Head Room: The lyrics of this one speak for themselves. I’m okay with them, silly and juvenile as they are. But I do kinda get ready to cringe if it’s on with anyone else around. I do like the country chorus. This is one laidback tune, with a nice slow bounce to the verses. I can’t say it’s my least favorite song on the album. That chorus just has too much jaunt to it. The easy, silly nature of this one does provide a nice contrast to following number.
Don't Hang Up Remarkably this is also a Godley and Creme track, and this has a beauty that we won't see much more of until the later solo releases from them. This track works really well in context with the album. I wonder sometimes if Godley was a little self conscious about how sweet his vocals are, being the hardcore art guy, and beauty often only is appreciated in the abstract in the art world. Anyhow, this arrangement is great. It is certainly not boring, in spite of the gentle beauty that is being sold here. I am guessing this is the song they said was about a divorce. The story is put across very well, and the lyrics have somewhat of a sad sarcasm to them. I'm doing really well I'm as happy as a lark I got a new apartment It's as safe as Central Park And if they ever mug me When I'm walking in the dark Will you know. So anyway, this is Godley and Creme, so you know a big change is coming. and here it is .... At 2:51 we move into the G&C cabaret show. During this section we have some reflection from an I know how we got here sort of perspective. This section is a bouncing melange on the vocals. The backing is predominantly keyboards, and very effective. We eventually move back into a more somber delivery. The reminiscing is over and the reality has sunk in. The singer returns to the premise of "Don't Hang Up", keep talking to me ... but we are interrupted by the dial tone, and it's all over. This is an extremely successful Godley and Creme track. It captures the feeling that the lyrics are trying to project, and yet still has room for the guys natural penchant for goofing around, even though there is still a melancholy during that goofing around.
Get It While You Can This was the b-side to Art For Art's Sake. It is another very good Stewart/Gouldman song. I really like the arrangement and instrumentation and it works really well. This is a moderate tempo track, that is written with a very strong melody. It almost has a country feel in places. I can see why it missed out on the album, because it is hard to know where it would fit, but even so, I do like the song.
This album really is my favourite 10cc album. For me, even in spite of its somewhat strange construct of songs, I think it flows beautifully. There really isn't a song on here that I don't like. This revison of the album has actually raised it in my eyes, because the last three songs had always somewhat passed me by. Not because they aren't good, but because the first two thirds of the album, had always just grabbed me so much, that they seemed a little "yea, that's not bad". But examining them like this has really shown me how good these three songs actually are. Great album.
Don't Hang Up is a great song and a great way to end the album. Before I said I wanted How Dare You to be the final track since it's an instrumental, but this one really fits the bill much better as the last song. The vocals during that middle section are incredible and the arrangement is really tricky. Another wonderful fuzz guitar solo/duo gives the cha-cha break lots of interest. As a whole, this track really does play out like a mini-movie which makes me wonder if it would have fit better on TOS, but regardless, I'm glad they released it because it's an excellent work of art.
I like Get It While You Can but yeah, I can see why it was left off the album and put on a b-side. But to say a song this good should be a b-side only proves what an excellent bunch of writers, players and artists these guys were.
Don't Hang Up The perfect album closer for an album visualized by people connected through phones. End of a great album and soon original lineup. Their breakthrough hit featured Donna waiting by the telephone. The track has a few classic phrases: - Even the trash man he say: you got a dustbin romance, it's going down the drain - When the barman said "What you're drinking?" I said marriage on the rocks. If Eric laid down some perfect lead vocals on I'm Not In Love then surely this is Kevin's finest hour. Song starts with piano, harp and his angelic voice, telling the pair's story and him eventually walking down the aisle the other way. Halfway there's the change to the Leave Me Alone verse which moves the song to the wonderful break with the handclaps, castanets, harp and lead guitars. And then it's back to the sad beginning. If you've never seen the Don't Hang Up music video ... it's a must see. Not on YouTube, but this Japanese (?) video site has it, after two ads 10cc starts Don't Hang Up music video Camera work is a bit poor in the first half, but the handclaps part is excellent, great fun. Hard to imagine they would soon say kr kr ......................
