Even before Pink Floyd thrust their musical message of protest, the mechano-hit The Wall, under the noses of the establishment and the established, the melancholic songs of the group Supertramp had long found their way into the hearts of the young who had been shaken by one crisis after the other. The album with its surrealistic, chilling cover and eye-raising title was a success all over the world and even the sternest critics showered it with praise.
Their music just floods the senses; it is as though someone has put on all the good pop records of the ’60s and ’70s at the same time, lamented the music magazine Sounds, helplessly totally fascinated by their sound. Crime Of The Century provided plenty of fodder for the hit charts and radio DJs. And even today, the balladesque collage School with its bloodcurdling harmonica introduction, the pearl-like Rhodes piano chords in the rocking “Bloody Well Right,” and the childlike, mocking “Dreamer” are the epitome of the pop cult of the ’70s.
“Supertramp came into their own on their third album, 1974’s Crime of the Century, as their lineup gelled but, more importantly, so did their sound…a huge leap forward for the group and their most consistent album outside of that 1979 masterwork, Breakfast in America.” — AllMusic
