Customer Reviews

In the Eye of the Storm

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Combine the best moments from In The Eye of The Storm with Brother Where You Bound? and you'd have the best Supertramp album since Breakfast. Clearly the conflict between Davies' musical direction for Supertramp and Hodgson couldn't be resolved, so Hodgson made the break and put together a strong collection of solo material.

The best material here holds its own with his best Supertramp songs. Always tuneful and full of hooks, In The Eye Of The Storm overcomes the "solo album curse" of many artists. Nevertheless, there is enough second rate material and preachy lyrics to make one wish that Hodgson and Davies had been able to reconcile their differences. Although lyrically sharper than Davies' songs for Brother, Eye lacks both a sense of adventure and an edginess that one had come to expect from the band.

All of that said, it's still a pleasant album that manages to overcome its weaknesses. Certainly Davis and Hodgson (like Lennon & McCartney, Jagger & Richards and other songwriting teams)need each other more than they'd care to admit.

Eye reminds me of some of George Harrison's less distinguished albums; there's a considerable amount of craft on displace and clearly the heart's in the right place, but there needed to be someone to edit the material into a strong, conhesive set. It doesn't help that Hodgson plays most of the instruments himself. A band might have breathed more life into the album as well.

Roger Hodgson, singer/songwriter, musician & founding member of the successful group Supertramp, left the band in 1983 after their tour for "Famous Last Words" was completed (creative differences with Supertramp co-founder Rick Davies were said to be the cause of Roger's exit). He made his solo debut in 1984 with "In The Eye Of The Storm," and, if you love Roger's work with the 'Tramp, then you'll most certainly love his solo stuff as well. "In The Eye Of The Storm" features all the musical trademarks that Hodgson brought to Supertramp's table---his classic falsetto voice, his amazing keyboard & guitar work, and his knack for writing fabulous melodies and dramatic musical elements. "Had A Dream (Sleeping With The Enemy)" is a Hodgson classic, with some clever, thinly-veiled lyrics about leaving Supertramp and striking out on his own. "In Jeopardy" is my personal favorite from the album, a brilliantly catchy piano-thumper. Also worth mentioning is the beautiful song "Lovers In The Wind," and the astonishing album-closer, "Only Because Of You," a truly haunting, memorable number. I can only guess that Roger Hodgson named his debut album "In The Eye Of The Storm" because that's precisely the situation he found himself in at the time, leaving a mega-successful band to forge his own path. Some would say that he was crazy to leave Supertramp, but, as Roger sings in "Had A Dream," "But it's time, gotta take a stance/'Cause I won't get a second chance/And I know now I have to make it alone." And he certainly has---Roger Hodgson's "In The Eye Of The Storm" is a most excellent album.

Roger Hodgson is SUPERB! Buy this cd 'cause you're gonna love it. I assure you! All tracks are great! ..For me it's the continuation of "Famous Last Words". Listen to "Had a Dream","Jeopardy","Lovers in the wind","Give me love.." & "Only because of you" and you will completely satisfied. I wish one day Roger & the boys get together to produce another Supertramp album. Hodgson is Supertramp & Supertramp is Hodgson!

The first solo album by Supertramp's Roger Hodgson, is perhaps my favorite album in a collection of over 600 disks. The 7 songs cover a wide range of styles, from the Pink Floydish "Had a Dream (Sleeping with the Enemy) to the light "In Jeopardy" which sounds most like a Supertramp song, to the beautiful & haunting "Only Because of You". I bought this record when it first came out, then spent years trying to find a copy on CD & am very glad to see that it is available again. The music is amazing, but after looking at the personn el & find only a few people on a few songs, it was astounding to see that Roger did this almost by himself. If you like it, look high & low for the follow up "Hai Hai".

I am a Supertramp fanatic! I've seen them in concert more times than I can count. When I heard Roger was leaving the group I was heartbroken! Then I heard this album...WOW! It is, without a doubt one of the best albums i've ever heard. After all these years...i've never become tired of listening to it. Last year I was blessed with getting tickets for Rogers first show in Buffalo in over 15 years. It was incredible. 3 hours full of song, entertainment, laughter, tears and all out joy! I believe he was as moved as his audience. If you ever get the chance to see him in concert...don't miss it...I promise you won't be disappointed!

