10cc / Godley & Creme

[Trane]

I tend to consider the best 10 CC album not wearing the name, and I'm not thinking of Hotlegs (definitely not my stuff).
It was Ramases' Space Hymns: That album really sounds like 10 CC at their best.

As for 10cc itself I feel like drawing a comparison with them and Queen: a good pop quartet with all four members being good/excellent compioser, but unfortunately both bands are prone all to often to write pastiches that tend to turn me off. Saw the band twice during the 00's, but only Stew<art was left, but stll managed to pull an excellent show and make every song sound like on their studio albums.

Their debut is unfortunately flawed with do-wop songs and quite a turn off for me. I'll only save the rather good Rubber Bullets. Fresh Air, Speed Kills, Dean And I are also worthy.
Sheet Music is a giant steop forward IMHO, and the first in their trilogy. Fave track: Wall street Shuffle, but Somewhere in Hollywood, Hotel and Baron Samedi are also worth it.
Soundtrack is their equivalent of Queen's Opera: One Night In Paris is their Bohemian Rhapsody. Not In Love is their greatest, but Brand New Day and Minestrone are also good. Actually only the closing track is weak.
How Dare You is not quite as excellent, but still part of their trilogy. Best tracks: Art for Art's Sake (my second fave) and Don't Hang Up .

Unfortunately the departure of G&C cut much of the band's creativity, as the aptly-titled Deceptive Bends (always disliked Things We Do, BTW): the only good part is the middle section of the 11mins+ Benefit. As for Boody Tourist, except for Dreadlock, nothing finds grace to my ears.

Still haven't had the chance to really investigate their double live album.
The only thing I still own is in vinyl: their Greatest Hits 72-78, but i should one day make my own CDr compilation.


as for G&C, I must say i sampled most of their stuff, and as much as S&G miss G&C, G&C miss S&G just as much.

[aith01]

^ Mr. "Hot Takes" Trane, same as always.

10cc is one of those bands I've known about for a long time and meant to investigate, but never got around to it for some reason. I've heard enough of their stuff to at least know that "I'm Not In Love" was not their typical style, and would like to hear more of their catalog as it tends to be pretty well regarded in the circles I've frequented.

That 'L' record sounds very interesting for sure. I'm gonna check that one out.

[Progbear]

I found a cheap copy of Consequences a while ago and I remember enjoying the randomness of having Sarah Vaughan do a duet with Kevin on one song.

I have to wonder how that connection came along. One of the strangest duet pairings ever (even if both Kevin and Sarah have exquisite voices).

There is also the earlier Hotlegs project which was Godley, Creme and Stewart, with Gouldman offering a cameo. Patchy but definitely has its moments and signs of things to come. I like 'Today' (re-recorded as a single under the band name Festival) and the 'Take Me Back' suite.

What I’ve heard of the Hotlegs album suggests that there was still a lot of Kev & Lol’s folk-rock base. I liked that on “Waterfall” and “Good News,” so I should probably sit down with the Hotlegs album and give it a serious airing. I do know that the “Take me away, just about time to hit the road...” bit of “Fresh Air for My Mama” originated in a Hotlegs song: “You Didn’t Like It Because You Didn’t Think of It,” the non-album B-side to “Neanderthal Man.”

Talking of swear words, Second Sitting For The Last Supper contains the N word. Different times...

I forgot about that. Ugh! I get that they were going for an extended metaphor, but still...ugh!

[Trane]

Think of this album as a 10 CC album.

[Sean]

That album was a big step ahead for them, for sure.

[pb2015]

Bloody Tourists: Well, I kind of liked “The Anonymous Alcoholic,” but too much of this hinges on obvious “jokes,” MOR blandness and the sort of clichés this band used to mercilessly mock. “On a roller-coaster,” “on the road to ruin,” “on a one-way street,” and that’s all on track 2 (“For You and I,” which kind of sounds like a neutered version of “With a Little Luck”)!

I listened to some of this album yesterday. I liked "For You and I," which does sound like a Wings song, but with a sarcastic edge McCartney never had. After that the MOR did get a bit much, though. Made Supertramp sound like a punk band.

[Sean]

The middle of the road was their private cul de sac by then.

[pb2015]

The middle of the road was their private cul de sac by then.

That sounds like one of their lyrics.

Incidentally, listening to that song again the first melody line is nearly identical to the beginning of "The Best Of Times" by Styx.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Sheet Music is brilliant.

How Dare You! is excellent.

The Original Soundtrack is very good.

10CC is good.

