I checked to see if there was an open thread for them but didn't find any, so please advise where to start with them, the less pop stuff please.
I checked to see if there was an open thread for them but didn't find any, so please advise where to start with them, the less pop stuff please.
I live in an ephemeral eternity
They were more arty/experimental before Crème and Godley split, which was after the first four:
10cc
Sheet Music
The Original Soundtrack
How Dare You!
But I thought they were still pretty great (and still had a bit of the "quirk factor") afterwards, especially on "Deceptive Bends" and "Bloody Tourists."
Their lyrics certainly weren't "progressive" on this oneOriginally Posted by No Pride
"There's a big black moma in a tree, she gonna cook us, she gonna call out the rest of the tribe"
Wow
BG
"When Yes appeared on stage, it was like, the gods appearing from the heavens, deigning to play in front of the people."
yup, but the debut is not that good IMHO... too much pastiche, not enough good tracks
only two or three songs on these albums.
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Definitely a band I'd call "arty" rather than "progressive" - not that it matters much I suppose. I was initially put off by that silly song Rubber Bullets, but they did seem to improve.
I don't own any albums, but I did enjoy The Original Soundtrack. "I'm Not In Love" is a great production with rather banal lyrics - they could however write rather witty lyrics, as on songs like "The Film of My Love".
To be honest, I never heard the first one. I just assumed it'd bear some resemblance to the other Crème and Godley 10cc albums, but I guess I was talking out of my ass. It wouldn't be the first time.
However, I love just about every song on "Bloody Tourists." One man's trash... well, you know the rest.
to be honest, it would make sense that their debut (which I only heard about seven years ago for the first time myself) would be very much like the next three, especially that Hotlegs wasn't too shabby and I happen to love Ramases' Space Hymns, which I find very much a 10 CC album (since they're all four on it)To be honest, I never heard the first one. I just assumed it'd bear some resemblance to the other Crème and Godley 10cc albums, but I guess I was talking out of my ass. It wouldn't be the first time.
However, I love just about every song on "Bloody Tourists." One man's trash... well, you know the rest.
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
I find the 1st album largely forgettable but there are moments. All the next three are generally genius with Sheet Music probably my overall favorite but they are all a tad spotty; they never really made a completely solid album but the good bits assemble into a fantastic compilation. And Deceptive Bends is worth having fpr The Things We Do For Love (a great great song imho) and Feel The Benefit which I would hold up as the best thing they did post G&C.
This is so good
Never tired of this
A genuinely experimental and idiosyncratic yet perfectionist pop/rock group! Sheet Music, The Original Soundtrack and How Dare You! are all very good to outstanding.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
"Don't hang up
Don't hang up
Don't say <click>
<dead line buzz>"
Nobody does pathos as playfully as 10cc.
Hey, this thread gives me an excuse to post my favorite fan video of all time!!
Sheet Music and The Original Soundtrack are their “classic” releases. The debut and How Dare You are patchier, but worth having. “Don’t Hang Up” from the latter is an utter masterpiece, but there are some extremely annoying tunes on that one I always skip (“I Wanna Rule the World” and “Head Room,” the latter actually makes me cringe from how awful it is!).
The Gouldman/Stewart duo did pretty well for themselves on Deceptive Bends, but I have no time for what followed after that; mediocrity after mediocrity (I don’t get the love for Bloody Tourists, I find it quite tedious and phoned-in). The surprising exception is Windows in the Jungle. I don’t know what happened, but they had a sudden burst of inspiration on that one. Not a classic, but you should check it out if you’re a fan and haven’t heard it before.
Definitely check out some G&C as well. L and Freeze-Frame are highly worthwhile, like a surreal and bizarre perversion of 10cc’s more experimental tendencies, the most “progressive” (however you choose to define the term) music produced by the 10cc axis. Stewart’s solo LP Frooty Rooties is also worth tracking down.
The Hotlegs album is pretty much 10cc in embryo, but they’re still wearing their influences (especially CSNY) on their sleeve; much more of a folk-rock sound than anything 10cc did (except for the occasional track, see “Waterfall” and “Good News”). The same goes for the single G&C recorded under the name Frabjoy & Runcible Spoon.
The lyrics are far from banal. They’re a bit subtle (at most) for 10cc, it’s sort of an anti-anti-love song. The protagonist is a man so jaded and embittered he can’t admit he’s really in love.
“I keep your picture upon the wall/It hides a messy stain that’s lying there/But please don’t ask me to give it back/I know you know it doesn’t mean that much to me...”
Far, far from banal, if you ask me. If I remember correctly, there aren’t any drums on this song, what sounds like a bass drum was actually triggered by their Moog. And this had to have been the first major hit pop song where a mixing desk is the main instrument.
I could say the lyrics to this one are banal, but they are deliberately so (very little of what 10cc did was not deliberate). It’s a campy parody of trite love-song lyrics (see also: “Silly Love”). Apparently, Gouldman was chosen to sing it because he was the only member who could deliver the lyrics with a straight face.they could however write rather witty lyrics, as on songs like "The Film of My Love".
Last edited by Progbear; 08-23-2014 at 11:55 PM.
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
The Original Soundtrack is definitely a good place to start. They were perhaps the best example of "art rock" for they really got artistic and experimental with their "pop". I just got the Godley & Creme best of (new compilation with 18 tracks) to see what happened to them once 10CC (the other 2 guys left) went on to do Deceptive Bends, Bloody Tourists and beyond. It's stranger to my ears than the 10CC that continued without them.
