Roger Hodgson
Rites of Passage

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. And then humility, calmness, and... a bright smile, that of a righteous man.

However, the incredible and priceless Hodgson is that, and only that, of when he was with Supertramp. None of the records (few: four), the songs composed after the now four-decades-long divorce from that band can compare to the best, epochal things produced with them between 1974 and 1981, the long golden period of that formation.

This "Rites of Passage" is the third of the aforementioned four solo albums. It came out in 1997 and immediately stands out for the unusual nature of its structure, a characteristic that, however, finds explanation if you delve a little into Roger's life events and choices during those years.

Yes, because the work in question contains twelve songs, all performed live, which include:

_No.5 brand new compositions of his (one of them will be revisited in the studio, with more refined arrangements, in the following end-of-the-millennium work "Open the Door").

_No.2 tracks composed, and also sung(?), by the guitarist present at those concerts, Mikail Graham

_No.1 piece composed and sung by his then-seventeen-year-old(!) son, Andrew Hodgson

_No.1 song revisited from "In the Eye of the Storm," his first solo album dated 1984

_No.3 reimaginings of Supertramp's super classics under his name.

Why this potpourry? At the time, Hodgson was emerging from many years away from the scene. The birth of two children and the consequent desire to actively raise them was compounded by a bad domestic accident that caused fractures to both wrists and a long rehabilitation before he could play instruments again. All of this in a context of voluntary seclusion in the midst of the Sierra Nevada, among the mountains of California, to escape the stress of Los Angeles... All of this led him to decide to give up his career, even refusing an offer in 1990 from Yes for the role of lead singer! However, traces of his presence can be found in their album "Talk."

It was then his wife Rakuna who pulled him out of the hole and pushed him back onto the scene. So, in 1997, there was this tour of concerts and his wife's planning extended to improvising herself as the producer of this album!

The musical consistency of the aforementioned is the average of Hodgson's solo works: good, interesting but nothing truly epochal. As for the reinterpretations of three of his masterpieces with Supertramp ("Take the Long Way Home", "The Logical Song" and "Give a Little Bit"), there is little to say: they are marvelous and remain so, also because along with their author's voice is the saxophone of former bandmate John Antony Helliwell! Luckily for him and us, Hodgson managed to borrow him from the then-alive-and-well Supertramp, and with this excellent musician's clean and sharp interventions, it's a whole different vibe compared to any other sax player imaginable. Helliwell here is perfect, communicative, and efficient as always, and comes in handy to color the new compositions with his flourishes and solos.

New compositions which, as already said, are valid but not too memorable... Dammit! This good man with the round face, pageboy hair, and the hooked nose that couldn't be more British, scattered the seventies with invaluable gems, but after that youthful phase, there was nothing left... a lot of musicality, skill, and pleasantness, but nothing more epochal, statuesque, or fantastic.

Let's be content and move on: even the rendition of "In Jeopardy", the piece revisited from his first and clearly best solo album, is very effective, compelling with its characteristic piano repeated "à la Supertramp" which will remain imperishable in the memory of those who keep in mind the various styles of pop rock throughout history.

A nod to the three episodes that see Roger on the sidelines: The pair of tracks composed and sung by Mikail Graham are pleasant but have nothing to do with the album's main artist, being academic and Americanized rhythm & blues. Lastly, the song composed, played on piano, and sung by young Andrew Hodgson is a slow atmospheric and melancholic piece, of good quality, less out of context than the guitarist's contributions.

Today Roger Hodgson is, to my delight, still on the scene, but only to hold celebratory concerts of his great past. He hasn’t released new music for over twenty years... let's be content that he is in good shape, especially vocally since he is still perfectly capable of hitting those virtuoso high notes (no falsetto: it is full voice) and handling pianos and guitars with enviable savoir-faire.

He often receives five, ten minutes of applause from the audience just for stepping on stage before playing a single note: a sign of the infinite gratitude many people have for him, for the serenity and deep reflections and well-being brought by his music and his best lyrics, but also for his impeccable karma as a sweet and just man. Long live him.