10CC : they really *were* that good weren't they ?

So, maybe this is common knowledge, but it never occured to me before today that pretty much the entire (great) first side of 10cc's first self-titled album from 1973 is done as ironic but loving nostalgia for high school life in the '50s and early '60s, with music to match. "The Dean And I" is probably my favorite track on that side, but I swear I could imagine the Dictators doing "Sand In My Face" (only they'd do it a lot louder, of course.) Second side isn't as good but does include the album's (and probably the band's) best song in "Rubber Bullets," definitely the funniest fusion of rockabilly and proto-Eurodisco ever.

Also just noticed that they didn't chart in the States until Sheet Music in 1974 (which got to #81; debut didn't even hit #200.)

I did pull out and listen to "Rubber Bullets" like 4 times in a row after my post immediately above xhuxk's.

except I don't have the first album, I have it on this:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/102/271548150_cdd96c3906_m.jpg

The first album is great, but a bit too tongue-in-cheek for its own good maybe. Their golden age for me remains 1974-76 - all those three albums were absolutely awesome.
Then, they parted into two, and even though still making great music, the split was a disadvantage for both parts. Goldman and Stewart lost the creative x-factor and that the two others provided, whereas Godley & Creme were often just too weird, and didn't quite match Stewart and Goldman when it came to writing great pop songs.

My 100cc LP looks different than the one Stormy posted -- actually says 100cc Greatest Hits Of 10cc, released in 1975 on UK Records, but apparently only draws "hits" from their first two albums (making it one of the fastest best-ofs in history probably), since I guess they'd switched labels to Mercury, at least in the States. (My copy's a Brit import, which might explain the different cover.) Anyway, B-side is six useless outtakes -- what sounds like a back-to-the-land Neil Young tribute or parody ("Waterfall"), a quasi Clapton blues rock hack thing ("4% of Something"), some forgettable elevator music instros and a couple maybe goofier songs that aren't particularly catchy. Any reason I should keep hanging on to this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qXm4nzyev8

ok I never actually knew the dude's name was lol creme
I just thought that people thought he was funny
so when they typed his name they would just ad the word lol in front of it

LOL :D

love this thread title

"I'm Not In Love" is so frickin' uber-classic it's not even funny. Monster of a song, especially the "big boys don't cry" whispers in the middle.

I still reckon this one was their best ever moment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUhjVWA2S8Y

2 weeks ago, due to hearing Cry and wanting more of the same, i had a real urge to pick up the three albums that have been reissued by mercury on cd (original soundtrack, deceptive bends, bloody tourists, how dare you).
i used to have soundtrack on tape, and have a vague memory of loving most of it.
as yet i've not acted upon this urge.

can't believe that in the almost-8-years since starting the thread i've never put up a link to the official promo for Don't Hang Up:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2pth8_10cc-dont-hang-up_music

still unsure why it even had an official promo. anyroad it beats many of the singles into a cocked hat.

Godley and Creme's late period was strange but wonderful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hjkXxHogPc

so, late last week, i was writing some things about the Oakland General Strike and what not and googled the term 'rubber bullets,' and 10cc came up, and i listened to it and was blown away, and then my australian housemate was like, "what, you mean you didn't know 'i'm not in love,' and then i was like OOOOOOHH SHIT THIS SONG. such a great band.

Anyone else like that Ramases "Space Hymns" album they played on / produced before they were actually 10cc?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuD9tT1qmxE

o'ye, i love the sweet bejeesus outta lots of those ramases songs!

I just received word that Hotlegs, the Godley/Creme featuring band just pre-10CC that had a random American hit via "Neanderthal Man," is getting a full reissue of their 1970-71 work. A quick google search led me to this amazingly detailed post about 'em -- anyone interested should give it a full read:

http://accelerateddecrepitude.blogspot.com/2011/12/hotlegs-thinks-school-stinks.html

And as for that reissue:

https://www.burningshed.com/store/progressive/product/99/4137/

huh, i dont know 10cc beyond the ubiquity of i'm not in love, the off-putting falseness of dreadlock holiday, and the straight corn/cheeze of things we do for love, but based on that exposure, i figured the correct usa equivalent would be h&o, not steely dan. i should probly check them out then, i guess.

