Breakfast in America is the sixth album by the band Supertramp, released in 1979. It was recorded the previous year at the Village Recorder in Los Angeles. The album featured four hit singles: "The Logical Song" (#6), "Goodbye Stranger" (#15), "Take the Long Way Home" (#10), and the title track (#16).
Tensions between band members Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies started to come to the fore on this album. When Hodgson was interviewed for an episode of In the Studio with Redbeard devoted to the making of the album, he remarked "Rick (Davies) didn't like the song "Breakfast in America" and didn't want it on the album. He also didn't want the album to be titled Breakfast in America either and I guess I won out on both accounts". Davies originally opted for either Working Title or Hello Stranger as the album title.
The album's front cover is an overlook of New York City through an airplane window. It was designed by Mike Doud and depicted Kate Murtagh as a Statue of Liberty figure holding a glass of orange juice instead of a torch and the background featured a city made from cornflake box, ashtray, cutlery (for the wharfs), eggboxes, vinegar, ketchup and mustard bottles, all spraypainted white. The twin World Trade Center towers appear as two stacks of boxes and the plate of breakfast represents Battery Park, the departure point for the Staten Island Ferry. The back cover photo, depicting the band members having breakfast while reading their respective hometown newspapers, was taken at a diner called "Bert's Mad House."
Breakfast in America won the 1980 Grammy Award for Best Recording Package, beating out albums by Talking Heads and Led Zeppelin, among others.
Breakfast in America features a lot of songs played on Wurlitzer electric piano, displaying its most distinctive abilities (in particular, the different sounds made by the Wurlitzer depending on how hard it is played - songs such as Child of Vision or The Logical Song are built upon this sound). The peculiar sound of the Wurlitzer has already been put forth in older songs such as Dreamer or Lady but never so extensively into a whole album, making Breakfast in America one of the best examples of the possibilities offered by this instrument.
Despite the turmoil, Breakfast in America became Supertramp's biggest selling album with over 4 million copies sold in the US alone to date (11 million copies worldwide) and was #1 on Billboard's Pop Albums Chart for six weeks in the spring and summer of 1979. The album also hit #1 in Norway, Canada and Australia.
The album was first re-released as a remaster on Gold CD from MFSL. Then another remastered CD version of the album was released on June 11, 2002 on A&M with full original album art restored plus the label art from side one recreated on the CD.
Track listing
Side one
- "Gone Hollywood" – 5:20
- "The Logical Song" – 4:10
- "Goodbye Stranger" – 5:50
- "Breakfast in America" – 2:38
- "Oh Darling" – 3:58
Side two
- "Take the Long Way Home" – 5:08
- "Lord Is It Mine" – 4:09
- "Just Another Nervous Wreck" – 4:26
- "Casual Conversations" – 2:58
- "Child of Vision" – 7:25
Personnel
Additional personnel
Production
- Producers: Peter Henderson, Supertramp
- Rehearsal: Southcombe Studios, Burbank, CA
- Recording: The Village Recorder/Studio B, Los Angeles, CA
- Mixing: Crystal Sound/Studio B, Los Angeles, CA
- Engineer: Peter Henderson of Air London
- Assistant engineers: Lenise Bent, Jeff Harris
- Re-Mastering (2002): Greg Calbi, Jay Messina
- Oberheim Programming: Gary Mielke
- Concert sound engineer: Russel Pope
- Art direction: Mike Doud, Mick Haggerty
- Design: Mick Haggerty
- Cover design: Mick Haggerty
- Cover art concept: Mike Doud
- Artwork: Mike Doud
- Photography: Mark Hanauer
- Cover photo: Aaron Rapoport
2002 A&M reissue:
The 2002 A&M Records reissue was mastered from the original master tapes by Greg Calbi and Jay Messina at Sterling Sound, New York, 2002. The reissue was supervised by Bill Levenson with art direction by Vartan and design by Mike Diehl, with production coordination by Beth Stempel.
Charts
Album
Album - Billboard (North America)
| Year |
Chart |
Position |
| 1979 |
Pop Albums |
1 |
Album - Kent Music Report (Australia)
Singles
Singles - Billboard (North America)
| Year |
Single |
Chart |
Position |
| 1979 |
"The Logical Song" |
Pop Singles |
6 |
| 1979 |
"Goodbye Stranger" |
Pop Singles |
15 |
| 1979 |
"Take The Long Way Home" |
Pop Singles |
10 |
| 1980 |
"Breakfast In America" |
Pop Singles |
16 |
Awards
Grammy Awards
