L

Very few albums, even ones that I love very much, get a five star rating from me. But this one deserves it.

After nearly 20 years, I still listen to this one frequently, and enjoy every track. Even the least proggy songs on this are recorded with such inventiveness, that they thrill this listener's ears at every playing. Sounds come floating in from all directions, only to mesh perfectly with the music.

"The Sporting Life" begins with a man's jouney into madness, and ends with a toungue-in-cheek jab at the onlookers watching his attempted suicide. Off the wall, in bad taste, but beautiful to listen to.

"Sandwiches of You" is sort of a love song, with Lol Creme's manic guitar. and Kevin Godley's inventive percussion fills highlighting the mix.

"Art School Canteen" is an homage to the duo's English art school roots. It's the most subdued song on the album, with G&C expanding on the type of overlayed and overdubbed vocals originally used on 10cc's "I'm Not In Love".

"Group Life" and "Hit Factory/Business Is Business" are both jabs at the music industry. Incredible songs that go against my theory that as soon as a band starts recording songs about how bad it is to be a musician, they should hang it up.

"Punchbag" is a heavy, almost macho song about the life of a nerd in school.

"Foreign Accents" is an instrumental piece, a sax solo over a rhythm track made up of odd musical sounds.

My life was changed when I first heard this one. i hope yours will be, too.

a pure progressive rock album, and one of the finest.

Godley & Creme where 10CC members before they left the band and started a vast career in many disciplines, evolving video clips, productions and instruments development as well as making their own music.

The sub-genre, in which they tagged in this site, is prog related. Well, perhaps it is suitable considering their whole discography; I must admit I do not know it well. But this album is different. At least for me, this is a pure progressive rock album, and one of the finest.

Godley and Creme function here as a due, with just a little help from guest musicians. Lol (Lawrence) Cream is responsible for various instruments, from keyboards to guitars, through bowed acoustic contrabass. Kevin Godley concentrates on drums and percussions, including xylophone and tonal percussions, and build a unique sonic palette for each song. The drums are not very dominant here but you won't miss them much, since the diverse use of the percussions. The instrument playing is not of the virtuosi or Show off kind but actually there is no need for that in the kind of music they make. It's more of an emotional playing, and really beautiful. The arrangements, the vocals and the vocal harmonies between the two, the instrument playing, are all at top notch.

The music could be declared as artistic songs. These are not commercial or radio friendly songs, unless the radio stations will be friendlier to us (proggers) someday, but very delicate, elaborated and indeed, artistic songs.

Something in the overall atmosphere recalls for GENTLE GIANT, in the elaboration and maybe a little bit at vocal harmonies and the singing style. Some other elements remind me of old American musicals, and naturally they sound similar to their mother band 10CC, but less commercial, more intriguing and more progressive.

Out of the seven songs in this album, I'll pick quite randomly three. Every song in this album is worth writing about and of course worth listening too...

'Punchbag' deals with a boy insulted in school. The way he mourns his troubles and the music itself reminds me of American musicals, and the result is not so sad after all, inspite of the very hard words. Then comes the chasing part. It's more upbeat with a strong bass and guitar riffs. The song ends with the lyrics 'Can I please get up now, NO, when?'. This question is somehow keeps hanged up in the air.

'Art School Cantine' is about art students' way of life, trying to impress each other with their deep thoughts, and various existentialistic questions such as 'Does getting into Zappa mean getting out of Zen?' This song is backgrounded by slow, melodic fretless bass, bowed contrabass, piano, and acoustic guitar, in a jazzy feel. Very artistic, indeed.

'Hit Factory / Business Is Business' is the closer. The song deals with the music industry. The percussions on 'Hit Factory' create a factory or industrial environment while G&C are singing the line 'We're all working in a hit factory'. Then comes the business part. A simple, catchy rhythm and a bluzzy melody, carry this song in a perfect flow. Thoughts about business, expressed by lyrics, which seems to contain a lot of expressions and 'double meanings'. Sorry I couldn't grasp it all, is seems to be pivotal here. As in 'Punchbag', the song ended in a question. This question seems to be unconcerned: 'Maybe you can think of a way to turn me on?'. this seals the album wonderfully.

