Crisis? What Crisis?

Following the commercial breakthrough of Crime of the Century (1974), Supertramp's record label pressed the band to deliver a follow-up quickly. While touring North America in early 1975, guitarist and vocalist Roger Hodgson injured his hand, forcing the cancellation of remaining dates. The downtime was used to begin work on the next album.^[4]

Despite the additional time, the band entered the studio with little new material, relying heavily on leftover compositions from Crime of the Century and earlier. The shortage of songs forced a temporary halt in production while Hodgson and keyboardist Rick Davies wrote additional tracks, including "Ain't Nobody But Me".^[4] Four songs—"Sister Moonshine", "Another Man's Woman", "Lady", and "Just a Normal Day"—had already been performed live and were later issued on the 2001 concert release Is Everybody Listening?.

Contemporary accounts suggest mixed feelings among the band. Hodgson described the album as hastily assembled and lacking the conceptual unity of Crime of the Century.^[5] Bassist Dougie Thomson echoed this view, calling it disjointed. In contrast, Hodgson later remarked in the mid-1980s that it was his personal favourite of the group's albums.^[6]

Music writers have noted elements of continuity with Supertramp's later work. For example, Ultimate Classic Rock observed that the melody of "Sister Moonshine" anticipates the group's later hit "Give a Little Bit".^[7]

The album's title and cover concept were devised by Davies. The sleeve depicts a man relaxing in a deckchair under an umbrella amid an industrial wasteland, photographed by Paul Wakefield. The background was shot in the Welsh mining valleys and later composited with the studio model.^[8] The imagery was partly inspired by Yves Robert's 1968 film Alexandre le bienheureux.^[9] The phrase "Crisis? What crisis?" also appeared in Fred Zinnemann's 1973 film The Day of the Jackal and was later used by the British press during the Winter of Discontent.^[10]

More information Review scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[12]
The Great Rock Discography	6/10[13]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[14]

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Contemporary reviews were mixed. Rolling Stone offered a largely negative assessment, criticising the lyrics in particular.^[15] Retrospective appraisals have been more favourable. AllMusic highlighted Rick Davies' keyboard playing, Hodgson's vocals, and John Helliwell's saxophone contributions, describing the record as warm and subtly engaging.^[11]

Supertramp

• Rick Davies – lead and backing vocals, acoustic piano (tracks 3, 5, 7, 8), Wurlitzer piano (track 7), harmonica (track 2), organ (tracks 2, 3, 6, 10), harpsichord (tracks 4, 6, 10), synthesizers (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9)
• Roger Hodgson – lead and backing vocals, electric guitar (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9) 12-string guitar (tracks 1, 2, 9, 10), acoustic piano (track 4), Wurlitzer piano (track 6), flageolet (track 2), cello (track 7), pump organ (track 10), marimba (track 6), electric sitar (tracks 1, 2)
• John Anthony Helliwell – saxophones, clarinet and bass clarinet (tracks 7, 10), backing vocals (tracks 3, 6, 7, 10)
• Dougie Thomson – bass guitar
• Bob Siebenberg (credited as Bob C. Benberg) – drums, percussion