Deceptive Bends is alright.

Bloody Tourists is fair.

The double live album is tolerable.

Greatest Hits 1972-78 offers a magnificent introduction to the band, seeing as their schlagers were usually (almost) as colourful and creative as their nons. And it posites "I'm Not In Love" as the closing track, where it should and would be. Although that spot is taken by the splendid "Film of My Love" on The Original Soundtrack.

10CC were as stupendously British in their hyperfectionist eccentricity as Steely Dan were American. Great days. All gone now.

[JJ88]

The old CD of Greatest Hits 1972-8 is a very nice sounding disc. It ended up being definitive really. There were no further hits to speak of and the only singles it left off weren't particularly big hits.

'The Film Of Our Love' was intended as parody! It was done with a smarmy 'crooner' vocal and some seem to take that at face value. Just look at those lyrics!

I can't really comment on Godley/Creme beyond a best-of.

Plus the "Before, During, and After" set.

https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/...-10cc-box-set/

This one has two discs which were more or less clones. GH 1972-8 and that Strawberry Bubblegum CD. This had most of the oddball pre-10cc singles they did either for others or themselves under pseudonyms. Though this box seemed to have a few tracks less than that CD did.

[Trane]

The old CD of Greatest Hits 1972-8 is a very nice sounding disc. It ended up being definitive really. There were no further hits to speak of and the only singles it left off weren't particularly big hits.

Well, if I look at GH 72-78's tracklist and what I would include in my own CDr compilation (which would make it a "best of" and not a GH, nuance mon cher ), despite having almost a double vinyl space to fill up, I probably wouldn't include half of what's on GH 72-78.

If that vinyl (all I ever owned from them for any length of time) is still with me as a rare holdover from my 70's collection (I only have 50 or 70 left from my 2500 in the late 80's), I still fail to understand how it managed to survive all of my deadwood prunings.

[Progbear]

I listened to some of this album yesterday. I liked "For You and I," which does sound like a Wings song, but with a sarcastic edge McCartney never had. After that the MOR did get a bit much, though. Made Supertramp sound like a punk band.

Trivia: “For You and I” was the “love theme” of the much-mocked Lily Tomlin/John Travolta film Moment by Moment. “Oh, Strip!”

'The Film Of Our Love' was intended as parody! It was done with a smarmy 'crooner' vocal and some seem to take that at face value. Just look at those lyrics!

Apparently they gave it to Graham to sing because he was the only one who could deliver those lyrics with a straight face!

[Scrotum Scissor]

Yeah.

But plenty of their songs were intended as parody - or to be more specific on the fine line amidst pastiche and parody. The difference between which is that the former expression doesn't invite humour as its main faccet, rather the estimate of artistic mimesis as a quality in itself. Of course, 10cc's songs - many of them - obviously targeted a certain comic relief as well. But much of that was subordinate to strictly aesthetic aims.

Some of their absolute greatest tunes - "Iceberg", "Hotel", "Donna", "Worst Band In the World", "Don't Hang Up", "Une Nuit a Paris" - were intrinsically parodic or "meta". Did they always work and succeed on those separate stylistic levels and terms? Well, a lot better, I think, than alleged equivalents by Jethro Tull or Stackridge. Both of which were bands I still like well enough.

As for the Ramases releases, they were all K. B. Frost's songwriting and such not really comparable to 10cc, although Gouldman in particular was heavily involved in arrangements. Some good tunes on the first one, though.

[Progbear]

But plenty of their songs were intended as parody - or to be more specific on the fine line amidst pastiche and parody. The difference between which is that the former expression doesn't invite humour as its main faccet, rather the estimate of artistic mimesis as a quality in itself. Of course, 10cc's songs - many of them - obviously targeted a certain comic relief as well. But much of that was subordinate to strictly aesthetic aims.

During the G&C era they were doing quite a lot of “post-modern” self-referential tunes poking fun at pop song conventions (“Silly Love” as probably the best example, though I think the aforementioned “Film of My Love” also definitely fits in this slot). By the time of Bloody Tourists they kind of got vapor-locked into songs lampooning the foibles of modern, white, upper-middle-class Europeans.

[pb2015]

Trivia: “For You and I” was the “love theme” of the much-mocked Lily Tomlin/John Travolta film Moment by Moment. “Oh, Strip!”

I looked that up and the soundtrack album has not only 10cc's song, but an instrumental by Ray Parker Jr. and two tracks by Charles Lloyd (the jazz saxophonist). Might have to keep an eye on the dollar bins for that one.

