I was a big fan of 10cc in the mid 70's with their clever, witty and sometimes idiosyncratic music which saw them cross over to transatlantic success mainly due to the classic ballad "I'm Not In Love" in 1975. While it is far and away their best known song, I'm not exactly sure how it fits into the title of this too-short biography of the band, I can only imagine the filmmakers think the song is better known than the group behind it and so might attract the more casual viewer.
It was nice to see the four group members reminiscing mainly fondly about their four brief years at the top and thankfully there seems to be little rancour or disharmony amongst them now. Harmony in fact is a key word when considering the group's music and the point is made in the documentary that of their contemporaries only Queen perhaps lavished as much attention on the layering of multiple vocal tracks to such good effect. The group's main strength however, again like Queen and their original inspiration the Beatles, was the disparate songwriting talent in the group with 60's hit-makers Gouldman and Stewart often (but not always) pairing off on the one hand and the more experimental and artsy Godley and Creme usually uniting on the other.
The group made many fine singles and their four albums from 1972-1976 are very good indeed but internal squabbling mainly over Godley and Creme's absorption in their newly invented musical instrument the Gizmotron and the gradual dominance of the more traditional Gouldman-Stewart team which the other two resisted, saw the group split along these fault lines with the former forming a duo which led to a successful hit-making partnership in the new MTV world of promotional videos and the latter keeping the group name going with some initial but later diminishing success.
There were some nice promotional films of the group in their early days, even one of the pre-10cc novelty hit "Neanderthal Man" which three quarters of them cut under the name Hotlegs and I was interested to learn some things I didn't know, namely their nearly signing for Richard Branson's fledgling Virgin label or that Creme and Stewart were actually brothers-in-law at the time, making them sort of half-Abba I guess. I did know about their backing Neil Sedaka for his comeback records in the early 70's.
There was a brisk potted history of the group's before and after days and commentary, sometimes too effusively, by the likes of Paul Gambaccini, Tim Rice and Graham Nash but I was more interested in the words of the group members themselves, all of whom I'd say are wearing pretty well.
Although the group was largely swept away by the onset of punk and new wave just as they were falling apart, I think their music has aged pretty well. I'd like to think this short and sweet profile of the band might bring them to more people's attention nearly 40 years after their break-up. The worst band in the world they most certainly weren't.
It was nice to see the four group members reminiscing mainly fondly about their four brief years at the top and thankfully there seems to be little rancour or disharmony amongst them now. Harmony in fact is a key word when considering the group's music and the point is made in the documentary that of their contemporaries only Queen perhaps lavished as much attention on the layering of multiple vocal tracks to such good effect. The group's main strength however, again like Queen and their original inspiration the Beatles, was the disparate songwriting talent in the group with 60's hit-makers Gouldman and Stewart often (but not always) pairing off on the one hand and the more experimental and artsy Godley and Creme usually uniting on the other.
The group made many fine singles and their four albums from 1972-1976 are very good indeed but internal squabbling mainly over Godley and Creme's absorption in their newly invented musical instrument the Gizmotron and the gradual dominance of the more traditional Gouldman-Stewart team which the other two resisted, saw the group split along these fault lines with the former forming a duo which led to a successful hit-making partnership in the new MTV world of promotional videos and the latter keeping the group name going with some initial but later diminishing success.
There were some nice promotional films of the group in their early days, even one of the pre-10cc novelty hit "Neanderthal Man" which three quarters of them cut under the name Hotlegs and I was interested to learn some things I didn't know, namely their nearly signing for Richard Branson's fledgling Virgin label or that Creme and Stewart were actually brothers-in-law at the time, making them sort of half-Abba I guess. I did know about their backing Neil Sedaka for his comeback records in the early 70's.
There was a brisk potted history of the group's before and after days and commentary, sometimes too effusively, by the likes of Paul Gambaccini, Tim Rice and Graham Nash but I was more interested in the words of the group members themselves, all of whom I'd say are wearing pretty well.
Although the group was largely swept away by the onset of punk and new wave just as they were falling apart, I think their music has aged pretty well. I'd like to think this short and sweet profile of the band might bring them to more people's attention nearly 40 years after their break-up. The worst band in the world they most certainly weren't.
