Breakfast in America
Released 29 March 1979
Recorded May–December 1978
Studio The Village Recorder (Studio B) in Los Angeles
Length 46:06
Label A&M
Producer Peter Henderson, Supertramp
Breakfast in America is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Supertramp, released by A&M Records on 29 March 1979. It was recorded in 1978 at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles. It spawned four U.S. Billboard hit singles: “The Logical Song” (No. 6), “Goodbye Stranger” (No. 15), “Take the Long Way Home” (No. 10) and “Breakfast in America” (No. 62). In the UK, “The Logical Song” and the title track were both top 10 hits, the only two the group had in their native country.
Breakfast in America won two Grammy Awards in 1980, and holds an RIAA certification of quadruple platinum. It became Supertramp’s biggest-selling album, with more than 4 million copies sold in the US alone, and was No. 1 on Billboard Pop Albums Chart for six weeks in the spring and summer of 1979. The album also hit No. 1 in Norway, Austria, Canada, Australia and France; in France it is one of the five biggest-selling albums of all time.
Recording
The album went through two rounds of demos. The first were home demos, each of which consisted of the chief songwriter (either Rick Davies or Roger Hodgson) singing and playing either acoustic piano or Wurlitzer electric piano.[3] The second were eight-track demos recorded at Southcombe Studios in Burbank, California during late April and early May 1978. It was in recording these demos that the band worked out the backing track arrangements for all the songs (with the exception of “Take the Long Way Home”) and determined the order in which they would appear on the album.
In order to avoid spending a lot of time on mixing, the band and their production team devoted a week to experimenting with different sound setups until they found the perfect arrangement. The effort proved to be wasted, as the engineering team would end up spending more than two extremely stressful months searching for the right mix, and were only finished after that length of time because the deadline had arrived, not because they felt at all satisfied with the results.
Tensions between Hodgson and Davies were reportedly almost non-existent on this album. Engineer Peter Henderson recalled: “They got along fantastically well and everyone was really happy. There was a very, very good vibe and I think everyone was really buoyed up by the recordings and A&M’s response to them.” Hodgson contested this, saying that he and Davies had increasingly different lifestyles, and that he felt that Davies disliked many of his songs and only kept quiet about his displeasure because he sensed that he would be voted down. Melody Maker journalist Harry Doherty offered a third take on the duo’s interactions during the album sessions: “In three days with the band, I don’t think I saw Davies and Hodgson converse once, other than to exchange courteous greetings.”
Six of the ten tracks on Breakfast in America feature parts played on the Wurlitzer electric piano. The Wurlitzer had already been used in older Supertramp songs such as “Dreamer” and “Lady”
Track listing
All songs credited to Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson. Listed below are the respective writers.
Side one
No. Title Writer(s) Lead vocals Length
1. “Gone Hollywood” Davies Davies and Hodgson 5:19
2. “The Logical Song” Hodgson Hodgson 4:07
3. “Goodbye Stranger” Davies Davies and Hodgson 5:46
4. “Breakfast in America” Hodgson Hodgson 2:37
5. “Oh Darling” Davies Davies 3:43
Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Lead vocals Length
6. “Take the Long Way Home” Hodgson Hodgson 5:08
7. “Lord Is It Mine” Hodgson Hodgson 4:08
8. “Just Another Nervous Wreck” Davies Davies 4:22
9. “Casual Conversations” Davies Davies 2:56
10. “Child of Vision” Hodgson Hodgson, Davies and John Helliwell 7:24
Deluxe edition
Disc 2
No. Title Writer(s) Lead vocals Length
1. “The Logical Song (Live at Pavillon de Paris)” Hodgson Hodgson 4:06
2. “Goodbye Stranger (Live at Pavillon de Paris)” Davies Davies 6:11
3. “Breakfast in America (Live at Wembley)” Hodgson Hodgson 3:05
4. “Oh Darling (Live in Miami)” Davies Davies 4:21
5. “Take the Long Way Home (Live at Wembley)” Hodgson Hodgson 4:48
6. “Another Man’s Woman (Live at Pavillon de Paris)” Davies Davies 7:32
7. “Even in the Quietest Moments (Live at Pavillon de Paris)” Hodgson Hodgson 5:36
8. “Rudy (Live at Wembley)” Davies Davies and Hodgson 7:29
9. “Downstream (Live at Pavillon de Paris)” Davies Davies 3:28
10. “Give a Little Bit (Live at Pavillon de Paris)” Hodgson Hodgson 4:03
11. “From Now On (Live at Wembley)” Davies Davies 6:53
12. “Child of Vision (Live at Pavillon de Paris)” Hodgson Hodgson, Davies and Helliwell 7:32
Personnel
Musicians
Supertramp
Rick Davies – vocals, piano (tracks 1, 2, 10), organ (tracks 2, 3, 6, 7, 8), wurlitzer piano (tracks 3, 5, 8, 9), synthesizers (tracks 1, 2, 5, 6, 10), harmonica (track 6)
Roger Hodgson – vocals, electric guitar (track 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10), acoustic 12-string guitar (track 7), piano (track 4, 6, 7), wurlitzer piano (track 2, 10), harmonium (tracks 4, 7)
John Helliwell – saxophones (tracks 1, 2, 6, 9, 10), clarinets (tracks 4, 7), siren whistle (track 2), whistling (track 3), backing vocals
Dougie Thomson – bass
Bob Siebenberg (credited as Bob C. Benberg) – drums, percussion
Session musicians
Slyde Hyde – tuba, trombone (track 4)
Gary Mielke – Oberheim programming
Production
Peter Henderson – producer
Supertramp – producer
Peter Henderson – engineer
Lenise Bent – assistant engineer
Jeff Harris – assistant engineer
Greg Calbi – remastering (2002)
Jay Messina – remastering (2002)
Russel Pope – concert sound engineer
Mike Doud – art direction, cover art concept, artwork
Mick Haggerty – art direction, cover design
Mark Hanauer – photography
Aaron Rapoport – cover photo
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