Yup you should.

first EVER 10CC box set coming:

http://theseconddisc.com/2012/10/03/new-box-set-spotlights-10cc-and-the-things-they-did-for-love/#more-17145

10cc come together for the first time in 36 years to explain where it went wrong
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/nov/22/10cc-tragedy-didnt-stay-together

Anyone check out the "Tenology" box set? I've just got a single disc best-of that I'm thinking of replacing, possible with the first 4 albums, possible with the box or the 3CD "Collected". Opinions?

much of it (not all of it though for some bizarre reason) is on Spotify http://open.spotify.com/album/37Iqxhq5QHYHhLn9kcAkHu

not interested really in the tenology box set.
i think just the 'classic' albums boxset thats just come out will suffice for me.
all being well, i hope to get a copy today
(hence todays need to listen to that other purveyor of high production excess ELO, and the Moody Blues)

"I'm Not in Love" is such a staggering, endlessly-replayable work of genius. I'm awe-struck every time I listen to it.

I should really get some of their albums, really really.

^^This!! Thanks for bumping this thread, I need to check out their first 4 albums!

Listening again today and the "oooh, you wait a long time for me/ooooh, you wait a long time" section is, to me, one of music's greatest moments. Sublime, now and forever.

Kind of surprised this band never quite caught on (belatedly) as a hip touchstone. Beach Boys plus Queen bubblegum plus plus Sparks plus ... soft rock? Is it all just a little too much? Can imagine a lot of bands digging them, but can't imagine many bands sounding like them, or daring to try to sound like them.

Yep

They maybe dont have the personality to latch on to? Unlike Brian Wilson, Mercury, Mael, Fagen even?

To my mind, if you like The Raspberries you should give these guys a try. But maybe that is already a small subset to start with.

I have a pathological hatred of dreadlock holiday and it's affected my ability to like anything they ever did

that tune is truly vile. that that band, of all quasi colonialists fucking around with this "exotic" rhythm, made the worst british white guy reggae record is peculiar, although I despise "I shot the sheriff" more out of it being shoved down your throat for 40 years and…y'know…clapton.

I urge you and anyone else to fuck with the first five records, of which the last is just Stewart and Gouldman. Never had the inclination to go further…but yeah, steely Dan is probably an apt comparison…

There's a vein of "Let's laugh at other cultures" running through their work that is very 70's Britain and fairly unpleasant... great band though!

Check out "Don't hang up" from "How Dare You", it's 10cc in a nutshell, there's great music and poignancy in places, but a whole chunk of comedy wackiness spread on the top like too much nutella.

Interesting. The more I listen, the more I hear Steely Dan, sure, and I guess Randy Newman, at least in spirit (both of them). But they sort of lack the grasp of irony that Randy Newman mastered, and are more on the nose than Steely Dan, which can teeter toward the ... smug? Lots to enjoy, though.

http://www.mdmarchive.co.uk/gfx/400-6772.jpg

feel like the tagline/pun would make more sense with a photo of Creme holding a pint of Boddingtons- did they ask Lol Creme, but he turned then down? did they think that Godley was more recognisable? or is it meant to work as a visual pun (Godley and 'Cream')?

I mean Creme is the Creme of Manchester but Godley would be the Godley of Manchester, surely?

probably spent 7 hrs trying to bash out a pun on 10cc, then thought fuck it, creme of manchester, job's a good un

I went on a big Graham Gouldman kick recently, finding his various songwriting credits for Herman's Hermits etc. The 10CC wiki entry on their various studio projects, like recording "Sausalito," credited to The Ohio Express, is really interesting.

In which case, don't forget "Man from Nazareth" by John Paul Jonas

(or "Jones" )

Not Jonas, Joans!

Damn spelling corrector.

had totally forgotten about this one song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1isRH9E9WAE

kinda catchy, kinda terrible, i didn't mind hearing it again though

true sound of home counties local radio, it's the '87 model fleet car sledgehammer

they have some good stuff and "i'm not in love" is one of the greatest recordings ever yep

yeah that Wax is better than most of the late-period 10CC

and not forgetting..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIRJYTTeAWk

"I'm Not in Love" is such a staggering, endlessly-replayable work of genius. I'm awe-struck every time I listen to it.

yes. this.

as indicated earlier, i picked up the classic album boxset, and, it's bloody brilliant.

this is excellent

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06r14pr/im-not-in-love-the-story-of-10cc