Is 10cc a good band?

They're one of those bands that really surprised me when I heard their actual albums. I always thought "I'm Not in Love" was okay, but it really isn't a good representation of the rest of their work. I really like 'em.

 

An excellent pop/rock band. As said above, they were very Beatles/McCartney influenced. Very cleverly done. I don't own anything by them but I enjoyed a lot of their singles in the 70s. I saw them supporting the Stones at Knebworth 76 and they had everyone on their feet for the guitar frenzied "Rubber Bullets" finale.

 

Perfect band for 5.1 surround, hint hint.

 

Graham Gouldman of 10cc is a treasured songwriter who wrote major songs such as 'For Your Love' for The Yardbirds and 'Bus Stop' for The Hollies.

 

Clever band , sometimes can come across a bit smug but all in all a good band. BTW I own their 70s albums.

 

Must admit I'm glad I liked them before I'm Not In Love. As you say, not really representative, apart from the clever lyrics. The song itself sends me to sleep, but the five albums I have are generally great.

 

I saw them in 1975 and they were the first band to sound as good live as on record. When they played I´m not in love the concert hall felt like a large cathedral. I still often play their first four lp:s.

 

Not helped that classic radio stations play it incessantly while ignoring the rest of their catalogue so the uninitiated only have "I'm not in love" as a basis

 

Same over here. If you're incredibly lucky you might hear Rubber Bullets. But if you're waiting for Donna or I'm Mandy Fly Me - forget it!

 

I was once looking up at fluffy white clouds in the sky while "I'm Not In Love" was playing on the radio, specifically the latter section of the song where they're doing all the layered "aaaaaaahhhhhs" (that were overdubbed 200 times, IIRC?), and the song was perfect for that visual. (No, I wasn't under the influence of anything but the song )

 

I am just beginning to dig a little deeper into 10cc, and my initial feelings are that I really do not like really any of the early, largely oldie-parody tracks they started out with. When they hit "Wall Street Shuffle", "Good Morning Judge" and the faux-reggae stuff, that's when my ears perk up. And I LOVE 10 Out Of 10.

 

The original band were good live and made some good singles. I never liked them enough to buy an album though!

Graham Gouldman is still touring as 10CC (should be 2.5CC I think!)

 

I like them. Check themout.

 

I'd recommend "The Original Soundtrack", "Deceptive Bends", and "Bloody Tourist" in particular, though "Sheet Music" and "How Dare You" are also worth checking out. There's a song on "The Original Soundtrack" called "One Night In Paris" that has been suggested as having been a big influence on Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".

 

No. They were a great band. The later post-G&C version of the band is a mixed bag for me, but the first 5 or 6 albums: great!

The greatness (imho) is a little subtle on their debut, but was on full display on Sheet Music. They had the reputation for using more tape in the studio than any other band at the time, and it shows on The Original Soundtrack. But my true introduction to their albums (heard Wall Street Shuffle & of course I'm Not In Love on the radio were I lived) was my first purchase: How Dare You! Though the recording of it still sounds strangely muffled to my aging ears, I still think it is a truly sublime listening experience.

Played Deceptive Bends pretty incessantly (as well as Live and Let Live), but felt that Bloody Tourists fell a notch or two in some quality -- recording, songwriting, SOMETHING -- I still don't know what it was. I bought but never really connected with Look! Hear? -- again there was a quality in the recording or songwriting or both (or something else) that failed to grab my ears even close to the way Deceptive Bends had. I did like Ten Out of 10 significantly more, and bought (but failed to give much listen to) Windows in the Jungle. I've never owned nor heard ...Meanwhile, so I don't know what I've missed there.

I stuck with Godley & Creme from Consequences through Freeze Frame, as well as History Mix Vol. 1 and Goodbye Blue Sky. In the end (imho), neither G&C nor post-G&C 10cc could equal the quality of writing, performing and recording of those first four 10cc LPs.

