blackleatherbookshelf | Entries tagged with 10cc

It's Just a Silly Phase I'm Going Through.
4 Out Of 5 Stars

I have posited on other album reviews that I believe 10cc to be the kind of band Monty Python would have dreamed up if they'd decided to take on modern pop in the 70's, instead of the wonderfulness of The Rutles. Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme were already experienced pop writers and performers in other peoples' bands before they joined forces as studio musicians in what was basically a bubblegum hit machine studio. From those beginnings, they became one of the most respected bands of the 70's, seeming to effortlessly blend elements of pop music with progressive rock all while maintaining an often dry wit and cheeky humor. This single "Very Best Of" disc gathers the best of their 45's from their first six studio albums and bonuses you the Godley and Creme hit "Cry."

The band's origins as writers for hire on on display for the songs from their debut, "Donna," "The Dean and I" and "Rubber Bullets." The first two are borderline parody in that they so closely approximate bubblegum singles that it's hard to believe that anything would come of merit in the future. "Rubber Bullets," while still aping the Jailhouse Rock genre, satirically upends the style by having the song delivered from the standpoint of the prison staff. ("I love to hear those convicts squeal, it's a shame these slugs ain't real.") If there was any indication of the brilliance to come, that was where you'd find it.

By "Sheet Music," the band was going full-steam. "Silly Love" and "The Wall Street Shuffle" threw so many styles in the blender that trying to explain the band was an impossibility, even if American audiences weren't catching on as yet. But by the next album, "The Original Soundtrack," that would change. The double bladed "I'm Not In Love" floated all the way to number two in 1975 and broke the band in the states. Sung from both sides of the story, the singer delicately kisses off a love affair - or is he? and that made the enigmatic song such a charmer. The goofy "Life Is a Minestrone" is also included, but the album is sold short.

Having finally broken the states, the band delivered their artiest album yet, with "How Dare You!" While "I'm Mandy Fly Me" and "Art For Art's Sake" were both brilliant singles (and "I'm Mandy" may have been one of the best 'mini-opera' songs of the decade), they missed the top 40, but are definitely among the band's best. That also was when creative tensions caused the rift between Godley/Creme and Stewart/Gouldman to reach a breaking point. Stewart and Gouldman decided to keep the name 10cc and soldier on with "Deceptive Bends." They were obviously eager to please, because the ultra catchy "The Things We Do For Love" became the band's second top ten single and "People In Love" (which tried very hard to find the clever spot "I'm Not In Love" achieved) squeaked to number 40.

Sadly, it seemed that each team needed the other more than they wanted to let on. "Bloody Tourists" tried to capture the old magic, but the main single, "Dreadlock Holiday," was the first time the humor sounded forced. "For You and I," the album's ballad, just couldn't quite match the majesty of earlier, similar songs. Further albums went to a different label, but it didn't much matter as they continued on a slide of diminishing returns. Godley and Creme became video pioneers, directing for the likes of Duran Duran and The Police. It's no surprise then, that their big hit as a duo, "Cry," rose on the charts on the back of an eye-popping video. It was one of the first videos to use the face-morphing technique that eventually became famous on Micheal Jackson's "Black and White."

What makes the addition of "Cry" such a delight is that it that it makes "The Very Best of 10cc" a true representation of the band's work. These were all delightful singles and, at their absolute best, 10cc rivaled any of the 70's hitmakers for style and creativity.

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Current Mood: happy
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "I'm Mandy, Fly Me" 10cc

Dare Accepted
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Not quite as good as "The Original Soundtrack," but hitting many of the same high points, 10cc parlayed the success of "I'm Not In Love" to an album that tinkered with pop conventions and progressive rock with "How Dare You!" It's also the band's last proper album as a four piece; by the next album Kevin Godley and Lol Creme would depart to focus their attentions on artier rock and their guitar invention, the Gizmotron, which is used to good effect on the album's title track. (It used a set of small wheels against the guitar strings that allowed you to almost infinitely sustain guitar notes.)

"How Dare You!" also grapples with the art-rock sensibilities of Godley and Creme vieing with the more conventional pop and rock aspirations of Graham Gouldman and Eris Stewart. I've previously postulated that 10cc was the kind of rock band Monty Python would have dreamed up if not The Rutles, which again finds the band wrestling over their direction. The still funny "I Want to Rule The World" is narrated by an angry baby who's had it up to here and wants to be the world's youngest tyrant (shades of Stewie from "Family Guy," anyone?). On the opposite end, you have "I'm Mandy, Fly Me," which opens with a snippet of "Clockwork Creep," then goes on to narrate the tale of a plane crash survivor who dreams of his rescue by the stewardess on the travel brochure. All of this is going about through some radical tempo shifts and a meaty guitar solo. It ranks among the band's best compositions. Then comes that dichotomy again; the uncomfortable tale of the stalker in "Iceberg."

That back and forth is what holds "How Dare You!" from achieving the full heights of "The Original Soundtrack," probably adding to or abetted by the creative schisms in the band itself. "Art For Art's Sake" seemingly confronts this dilemma head on. It might be the most straightforward song the band ever wrote, highlighting the differences between creativity and commercial production. It's kind of like "The Worst Band In The World," except that band has grown up and is lost in a quandary of their success.

"Money talks so listen to it,
Money talks to me.
Anyone can understand it
Money can't be beat."

