Breakfast in America
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''Breakfast in America'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band
Supertramp Supertramp were an English rock band that formed in London in 1969. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards, and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), they are distinguished for blending p ...
, released by
A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...
on 29 March 1979. It was recorded in 1978 at
The Village Recorder The Village (also known as Village Recorders, or the Village Recorder) is a recording studio located at 1616 Butler Avenue in West Los Angeles, California. History The building was built by the Freemasons in 1922 and was originally a Masonic ...
in Los Angeles. It spawned four US ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...
'' hit singles: " The Logical Song" (No. 6), "
Goodbye Stranger "Goodbye Stranger" is a song by the English rock band Supertramp; it was written by Rick Davies. The song first appeared on their sixth studio album, ''Breakfast in America'' (1979). Reception ''Billboard'' described "Goodbye Stranger" as "a ...
" (No. 15), " Take the Long Way Home" (No. 10) and "
Breakfast in America ''Breakfast in America'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Supertramp, released by A&M Records on 29 March 1979. It was recorded in 1978 at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles. It spawned four US ''Billboard'' hit singles: "The ...
" (No. 62). In the UK, "The Logical Song" and the title track were both top 10 hits, the only two the group had in their native country. At the
22nd Annual Grammy Awards The 22nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 27, 1980, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1979. This year was notable for being th ...
in 1980, ''Breakfast in America'' won two awards for Best Album Package and Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording, as well as nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. It holds an RIAA certification of quadruple platinum and became Supertramp's biggest-selling album, with more than 4 million copies sold in the US and more than 3 million in France (the fourth ever best-selling album). It was No. 1 on ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...
'' Pop Albums Chart for six weeks, until 30 June 1979. The album also hit No. 1 in Norway, Austria, West Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Canada, Australia and France.


Background

As with '' Even in the Quietest Moments...'',
Rick Davies Richard Davies (born 22 July 1944) is an English musician, singer and songwriter best known as founder, vocalist and keyboardist of the rock band Supertramp. Davies was its only constant member, and composed some of the band's best known songs ...
and
Roger Hodgson Charles Roger Pomfret Hodgson (born 21 March 1950) is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the former co-frontman and founding member of progressive rock band Supertramp. Hodgson composed and sang the majority of the band’ ...
wrote most of their songs separately but conceived the theme for the album jointly. Their original concept was for an album of songs about the relationship and conflicting ideals between Davies and Hodgson themselves, to be titled ''Hello Stranger''. Hodgson explained: "We realized that a few of the songs really lent themselves to two people talking to each other and at each other. I could be putting down his way of thinking and he could be challenging my way of seeing life ..Our ways of life are so different, but I love him. That contrast is what makes the world go 'round and what makes Supertramp go 'round. His beliefs are a challenge to mine and my beliefs are a challenge to his." This idea was eventually scrapped in favour of an album of "fun" songs, and though Davies initially wanted to keep the title ''Hello Stranger'', he was convinced by Hodgson to change it to ''Breakfast in America''. Hodgson commented later: "We chose the title because it was a fun title. It suited the fun feeling of the album." Due to the title and the explicit satirising of American culture in the cover and three of the songs ("Gone Hollywood", "
Breakfast in America ''Breakfast in America'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Supertramp, released by A&M Records on 29 March 1979. It was recorded in 1978 at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles. It spawned four US ''Billboard'' hit singles: "The ...
" and "Child of Vision"), many listeners interpreted the album as a satire of the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
. Supertramp's members have all insisted that the repeated references to US culture are purely coincidental and that no such thematic satire was intended. Hodgson has described the misconception as a parallel to how ''
Crime of the Century "Crime of the century" is an idiomatic phrase used to describe particularly sensational or notorious criminal cases. Chua-Eoan, Howard (n.d.)"Crimes of the Century: The Top 25" '' Time''. Retrieved September 10, 2021. In the United States, it is o ...
'' (1974) is often misinterpreted as being a concept album. "Gone Hollywood" is the opening track of ''Breakfast in America''. Written by Rick Davies, the song tells about a person who moves to
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
in hopes of becoming a
movie star A movie star (also known as a film star or cinema star) is an actor or actress who is famous for their starring, or leading, roles in movies. The term is used for performers who are marketable stars as they become popular household names and wh ...
, but finds it far more difficult than he imagined. He struggles and becomes frustrated, until he ultimately gets his break and becomes "the talk of the
Boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway. Boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former city walls. In American usage, boulevards may ...
". The lyrics were originally more bleak, but under pressure from the other band members, Davies rewrote them to be more optimistic and commercially appealing. ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...
'' writer David Farrell felt that, other than Davies' lead vocal, the song sounds like a
Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
song. "Child of Vision" is the closing track. Much like " The Logical Song", it uses a
Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is concept ...
as the main instrument. After the lyrical part, the song goes into a long solo played on the
grand piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
alongside the original melody on the Wurlitzer. The track fades out with a short saxophone solo by
John Helliwell John Anthony Helliwell (born 15 February 1945) is an English musician, best known as the saxophonist, secondary keyboardist, backing vocalist, and occasional songwriter for the rock band Supertramp. He also served as an MC during the band's c ...
. Roger Hodgson has said that the song was written to be an equivalent to "Gone Hollywood", looking at how Americans live, though he confessed that he had only a limited familiarity with US culture at the time of writing. He also said there is a slight possibility that he subconsciously had Rick Davies in mind while writing the lyrics. Each song was credited to a single musician on the inner sleeve, but on the central vinyl label was printed "Words and Music by Roger Hodgson & Rick Davies", combining the two and confusing the issue of composition credit. Roger Hodgson's management has described "The Logical Song", "Breakfast in America", " Take the Long Way Home", "Lord Is It Mine" and "Child of Vision" as 'Roger's songs'; however, this apparently does not mean he necessarily wrote them by himself, for Hodgson has credited Davies with writing the vocal harmony on "The Logical Song". Davies has referred to "The five songs that I did on Breakfast", but has not specified which ones.


