When I formed UK Records in 1972, one of the first people I called was
ERIC STEWART. He was an old friend from the MINDBENDER days in the sixties.
(It's not generally known that before I had as a singer in 1965 with
'Everyone's Gone to the Moon' - I tried to persuade WAYNE FONTANA and the
MINDBENDERS to let me manage them.
Quite rightly they laughed at this pretentious schoolboy, but we remained
friends.) I'd loved this strange production on NEANDERTHAL MAN by HOTLEGS.
"Send me a hit," I begged him. He dispatched a tape that dozens of other
labels had turned down but he thought it was a smash. So did I. That track was
DONNA. I signed it on the spot - but the band had no name. Well, I'd thought up
GENESIS years before, so that wasn't too hard. I went to sleep that night and
dreamed that my label had a band at No.1 on the US singles and album chart. The
group was called 10cc. Next morning I phoned and told them their name. They were
co-operative lads who knew I was unbalanced, so they agreed.
We turned DONNA into a huge smash in September '72. Little 10cc went on
to have lots of hits, then split up and had more hits in ones and twos -
and became prize winning video makers. But the early days of these four major
talents were such fun, and these tracks capture the enthusiasm of youth, the
magical excitement of budding artistes. Plus, for me - the best thing they
ever did - summing up the delusions of a wonderful industry, the ambitions of
hope, the disillusions that came with success.
THE WORST BAND IN THE WORLD was at the time - without a shadow of a doubt -
by THE BEST BAND IN THE WORLD.
What they were before and what they became later are neither here nor there.
In 1974, I didn't just think - I KNEW I'd heard a masterpiece, a work of genius.
As sure as Van Gogh's Sunflowers or Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling - this track is
to music what Picasso was to painting.
We've compiled an album of some of their finest and most progressive tracks.
There are several huge hit songs contained herein. Enjoy them.
Jonathan King
