Roger Hodgson says, at one time, he loved the anonymity of being in Supertramp. Fast forward a few decades, and he’s left to rebuild a separate legacy — even as few people associate him with his own hit songs.
Hodgson, in a new talk with Acoustic Storm linked below, says he figured when he split with Supertramp that the brand would end then, too. After all, he’d been the creative spark that led to tracks like “The Logical Song,” “Breakfast in America,” “Give a Little Bit,” “Dreamer” and “Take the Long Way Home,” among others.
It didn’t work out that way, as fellow band co-founder Rick Davies continues on under the Supertramp banner, while Hodgson — despite having wrote nearly all of the band’s biggest hits — remains a largely anonymous presence.
[SOMETHING ELSE! REWIND: Roger Hodgson joined us to discuss his reinvigorated solo career, the highs and lows with Supertramp and a devastating hand injury that almost ended everything.]
“I realize that I am living with some choices that I made earlier in life,” Hodgson says. “In a way, I buried my own identity in Supertramp. I never thought that I would be leaving Supertramp, because Supertramp was so much my creation — and I never dreamt that Supertramp would continue without me. I didn’t even think that was possible.”
Hodgson eventually all but retired from music, having suffered a traumatic hand injury. He’d spend some two decades away. More recently, however, Hodgson has begun touring around the world again and, beginning last year, made a long-awaited series of concert stops in America — the first since he left Supertramp in early 1980s.
“It’s been difficult to go out, especially after 20 years of not touring, under the name Roger Hodgson — because, unless you are a diehard Supertramp fan, you really don’t know who Roger Hodgson is,” he admits. “We’ve had to do a lot to connect the dots.”
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Roger Hodgson concert is a must! He brings such a renewed energy to old Supertramp classics such as Give a Little Bit, Take the Long Way Home, Dreamer, Breakfast in America, School, It’s Raining Again, Hide in Your Shell, Fool’s Overture and Logical Song. His solo recordings our fantastic as well, with songs such as Only Because of You, In Jeapordy, Lovers in the Wind, London, You Make Me Love You, Along Came Mary, The More I Look, Love is a Thousand Times, Hungry and Open the Door. Besides a talented songwriter, he is a great musician in concert!
Roger is not the same performer of the old days with Supertramp, standing behind his guitar, microphone while others spoke. He offers himself to his audiences through personal stories, humorous antidotes, and the jolting; “Looking you directly in your eyes” and smiling, as if he is performing for you alone.
With many dates available and to be added to his 2013 tour, go, travel to feel his music. Be warned, you find yourself looking for the next concert closest to you, to see him again and again….
Loved the clip of Roger playing Breakfast in America with orchestra – I’m super excited to hear him play that one and my other favorites in Clearwater, FL for my birthday! There’s a little something about the musical experience he gives you, his songs captivate the soul and grasp the heart – it’s best described as a journey you’re taken along. No wonder people come from all corners of the world to see him! The aura, ambiance and acoustics feel indescribable – it’s truly magical and something else.
With every new interview, Roger Hodgson moves farther away from the facts about his time with Supertramp. The truth is that, although he was part of the band and wrote half the songs, he didn’t write their only hits, and the band moved on without him after 1983, as much as he hated it. Also, Roger did not found the band like he often implies and it wasn’t just his baby. It was originally Rick Davies’ band, and Roger joined it by audition. When Roger talks about the original Supertramp recordings of his songs, he makes it seem as if the fans only care about his voice, and that any contributions by the other band members are incidental and could have been played by anyone. Roger, it wasn’t just your songs or your voice – it was the magical synthesis of the entire group’s efforts. You may have had a vision of how you wanted the songs to sound, but your later live versions don’t sound as good as the original Supertramp versions, no matter how much you kid yourself and run down your former band mates.
When Roger quit Supertramp in 1983, he was quoted in Rolling Stone (April 27, 1983) as stating that one of the main reasons was due to his enthusiastic use of LSD. (He tries to gloss over this fact now.) Also, he gave numerous interviews at the time about how he had literally hundreds of songs waiting to be recorded, and working within Supertramp was stifling him. If he had that many new songs, why has he only put out 31 new songs over five CD’s (two of them live collections) since 1984 – count them up. Roger’s story is that he quit recording in the mid-80’s to raise a family, but maybe there just aren’t that many new songs in him after all. If he does have some new songs, I wish he’d record them. I’d happily buy them, and put them in my collection with all the other Supertamp music, and not in a separate Roger Hodgson location. Because Roger, you’ll always be lumped in with Supertramp on my ipod.