Recording

The album went through two rounds of demos. The first were home demos, each of which consisted of the chief songwriter (either Rick Davies or Roger Hodgson) singing and playing either acoustic piano or Wurlitzer electric piano.Buskin, Richard (July 2005)
Classic Tracks: Supertramp's 'Logical Song'
''
Sound on Sound ''Sound on Sound'' is an independently owned monthly music technology magazine published by SOS Publications Group, based in Cambridge, United Kingdom. The magazine includes product tests of electronic musical performance and recording devices, ...
''.
The second were eight-track demos recorded at Southcombe Studios in
Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, who ...
during late April and early May 1978. It was in recording these demos that the band worked out the backing track arrangements for all the songs (with the exception of "Take the Long Way Home") and determined the order in which they would appear on the album. In order to avoid spending a lot of time on mixing, the band and their production team devoted a week to experimenting with different sound setups until they found the perfect arrangement. The effort proved to be wasted, as the engineering team would end up spending more than two extremely stressful months searching for the right mix, and were only finished after that length of time because the deadline had arrived, not because they felt at all satisfied with the results. Tensions between Hodgson and Davies were reportedly almost non-existent on the album. Engineer Peter Henderson recalled: "They got along fantastically well and everyone was really happy. There was a very, very good vibe and I think everyone was really buoyed up by the recordings and A&M's response to them." Hodgson contested this, saying that he and Davies had increasingly different lifestyles, and that he felt that Davies disliked many of his songs and only kept quiet about his displeasure because he sensed that he would be voted down.(2009)
30th Anniversary Breakfast in America Feature
, '' In the Studio''.
''
Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'' journalist Harry Doherty offered a third take on the duo's interactions during the album sessions: "In three days with the band, I don't think I saw Davies and Hodgson converse once, other than to exchange courteous greetings."


Packaging

The album's front cover resembles an overlook of
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
through an aeroplane window. It was designed by Mike Doud and
Mick Haggerty Mick Haggerty is an English graphic designer, illustrator, art director, video director and artist. Haggerty has received four Grammy Award nominations for Best Recording Package, and in 1980 was jointly awarded, with Mike Doud, the Grammy for Sup ...
. The image depicts Kate Murtagh, dressed as a waitress named "Libby" from a diner, as a
Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, ...
figure holding up a glass of orange juice on a small plate in one hand (in place of the torch on the Statue), and a foldable restaurant menu in the other hand, on which 'Breakfast in America' is written. The background features the southern tip of the New York City borough of
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, with the Lower Manhattan skyline represented through a cornflake box, ashtray, cutlery (for the wharfs), pancake syrup bottles, egg crates, salt and pepper shakers, coffee mugs, ketchup and mustard bottles, etc., all spray-painted white. The twin World Trade Center towers appear as two stacks of boxes, and the plate of breakfast represents The Battery, the departure point for the
Staten Island Ferry The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry route operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. The ferry's single route runs through New York Harbor between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island, with 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 The Grammy Award for Best Recording Package is one of a series of Grammy Awards presented for the visual look of an album. It is presented to the art director of the winning album, not to the performer(s), unless the performer is also the art dir ...
, defeating albums by
Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talki ...
and
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ...
, among others.


