This live recording of 10cc was recorded in November of 1974 [sic] and features
material from the first two albums on UK Records featuring the original four man
line up. It remains the only commercially released live recording of this version
of the band and shows not only the band's exceptional songwriting skill, but its
unique ability to blend music with onstage comedy antics.
The emergence of 10cc was a long and gradual process. Though it would be 1972
before the group achieved its first worldwide success, the original four members
had all worked with and around each other since the mid 1960s.
By 1968, (when he was about to cut his first solo album for RCA), singer/songwriter/
guitarist Graham Gouldman had already become one of the most successful British pop
tunesmith, having penned Top 10 hits for The Yardbirds, Herman's Hermits, The Hollies
and The Jeff Beck Group.
Around the same time, guitarist Eric Stewart was winding up a five year stint
as a member of Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders, the seminal British pop group
that hit with songs like "Groovy Kind Of Love" and "Game Of Love".
Along with bassist[sic]/vocalist Lol Creme and drummer Kevin Godley, Stewart formed
a new pop band called Hot Legs. In 1970, the band hit the #2 spot on the UK charts
with a clever pop parody entitled "Neanderthal Man".
When they were recruited for a Moody Blues tour in June of the same year, they
invited Gouldman to join the group as a fourth member. It would be two years (and
after some of the members had started their own 16 track recording complex known as
Strawberry Studios) that the same four musicians debuted as 10cc.
(During that hiatus the four members would write, produce and play on Neil Sedaka's
comeback album, Solitaire).
In August of 1972, they released the first 10cc record, Donna, (a comic
take off on the classic 1950s Ritchie Valens ballad). It went to #2 on the UK charts.
A second single, "Rubber Bullets" would zoom up to #1 in England, and the band was
then on its way to worldwide acclaim.
The group had been re-named by young record mogul Jonathan King, who felt Hot
Legs wasn't strong enough moniker. He came up with the name after reading a magazine
article that reported the average amount of sperm ejaculated during male orgasm was
9cc. As the story goes, King decided to name the band 10cc, because he wanted them
to be "one cc better".
10cc featured great musicianship and incredibly advanced production values for the
times, but its real strength remained in the exceptional songwriting capabilities of all
four of its members.
The band drew from a variety of influences that ranged from The Beatles to The Beach
Boys to Frank Zappa. 10cc effectively blended pop with humor, and eventually, became
the darlings of the rock press.
The band continued touring and recording through May of 1974, when it released its
second album, Sheet Music. Although it failed to score a chart topping hit,
Sheet Music remains the quintessential 10cc album.
Its perky pop parodies, which included "The Worst Band In The World" and
"Wall Street Shuffle" showed 10cc at its wittiest and most sharply produced.
But it would not be until March of 1975, with the release of The Original
Soundtrack and the #1 worldwide single, "I'm Not In Love", that 10cc
became international superstars. In the meantime, it had signed with PolyGram's
Mercury Records.
Another 18 months of touring passed, and afterwards, the band split in half. In
October of 1976, Stewart and Gouldman announced they would carry on the 10cc banner,
while Creme and Godley left to develop a special instrument, to write and record
their own duo albums, and direct numerous music videos.
The band would go on for several more years, expanding its line up, changing
record labels (to Warner Brothers), and keeping a steady diet of continual touring.
Although the band prevailed, it was only the 1977 hit, "The Things We Do
For Love" that really came close to matching the huge success of "I'm Not
In Love", and the earlier pop successes.
10cc continued to record and tour through the mid 1980s. In 1985, Eric Stewart left to
write and record with Paul McCartney (on his Press To Play album), and by
then 10cc, had essentially broken up.
Bruce Pilato
[NOTE: a lengthy essay on the King Biscuit Flower Hour is included in the liner
notes, but not reproduced here]