"The Worst Band In The World"
It's one thing to know it but another to admit
We're the worst band in the world
But we don't give a....
If Garbo played guitar with Valentino on the drums
Then we'd be nothing more than a bunch of dharma bums
So tune up, tune up
Well we've never done a days work in our life
And our records sell in zillions
It irrigates my heart with greed
To know that you adore me
Up yours, up mine
But up everybody's that takes time -
But we're working on it
Working on it (Ooh)
We never seen the van - leave it to the roadies -
Never met the roadies - leave them in the van
All because of circumstances way beyond control
We became the darlings of this thing called rock and roll, ooh
Here I am a record on a jukebox
A little piece of plastic with a hole, ooh
Play me
Buy me and you play me then my plastic turns to gold
Here we are together on your hi fi
A little piece of plastic with a hole, oh
Fade me, fade me, fade me, fade me.....
We're trying to build a monument to show that we were here
It won't be visible through the air
And there won't be any shade to cool the monument to prove that we were here. - Gene Parsons, 1973
'The Original Soundtrack' is the masterpiece for me. An album you can lose yourself in sonically whilst the lyrics are overloaded with puns and jokes. I can't believe anybody could take 'The Film Of Our Love' seriously- the lachrymose crooning and Neapolitan musical backing is annihilated by the lyric. 'I'm Not In Love' is a peerless masterpiece, one of the best singles ever IMHO. They do their prog parody of sorts in 'Une Nuit In Paris'.
'How Dare You' had moments of the same calibre ('I'm Mandy Fly Me', 'Don't Hang Up', the long 'How Dare You'/'Lazy Ways' introduction) but a few times on there the cleverness gave way to smugness and even unpleasantness. I'm thinking something like 'Headroom' and 'Iceberg'. 'Deceptive Bends' was much the same, highlights ('The Things We Do For Love', 'Good Morning Judge', 'Feel The Benefit') and low-lights...I only have a compilation to cover what came after that.
The first one I don't play too much- it has its moments for sure- but 'Sheet Music' is another great one. 'The Worst Band In The World' always raises a smile. 'The Wall Street Shuffle' I think is still pretty spot-on- that and 'Silly Love' offer heavy rock with a bit of lyrical wit. Some of the B-sides like 'Waterfall' are really good too.
Last edited by JJ88; 08-24-2014 at 06:45 AM.
A genuinely experimental and idiosyncratic yet perfectionist pop/rock group! Sheet Music, The Original Soundtrack and How Dare You! are all very good to outstanding.
My fave is How Dare You! Very lush and weird and catchy.
The albums after the split were also quite fine, IMO.
Listen to “Une Nuit a Paris.” I mean really listen to it! The backing track is pretty much just piano, bass and various kinds of percussion, yet it just sounds so massive and cinematic. Mind you, they really do layer on the vocals super-thick on this one, fitting that they were trying to make it sound like a showstopping stage-musical production number with just four guys. A lot of people consider this a precursor to “Bohemian Rhapsody” and I can hear why.
“Waterfall” is one of their most beautiful songs. Most of their B-sides sound pretty much like B-sides, but “Waterfall” (B-side to “Rubber Bullets”) and “Good News” (B-side to “Life Is a Minestrone”) were good enough to be A-sides. “Channel Swimmer” (B-side to “I’m Not in Love”) is cute and “Gismo My Way” is an entertaining mini-demo of their unique guitar-bowing device, but that’s pretty much it for 10cc B-sides of any worth. Hotlegs had a great B-side tune in “You Didn’t Like It Because You Didn’t Think of It,” part of which was later recycled into “Fresh Air for My Momma.”Some of the B-sides like 'Waterfall' are really good too.
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
I'm Not In Love: I once read that I think it was Kevin Godley,said "that track holds the world record for the most backing vocals of all time on a recording...250." Can that even be possible in 1975?
Yep, watch that documentary video from the other thread!
The backing vocals of "I'm not in love" sound so ahead oft their time - in fact that sound became very big almost 10 years later with the fairlight! "Moments in love" anybody?
I always thought that Waterfall was a kind of parody (or homage) to Crosby Stills Nash & Young songs... Same progression as Helpless (from Deja Vu) and same kind of vocal harmonies...
Last edited by Sterbus; 08-25-2014 at 08:13 AM.
Sheet Music and Original Soundtrack are essential. There are good tracks on How Dare You, and Gouldman/Stewart albums.
Of Godley/Creme, I'd recommend L first of all.
On Wikipedia's 10cc page is the bizarre piece of trivia that all four (future) members of 10cc played on the single "Sausalito" by "The Ohio Express". That's right, the same outfit that did "Yummy Yummy Yummy", and later pushed the musical envelope even further with "Chewy Chewy". I put the band name in quotes because I doubt there was ever an actual band, their singles were just recorded by various session musicians who were part of the Kasenetz/Katz bubblegum stable, and probably not the same session musicians each time.
From the ridiculous to the sublime, you might say - though Sausalito was a bit better than the usual bubblegum fare. Change the beat a little, and you could almost imagine it being done by the same band that did Rubber Bullets.
There's a CD called "Strawberry Bubblegum" that has this and loads of other songs that were done by some or all of the 10cc members around this time. Great stuff.
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