With the "Brother Where You Bound" album, Supertramp under the command of Rick Davies following Roger Hodgson's departure takes a new direction, more spectacle in terms of promotional material and developing more music videos. This album had three, one for "Cannonball", a second to the title track, and "Better Days", which is the best of the bunch. A reflection about past and future, and also the then present 1980's which is all over the place dating the video a little bit but never losing importance or meaning.
For the music video or cinema addicts there isn't much novelty about the concept explored in "Better Days": a young man facing poverty lines at the 1929 crash crisis is taken by two clownish types who take him on a time travel to future decades later where he manages to glimpse technological and scientifical advances, and the possibility of better days for mankind also echoing the lyrics feeling of "no more war, no inflation". But it's all taken away when the more the man goes forward in his travel the more conflicts, wars, deaths and crisis he faces, all provided through archive footage from WWII, Vietnam war, RFK's murder, Nixon's administration and ending with the Reagan years - the soundtrack also uses voices from Mondale, Ferraro and Bush during the 1984 political debates. And the young man will face an even more saddening image towards the conclusion. But will he ever know a better time or place to live?
"Better Days" makes us question the times we lived and the times we'll live, and with that idea in mind it always comes the same worn out reflection that it doesn't change all that much. We go through tragedies, crisis, terrorism, unemployment, political scandals and others things that blocks our human potential and development, at the same time there is progress in arts, sciences, technology, quality of life, etc; and the vortex keeps on spiraling showing us mankind's gains and losses, and it's difficult to define if life and people are truly evolving or just going backwards. Each generation defines the other one as "a lost generation". I'd like to think that even if a generation could find itself it wouldn't solve all the problems in the world, perhaps it'd create a more unsettling sense of anxiety to figure out what's our next step in this journey. Yet we still dream on with more and more better days. That's just one idea that this video brought me and I appreciate it for doing such. That's what art and music are all about, to wake us up from our lethargy and reveal life as it is, or as it could be. The rest is up to us...
If a music video is making you think deeper, than it deserves plenty of praise. Steve Barron makes of this project a special one, memorable and evocative about the time and its importance, always escaping like sand through our hands. Visually speaking it's slightly cheap, under developed far from his revolutionary hit "A-Ha: Take on Me" but there's some nice special bits like the transition from black and white to color when the boy is transported to this time tunnel - speaking of him, I'm dying to get some information on this lead actor. He's very expressive, good-looking and I'm curious to know if his career took off after this clip.
As for the sound of music, Supertramp brings a fine prog-rock approach, it's quite a catchy song but far from being a hit as the ones they produced during their "Crime of the Century" or "Breakfast in America" days. I'm getting used to it lately mostly because of the video, therefore Mr. Barron succeed it in making a promotional clip that sold the song in a great fashion and in an effective way. 9/10.