[mozo-pg]

I owned Sheet Music and How Dare You in the mid-1970s. Played it all the time and liked both equally. I played the LPs till the grooves wore out. I picked up the S/T and The Original Soundtrack later on. I still prefer the first two I purchased.

[Scrotum Scissor]

By the time of Bloody Tourists they kind of got vapor-locked into songs lampooning the foibles of modern, white, upper-middle-class Europeans.

True. I've even seen it (the Bloody Tourists album) referred to as "[...] the first vehemently politically-uncorrect major artist UK pop record". Listening back it's certainly a cynically witty attempt, albeit not too successful at that - but the melodies pretty much remain. It's definitely no Sheet Music, though.

[Sean]

Goodbye Blue Sky wound up being pretty darn good! It's got a similar level of wack that the past albums did. Probably the most inventive use of harmonicas on any album too. It has a bit of a gospel meets, 50s rock and some south of the border grooves, depending on the track. The opener "HEAVEN" reminds me of the tune "Shadows and Light" from Joni Mitchell. Similar vibe and approach. "Air Force One" is the obviously the less nuanced sibling to "Clockwork Creep" too.

[EdWiser]

https://youtu.be/twuHBAnMfKQ

[EBES]

Like a couple of other people here, this is a longtime blind spot for me. I've been meaning to pick up their complete albums box set but it seems to go at radically fluctuating prices on Discogs/eBay/Amazon and when I see it ebb down to $40 I never think to jump on it. This thread seems like a good spot to revisit if I'm able to remedy that oversight.

[Progbear]

Just reminded of Limboland, Lol Creme's weird series on Comedy Central, which seems to have fallen off the face of the Earth.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

I have Lol's email address from years ago when he was selling some artwork online. I have emailed him every year because we share a birthday and he has replied to me twice to reciprocate my birthday wishes. He is one of my few honest to goodness artistic heroes. l have lived with Consequences for about 45 years now and the music, conceptual depth (predicting global warming and the Earth rebelling against us parasites)---most people dismiss Peter Cook's contribution but it is actually a crucial component of the album's concept. Each of the 4 characters aside from Mr. Blint represent one of the four "elements" we live with--Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. A careful listen to the dialogue of each character brings this into focus even though the surface discussion amongst the characters is an essentially meaningless divorce proceeding. The 4 characters gradually become aware that the Earth is literally rebelling and is going to wipe out humanity...at the last moment they realize that the kook Blint in the flat below has been spending all of this time composing a symphony (?), which takes up all of side 6, and his objective is to quell the forces of nature to eradicate humanity for destroying the planet.
I do not care what anyone says about this album. To me it is a staggering achievement conceptually, musically (in no small part due to the usage of the Gizmo, a fantastic guitar appendage which is too amazing to go into here), and the prevailing opinion seems to be that Peter Cook's incredible fucking storyline drags the album down which is *anything* but the case. The whole piece itself is daunting due to its length if nothing else, but it certainly hangs together with a coherent narrative which you will not find in Tommy, or The Lamb.
Add to that the sheer audacity Creme and Godley displayed by spending 18 months on a project which originally began as a little demo record for this extraordinary thing they invented which could be lazily described as a sort of guitar synthesizer (please research if you are so inclined...it was used by Page and McCartney also).
Throw on top of that what may be one of the greatest engineered albums ever recorded, by Martin Lawrence.
A listen to this album only for the sonic marvel that it is is a reward in itself.
It *must* be addressed that the album is most certainly an over-ambitious, over-blown, sprawling, seemingly incoherent monument of nonsense but l am here to tell you it is anything but that.
If you have the balls to play it all the way through, and digest the libretto and fabulous artwork (also by G&C of course), then you are all set.
Play it again, and a few days later, play it once again.
You will find yourself oddly drawn back to it, and once it gets you, you will never turn back...and you can draw your own conclusion about what happens at the end.
I am not evangelical about many albums, but Consequences is a hill l am prepared to die on, anytime.
An unqualified masterpiece.

[rdclark]

I like it, too.

[Scrotum Scissor]

It's as ludicrous as hilarious - see those lyrics setting goof for some mesmerizing group dynamics in narrative venture and determination of form here. It's really rather extraordinary, albeit tads too openly comedic in this case. Still it displays how wonderfully dedicated they were to concepts of farce and distance, as in "theoretical" such. Perfectionist, trivial, oddball lingering of artistic gusto.

One of a kind band.

[bigbassdrum]

Happy Birthday Kevin Godley - 77 years old today