Again, this is not prog by the book, if such a book of instructions for making a progressive rock should be written at all. You won't find here great epics, nor stunning guitar solos, or long spacey jams. These are very artistic, elaborated songs with a strong progressive feel. For me it is definitely a five stars album, not a bit less.

The consequences of rebellion

The quartet which comprised 10CC were all talented individuals who all contributed pretty much equally to the song-writing and performances. When they split into two factors therefore, it follows that we ended up with two largely similar outfits. Well no, not exactly.

Gouldman and Stewart, who retained the 10CC name, tended to look after the pop orientation of the band, while Godley and Crème were the innovators and experimenters. This became apparent when subsequent 10CC releases became even more pop orientated than those released by the quartet, while Godley and Creme's initial efforts enjoyed little commercial success at all.

If we skip the bloated and over-indulgent (even for 10CC) "Consequences", "L" is Godley and Crème's first normal release as a duet. While an element of normality is indeed restored, anyone expecting to hear another "I'm not in love" or "I'm Mandy fly me" is going to be severely disappointed.

Here we have just seven tracks, none of which would make an obvious single. The album is bookended by a couple of seven minute songs, the remaining tracks running to 3-4 minutes. Thus we have the apotheosis of "Consequences" in terms of running time, with around half an hour of music.

The opening "This sporting life" is an example of all that was wrong with 10CC. It is just too damn clever for its own good. A zillion and one themes are cut and pasted together to form a complete disaster of a whole. With the first two tracks managing to cover suicide and cannibalism respectively, the pair could hardly be accused of pandering to the mainstream and attempting to make a commercially appealing album. Unfortunately, their admirable resistance to demands for a return to the accessibility of 10CC is not matched by a surge of inspired song-writing.

Perversely, this in some ways is actually a very prog album. Only the lack of anything of note instrumentally other than the jazzy "Foreign accents" precludes it from such a connotation, the album being almost entirely vocal. It should also be said that this is a very cold, calculated album. There is not a drop of warmth or emotion to be found here, there is a clinical atmosphere from start to finish which leaves the listener feeling alien to the whole experience.

In short, I do not like this album much at all. I can, to a limited extent, appreciate the effort which has gone into it, but for me that effort is entirely in vain. Those who enjoy some of the indulgences of Frank Zappa may find something which appeals to them here, but I cannot in all honesty recommend this album to anyone.

Second G & C duet's album is a great one! Most experimental and innovative part of 10 CC, after they left he band, started their own career as duet. From every their work you can hear who was responsible for most attractive musical elements in 10 CC early albums' music. Later band's pop-direction is another evidence of the same statement.

This album is possibly one of the most successful duet's work combining their melodic song- writing with almost Zappian freaky experimentation and some Queen's bombastic moments.. The result is intelligent,well played and arranged tasteful art-pop. With even many avant-pop elements!

Being quite accessible, this album is excellent example of music, which is art-rock only in part, but at the same time isn't too mellow,over-polished or over-arranged. I wish many "pure" crossover prog bands will be able to sound as this album sounds!

And I know the reason - G & C are extremely professional pop band, because of their great artistic potential and experimental nature reaching many progressive rock's borders. And they are seriously ahead of many modern so-called crossover prog bands,because these bands very often are far from G & C by their musicianship level and artistic potential, they just want to be "proggy" on the wave of " prog fashion".

I believe Godley & Creme are almost forgotten nowadays, it's a shame!. I would recommend this,possibly their most interesting album for everyone with interest to tasteful ,melodic and professional music on the border of pop,prog and avant. On this album you will hear how good such music could be!

I'd always imagined Godley and Creme as a pair of boring old middle aged fuddy-duddy's with no real originality. This was probably due to the saturation radio play of 'Cry' in '85 with its famous acid trip video of morphing mugshots. Well, I was only 15 at the time, so cut me a bit of slack guys...

Bah! How wrong I was. Ignored and ridiculed for years, I finally took the plunge 6 years ago with the gargantuan overindulgence of the ultra original prog-comedy 'Consequences' - recorded with foul mouthed funny man Peter Cook.

For many 'L' will sound at points just a wee bit too whacked out and off kilter to be taken seriously. It's a very unusual amalgamation of commercial and experimental playfulness.

'L' is basically an eccentric and clever deconstruction of pop music strung together in a state of the art studio. Like all their other early recordings the lyrics are inspired and very memorable which stick to the songs like glue. They're very unusual and mostly completely off-the-wall.

'L' sounds very at home in the Prog Archives with its rapid chopping and changing within tunes. It has very little wrong with it at all in fact. It may have a crumby front cover - but you'll remember it that's for sure. The only reason this album fails a five star maximum is due to the entirely instrumental 'Foreign Accents'. I've no gripes with it, it's just that I want more of those wonderful vocals and crazy lyrics. A brilliant and original album that has me quoting verses of madness at work as people look at me blankly.

Godley and Creme scaled back their ambition somewhat, after releasing the glorious mess of "Consequences" (which I still gave 4 stars despite the "mess", just for being so out-there), concentrating their energies instead on putting as many of their ideas as possible onto a single LP. The result was "L", probably the closest they've come to making a true progressive rock album. Yet, it's still likely to divide opinion as to its value, even among prog fans. Eclectic genius, or overly clever tunelessness?

Well frankly, I think it depends a lot on how much you like Frank Zappa. His pieces often lay out a theme in a recognizable, usually stylized manner (e.g. lounge music, reggae, hard rock, whatever), and then scatter little sonic banana peels all over the place, causing the listener to slip and slide around, never really sure what will happen next. That's what happens on this album a lot, and if that kind of thing bothers you, you probably won't like this. It says to the listener, "Ha Ha! Caught you getting in the groove there - here, have some 32nd note trills in 7/8 time!" If you hate that, stop reading right now.

Still here? Good, so am I.

If the Zappa comparison holds, then the 7 minute opening track "The Sporting Life" is their equivalent of "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" -- it begins and ends with a slow, jazzy lament, and the middle of the song is a long procession of quick changes in volume, tempo, and style, giving the impression of someone going to sleep, having a weird chaotic dream, and then waking up again. It's actually very well put together, but the herky jerkiness of it might be off putting at first. Next, "Sandwiches of You", ostensibly the "single" off the album, is just as strange lyrically and instrumentally - jarring little guitar bursts peek through the spare, brisk drum-centered arrangement, though it features a catchy/annoying refrain and a fairly normal song structure overall. "Art School Canteen" leads us into mellow territory, with gentle crooning by Kevin Godley (he has such a lovely voice, doesn't he?), poking fun at art school students. They name-drop Zappa in this song too. "Group Life" sounds more like what Godley and Creme would do on future albums -- artsy, experimental dance-oriented music. Not my favorite track, but it's welcome as a breather after the last three quirky tracks.

Side Two opens with one of the more shocking songs here, "Punchbag", a wildly unpredictable batch of constantly changing rhythms and themes, with only the abrasive refrain of "Fourth Form! Punchbag!" holding it together. The lyrics are sung from the point of view of a bullied school kid (perhaps making this a sequel to 10cc's "I Wanna Rule the World"?). For the non-sympathetic listener, this song is the most likely to annoy. For the sympathetic listener, though, it's pretty impressive. Next comes possibly my favorite tune on here, the completely bizarre "Foreign Accents". I guess it's their take on "T'Mershi Duween" (an early 70s complex Zappa instrumental). The backing track throughout is a light shuffle featuring handclaps and an inviting saxophone lick. Over this, at seemingly random intervals, a harsh series of unison Zappa-like rhythmic puzzles enter and exit at will. The effect is pretty hilarious, and somewhat disturbing (what were these guys on?). The last track is a 2 song medley of "Hit Factory/Business is Business" - a relative weak spot on the album, trying to conjure up the image of an actual factory (complete with industrial noises) "making hits", before leading into the weird quasi blues of "Business is Business" - again, fun idea, but just a little too self-consciously weird for its own good.

I'm extremely glad that Godley and Creme had the guts to leave the "sure thing" of 10cc and strike out on their own experimental path. They really are fantastic musicians with talent to spare, and here they made one of the more eclectic prog albums from 1978 you're likely to hear (at a time when many of the big-name prog bands were either on hiatus or streamlining their sound). But like a lot of Zappa's more silly works, sometimes you can have a little too much of a good thing - "too clever for their own good" has probably been writ in many reviews of this album. I'm wavering between a 3 and a 4 here. I'll round up to a 4, because I'm in the "weird is good" camp.

