Day: June 22, 2023

Friday Fictioneers: Waking Up Is Hard To Do

~ Liam ~ 7 Comments

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

BLEEP!!! BLEEEP!!! BLEEEP!!!!

Fuck.

It’s morning again.

Never enough sleep.  And I was having a great dream too.

Can I just rest my eyes for a few minutes? No, can’t trust myself

Alright, gotta get up.  Shower. Dress. Breakfast. Pack lunch.

Don’t forget to water the plants.

Looks like rain, so don’t forget the waterproof jacket.

Remember there’s a planned diversion on the subway so take the bus if you can.

“Honey?”

“Uh, yes…”

“What are you doing?”

“Getting ready for work.”

“It’s Saturday!”

“It is?”

“Yes! Come back to bed!”

Don’t have to tell me twice.

Ah, bliss!

Friday Fictioneers is a weekly photo prompt flash fiction challenge on Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ Addicted to Purple blog.  See additional stories from the prompt by other writers here!

50 Years, 50 Albums: Breakfast in America by Supertramp

~ Liam ~ Leave a comment

I will turn 50 in November of this year, so my project for 2023 will be to listen to and review one album from each year of my life, 1973 to 2022.  The only qualification is that it has to be an album I’ve not reviewed previously. 

1979

Top Grossing Albums of 1979:

  1. The Wall – Pink Floyd
  2. Spirits Having Flown – Bee Gees
  3. Off the Wall – Michael Jackson
  4. Breakfast in America — Supertramp
  5. Highway to Hell – AC/DC

Grammy Award for Album of the Year of 1979:

  • 52nd Street—Billy Joel
  • Minute by Minute — The Doobie Brothers
  • The Gambler — Kenny Rogers
  • Bad Girls —Donna Summer
  • Breakfast in America — Supertramp

Other Albums I’ve Reviewed from 1979:

Album: Breakfast in America
Artist: Supertramp
Release Date: 29 March 1979
Label: A&M
Favorite Tracks:

  • The Logical Song
  • Goodbye Stranger
  • Breakfast in America
  • Take the Long Way Home

Thoughts:

Supertramp is a band that was very big at one time and yet doesn’t seem to have much of legacy compared to other big bands of their era.  In fact, they really don’t seem to fit into the musical genres that were big at the time – not prog rock, not punk, not new wave, not disco, not metal.  They are classified as soft rock and pop, which I guess is fair.  The harmonies on these songs harken back to the Beatles and even the Four Tops without sounding retro.  Plus they include enough English eccentricities in their music that they were maybe Britpop before Britpop.

I got a Supertramp greatest hits collection from Columbia House that I ended up listening to a lot in high school.  Many of the best songs from that collection are on Breakfast in America, which was their biggest album.  It hit Number One in the USA and several other countries but only #3 in their native country.  The songs on this album are just plain fun and the wordplay in “The Logical Song” and “Take the Long Way Home.”  I also found “The Logical Songs’ lyrics about how society batters down childhood wonder and idealism resonated a lot to me as an angry young teen. Still does.

The four hit singles are the standout tracks on this album, but the rest of it isn’t filler.  While not as memorable the other tracks stand as solid tunes with good instrumentation. This albums seamlessly incorporates  Wurlitzer electronic piano, whistling, harpsicord, clarinet, saxophone, harmonica, and Hammond organ for starters! Overall the album reflects the theme of American culture from the outsiders’ perspective. This is a good highpoint for any band’s career, and one for which Supertramp should be remembered.

Rating: ***1/2