Roger constantly complains that when Supertramp tours, they play a few of his songs. Well, they may have been his babies, but to true fans, they are Supertramp songs. Granted, they don’t sound as good when the new singers perform them, but it’s still Rick and Bob and John playing their original parts, and that’s nearly as good.
Hodgson tries to take credit for everything that Supertramp did when he was a member, as if he were the sole creator of the band, the driving force behind all the songs, the band’s success, and even their sound and instrumentation choices. Once he brought the songs to the band, they ceased to be just Roger Hodgson material anymore.
For example: Roger Hodgson may have written “Child of Vision”, but what makes it truly great is Rick’s extended piano jam and eventual participation by John’s sax in the second half of the song. Even the first part, with Roger singing, wouldn’t be the same without Rick’s answer to Roger’s questions. What about “Take the Long Way Home”? The best part is the back-and-forth between the harmonica and sax in the instrumental middle of the song. Thanks, Roger, for writing the song, but it’s just a framework to hang what everyone in the band brought to it, and not just your unique voice.
The band usually only plays three of Roger’s songs live in concert, “Breakfast in America”, “Take the Long Way Home”, and “The Logical Song.” Granted, Roger can sing them better than the new guys, but it’s still great to hear John’s solos and the rest of the band rocking. Roger ought to do Rick’s “Another Man’s Woman” or “Rudy”. No, wait – he doesn’t have the skill to do that.
I’d always given credit to each player in Supertramp for coming up with his own solo work. For instance, I thought that John decided how to play his sax solos, and then the band would take the best version for the final recording. To hear Roger tell it, he personally heard every note from every instrument in his head first, and then he showed up and told the rest of the band how to play it, note for note. It was as if any session sax player could be hired off the street, instead of John giving his own interpretation to the songs. If I were a member of Supertramp, I would be irate at the way my contributions are being diminished and demeaned.
Roger’s argument is that the songs are deeply personal, and that every part of them, even the arrangements played by the rest of the band, were created by him. If that’s that case, then what’s to stop Roger from claiming that Supertramp can’t use other portions of songs in concert – Not just Roger Hodgson compositions, but instrumental solos that Roger created as well? For example, the incredible guitar solo at the end of “Goodbye Stranger” seems to be pure Roger. If he did improvise that on his own, by his way of thinking it is a part of him, and every time someone else plays that solo with those particular notes in concert, they’re stealing that from him too. At what point will he realize that he was in a BAND, and his contributions – from the greatest song to the smallest instrumental segment – became part of the band’s body of work and legacy, and wasn’t his anymore.
One only has to track down a few informal interviews with people such as Bob Siebenburg to realize that Rick Davies has bent over backwards to try and work with Roger over the years, especially relating to Roger joining the Supertramp tour a few years ago. Roger’s irrational demands were what prevented anything from eventually happening, no matter how much he tries to say something different anytime he can corner a reporter. I think that Rick Davies deserves a medal: He quietly takes the high road while Roger mouths off constantly and keeps playing the same old songs instead of recording and performing some of the hundreds of new songs that he’s claimed to have written over the last thirty-plus years.
Oh, and one other thing: Roger, you’re in your sixties. Get rid of the Jesus haircut.
@Gary Nice job.
I have to say (Im a huge Hodgson fan) that you have pointed out many feelings and thoughts I have been thinking for a long time. I am a bit fed up of hearing another release of the same old stuff. I don’t want to get personal about Roger but what you have written is about bang on
Wow! Nailed it! It seems like anytime Roger can corner a reporter, he tells the same old story about how he’s been mistreated, with an even measure of how he’s the most beloved gentle love-dripping guy around. In fact, he’s turned into a bitter gray hack, trotting out the same dozen tired OLD songs at whatever casino or amusement park will take him. If he’s not careful, that’s how he’s going to be remembered.
What he needs to do is record some new music of his own, and then make peace with the rest of Supertramp – and he’d better hurry, because they’re all getting up there! – and then make a NEW Supertramp record, and then go on one last reunion tour to cement his legacy. That would be gracious and triumphant, and it would get him off this wheezy track that he’s on now. Is everybody listening? Are you listening, Roger?
Gary and a couple of others hit the nail on the head. I love Roger but he’s missed the boat big time. The people surrounding him in my opinion has kept Roger down and are the main reason for Rick and Roger not getting back on stage together. The current management and others biggest fear is a successfull Supertramp reunion. Job security is the main reason they do not want Roger to join Rick. Rogers only hope of releasing his long list of material is to have a successful reunion with Supertramp, not the merry go round that he’s on playing his Supertramp songs and nothing else. Hopefully Roger wakes up and his current entourage gets out of the way.
