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Rating: With this album from 1981, the good and inspired season for this ingenious and very unique British pop formation came to an end. They started in the early '70s with a mix of progressive/eclectic trends and contemporary song stylings, then unexpectedly split into two distinct entities, on one side the "artists" Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, on the other the "popsters" Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart, the latter having the right to maintain the original name.
The late seventies and early eighties saw the duo of composers, singers, and multi-instrumentalists dealing with much less experimental songs, seemingly light but are only banal to a superficial listen. In reality, they are clever and very refined, in a style full of distinct personality and artisanal passion, often injected with "white" reggae (very trendy at the time, Bob Marley was dominating... Police and Madness, and many others were heavily inspired by it). After this release, there followed only three other works under the 10cc name (two in the nineties), all rather weak and below their standard: chronologically, this should be considered their last production measuring up to their talent, except of course for possible differing viewpoints.
Stewart, the one on the cover not suffering from vertigo and calmly reading the newspaper on the skyscraper ledge, is essentially a guitarist... a good, fluid, and precise soloist, although when he composes he prefers to sit at the piano, preferably electric. His voice is smooth and soft, his inspiration decidedly Beatlesque, in search of unusual and whimsical harmonic progressions. He is the Paul McCartney of the duo, to evoke the main source of inspiration (for 10cc as well as for thousands of other established realities, to be clear).
Gouldman, on the other hand, the one who doesn’t take it very well being up there on the ledge and looks down worriedly, could be considered the Lennon of the situation, despite the fact that his main instrument is the bass. He composes on the guitar, has a more ironic and distinctive voice, uses fewer chords but focuses more on the originality of the lyrics and is less syrupy, more acidic and rhythmic. For those who didn’t know, he's an old ace of English pop, having started very young to write hits for the Yardbirds, Hollies, Herman's Hermits, Cher, Jeff Beck, and other great artists from the London beat scene of the sixties.
All ten songs are exquisite little gems in terms of arrangement, rich in percussion, vocal overdubs, guitars, and keyboards creating pads of clear pop inspiration. Not that the album is a masterpiece not to be missed... there are several minor, not very incisive episodes; 10cc had managed to do better in the past, especially when there were four "creatives" boosting the project. To appreciate them properly, you need to have a taste for the 'canzonetta', understood in its best meaning..., in the sense that even "Hey Jude" is a 'canzonetta', even "Whiter Shade Of Pale", but no one would dream of dismissing them as such!
The best on the album appear to me to be "Don't Turn Me Away", composed entirely by Stewart and interpreted by him, enveloped in a warm and bell-like carpet of Fender Rhodes electric piano. Then "Les Nouveaux Riches", again by Stewart, a deadly, communicative, and very cheerful white reggae, energized by a competent Caribbean percussion festival, highly reminiscent of the previous, great success "Dreadlock Holidays" from a 1978 album of theirs. Gouldman’s best are "Action Man In A Motown Suit" with a funny descending chorus, and especially the gripping final mini-suite "Survivor", a collage of very different melodies and atmospheres a bit, or rather a lot in the manner of the medley on "Abbey Road" (but much more contained... we’re talking about less than six minutes overall and three main themes, not a dozen as in the case of the famous exploit of the dying Beatles).
It's music that recalls a past of virtuous and excellent pop, as a testament that popular art doesn't exclusively need social denunciations, profound anxieties, depressing tragedies, or philosophical musings to express goodness and quality, creativity and enjoyment. We are completely out of time (especially with all this reggae...) but it is (was) great music.Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Don't Ask (04:04)
You ask me what's it like now
I've got no woman - don't ask
You ask me how's it feel to be alone
You've got no one - don't ask
I'll tell you what's the story
Who's the judge and who's the jury - the past
Don't ask me what it's like to be alone at night
I hear a tapping on the wall
(I hear you knocking but ya)
I calm myself by leaving on the bathroom light
I know there's no one out there
But that don't really help at all
So tell me what's it like now
You got nobody - don't ask
Who looks after your health
I do it myself
How do you survive
I'm staying alive
Who looks after your home
I do it on my own
And how do you sleep
I sleep alone
Nobody told me that I had to live this way
Yea I could really have a ball
(you keep a knocking but ya)
But if I can't have you I'd rather stay this way
And live in hope that maybe
One day you'll take the time to call
So tell me what's it like now
You've got no woman - don't ask
Who looks after your health
I do it myself
How do you survive
I'm staying alive
Who looks after your home
I do it on my own
And how do you sleep
I sleep alone
I'll tell you what it's like now
I got no woman - don't ask
03 Don't Turn Me Away (05:03)
You and I don't have to hurry
Take your time now don't you worry
Let me know what you're going through
There's a troubled look on your face
And it would only take the time
it takes, for me to talk to you
And now and then we've got to question
Am I right, I may be wrong
And the only way we can work it out
We've got to try to give and take
And it will only take the time
it takes for me to talk to you
But don't turn me away
Open up your eyes now
Making up will only take a minute
Don't turn me away
Listen what your heart say
Making up will only take a minute
Breaking up is hard to turn around
You can't be living in emptiness
You've been lonely too long
But don't go making me promises
When you know that you're wrong
You're not true
So when you find out where your heart is
Let me know
I'll be waiting for you
You and I don't have to hurry
Take your time now don't you worry
Let me know what you're going through
There's a troubled look on your face
And it would only take the time
it takes, for me to talk to you
But don't turn me away
Open up your eyes now
Making up will only take a minute
Don't turn me away
Listen what your heart say
Making up will only take a minute
But you know, well you know
09 Lying Here With You (03:23)
Time to wave the day goodbye
But I don't wanna hear no lullaby
Sandman takes his cue
And when the night is through
I'll be lying here with you
Close your eyes turn out the light
Say a prayer to see us through the night
Hope your dreams come true
When dawn turns into blue
I'll be lying here with you
Too much of something
Tends to spoil you so they say
But I can't get enough of you
I tell you something
I never listen to what they say
I only know what I must do
All our cares will drift away
Leave them all until another day
I don't really mind
As long as I can find
That I'm lying here with you
Too much of something
Tends to spoil you so they say
But I can't get enough of you
I tell you something
I never listen to what they say
I only know what I must do
All our cares will drift away
Leave them all until another day
I don't really mind
As long as I can find
That I'm lying here with you
10 Survivor (05:50)
This boy he's a midnight driver
High roller and a soul survivor
She tried to send him on his way
He say, hey, I wanna stay
If you don't mind I'm hanging around
This girl's on the road to nowhere
She wouldn't say but another day there
It's not the role she's decided to play
She say, hey, don't wanna stay
There's no reason for hanging around
Take me where I wanna go running
Where the sea rushes up to the shore
It's a lonely place but I need the space
Want to let my feelings soar
Help me find the key to my prison
I've waited long enough to be free
I love you but I'm not really living
It's now how I want it to be
Listen, I know what she's like she's just a dreamer
But I'll win in the end I'm a schemer
Give her time she'll be on the phone
She's never gonna make it alone
Better leave the door on the latch
She'll soon be hurrying home
Oh Mother, it looks like I'm in for stormy weather
So I'd better get my story together
Got to make it good she's no fool
I'll take her in my arms, I'll be cool
Don't want to get her upset
I wanna make her forget
Take me where I wanna go running
Where the sea rushes up to the shore
It's a lonely place but I need the space
Want to let my feelings soar
Help me find the key to my prison
I've waited long enough to be free
I love you but I'm not really living
It's now how I want it to be
This girl's she's a real survivor
She don't believe in the midnight driver
So she's starting a brand new day
She say, hey, don't wanna play
It had to stop, so I'm going away
I'm going away
I'm going away
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