Roger Hodgson on DeBaser: reviews, highlights, and essential listens

The Profile

British singer-songwriter and co-founder of Supertramp, Roger Hodgson is the voice and composer behind enduring hits such as The Logical Song, Give a Little Bit, Dreamer, Take the Long Way Home, and Breakfast in America. After leaving Supertramp in 1983, he pursued a solo career with albums including In the Eye of the Storm (1984), Hai Hai (1987), Rites of Passage (1997, live), and Open the Door (2000). He is known for his high tenor voice, piano-driven arrangements, and shimmering twelve‑string guitar.

Co-founded Supertramp; principal singer-songwriter of major hits; active since 1969; solo albums include In the Eye of the Storm, Hai Hai, Rites of Passage, Open the Door; genres span progressive and pop rock; British nationality; distinctive high tenor and strong arranging skills.

Three reviews praise Hodgson’s unique voice, arranging touch, and era-defining Supertramp songs while judging his solo albums as solid but less inspired. Rites of Passage is a live return, heartfelt and varied; Hai Hai is deemed lightweight yet personable; Open the Door is classy and polished but short on epochal melodies. Overall tone: respect, nostalgia, and measured critique.

Notable Quotes

❝ Roger is one of my greatest idols: absolute musicality, compositional flair (even though it has somewhat waned over the years), complete arrangement skills down to the last tom-tom stroke, vocal and instrumental versatility, touching lyrics.

❝ Hai Hai, really! We’re not there with the quality, in this 38-year-old album by the Supertramp whiz kid.

❝ Charles Roger Hodgson, born in 1950, is one of the greatest pop music authors and performers: about ten of his compositions (all belonging to his youthful period with Supertramp, between the mid-seventies and early eighties) are in the empyrean of perfect songs in this field.