"Poppodium De Boerderij will close its doors, for the time being, many shows have been postponed. It's discouraging. It is still corona crisis. Crisis? What Crisis! I'd like to shut myself off from it, like the man on this Supertramp album cover. Sitting comfortably underneath a parasol. Pretending he's lying in the sun. Radio on, drink close at hand. Shutting yourself off from all the misery in the world. Burn all ships behind you. Imagine yourself on a Greek island. You call work to say you won't be in for the next few weeks. You throw your cell phone in the trash-bin. There is a well-known mind experiment with the question of whether you would like to join a pleasure machine. A pleasure (or happiness) machine is a device that you can set up in such a way that you can be happy forever. Making love to Beyoncé? You just press a button and your brain thinks it's reality. In reality you are lying on a chair, passively. Like this guy on the cover. You are cut off from your loved ones. Your brain is all that's left. When asked if you would choose this, most people say 'no'. The reason?... Happiness cannot be made. Happiness is also: being there for your loved ones. Doing something for your environment and not just living in an illusion, passively. Incidentally, there was no deeper thought behind the title of this cover. After the success of "Crime of the Century", the guys from Supertramp had to come up with something new. Keyboardist and singer Rick Davies indicated in an interview that the title was taken from a sentence he had written down from a book by English writer Frederick Forsyth, 'The day of the Jackal', and that they could not find a decent title. Davies also scribbled a drawing on paper for an idea for the cover and gave it to designer Paul Wakefield who had also created the cover of "Crime of the Century". It refers to the economic crisis that ruled England in the mid-1970s. Mining industry unions crippled the whole of England with strikes to enforce shorter working hours. Wakefield drove to the mining valley of Wales and took pictures of the coal industry there. The model in the chair under the umbrella was later photographed in the studio. Wakefield's colleague Dick Ward then put the images together as a cut-and-paste exercise, resulting in this brilliant cover. After the huge success of "Crime of the Century", it was difficult to come up with a successor. "Crisis" therefore remains in the shadow of "Crime". It wasn't a concept album and the lyrics were less sharp. There are some great songs like 'Sister Moonshine' and 'Lady', but also a few mediocre songs like 'Another man's Woman' and 'Two of Us'. But the cover remains forever brilliant. And topical. On the back cover, the Supertramp members keep a neat one and a half meters distance from each other. Foresight? So no more shows at De Boerderij for a while. Just as we got nicely up to speed. With musicians who were very happy to be able to play again. I can still picture the Scottish guitarist from Ray Wilson's band, who squeezed me while hugging, because he was allowed to be on stage again. Not exactly one and a half meters, but a peak experience. It was genuine, reality; I was not hooked up to a happiness machine in a chair underneath a parasol. I guess all we can do now is wait for better times. Music has survived more crises. Quite reassuring." By Gerrit-Jan Vrielink Translation Alex Driessen