SHEET MUSIC

One of the great albums of the 70s. It's not prog in the same way as Yes or Genesis, being rather more commercial and pop orientated, but the songs, production and musicianship are up there with the best. Undoubtedly prog and definitely art rock. 10cc always had a fixation with old cinema (in common with Bill Nelson of BeBop Deluxe), though this would emerge more on their next album, and they are masters of the piss-take, with biting wit evident on several songs. Worst Band in the World, Old Wild Men and Oh Effendi are particularly excellent send ups, the last perhaps in part due to three of the band being Jewish (Stewart is the odd one out); they could hardly resist having a go at the Arabs who trade oil for guns and forbidden pleasures. Clockwork Creep is a plane bombing seen from the bomb's point of view; sick but funny. Sacro Iliac is a mickey take of the latest dance crazes; being a committed non-dancer, I like the line "Here's what you got to do - nothing, in any tempo and any rhythm"; ie stay sat down and call it the Sacro Iliac. The other tracks are all very tongue in cheek: this is a band with a serious sense of humour. All the members contribute roughly equally to the writing, usually working in pairs (and not just Godley/Creme and Gouldman/ Stewart as they later became). Silly Love and Wall Street Shuffle were significant singles hits and gave the band a huge profile.

And the music? Well the whole band are highly talented on their main instruments, but the three front men are multi-instrumentalists who can swop the keyboard/guitar roles around freely. Creme and Stewart both play some scything lead guitar. All 4 sing lead vocals on at least one track and they are remarkably consistent in their excellence, with harmonies being a strength. The production and sound quality is exemplary; the music on my old vinyl album leaps from the speakers with realism and clarity.

Overall, I think that this pips The Original Soundtrack as their best album and I still enjoy it enormously. For consistency of material and excellent musicianship, it gets the full 5*.