SHEET MUSIC

This is hardly prog, but it may just be 10cc's most endearing record. There's not a weak track to be found; the whole album overflows with delightful melodies and vocal arrangements. As with many of 10cc's albums, you could criticise it for some of its non-politically correct lyrics. 'Well there's a big black Mama in a tree / She's gonna cook us / She's gonna call up the rest of the tribe' run some of the lines of 'Hotel'. Shall we simply suppose that such lines were somehow less offensive back in 1974?

I suggest we do not take this question too seriously; SHEET MUSIC is catchy theatrical rock as pure entertainment. It contains some of the band's most effective 'heavy' numbers (most notably 'The Wall Street Shuffle') and some of their sharpest satires (such as 'The Worst Band in the World' and 'Oh Effendi'). Above all, it features a couple of songs which are comic in spirit but, at times, deeply moving; this has a lot to do with 10cc's gift for writing beautiful sentimental melodies. Anyone who has heard 'Old Wild Men' ('Where are my boys? / They're in deepest water. / Where are they now?') and 'Somewhere in Hollywood' ('I had a part in the talkies / when you were a little girl') will understand what I mean. Just let it flow and... enjoy!