I continue my journey through the world of 10cc and 1978 was the year of 10cc's Bloody Tourists and Kevin Godley and Lol Creme's second record "L". It was thirty-seven years ago bu the music is new in the meaning of new-thinking and vital. I liked "Consequences" but thought it was to hard to get through for me to like it very much. "L" is a much shorter album, just a third of it and it only contains quite ordinary songs, which though aren't ordinary at all.

Kevin Godley and Lol Creme took help from three guests on the album "L": Andy Mackay who played saxophone, Paul Gambaccini who was the bad Samaritan and Jonathan Handelsman who played saxophone. The design on the sleeve is as simple as possible with a red "L" on a white background. The music on the record is magnificant and exactly what you want from these musical masters. It's like the spirit from 10cc but more extreme; there are more vocal harmonies, more experimental melodies and lyrics and less hit feelings. I am totally sure that people who like 10cc will like this too. Beside fantastic vocals the instruments are awesome: guitar, bass and keyboards of different shapes.

The first song "This Sporting Life" is long and totally wonderful, it is powerful and almost hard rock but very melodic and interesting (10/10). "Sandwiches of you" is also lovely(8/10) as well as all of the other tracks, especially "Punchbag"(8/10) and the instrumental "Foreign Accents"(8/10). I appreciate this fantastic and innovative music very much and I believe I will keep it near me and that it will grow in my opinion too. The progression from "Consequences" is very positive. When Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman in some way did more conventional pop songs, yet interesting and thoughtful, Lol Creme and Kevin Godley expanded their musicality much more. I like the both of them. I would like to recommend this "L" record to everyone.

Four strong stars Best tracks: This sporting life, Sandwiches of you, Punchbag, Foreign Accents

A Zappa-esque album that received some criminally poor and ill-advised reviews, while far lesser albums were given a free pass. Such is the fate of ambitious works so often. Too often highly intelligent artists like these are criticised for failing to hide their intelligence and originality. We all know the kind of reviewer.

The music is highly complex and eclectic, ad not always sonorous, which can be a turn-off for some. Despite the duo's pop background, this is quite jaw-dropping prog rock, with superb playing, huge Queen-like harmonies, and infused with pitch black British wit and satire. Most of the tracks are as much mini-operas as they are songs. It's a stunningly original sound.

For me, the standouts are This Sporting Life, Sandwiches of You, Punchbag and Business is Business, It's not the most accessible album.

3.5 stars. Kevin Godley and Lol Creme left 10CC because of artistic differences in 1976. 10CC had just completed the studio album "How Dare You!" which is my favourite by them, where it all came together for them to these ears. But Godley and Creme wanted to pursue the sounds of the Gizmo they created that attached to the guitar and made string sounds. Also they wanted to continue down that road of experimentation whereas the rest of the band(Stewart & Gouldman) were more into the commercial aspect of the music as seen in the followup album to "How Dare You!" called "Deceptive Bends" with songs like "The Things We Do For Love".

Meanwhile GODLEY & CREME would release as their first album in 1977, the mammoth "Consequences" a triple record that had one vinyl album of Gizmo tracks, an album of songs and narration taking turns throughout it, and then a piano concert pretty much. No it didn't exactly go over well. In 1978 though, they would return to where they left off with "How Dare You!" it seems with "L", but again less commercial sounding. Still this has Zappa written all over it with the clever lyrics, sophisticated sound and especially those hilarious vocals. There's a lot of humour here on this less than 35 minute album with seven tracks.

The opener and closer are over seven minutes in length, while the rest range between three and five minutes. We even get some QUEEN-like vocals and arrangements on the opener "The Sporting Life" again bringing 10CC to mind. I like the inventive instrumental section that follows. "Sandwiches Of You" is pretty funny and light with interesting sounds to start. "Art School Canteen" is another one that is relaxed with the focus on the vocals. They change it up on "Group Life", this just sounds different. "Punchbag" is catchy with silly vocals that turns intense later on. "Foreign Accents" and the closer are my top two. Both have Andy MacKay from ROXY MUSIC adding sax. That closer "Hit Factory/ Business Is Business" is really impressive, the best tune on here in my opinion. A lot of fun.

Of all the GODLEY & CREME and 10CC albums I'd rate "L" as my second favourite after "How Dare You!" with "Sheet Music" and "The Original Soundtrack" bringing up the rear. These guys were so talented.