Critical reception

In a positive review for ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' magazine, music critic
Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...
viewed ''Breakfast in America'' as an improvement over the "swatches of meandering,
Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
-like esoterica" on Supertramp's previous albums, and called it "a textbook-perfect album of post-
Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...
, keyboard-centered English
art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an ...
that strikes the shrewdest possible balance between quasi-symphonic classicism and rock & roll ... the songs here are extraordinarily melodic and concisely structured, reflecting these musicians' saturation in American pop since their move to Los Angeles in 1977." ''
Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...
'' critic
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
was less impressed, saying that the "hooky album" evokes "random grunts of pleasure" but lacks emotional substance because of "glib" lyrics and no "vocal personality (as opposed to accurate singing) and rhythmic thrust (as opposed to a beat)". ''Breakfast in America'' topped the US ''Billboard'' 200 for six weeks and became Supertramp's biggest selling album, while producing four hit singles: "The Logical Song", "
Goodbye Stranger "Goodbye Stranger" is a song by the English rock band Supertramp; it was written by Rick Davies. The song first appeared on their sixth studio album, ''Breakfast in America'' (1979). Reception ''Billboard'' described "Goodbye Stranger" as "a ...
", "Take the Long Way Home" and the title track.
Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the '' Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by '' The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along w ...
, writing in the ''
Encyclopedia of Popular Music ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is an encyclopedia created in 1989 by Colin Larkin. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music'', which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms.''The Times'', ''The Kno ...
'' (2006), said that the "faultless" album "elevated" Supertramp to "rock's first division". "The Logical Song" won the 1979
Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been ...
for "Best Song Musically and Lyrically". ''Breakfast in America'' would become Supertramp's most popular album. By the 1990s, it had sold in excess of 18 million copies worldwide. In a retrospective review for
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...
,
Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...
praised the album's "tightly written, catchy, well-constructed pop songs" and described it as the band's "high-water mark". John Doran of
BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio ...
said that the songwriting has an "unbeatable quality" and asserted that "any of the ten tracks could have been hit singles".
Sputnikmusic Sputnikmusic is an American music community website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites. The format of the website is unusual in that it includes both professional and amateur ...
's Tyler Fisher said that its singles are mostly the highlights because of their "catchy hooks", and found the ballads "absolutely terrible".
Rob Sheffield Robert James Sheffield (born February 2, 1966) is an American music journalist and author. He is a long time contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'', writing about music, TV, and pop culture. Previously, he was a contributing editor at '' Ble ...
, writing in ''
The Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...
'' (2004), also felt that its "nice moments" were the highlights, including "the jolly 'Take the Long Way Home,' the adjectively crazed 'Logical Song,' nd'Goodbye Stranger.'" William Pinfold of ''
Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide. History The early years The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...
'' considered the album "a classic example of flawlessly-played and -produced late 70s transatlantic soft rock". By 2010, the album had sold well over 20 million copies.


Track listing

All songs credited to
Rick Davies Richard Davies (born 22 July 1944) is an English musician, singer and songwriter best known as founder, vocalist and keyboardist of the rock band Supertramp. Davies was its only constant member, and composed some of the band's best known songs ...
and
Roger Hodgson Charles Roger Pomfret Hodgson (born 21 March 1950) is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the former co-frontman and founding member of progressive rock band Supertramp. Hodgson composed and sang the majority of the band’ ...
. Listed below are the respective writers.


Reissues

;1990 Remaster In June 1990, MFSL re-released a remaster on Ultradisc™ 24 KT Gold CD from their "Original Master Recording" Collection. ;2002 reissue On 11 June 2002
A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...
reissued ''Breakfast in America'' with full original album art, plus the label art from side one recreated on the CD. It was mastered from the original master tapes by
Greg Calbi Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey. Biography Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bishop ...
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. It makes limited use of
dynamic range compression Dynamic range compression (DRC) or simply compression is an audio signal processing operation that reduces the volume of loud sounds or amplifies quiet sounds, thus reducing or ''compressing'' an audio signal's dynamic range. Compression is ...
and peak limiting, rejecting the
loudness war The loudness war (or loudness race) is a trend of increasing audio levels in recorded music, which reduces audio fidelity and—according to many critics—listener enjoyment. Increasing loudness was first reported as early as the 1940s, with ...
trends of modern CD releases. ;2010 deluxe edition A deluxe edition was released on 4 October 2010, including a second disc with songs recorded live in 1979, in particular songs not appearing on the live album ''
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
''. ;2010 super deluxe Edition A super deluxe edition, which was released on 6 December 2010, includes the 2-disc deluxe edition CD, vinyl LP, poster, DVD, hardcover book, and other memorabilia. ;2013 Blu-ray high definition disc A&M offers a High Definition Blu-ray Disc of the album. It contains the album in three different sound formats: 2-Channel PCM 24bit/96 kHz, 2 Channel DTS-Master Audio 24bit/96 kHz and 2-Channel Dolby True-HD 24bit/96 kHz. This High Definition Blu-ray Disc is playable in all Blu-ray Disc players. ;2018 Remastered Hybrid SACD On May 17, 2018, MFSL re-released a remaster on
hybrid SACD Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the Compact Disc (CD) format. The SACD format allows multiple au ...
. ;Chart positions


