•
Rating: 10cc is an English art-pop-rock band that formed as a quartet in 1972, reinvented itself in 1976 as a duo + other accompanying musicians, and essentially dispersed in 1983, although there were occasional, sporadic revivals. Their golden period, both commercially and creatively, is between the release of their third studio album "The Original Soundtrack" (1975) and the sixth, "Bloody Tourists"(1978).
In the middle, right after this fourth career album dated 1976, the fateful split is set between the more "song-oriented" half of the group, represented by bassist Graham Gouldman and lead guitarist Eric Stewart, and the other half more dedicated to experimentation and avant-garde, made up of guitarist and keyboardist Lol Creme and drummer Kevin Godley.
"How Dare You!" is the album where the band delves into strangeness and extravagance with more conviction, with special effects and studio alchemies, highlighting the genius and creative vision of the Creme/Godley duo, whose tendency towards multimedia and tout court art will be better realized in their later, celebrated, and influential career as video-makers.
This does not preclude a light yet skillful pop taste, inevitably Beatles-like (it's no coincidence that Stewart would later collaborate on some works with his idol McCartney), which is abundantly present even in this extravagant album, giving accessibility and lightness to much of the music. In short, 10cc, in its original and "classic" formation, worked fully on two levels: the light and accessible and the more noble and peculiar, definable as surreal, ironic, Dadaist, transgressive (but without overdoing it, with a very British composure).
An instrumental episode opens and titles ("How Dare You") the album, full of percussion and electronic sounds, a creativity exercise for the gifted Godley with a helping hand from his friend (since childhood) Creme on synthesizers. They are credited as authors, but at one point Stewart sneaks in with an unexpected hard rock guitar solo that showcases all his skill.
"Lazy Ways" is sung (lazily, as the title implies) by Stewart and doesn’t deserve particular praise, yet it shows the great quality and care in the arrangements, both light and complex at the same time, one of the group's most remarkable features.
"I Wanna Rule The World" mocks human delusions of grandiosity and is a true triumph of deep and high-pitched voices, achieved by respectively speeding up and slowing down the tapes during recording, over a continuously changing rhythm that culminates in a roaring, delirious speech: very close to Frank Zappa’s most irreverent things, albeit not as fierce. Creme is the author and main singer.
"I’m Mandy Fly Me" is inspired by an airline commercial. Released at its time as a single, it is structured as a five-minute mini-suite, full of melodic appeal yet with complete changes of rhythm and atmosphere. Listening to its first thirty seconds, before Stewart's relaxed and sunny singing arrives, you can understand several things about Radiohead’s "Ok Computer" period.
In "Iceberg" the band dives into a lavishly jazzy vocal arrangement, in the manner of Manhattan Transfer, sending the four voices up and down a wide tonal range while the rhythm section, as always, doesn't rest for a moment. Yet the standout timbre is Gouldman's.
"Art for Art’s Sake" is my favorite: a rock much more compact than the rest of the album, enhanced by a great guitar riff and an irresistible chorus. The usual Zappa-like inserts with crazy tapes and the masterful "cinematic" use of synthesizers complete the piece. Stewart shines in singing as well as with a nasally, but pointed guitar solo. It is one of those tracks consistently featured in their concert setlists.
"Rock’n’Roll Lullaby" showcases the special voice of Kevin Godley, a timbre from another era, rococo and with something of an old 78 rpm record, the ones played on gramophones. "Headroom" is another strongly "descriptive" pastiche, once again very jazzy in its rhythmic and swirling singing, primarily the domain of its main author Lol Creme.
Grand finale with "Don’t Hang Up", the career masterpiece of drummer Kevin Godley. The best voice of this quartet (or at least the most surprising, with its retro flourishes and its sharp sweetness) here creates a small, authentic Musical. The story is about a He who calls a She (the ring of an old British phone opens the piece), he bores her with all his love and his concerns as she doesn't consider him, describes dreams and desires to share with her, pleads her "Don’t Hang Up"...
But in the end she hangs up!... and the track ends with the characteristic interrupted line sound of the British telephone company: irony and romance at an ultimate level in this delightful song/picture, a true movie little over six minutes long, with images left to the listener's imagination. The entire peculiarity of 10cc is well represented in this final passage of this terminal album of their most imaginative and histrionic period. Successful and well-executed works will follow, but almost entirely lightweight pop, albeit occasionally ironic and mischievous and experimental. The band will settle into a classy easy-listening yet increasingly less effective, "daring" less and less, the opposite of this substantial album.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Lazy Ways (04:19)
Hazy Days
With Lazy Ways
You got less done but more
Out of your days
How can you work yet avoid
Getting out of your lazy ways
You'll never get up if you don't get up
You'll always stay down if you sit around
You'll never get up if you don't get up
You'll always stay down if you sit around
Hazy Days, Lazy Ways
We got less done but more
Out of our days
How can we ever recapture the feeling
Of lazy ways
You'll never get up if you don't get up
You'll always stay down if you sit around
Where nobody cares and nobody tries
'Cos a daydreams resting on the back of your eyes
On the back of your eyes
Taking five
Bring love to me with your body
Let me hold you endless, endlessly
You'll never get up if you don't get up
You'll always stay down if you sit around
Where nobody cares and nobody tries
'Cos a daydreams resting on the back of your eyes
On the back of your eyes
Hazy days, Lazy ways
You get less done but more
Out of your days
Crazy days, Lazy ways
04 I'm Mandy Fly Me (05:22)
Just like a rolling stone
I'm outside looking in
But if your chance came would you take it
Where on earth do I begin
I'm Mandy fly me ...
I've often heard her jingle
It's never struck a chord
With a smile as bright as sunshine
She called me through the poster
And welcomed me aboard
She led me she fed me
She read me like a book
But I'm hiding in the small print
Won't you take another look
And take me away
Try me Mandy fly me away
The world was spinning like a ball
And then it wasn't there at all
And as my heart began to fall
I saw her walking on the water
As the sharks were coming for me
I felt Mandy pull me up give me the kiss of life
Just like the girl in Dr. No No No No
Ah when they pulled me from the wreckage
And her body couldn't be found
Was it in my mind it seems
I had a crazy dream
I told them so but they said no no no no
I found me on a street
And starin' at a wall
If it hadn't have been for Mandy
Her promise up above me
Well I wouldn't be here at all
So if you're travellin' in the sky
Don't be surprised if someone said Hi ...
I'm Mandy fly me
05 Iceberg (03:45)
Life is a roller coaster that we all ride
Life is a roller coaster that we all ride
Life is a roller coaster that we all ride
Iceberg, I've fallen in love with an
Iceberg, its only the tip of the
Iceberg, I've heard that it's cool
I got class, I got style
But once in a while out on the town, I must go
You'd better wash out your zone
Watch out you stone bone headed woman
Watch out you bone headed man
Iceberg, it's freezin' over Second Avenue
There's not a thing that you can
Iceberg, it's freezin' over Second Avenue
You'd better believe there's nothin'
You can do about it
I was an orphan and I couldn't help it
I've been in and out of trouble
Ever since they left me in a basket on the freeway
It's me that's been doggin' your shadow
It's me that's been a shadowin' your dog
You got me hung up lock and stock and barrel
I'll always be behind you in the fog
So you better not annoy me
Or I'll do somethin' that I might regret
You'd better not annoy me, or I'll do
Somethin' that you won't forget in a hurry
And I might be back for some sloppy seconds
You've heard me heavy breathing on the telephone
My word they say that I'm belongin'
In a home for crazy people
But you know I don't belong there
I was an orphan and I couldn't help it
I'd been in and out of trouble
Ever since they left me in a basket on the freeway
Lie lie lie....
Die die die....
Hooray hooray ha ha ha
Hooray ha ha ha
Get down, get down, get down, get down
There's really not a lot that you can do
Lay down, lay down, lay down, lay down
There's really not a lot that you can do
There's really not a lot that you can do
And I might be back for sloppy seconds
Life is a roller coaster that we all ride
Life is a roller coaster that we all ride
Life is a roller coaster that we all ride
Life is a roller coaster that we all ride
07 Rock 'n' Roll Lullaby (03:59)
Listen while I sing you to sleep
With a rock 'n' roll lullaby
Close your eyes and don't you peep
This is a rock 'n' roll lullaby
Sandman's gonna get you
Snuggle down your sleepy head
It's gettin' late the Sandman said
Your dreams are waiting
It's daybreak in the land of nod
So get to sleep you little sod
Your dreams are waiting
And if you get a nightmare
Would you go and shake your Ma
Cause your Daddy's been a workin' all day
And if you go and get a glass of water by yourself
You can show us that you're older than you are
Show us that you're older
The Sandman's gonna get you
Well you're too small to understand
You're living in a wonderland
Your dreams are waitin'
If only we could be there too
And dream a dream along with you
Your dreams are waitin'
Careful that you don't get out the wrong side of the cot
Are you gonna be an angel or a devil
You're too young to reason what is right and what is wrong
Childhood dreams are gone too fast
There's no way we can make them last
We'll always love you anyway
Any way you are
Any way you are
08 Head Room (04:16)
I've never been kissed before
It's been on my list before
A flick of the wrist before would do
But when you get down to it
It's got a good sound to it
Don't meddle around with it
'Cos it's far too wit to woo
When Mummy and Daddy play
They tell me to go away
But by hanging around
I can learn all the rules
Now I've got the technique
I'm away
Develop a taste for it
A time and a place for it
Although on the face of it, it's a crime
I've nibbled the cheese of it
The birds and the bees of it
Are weak at the knees
From making honey
Every time
I'm throwing my toys away
I'm leaving the boys to play
With the boys
Gimme girls
And it's time I was breaking away
Just give me some head room
Just a little bitta head room
I need some leg room
Just a little bitta leg room
I see myself Oh Lord
I see a mess
I'm making a meal of it
I'm breaking the seal of it
I'm getting the feel of what to do
It's got a good ring to it
I'm getting a thing for it
And if there's a sting in it
I'll have met my Waterloo
My Mummy and Daddy said
You're liable to wind up dead
Oo, they've been shooting me a line
Maybe it doesn't exist at all
Oo, I've been towing the line
Now I'm hook line and sinkered
I've never been kissed before
It's been on my list before
A flick of the wrist before would do
But when you get down to it
It's got a good sound to it
Don't meddle around with it
'Cos it's far too wit to woo
I've thrown all my toys away
I'm leaving the boys to play
With the girls that you get
For a dollar a day
When you pull on their strings they say
Just give me some head room
Just a little bitta head room
I need a ball room
Up against the wall room
I need the rest Oh, Lord
I need the rest
Just give me some head room
Just a little bitta head room
Take me to your bed-room
Show a little bitta leg room
I need the rest Oh, Lord
I need the rest
Just give me some head room
Just a little bitta head room
I need some head room
Just a little bitta head room
I need the rest Oh, Lord
I need the rest
Just give me some head room
Just a little bitta head room
I need some head room
Just a little bitta head room
I need the rest Oh, Lord
I need the rest
Just give me some head room
Just a little bitta head room
I need some head room
Just a little bitta head room (Fade Out)
09 Don't Hang Up (06:16)
Hello there, how have you been
I've called a million times, but to me you're never in
I know I never had the style or dash of Errol Flynn
But I loved you
I'm doing really well, I'm as happy as a lark
I've got a new apartment, it's as safe as Central Park
And if they ever mug me when I'm walking in the dark
Would you know
Don't hang up, don't hang up
Rolled up in my camera with the big cheese up above
I stumbled from my stag night to a never ending limousine
The band went la di da di da, and I got loady do di dodied
Lousy violins began to play, and I went no no no
And as the vol-au-vents exploded
I was walking down the aisle the other way
Don't hang up, don't hang up
Don't say, Oooh
Nobody's safe in our house
Leave me alone, but, but, but, but, but, please
Leave me alone, just a mo, a minute
I'm so alone
We had some honeymoon on itchy bedding
Scum buzzing round your busy body
Dumb waiters waiting, sweating, straining
All mass-debating my woman
We got a bum Guatemala pensione
Crumbling about our ears, Ole
Even the trash man he say
You got a dustbin romance, it's going down the drain
You got a low impedance, she's got a rocky terrain
You, you got a lot to learn
You, you got a lot to learn
A lot to learn about women
You got to learn about women, women
Lots to learn about women
We've both got a lot to learn
Surprise, surprise
There's a hell of a well in your eyes
Have we won the no Nobel Prize
Has the colour run out of our dyes
Surprise, surprise
There's a hell of a well in your eyes
When the barman said “What'cha drinking?”
I said marriage on the rocks
I know I never had the style or dash of Errol Flynn
But I loved you
Don't hang up
Don't hang up
Don't say ......
Loading comments slowly
