Bob Siebenberg - Complete Discography
1982 - Famous Last Words
That's when it all started to change. Until then we were all pretty well living so close to each other. No real problems in the band yet, and we still were enjoying the whole thing. Rick and Roger kept cranking away with great inspiration, and the group was with them every step of the way. But suddenly it all became a little strange, with Roger moving to live so far from the rest.
The atmosphere was not very good either externally or internally. There was a struggle between Roger and Rick as to the direction on the album in terms of whether it should be another pop album to follow 'Breakfast in America', as Roger wanted, or that we should go out and show people what the group was really made of, which was what Rick intended. In the end, the album became a watered-down version of what it started out to be.
I know 'Famous Last Words' is not Supertramp's best album, but I think it fits right in there with our body of work. It got diluted because of the struggles, but it is still a good showing and anyone can tell right away it's us. There are songs and performances on it that are as good as anything we have done, and I love a couple of tracks from this album: 'Bonnie', because it has real power in its performance right at the backing track, and 'Know Who You Are', because I think it is beautiful and Roger's best song ever.