Kinda like Genesis and Gabriel/Hackett -- the totality is far, far better than the sum of its parts!

 

Do you mean well behaved or.......?

 

no, not a good band at all, an extremely underrated great, phenomenal band, in every incarnation too.

 

there are 4 10CC's:

1 - stewart gouldman godley creme

2 - stewart gouldman and andrew gold - and a great cast of players

3 - stewart, gouldman and a great cast of players

4 - gouldman and his present band.

and then there is:

godley/creme

wax

gouldman solo

stewart solo

 

L is especially worth trying, a touch of Zappa in the arrangements and those amazingly personal lyrics make for a very memorable album....and don't forget the triple album insanity of Consequences, the everyday story of divorce at the end of the world...quite bonkers. When Godley and Creme left 10cc, a lot of the experimental edge left with them, sadly...

 

They were a GREAT pop band--extremely clever, bursting with good ideas, and with good singers.

I still prefer the first two albums (10cc, Sheet Music). These are the closest to straight ahead pop. But they're very very very imaginative pop music, Someone mentioned progressive. It's not. But it's assuredly accessible art pop.

The next two albums (The Original Soundtrack, How Dare You) move towards longer songs, and while these albums are also chock full of interesting ideas, there's a little bit of flab on the bones. (Incidentally, I am one of the few who isn't totally enamored of I'm Not in Love). Then you move to the half band releases that remain in the same style: Deceptive Bends and Bloody Tourists. These aren't as good as what came before on the whole, although they assuredly have their moments and are worthwhile. (And the Beatle-esque Feel the Benefit is long form brilliance). After that, starting with Look Hear, they weren't the same...

 

I drive past Strawberry Studios most days, which is just offices now, retaining the famous name and with a blue plaque...all the magic that happened in that place, gives me the shivers!

...and don't forget the really rather good live album, Live and let Live, just post the split but with an excellent new band....rick fenn is still with them now, isn't he?

 

Man, that original lineup! When I first discovered 10cc (many years after the fact), I thought I had stumbled upon the Second Coming of the Beatles. Those first four albums are pure gold, with all four members equally talented and vital to the group's chemistry (unlike the Beatles, the drummer is even a major creative force). I have calmed down (a bit) about 10cc since then, but I still think they are the best kept secret of post-Beatles pop. It really trails off for me after the first four albums though: they had this bizarro edge to them thanks to Godley and Creme that is impossible to recapture once they leave. There are still some nice songs after that however, particularly on Deceptive Bends. Forget the "official" live LP though... check out the King Biscuit Flower Hour recording of the original lineup (the full, extended concert is available in Concert Vault) and it's the Beatles and Monty Python all wrapped up in one package... amazing! And most amazingly, these four men broke up in 1976, all are still alive and well nearly 40 years later, yet a full fledged reunion is likely to never happen, another unique characteristic that they share with the Fabs.

 

This lineup only existed very briefly in the studio....though Gouldman and Gold hit it off enough to form Wax together.

There's a very good DVD of Gouldman's lineup, with Kevin Godley guesting Also the drummer is Paul Burgess, who toured with the original lineup (and did most of the heavy lifting onstage).

 

I also want to say... the album Consequences by Godley and Creme was as much a sequel to How Dare You! as Deceptive Bends was... Well, it's a bloated mess, but if you wade through the excess there are some great "could have been 10cc" songs in there: Lost Weekend (w Sarah Vaughan!), Cool, Cool, Cool in the Morning, Honolulu Lulu, etc plus lots of wacky instrumentals. After that Godley and Creme took their songwriting in quite a different direction for a while, although it was still interesting.

 

Thanks for all of the responses! I may check out Godley & Creme as well due to some of the suggestions of their album "L"

I also heard that their debut album after leaving 10cc was a messy, bland concept triple-album. Is this true? Skip that one?

Scratch that, someone just posted about it lol. I'd like to hear some more opinions about it though.