It was the best of times

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It was the best of times
Live album from Supertramp

Publication
(s)

April 12, 1999 (double CD version)
April 27, 1999 (single CD version)

admission

19-20 September 1997,
Royal Albert Hall , London ( GB )

Label (s) EMI Records

Format (s)

MC and CD

Genre (s)

Progressive rock

Title (number)

21 (double CD version)
13 (single CD version)

running time

02:10:14 (double CD version)
01:15:22 (single CD version)

occupation see below

production

Rick Davies

Studio (s)

chronology
Some Things Never Change
(1997) 		It was the best of times Slow Motion
(2002)

It Was the Best of Times is the third live album by the British pop / rock band Supertramp . It was recorded in 1997 during the Supertramp tour "It's About Time" at the Royal Albert Hall in London ( Great Britain ). The record was released two years after the studio album Some Things Never Change on April 12, 1999 as a double CD version with 21 songs and on April 27, 1999 as a single CD version with 13 songs. It sold well in Europe , especially France .

description

The tour "It's About Time", during which Supertramp gave 102 concerts , was the first tour without longtime band member Dougie Thomson , but with Jesse Siebenberg (percussion), the son of longtime band member Bob Siebenberg (drums). From the classic lineup next to the tape head and tape were a founding member Rick Davies (keyboards, piano, harmonica, vocals), and the long-time band member John Helliwell (saxophones, woodwinds, backing vocals) here. As with Live '88 , Mark Hart (member of the band Crowded House since 1993) joined the team as the second singer, guitarist and keyboardist , who played the lead in many songs (including those of ex-band and founding member Roger Hodgson ) together with Davies) took over. In addition, the group was joined for the first time during a tour by Cliff Hugo (bass guitar), Lee Thornburg (trumpet, trombone) and Carl Verheyen (guitars).

In addition to numerous Supertramp classics, the live album contains some new songs from the last studio album Some Things Never Change (1997). For the second time in their career - after Live '88  - the band played "Don't You Lie To Me" ( Hudson Whittaker ; 1940), a song that did not come from their pen, and immortalized it on the album.

The album name - "It Was the Best of Times" - refers to the start of A Tale Of Two Cities ( A Tale of Two Cities ), one in 1859 by the English writer Charles Dickens novel written: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness ..., “ can be read there.

About three years after the live album "It Was the Best of Times", the studio album Slow Motion was released .

Song list

The live album "It Was the Best of Times" was released as a double and single CD version. All songs, with the exception of the songs with the corresponding vocal comment ("G .:"), were sung by Rick Davies as the lead vocalist. Your authors are named in "()".

Double CD version

The double live album contains 21 songs. The lengths given below refer to their CD version ("A&M 7243 4 99390 2 8"), which is 2 hours, 10 minutes and 14 seconds long.

CD 1 (running time 69:06)

  1. It's A Hard World - 9:17 - ( Davies )
  2. You Win, I Lose - 4:07 - (Davies)
  3. Listen To Me Please - 5:04 - (Davies); G .: Davies / Hart
  4. Ain't Nobody But Me - 6:14 - (Davies)
  5. Sooner Or Later - 7:35 - (Davies / Hart); G .: Hard
  6. Free As A Bird - 4:50 - (Davies)
  7. Cannonball - 7:52 - (Davies)
  8. From Now On - 7:40 - (Davies)
  9. Breakfast In America - 2:47 - ( Hodgson ); G .: Hard
  10. Give Me A Chance - 4:39 - (Davies / Hart); G .: Hard
  11. Rudy - 8:06 - (Davies); G .: Davies; Parts: Hard

CD 2 (running time 61:08)

  1. Downstream - 3:53 - (Davies)
  2. Another Man's Woman - 9:24 - (Davies)
  3. Take The Long Way Home - 4:54 - (Hodgson); G .: Hard
  4. Bloody Well Right - 6:59 - (Davies)
  5. The Logical Song - 4:04 - (Hodgson); G .: Hard
  6. Goodbye Stranger - 6:53 - (Davies)
  7. School - 6:28 - (Hodgson); G .: Hart; Share: Davies
  8. And The Light - 5:03 - (Davies)
  9. Don't You Lie To Me - 3:31 - ( Hudson Whittaker )
  10. Crime Of The Century - 7:46 - (Davies)

Single CD version

The single live album contains 13 songs. The lengths given below refer to their CD version ("A&M 7243 4 99390 2 2"), which is 1 hours, 15 minutes and 22 seconds long.

  1. You Win, I Lose - 4:44 - (Davies)
  2. Listen To Me Please - 5:03 - (Davies); G .: Davies / Hart
  3. Sooner Or Later - 7:35 - (Davies / Hart); G .: Hard
  4. Free As A Bird - 4:49 - (Davies)
  5. Cannonball - 7:52 - (Davies)
  6. From Now On - 7:44 - (Davies)
  7. Breakfast in America - 2:47 - (Hodgson); G .: Hard
  8. And The Light - 5:03 - (Davies)
  9. Take The Long Way Home - 5:10 - (Hodgson); G .: Hard
  10. Bloody Well Right - 6:58 - (Davies)
  11. The Logical Song - 4:04 - (Hodgson); G .: Hard
  12. Goodbye Stranger - 7:24 - (Davies)
  13. School - 6:32 - (Hodgson); G .: Hart; Share: Davies

Re-release as live, 1997 :
In 2006 the single CD version with a modified cover was re-released under the name live, 1997 (13 songs; EMI 0946 3 59044 2 0) by EMI Records .

occupation

The band:

Additional staff:

admission

The live album "It Was the Best of Times" was recorded during the Supertramp tour "It's About Time" at concerts on September 19 and 20, 1997 at the Royal Albert Hall in London , Great Britain . The record was mixed in the Manhattan Center Studios ( Manhattan , New York City , New York ) and the mastering was carried out in the Gateway Studios ( Portland , Maine ).

production

  • Producer : Rick Davies
  • Live sound engineer : Ken Allardyce
  • Mixing engineer: Jay Messina
  • Assistant Mixdown Engineer: Lawrence Manchester (Manhattan Center Studios)
  • Mastering : Bob Ludwig (Gateway Studios)
  • Digital editing : Jennifer Munson (Gateway Studios)
  • Artistic direction and cover design: “Ph. D "
  • Cover Texts: Rick Davies (January 1999)
  • Cover illustration by Craig Frazier
  • Supertramp logo: Laura Ljungkvist
  • Cover photographs : Andrew Catlin, Dimo ​​Safari
  • Management : Sue Davies and Richard Frankel

Chart placements

The live album It Was the Best of Times sold well, reaching a single-digit position on the album charts in France , in the top 20 in Switzerland and Norway , and in the top 30 in the Netherlands and Germany Austria in the top 50.

Charts Top ranking Weeks
Chart placements
Germany (GfK) Germany (GfK) 29 (7 weeks) 7th
Austria (Ö3) Austria (Ö3) 42 (3 weeks) 3
Switzerland (IFPI) Switzerland (IFPI) 12 (7 weeks) 7th
United Kingdom (OCC) United Kingdom (OCC) 91 (1 week) 1

swell

  1. ↑ a b c d chart sources: