Don't think I know Freeze Frame, or maybe I got it from the library at some point. Got a copy on cd recently so I'm all set. I did get the 7" which was a solid hit over here.
Finally we agree on something, except that I think Windows In The Jungle is better then Bloody Tourists.
Freeze Frame - not as good as Consequences and their peak album L, but still really good, a bit uneven though. Recommended CD-editions: Any of the original Polydor 831 555-2, for example this: Godley Creme* - Freeze Frame ... or the bonus track edition on Edsel: Godley & Creme - Freeze Frame...Plus + Ismism...Plus Ps. I haven't heard the 2018 re-issue on Polydor/Music On CD label, wasn't even aware of it.
Unlike the previous two G&C albums, Freeze Frame sounds better to me now than it did upon release. It's not my favorite of their albums (the next one is), but quite a few standout tracks. In 1979/80 there was so much else going on that I didn't always have the patience for their more bizarre excursions, but the pop songs were definitely grabbers, the first time they'd really thrown a bone to 10cc fans. In retrospect though the pop and experimental tracks fit together fairly seamlessly. And for want of a better word, there's a friendliness here that harks back to the old days. Interesting side-note: Funny how the one member of 10cc with the strongest 60s pop background (Gouldman) is the only one who's never recorded with Paul McCartney.
Here's an interesting interview with an Australian avant-garde musician, who discusses three important albums for him, one of which is Freeze Frame. The Freeze Frame section starts at 45:25.
Now we're talking! I appreciate a lot of L, but I still feel that with much of it they were being deliberately alienating and dealing with a rough patch in their professional lives. Freeze Frame strikes me as a bit of a return to form, albeit a continuation of L, not a rejection of it the way L was with Consequences. Their enthusiasm is showing again. They're just at the crux of discovering a new medium where they'll become equally successful, if not more successful than they have been with music. Exciting, heady times again for our Renaissance duo! For the time being though, music is still their primary focus. I look forward to discussing these tracks.
I like L and Freeze Frame more than Consequences, but it's hard for me to rank L and Freeze Frame. They're interchangeable in my book (both are very good). I Pity Inanimate Objects is my favorite track that G&C ever did. It's just so freakin' weird. From the subject matter to the analog auto-tune (or whatever you might call the effects they put on the vocals) it's totally unique.
I have Freeze Frame on LP and the Freeze Frame Plus CD. Haven't played either very much, to be honest (I always reach for Ismism for my G&C fix). I do recall that An Englishman In New York was a moderate hit in Oz back in the day, and seeing the video quite regularly on the telly. --Geoff
I do like Freeze Frame, but after An Englishman In New York I find the tracks a bit downbeat. And Mugshots always outstays it's welcome. My vinyl copy of the album has a plain paper inner sleeve, so I didn't realise Macca was on the album.
Alas I'm not as big a fan of Freeze Frame as most other folks here. To me it's a substantial step down from L. Of course I love some of the songs like An Englishman in New York, but side 2 is pretty much a loss for me until we get to the closer Get Well Soon. When people complain that Godley and Creme's music is "cold" or "clinical", I suspect that they have Freeze Frame particularly in mind. I got this album when it came out and my reaction hasn't changed much over the years. My favorite sounding version is the one included in the Body of Work box set.
I don’t think of L and Freeze Frame as cut from the same cloth like others. L still sounds a bit more rooted in the proggy 70s to me, Zappa influences never more on display. Freeze Frame definitely sounds more of a piece with the coming decade and new wave and synth pop acts to me. The start of G and C s reinvention as a contemporary 80s experimental pop duo breathing the same chart air as Soft Cell, Thompson Twins et al.
Backtracking a bit, love Rochdale To Ocho Rios. Top fun tune but particularly liked for Dorking references. Nice town with antique shops, home of chap who sailed on the Mayflower, birthplace of Laurence Olivier, improving football team, great Oxfam CD/bookshop, three separate railway stations, rolling hills, Strawberry Studios #2 and Eric Stewart gaff. What's not to like?