“Gary” isn’t hitting the nail on its head. “Gary” is a Brit name for a Rick Davies supporter who has no agenda but to discredit Roger Hodgson as a former Supertramp member.
The facts. Roger Hodgson wrote most of the Supertramp hitsr. His voice and his persona are are essential to convincing performances of these hit songs, which is affirmed by the near bankruptcy of ‘Supertramp’ at the end of the 1980’s, and their (i.e. Davies’) decision to include Roger Hodgson’s songs in the ‘live’ Supertramp repertoire.
The factuality of the agreement between Davies and Hodgson has yet to be proven. According to Hodgon, it was a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ which means that nothing was put on paper and that Davies and Hodgson were as good as their words.
Fact is that Hodgson is complaining about Davies non-compliance and Davies is not. Davies chose to include Hodgson’s songs in concerts, while Hodgson does not include Davies’ songs in concerts. Anyone can see this difference. Obviously, Davies feels the need to do this, while Hodgson doesn’t. Draw your own conclusion.
“Gary” claims that Hodgson “hated” Supertramp to move on after 1993. So “Gary” is dead wrong, because Hodgson has been nothing but generous towards the new incarnation of Supertramp, and has always wished for the band to do well without him. It was Hodgson who chose to leave, remember? It was not that he was kicked out or so.
Furthermore “Gary” claims that Hodgson did not found Supertramp because Hodgson responded to an ad. Alas, Gary, people don’t found bands by putting an ad in a paper. Bands are founded by people who get together and invest time, energy and talent in creating music and co-operation. Both Davies and Hodgson were at the wheel of the very first Supertramp album, and all the other Supertramp albums that were to follow; so Roger Hodgson surely deserves to be called a founding member of Supertramp from the very first moment.
Next, “Gary” brings in a subjective argument: the old Hodgson songs don’t sound as good when performed by Hodgson then when performed by the new Supertramp. Who is “Gary” kidding here? Many Supertramp fans would choose Hodgson’s version over the present Mark whats-his-name version any day and any night. The songs need Roger Hodgson’s voice and persona to live and to be loved by millions of Supertramp fans world-wide. Sorry for that, but it’s a fact.
Another low point in “Gary’s” response is that he wants to discredit Roger Hodgson by pointing out that Hodgson had “hundreds of songs” waiting in vain, until he released himself of the Supertramp straight jacket – and that not all of them appeared on cd. Well, here’s a cue fo you “Gary”, artists cannot release everything they create, and not even all of the songs they would like to put on cd. Artists must make compromises; usually forced by something called a record companry. Perhaps you don’t know that, “Gary”, because you know more about your toe-nails than about the music industry.
“Gary”, you are totally hitting the nail on its head when you write that “Hodgson tries to take credit for everything that Supertramp did when he was a member”. And why shouldn’t he? He contributed to it; now he wants recognition of that. You think that’s stupid, “Gary”? I think it’s only fair.
“Gary” makes a BIG point of his idea that songs, however personally written, become GROUP SONGS whenever they are adapted by a group. This is a mistake. There is HUGE difference between songs being composed by five people, and songs being composed by one person delivering a songs in nearly perfected shape, and adapted by a band. If Bob, John, Rick and even Doug didn’t change much about Roger’s proposed chord scheme of “Give a little bit” or “Fool’s Overture”, then each of them does not deserve equal authorship. The fact that almost all songs are registered as written by ‘Hodgson/Davies’ already shows that it is wrong to assume that all songs are written by the whole group. The issue, “Gary”, is that some band members have contributed much more than other band members to the songs of Supertramp. And that it is not unreasonable to recognize this difference in contributions.
In all, “Gary”, I think you are trying to whitewash the other band members present dealing with Hodgson’s song legacy. Ä song legacy worth caring for. A song legacy that is worth millions of dollars – and you know that, just like Rick Davies does.
Fans on either side of this seemingly ever-boiling tempest in the teapot (over a largely forgotten pop band that hasn’t had a meaningful hit in well over three decades) seem to fall into two camps here … those who think Roger Hodgson did everything, and those who think he takes too much credit.
Can’t we all agree that the truth lies somewhere in between? They were better together, worse apart. That’s clear. All of this chest-puffery over who created what, who hurt whose feelings, so on, is just silly fandom run amok. The fact is this … Supertramp hasn’t done much since his departure. But Hodgson has done less.
They’re both oldies acts now. High time for a reunion — if only to cash in while their aging fans still can wheel the Hoveround into a local arena near you.