If there was any note to go out on, "Art For Art's Sake" summed it up pretty well. While Gouldman and Stewart would retain a level of success under the 10cc banner on "Deceptive Bends," the push and pull of the two factions of the group are what made 10cc (and by extension, "How Dare You") such a fascinating band.

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Current Music: "Art Of Art's Sake" 10cc

Bedside Manner
4 Out Of 5 Stars

That 10cc started out as a houseband for a bubblegum production studio was obvious on their debut album, where each song was a parodic tribute to a style of pop that was produced so accurately that the thin line between satire and the real thing was all but invisible. By the time they got to their second album, 1974's "Sheet Music," they'd jumped the parody shark and landed on an entirely different animal. They weren't quite progressive rock, they weren't quite poptunes, and they still hadn't got the Monty Python out of their system. In other words, 10cc was a quintessentially British band with a wicked sense of humor mining their often brilliant songs.

Case in point are the album's opening salvos. "Wall Street Shuffle" came off as an album oriented rock song with a killer hook, big guitar riff and semi-serious lyric about the money hustling big shots. It's then followed by "The Worst Band In The World," which takes said band looking at itself from outside the fishbowl and unable to believe that they've conned the world into buying "a little piece of plastic with a whole." Or the faux reggae on "Hotel" that serves up an All-American Menu filled with "all American Men." Or the terrorist arms dealer at the end of the album during "Oh Effendi," who suddenly finds himself on the run when the goodies run out. As "Sheet Music" plays on, it's hard to decipher when the band is playing it straight or jamming their tongue into the collective cheek.

That's what makes 10cc so hard to pigeonhole here. Just when you start to tire of the jokes, you get struck by the beautiful "Old Wild Men" or the plane's-eye-view of an upcoming crash on "Clockwork Creep." (Which eventually grew up to become "I'm Mandy Fly Me" on "How Dare You.") Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme were still working as a unit (they would ultimately break into factions of Stewart/Gouldman and Godley/Creme), and they were willing to leave no stone unturned when it came to pop styles. "Sheet Music" may not be 10cc's best album, but it is far and away their most adventurous.

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Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Clockwork Creep" 10cc

A True Original
5 Out Of 5 Stars

10cc, prior to "The Original Soundtrack," were something of a novelty act. They came up with arty songs with humorous twists, like "Donna," "The Dean and I," and (their biggest US single before this album) "Rubber Bullets." The album before "Soundtrack," "Sheet Music," hinted that the band had some great things potentially in store with songs like "Clockwork Creep" and "Old Wild Men." It was also beginning to show that Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme were becoming formidable songwriters.

"The Original Soundtrack" blew all their previous efforts out of the water. Opening with a cinematic suite titled "Une Nuit In Paris," it was eight minutes of mini-opera complete with Gendarmes and ladies of the evening. It took all the smart-arse confections of the past and turned it into artiness, a couple years before Queen would do roughly the same thing with "Bohemian Rhapsody." Then came knockout punch number two, "I'm Not In Love." Richly multi-tracked vocals buoy the lamenting singer's defense of a break-up, all while being utterly unconvincing about his non-nonchalance. It was simple but extremely effective, and hit number 2 on the US Pop Charts.

Nothing else here matches the brilliance of those opening tracks, but 10cc sure did try. The satirical quirks return on "Blackmail" and "Life is a Minestrone," while "The Film of My Love" ended the album with another nod to the cinema. The topical "Second Sitting For The Last Supper" is notable for its questioning of religion ("2,000 years and he ain't come yet, we've kept his seat warm and a table set...") These were salad days for 10cc, as the band worked in two halves. Gouldman and Stewart were more conventional, Godley and Creme the artier. While it all worked on this album and the follow-up ("How Dare You"), upcoming frictions would make 10cc's albums lesser efforts. "The Original Soundtrack" was the highpoint.

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Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "I'm Not In Love" 10cc

Barenaked Reissue
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Ten years after their first "Greatest Hits" CD, Barenaked Ladies release another one. The difference is minimal; the 14 songs here replicate nice of the original's track list, which contained 19 songs. Only four songs are new to the line-up, and only one, the TV Theme to "Big Bang Theory" is previously unreleased. That leaves an awful lot of material to quibble over, and the fact that "Maybe You Should Drive" is totally ignored as an album and their earliest hit, "Be My Yoko Ono" is left off are serious miscalculations. The packaging is also barenaked. No liner notes, album listings, significant art, nada. Just a folding paper-sleeve with a torn-up collage of album artwork, track listing and writer/publisher credits. Pretty skimpy.

That said, BNL have always been masterful popcrafters. Their melodic chops, tight harmonies and whimsical sense of humor always made them stand out, even if "One Week" became such an annoying presence on the radio that you wanted to slap 'em. Both Steven Page or Ed Robertson could have carried any band as singular songwriters, together they turned out clever song after clever song without falling into the trap of self-parody. The pop conventions would reference other genres (the backwards guitar in "Pinch Me," the pseudo rap of "One Week") while maintaining the band's identity. There are few bands in the past couple of decades to blend their influences so ingeniously, at their best, frankly, BNL rivaled 10cc or XTC. Maybe a bit less whimsical than XTC or as arty as 10cc, Barenaked Ladies managed to create a run of singles that most pop bands would sell their passports for. "Hits From Yesterday & The Day Before" pretty much shortchanges the group, but BNL still is a worthy listen.