vocals
  • John Helliwell – saxophone, brass
  • Dougie Thomson – bass
  • Bob Siebenberg – drums
    • Additional personnel
  • Mark Hart – guitar, keyboards, vocals, background vocals
  • Marty Walsh – guitar, background vocals
  • Lee Thornburg – trumpet, brass
  • Nick Lane – brass
  • Scott Page – brass
  • Lon Price – brass
  • David Woodford – brass
  • Steve Reid – percussion
  • Linda Foot – background vocals
  • Lise Miller – background vocals
  • Evan Rogers – background vocals
  • Karyn White – background vocals

    • Production

  • Producers: Rick Davies, Tom Lord-Alge, Supertramp
  • Engineer: Norman Hall
  • Assistant engineers: Bob Loftus, Jeff Lorenzen
  • Mixing: Tom Lord-Alge
  • Mastering on original LP: Bob Ludwig
  • Remastering: Greg Calbi, Jay Messina
  • Art direction: Richard Frankel
  • Design: Richard Frankel
  • Photography: Raul Vega
    • 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.

    Singles

    Charts – Billboard (North America)

    Official Charts (United Kingdom)

    References

    Free as a Bird (album) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA