100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #9: Supertramp, Hide in your Shell

1974’s Crime of the Century is one of the great progressive rock albums, from which I could’ve easily included every track on this list.  Although Hodgson and Davies would enjoy much greater commercial success once they cut their songs down to a more radio-friendly length, it is on Crime that the band reached its artistic peak.  And no wonder; after the commercial failure of their previous two albums, Supertramp demoed 42 songs, from which eight made it onto the album.

Hide in your Shell is in my opinion Hodgson’s most personal song, written when he was 23 years old, and these lyrics represent the epitome of youthful angst (and just listen to Hodgson’s dedication at the beginning of this performance – what a guy!).

Onslaught is out now at the special introductory price of $2.99 in the US here, in the UK here, in Canada here, and in Australia here.