I came of age with the British Invasion in 1964 when I was seventeen. Over the years since then, I've closely followed a flow of wonderful and varied music from the Beatles, Kinks, Animals, Rolling Stones, and many others. Along the way, I've been heavy into Procol Harum, the Strawbs, Yes, Genesis, John Mayall, the Yardbirds, and most other quality British groups.

However, I realized a few years ago that "Breakfast in America" is still my all-time favorite "desert island" album. No doubt about it! I never get tired of listening... It's a perfect collection of songs with catchy melodies and clever lyrics that are richly (yet cleanly) performed and produced by a group of exceedinlgly talented musicians. Over time, I've gotten into every subtle "ooooh" and "aaaah" soaring harmony, every nice guitar and synthesizer part, every cool lyric, and even the background sound effects and comments that make a song special. (e.g. "What's she got, not a lot...")

When I decided to buy the re-mastered "Breakfast in America" CD, I started reading the Amazon reviews and became intrigued with the praise for Roger Hodgson's solo albums. So I purchased "In the Eye of the Storm" and "Ha, Ha" a month ago. I haven't stopped listening and humming along to them since! "In the Eye of the Storm" is truly the great album we all wanted to follow "Breakfast in America". Okay, I like "Famous Last Words..." (the actual BiA sequel), but it's not in the Supertramp league of greatness that marks this album.

Listening to this album makes it clear that Roger Hodgson is the the basis of the Supertramp sound we all know and love, and he shows it all here. Great songs, great playing and production, and even a great song like "Had a Dream" to kick it all off. That one song embodies almost every cool thing you could want in a Supertramp song. If I didn't know this was a solo album, I would swear it was Supertramp at their finest! And that's a LOT of praise from a skeptic like me.

So I highly recommend that you buy it today. Hey, I just bought it 15 years after it originally came out, and I'm now enjoying the fresh sound of a whole "new" super Supertramp album that I never knew existed. And you should also buy Roger Hodgson's "Ha, Ha", which is almost as good. Listen to "London" on that album and you will understand why the idea of Supertramp doing reggae is so compelling. Oh yeah, don't miss Roger's cool background comment in that song: " Ooo, so sorry boys..."

I think we need another excellent Roger Hodgson album to keep us going for twenty more years. The stereo in my Volvo sounds so much better than my home stereo in 1985. And I still need my rock fix everyday...

Hodgson opens up with a title track that seems to go right at the issue, he's now "naked in the eye of the storm." Leaving Supertramp couldn't have been easy, but he definitely shows that his contributions to the group were vital; this album sounds as good as anything the band did together. Great melodies, the light Brit pop sound that the band could have patented, and Hodgson's trademark falsetto are all here to be enjoyed by any fan of the band. Occasionally the songs could have used a bit of judicious editing, sometimes preachy and a few could have been a little shorter; but this really sounds like Hodgson put his heart and soul into this one and the effort pays off. For anyone who wishes the band stayed together; this one at least shows Hodgson stays true to his muse.

One of my 25 favoriate albums of all time.
There is not a bad cut on this CD.
It contains passion, sweatness, fun, and especially emotional depth. You won't hear music that "carry's you" in a trace anywhere else--it's so creative! some of the deepest moving emotional music in the rock arena. These are not 3 minute pop songs but long 7 minute musical experiences that flow and go and go and go; you can meditate on this.. .get swept away... great to listen by fireplace at full volume in the dark.

Whether any of these tunes were leftover from the Supertramp days (I heard that Jeopardy was) I can't say for sure, but this music is every bit as good as the earlier stuff. My favorite is Only Because of You because of it's spiritual quality (who is the You? God?). Anyway, you can listen to this over and over again like Breakfast in America or Crime of the Century.

After listening to this album, it is easy to tell who the driving force behind Supertramp was. Roger Hodgson is just amazing. From beginning to end, this album will keep you occupied. This album contains 7 songs, and it is almost 50 minutes of musical bliss. If you even like Supertramp just a little, you will absolutely LOVE this album.