Love Don't Hang Up! I never noticed until just now how similar in structure it is to I'm Mandy Fly Me. In both cases the main verse is repeated twice, then it goes off into several movements before returning to the final verse. But as preparation for that there is a standalone section coming late in the song, repeated twice then never re-appearing. Compare 'I saw her walking on the water...' and 'Suprise, surprise...'. No idea how significant that is, but it is pretty unusual. Also, as Kev himself has pointed out, the phone themes (and 'samples') bookend the original line-up. Donna thru Don't Hang Up. (Sorry - someone beat me to it!) For anyone who is interested our podcast, wanted to let you know that Sean and I are leaving Consequences for a while (we will return to it!) and are going 'mainstream'. We're recording episodes on 10cc and Sheet Music next Monday. They'll be out in a couple of weeks and they'll join the episodes on Consequences at... Godley & Creme's Consequences
Works fine here. But here's another link to MTV Italy (?), but this one only works in Chrome (and starts after some unrelated clip) Alternate music video location for Chrome
Don't Hang Up - beautiful song! Great ending of a great album! Get It While You Can - typical b-side, nothing special although not bad (this also sounds best on "Tenology").
Will check on computor, could be a mobile device thingy edit/ yep, as I thought works fine on comp corny video for sure
Get It While You Can Obviously a leftover, nothing special musically. Lyrics are meaningless, though one line got a second life later: So why be the one Who's out in the cold How Dare You is my most played 10cc album even though that was in the audio cassette years (70's). As an album it works really well. The Original Soundtrack scores second place as an album, but I like individual tracks more than most on How Dare You. Sheet Music comes really close after that but has some really great gems. The debut has its moments but will lose to Deceptive Bends > need to locate that in a storage box now.
That's well spotted, I've also noticed that. And these are also my two favourite tracks from the album, which absolutely finishes with a bang. As long as you consider the hang-up tone a "bang"... "Don't Hang Up" is great in almost every way. It takes a very deep melancholy feeling and mitigates it with some silly humour - the video was also fun! - so the maudlin emotions never get to dominate the picture too fully. As I think I mentioned, the album "How Dare You" was the first one I heard from 10cc, and the only problem with it is that there's not really anything similar to these two fantastic songs on the earlier albums. There's melancholy material, there's humoristic stuff, and often well-combined in the same track, but we never really got those kinds of mini-operas within one single track. I suppose "Une Nuit" should be mentioned here as a track with those same tendencies - and I think that is also a reason why I was so disappointed by that track, because seeing as it too had a quirky structure where it went left-field at times, it just never managed to grab me with a great melody like "Mandy" and "Don't Hang Up". As for "Get It While You Can", it's another fine B-side that I personally would have appreciated on the album instead of one of the first two tracks. A more straightforward track than most 10cc songs, but at least to me, more memorable than say "Lazy Ways".
Don't Hang Up is my favorite 10cc track. It was the last in the line of Kevin's "melodramatic" songs that were a staple of the original lineup. The series kind of continues on in Consequences with Lost Weekend, and then after Consequences' poor reception, as mentioned earlier, G&C seem to mostly abandon aesthetic beauty as a songwriting aim for a while, until later on. Melodically, the sections are all compositionally and instrumentally engaging despite the complex shifts of tone; these shifts coincide perfectly with the contrasting memories and moods flashing through the mind of the protagonist as he is contemplating the imminent end of a relationship. The lyrics are balanced perfectly between sentiment and wit; G&C seem to mostly going for a straight ahead sincerity here (albeit with a wink), again an approach that will continue into the next album and then disappear for a time. It wasn't necessarily planned to be the final track of the original 10cc lineup, but as others have said, it works perfectly as a mournful yet evocative bookend to Donna and this phase of their career. What a run, though! Those four albums are a legacy worth celebrating. I agree that it's a shame that they aren't more heralded, but it's a bit tricky being a thinking person's pop band (seemingly a contradiction in terms for a lot of people). Their loss!!!
Don’t Hang Up: A glorious closer. Another cinematic mini masterpiece from G&C, and probably my favorite. Despite the humor injected into the lyrics, Kevin’s sorrowful vocal carry legitimate sadness. The chorus really conveys desperation with its rising notes. The break is fantastic, with the vocal lines and the clapping, as well as that western melodic ending which I want to repeat but the fact that it doesn’t keeps me going back. I never noticed/thought/heard about the phone bookends, but I like that. The video is really great as well. They are having so much fun during the clapping part, especially Lol and Eric. Crazy thinking what was about to happen. I can usually only watch when connected to WiFi if that helps, but it seems every region is different.
When mentioning the phrases in this song, don’t forget about the Dumb Waiters Mass-Debating his Woman.
Don't Hang Up A great melancholic closer for the album. Then it goes into the cabaret middle bit, and the cha cha guitar riffage, goes a bit West End/Broadway; before returning to the sombre melancholic part albeit with a more continental feel, before ending with the quite literal phone hang up. Such a great pity Godley & Creme did not take their own advice with regards the band. 4.5/5
Get It While You Can I really like this. Sure it is a bit summer's evening Gallagher & Lyle backed by Wings sounding, but there is nothing wrong with this. I love the fluid warm guitar sound on this track. 4.0/5