"An Englishman in New York" Single by Godley & Creme from the album Freeze Frame B-side "Silent Running" Released 1979 Genre Rock Length 5:45 Label Polydor Songwriter(s) Godley & Creme Producer(s) Godley & Creme "An Englishman in New York" is a song by Godley & Creme, from their 1979 album Freeze Frame. It is memorable for an innovative self-produced music video which involved Godley singing in front of Creme, as Creme conducted mannequins dressed up as members of a 1930s big band orchestra. Released as a single, it charted in Germany (no. 25), Australia (no. 17), the Netherlands (no. 7) and Belgium (no. 4).[1] ---------------------------------------- When i was a young pup, this song intrigued me, because it was so different to what was floating about the place, in so many ways, but by the same token it also had a feel of the contemporary music of the time. It was, and I dare say still is, a little left of centre, but close enough to the pack to pick up those that like something a little different. This song is certainly a little different. Although I love the L album, it has a certain amount of..... almost an attitude of "I dare you to listen to this". Whereas with this song, there is less of a confrontational (or seemingly so) attitude. This feels a little bit like, we are writing a little bit more straight forward song, but we are going to arrange it in a way that is very different, but not antisocial. I still enjoy the lyrical wordplay, and descriptions that the song puts across. It has a cynicism and edge that can easily be missed, with the bouncy feel and excellent and engaging musical arrangement. The version I used to hear on the radio was always the edited version that removes the "Lock up your daughters, Avon Crawling" line, and for the longest time I had assumed that Avon must have complained about the line and had it removed. I was still very young when this was released and knew nothing about the music industry or the machinations of the world. When this track came out I was 10 or 11 and I remember seeing it on the Australian music show Countdown. the video was definitely something different to what everyone else was doing, and it is not surprising that after this video the guys got a lot of calls and offers for work on video projects, which really started to take off for them and become their main thing over the next few years. The arrangement of the percussion as the main body of the instrumentation is a stroke of genius in my opinion. The horns accent the percussive nature of the music beautifully. that continual marching sound of the none tuned percussion has a momentum that to me at least is very engaging. It sounds like the song is marching, although it is likely just handclaps. Any song that starts with the line "Demented New York athletes staggering 'round the block" is going to hook me. Especially in the new push for people to jog everywhere. It became more of an obsession than an exercise routine. when I started working in the bank in 1984, it had gotten to the stage where folks would be jogging around the city on their lunch breaks, which I always found bizarre. To be jogging around the city, sucking in extra large amounts of carbonmonoxide from all the cars and buses, and the need to draw more air while pushing your body to run. seemed like the ultimate health contradiction. There are just son many wonderful pictures drawn in this song, that I could talk for hours about it. I know that some may well dismiss this song, due to it being somewhat popular, but i think it was popular in spite of what it was, not because of what it was. Great great track, that still holds up today.
An Englishman In New York I'm happy and dopey and dirty in places No mistaking where 10cc's quirkyness went after the split. And that didn't necessarily mean loss of hit potential, as this one clearly proves. Starts with a great opening line: Demented New York athletes staggering 'round the block Light bass, fast high sequencer, battalion of vibraphones, synthetic brass and bright (delay panned) vocals. Bizarre lyrics (cut up technique?) make it extra hard to decipher the song's meanings ... maybe a Big Anglophile here can help ? Great Strange Apparatus chorus with the lower register vocals. The I came, I saw bridge is another good change. Just when you think you can predict Happy to see you ... they surprise you with: Lock up your daughters (Avon crawling!) Brilliant track and single and the stylish music video only supplemented that. This German Plattenküche version is a nice variation.
I've always wondered if the video for 'An Englishman In New York' was influenced by the clockwork band seen in the 1971 (Gotta be nice to) Vincent Price film 'The Abominable Dr Phibes'. Compare and contrast:
I can certainly see how one may find it monotonous. To some degree I think that is intentional due to the subject matter. It seems based around the monotony of modern living, and the little entertainments and things that start as sidelines, and become equally as monotonous as everything else. Jogging, trinket collecting, Avon parties etc etc. The other thing is, that split in the band. Stewart and Gouldman were very much into transitional pieces (for the most part), with many sections and changes. Godley and Creme seemed to like having a base, to layer and manipulate (for the most part), which led to a lot less in the way of sectional composition. One of the many reasons why I think the whole was greater than the halves, in spite of the fact that I love what they did separately anyway.
An Englishman In New York From the very beginning, you know you are on a wild ride that's different from anything else you've experienced before. The arrangement here is amazing - lots of instruments playing tiny little parts that all come together somehow. To me, this sounds like an audible nightmare that a proper Englishman might have when first experiencing the grittiness and coldness of NYC and G&C give it their trademark weird spin on the concept. The original video is creepy enough with the robots and all, but that German clip posted by footprints above is really weird. (What's going on in the hot tub??) This may sound strange, but the thing I like best in this song are the hand claps keeping the rhythm. Why? Because they sound real, not like a drum machine. I can imagine G&C in the studio building this song layer upon layer and most likely started with the claps to create a click track and then keeping it in the mix because it sounded good. Or maybe they heard the claps in their imaginations all along when conceiving the song. This track is a great example of how these guys worked together and how their minds were in alignment.
