One of my favorite rock bands is the English group Supertramp. They started out as a progressive rock band, but their first two albums were flops – the self-titled Supertramp and the even more floppy Indelibly Stamped. However, their third album, released in 1974 – Crime of the Century, turned out to be one of the best and most popular progressive rock albums of all time.
After that hit, the band moved to Hollywood (traitors!!) and failed again with the next couple of albums. However, they moved from ‘prog’ to more commercial rock, and their pop-oriented 1979 album – Breakfast in America – was their most successful album ever – reaching #1 in US and Canada, and #3 in the UK.
With a second hit album under their belt, the band embarked on a 10-month, 120-gig worldwide tour. To ensure exemplary sound, they brought with them $5million worth of gear! 52 tons of it, and they even made it a point to note that they brought their own cable – all 10 miles of it. An audiophile band!! This tour broke all previous concert attendance records of any genre in Europe and Canada.
The ‘live’ album recorded from this tour is another one of my all-time favourite ‘live’ rock albums – the simply titled “Paris” – recorded in one night at the Pavilion de Paris. There are 44 different versions listed on Discogs, and it can be confusing to find the best sounding version. The copy I have that IMHO sounds best is the UK gatefold first press AMLM66702. The same lacquer (same matrix number) was also used for one of the US releases (SP-6702) and the Australian release – but these two don’t sound as good, and they are on thinner vinyl. The album is still quite easily available, but most are over-played and worn-out already. So, you may have to buy a few to find a quiet pressing.
Get the one with the round blue “Live Double Album” sticker. This one is the UK pressing. The US pressing (not as good) has the white “hype” sticker. The Australian pressing has the round red “Live Double Album” sticker.