Personnel

Supertramp *
Rick Davies Richard Davies (born 22 July 1944) is an English musician, singer and songwriter best known as founder, vocalist and keyboardist of the rock band Supertramp. Davies was its only constant member, and composed some of the band's best known songs ...
– vocals and keyboards including
clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tens ...
on track 2, harmonica on track 6 *
Roger Hodgson Charles Roger Pomfret Hodgson (born 21 March 1950) is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the former co-frontman and founding member of progressive rock band Supertramp. Hodgson composed and sang the majority of the band’ ...
– vocals, keyboards and guitars, including acoustic
12-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...
on track 2, vibes on track 9 *
John Helliwell John Anthony Helliwell (born 15 February 1945) is an English musician, best known as the saxophonist, secondary keyboardist, backing vocalist, and occasional songwriter for the rock band Supertramp. He also served as an MC during the band's c ...
– saxophones, vocals, woodwinds *
Bob Siebenberg Robert Layne Siebenberg (born October 31, 1949) also known as Bob C. Benberg, is an American musician, best known as a member of British progressive rock band Supertramp, playing drums and percussion. He was the sole American in Supertramp's ...
(credited as Bob C. Benberg) – drums *
Dougie Thomson Douglas 'Doogie' Campbell Thomson (born 24 March 1951) is a Scottish musician, born in Glasgow and raised in the Rutherglen area of the city. He was the bass guitarist of progressive rock band Supertramp during much of the seventies and eight ...
– bass Additional personnel * Slyde Hyde
tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...
and
trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...
*Gary Mielke –
Oberheim Oberheim is an American synthesizer manufacturer founded in 1969 by Tom Oberheim. History and products Tom Oberheim founded the company in 1969, originally as a designer and contract manufacturer of electronic effects devices for Maestro (most ...
programming Production *Peter Henderson – producer *Supertramp – producer *Peter Henderson – engineer * Lenise Bent – assistant engineer *Jeff Harris – assistant engineer *
Greg Calbi Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey. Biography Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bishop ...
– remastering (2002) *Jay Messina – remastering (2002) *Russel Pope – concert sound engineer *Mike Doud – art direction, cover art concept, artwork *
Mick Haggerty Mick Haggerty is an English graphic designer, illustrator, art director, video director and artist. Haggerty has received four Grammy Award nominations for Best Recording Package, and in 1980 was jointly awarded, with Mike Doud, the Grammy for Sup ...
– art direction, cover design *Mark Hanauer – photography *
Aaron Rapoport Aaron Rapoport (born May 22, 1954) is an American photographer, best known for his photographs of musicians. Biography In a career that spans over three decades, Rapoport has photographed in a wide variety of areas including commercial photogr ...
– cover photo


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Accolades

In the 1987 edition of ''The World Critics List'', music critic
Joel Whitburn Joel Carver Whitburn (November 29, 1939 – June 14, 2022) was an American author and music historian, responsible for setting up the Record Research, Inc. series of books on record chart placings. Early life Joel Carver Whitburn was born in W ...
ranked ''Breakfast in America'' the fourth-greatest album of all time. In the 1994 edition of The Guinness All Time Top 1000 Albums, ''Breakfast in America'' was voted No. 207 in the all-time greatest rock and pop albums, and it was voted the 69th-greatest British rock album of all time in a 2006 ''
Classic Rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...
'' industry poll.
Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations. The network dates back to ...
listeners voted the album No. 43 in the "100 Greatest Albums of All Time". Recognising the band's disfavour among music critics during their career, ''Q'' magazine ranked ''Breakfast in America'' second on its "Records it's OK to Love" list in 2006. In 2000 it was voted No. 294 in
Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the '' Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by '' The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along w ...
's ''
All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the '' Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by t ...
''.


Certifications and sales


Awards

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...


See also

*
List of best-selling albums This is a list of the world's best-selling albums of recorded music. To appear on the list, the figure must have been published by a reliable source and the album must have sold at least 20 million copies. This list can contain any types of al ...
*
List of best-selling albums in France This is a list of the best-selling albums in France that have been certified by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique The National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing (french: Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique; SNEP) ...
* List of Canadian number-one albums of 1979 * List of number-one albums in Australia in 1979 * List of number-one albums of 1979 (U.S.) * List of Top 25 albums for 1979 in Australia


References


External links

* {{Authority control Supertramp albums 1979 albums A&M Records albums Albums produced by Rick Davies Albums produced by Roger Hodgson Juno Award for International Album of the Year albums Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical