WINDOWS IN THE JUNGLE

Two separate taxis please

"Windows in the jungle" was released about 7 years after Godley and Crème left 10CC. The band are therefore effectively a duet of Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman supported by a further 7 musicians, including Mel Collins on sax, who contribute to one or more tracks. After the release of this album and its total lack of success, the remaining band split up to follow separate paths.

In reality, Eric Stewart is very much the dominant partner here. Most of the songs have his song-writing style, and vocally he is virtually ever present. The "Jungle" of the title appears to be of the big city variety. Apart from the brief African rhythms which bookend the album, there is nothing ethnic or tribal.

Much of the album is surprisingly reflective, with more in common with US AOR bands such as FOREIGNER and TOTO (especially "Africa" ironically). The opening "24 hours" is an 8 minute piece with only the occasional burst of more traditional 10CC, and a fine but all too brief lead guitar section. Other tracks on side one which follow a similar mood are the ballad "Yes I am", which includes some fine sax, and "American panorama" which has a stronger beat, but is still rather melancholy.

The overall mood of the album is reflected in these three tracks. There are more traditional 10CC songs, of which more shortly, but overall this is a surprisingly considered album, largely devoid of the too clever lyrics and melodies which tarnished much of the band's work. The closing "Taxi taxi" is another lengthy piece, which tells a tale of dreaming of escaping the rat race for more idyllic climes. The song features a fine instrumental play-out.

On the down side, the reggae beat of "Dreadlock holiday" makes an ill advised return in "Feel the love - oomachasaooma", a dreadful song which rambles through a dull melody and so-so lyrics. It is also present on "Food for thought", where the lyrics are indeed needlessly clever.

"City lights" is a very ordinary pop song with very poor lyrics ("Oh oh I feel the city rhythm, Oh oh I love those city lights, But when the sun comes up, And the party's over, I don't care I'm coming back tonight, To the bright city lights") and a melody which could have been written in 30 seconds. "Working girls" harks back to the early 10CC albums with strong harmonies and diverse vocal styles. It does little for me, but fans of the band will no doubt appreciate the song.

In all, something of a mixed bag, but "Windows in the jungle" does feature some of the finest songs to have been released under the 10CC name. With well over 50% of the album containing high quality material, the album falls into the category of unjustly overlooked.

The sleeve is rather prosaic, but it does have some effective windows which allow images from the inner sleeve to peep through (as per "Physical Graffiti").

10CC is working hard to produce another studio album. But at this time, the band is no longer successful. The last album to chart was "Look Hear" (Nr. 35 in the UK charts).

And the only thing that I can say is that very few songs here would justify their reputation. Some interesting essays like the long opening number "24 hours". The reggae "Feel The Love" does not probably belong to their best compositions. They released some of the genre after "Dreadlock Holidays" (like "How'm I Ever Gonna Say Goodbye", " on "Look Hear" and "Overdraft In Overdrive" on "Ten Out Of 10") but this one is really poor. Next ? Yes, press next.

A melancholic ballad is awaiting for you. Very pleasant sax from our dear friend Mel Collins ("Camel", "Crimson".). Not bad but truly mellowish. Mel saves it. We are even revisiting the good "10CC" repertoire with "Americana Panorama" as well as during "Working Girls". Very good vocal harmonies (and god knows they can write these) and a good journey back in time.

The good work keeps on during the pop and melodic "City Lights". Not a great song but more complex. Well in the style of some of their earlier work. I guess that the pair Stewart-Gouldman must like reggae music since we get again one song of that kind with "Food For Thought". It is not as bad as Feel The Love" (which was difficult). Nice vocal arrangements.

After this release, the band will make a very long break (about ten years) and surprisingly come back as a whole (with Godley and Creme). But that's another story.

This album is not great. A few good songs, several average ones and a poor one. Not enough to make a good album. IMHHO, it is their weakest album so far and the long closing "Taxi! Taxi! is not helping to raise my rating. Two stars.

Having more or less given up on the band since the two-way split, although the 10 CC name still managed a few good tracks and a major hit in Dreadlock Holiday, the post-split albums didn't quite reach the quality of the original foursome. The aptly-titled Deceptive Bends, the poor Bloody Tourists (saved by their last huge hit), and the miserable Are You Normal (of yes, you are), the remaining duo of Stewart and Gouldman pulled this one out of their bag in 83, but sadly it was clear by now that the band had over-stayed its welcome. Despite an impressive cast of guest proggy musicians (drummers Gadd, Phillips, saxman Collins, etc.), the album doesn't manage anything exciting or even enthralling, partly because of the AOR sound ala Toto or Don Fagen flattening this album's dynamic curves.

Indeed, out of the 8 tracks, none really manage to stand out from the almost-insipid pop, even the longer tracks not being really successful to arouse the progheads' interest. Despite that last remark, it is the two longer tracks that are slightly less soporific, but the 8- mins 24 Hours never allows for the pure pop brilliance of yesteryears to happen. Sappy and atrocious ballads like the 6-mins interminable Yes I Am (could be subtitled I Am Ready For Love) are abusing of your patience by being twice length it needed to. The worst part is that outside the Toto soundscapes, we get some pretty bad Foreigner vibes (circa the 4th album), but without the energy of Gramm's voice, even in faster tracks like City Lights. To keep the dancing thing going, the band plays out one or two reggaes (like Feel The Love, or Food For Thoughts) to emulate the success of Dreadlock Holidays, but sadly fails in doing so. Even worse, "Working Girls" emulates the horrible electro-pop new-wave ala 2Duran that had conquered the airwaves.

It's rather obvious that part of the failure of this album (still a tad better than its predecessor from what I recall) is its 80's AOR production (let alone a boring artwork on the cover), but at least we're not dealing (not that I know of, anyway) with cheap digital synths and rhythm boxes. Don't get me wrong, even insipid 10CC albums like this one are worth twice any Toto album of any era (and not just IMHO). Best avoided, just in case you hadn't understood yet.

The original 8 song release of this album starts out with it's only high note. 24 Hours is a decent, but not great attempt by Eric Stewart (who seems to almost completely overshadow Graham Gouldman here) to recapture the magic of the earlt 10CC albums. This is a suite in their classic style, adeptly moving from one song style to another. It is by no means a masterpiece, but it is the only track worth owning on an otherwise completely forgettable album.

As you might guess by the comments above, the remainder of the original pressing fall into the cookie cutter style Stewart and Gouldman had been creating for the last few albums. Far too many reggae beats, gratuitous insertion of some of the old 10CC instument sounds, without the creativity and spontaneity that made those early albums a joy.

If you have the luck of owning the 2006 limited edition release, you get the addition of three radio edits of songs from the album. These are completely worthless, as they are castrated tracks, cut down for the short attention spans of the average listener. Also, there are the two live tracks, Dreadlock Holiday and I'm Not In Love, both decent but not outstanding.

Then there are the two tracks that were releases as B-sides to singles. She Gives Me Pain is an upbeat instrumental, alittle reminiscent of Speed Kills, from the debut album. Then there's Secret Life Of Henry. I'm curious as to why this was left off of the original album. It must have been a stupid record company executive (Isn't that term redundant?) decision. This track is easily the best on the album. In fact, it may be the best track 10CC recorded since Lol Creme and Kevin Godley left the band.

The original version gets 2 stars, the expanded version 2.75. Average that out...