This is no ordinary Collection you hold in your hand. What we find so
cunningly concealed in these covers is no more and no less than the first
two albums by 10cc - a treat for pop lovers everywhere.
Emerging from Manchester in 1972, the band had already tasted chart success
two years earlier - three quarters of the lineup (7.5cc) had already charted
as Hotlegs with 'Neanderthal Man'. Theirs was a cosmopolitan mixture, to be
sure: bassist Graham Gouldman (the non-Hotleg of the quartet) wrote hits for
The Hollies and others, while Eric Stewart played lead guitar for the Mindbenders.
Kevin Godley and guitarist/pianist Lol Creme came from art school via local
group the Sabres. Four instrumentalists who sang like birds... no wonder
Jonathan King snapped them up. The new Beatles? No, the one and only 10cc!
The first ten tracks tell the story of 1973's 10cc album, a record so full
of imagination they ran out when it came to the title... The Godley/Creme
writing partnership is already much in evidence - and if you enjoyed their
later hits like 'Wedding Bells' and 'Cry' then you're bound to like these,
even given 'Donna's' obvious debt to the Beatles' 'Oh Darling'. It was a Top
Ten hit, as was 'The Dean And I' and their first chart-topper, 'Rubber Bullets'.
Gouldman and Stewart piled in on the rockers like 'Headline Hustler' and
'Ships...' with its infectious slide guitar hook. Godley - today, like Lol
Creme, a video director, but in his time the best singing drummer around
(give or take Levon Helm and Don Henley, anyhow) - gave us his all on
'Fresh Air For My Mama'. It was much too good to stay an album track.
But there were so many others...
The first single to be released from 1974's Sheet Music is where
10cc made their first real mistake: 'The Worst Band In The World' just
curled up and died. The best collection of music business in-jokes bar
the Raspberries' 'Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)', it suffered the same
chart rejection.
But 10cc didn't make the same mistake twice. 'Wall Street Shuffle' and
'Silly Love' may be the obvious side of 10cc, but they were still several
cuts above the usual Seventies hit fodder, much of which was aquired
credibility only with time. Not this - this was 24-carat stuff from the outset.
10cc made two more albums together before Godley and Creme split from
Gouldman and Stewart in 1976. The former took the offbeat sense of humour,
the latter the pop melodies and the name. A clean divorce, but distressing
for those who value intelligent, well crafted pop music with a heart and a
sense of humour. The chart needed them then... and boy could it do with them now!
Back in 1973, famed DJ John Peel said "I'd love to hear a 10cc album".
Now here's two for the price of one, Peelie... and they're still masterpieces!
Michael Heatley, Editor, History of Rock
