...MEANWHILE

2 + 2 IS NOT = TO 4

Let's not be fooled by the line-up. The gang of four united again for this occasion but all the compositions are still written by Stewart and Gouldman while Godley and Creme will only perform backing vocals (actually, Godley is singing the lead on "The Stars Didn't Show").

Graham Gouldman said that their record company made them an offer they couldn't refuse. But it is rather confusing for the "10CC" fans who were expecting a truly "10CC" album. Not some sort of . Because this album is not really good.

Two songs are better than average on this work. When you listen to "Woman In Love" and "Something Special", they are fully in- line with their previous work while they were four. "Fill Her Up" being close to "Don't Let Me Down" from "ELO" and kind of useless.

The band will even propose their traditional reggae song : "Welcome To Paradise". Not great, not bad.

Now, the Godley moment : "The Stars Didn't Show". A syrupy rock ballad., that's all. One has to admit that the overall perception of this work is on the low end. And the fans won't rush to buy this release. And it is only justice. They won't be fooled by this marketing adventure.

"10CC" is trying to recreate their past grandeur but even if "Green Eyed Monster" has some scent of their classical style; its mellowish mood is somewhat collapsing even if the melody is pleasant and the vocal harmonies are well arranged.

There is no real need to get hold of this album. It is just a curiosity but it hardly deserves your attention. The third song that is worth is "Charity Begins At Home". A catchy rock'n'roll and melodic song. But there aren't sufficient like these.

The magic of the seventies are completely gone and this album is a major disappointment. It won't chart and it will be a one shot reunion only.

Since Stewart has been working with Paul McCartney during the long "10CC" break (nine years), he will co-sign the closing number. A typical rock ballad which won't break the global and mellow mood of this whole album.

An immense hope ahs completely fallen apart.

Two stars.

No going back

At first sight, "Meanwhile" appears to be a reunion album, with all four original members receiving performance credits on the album. The last time the four recorded together was in 1976, so this 1992 album suggested that time had performed its well know healing effect, and all hatchets had been buried.

Look a little closer though, and the truth starts to become clearer. This is in fact another Gouldman-Stewart 10CC album, with Godley and Creme appearing as guests. The story goes that Godley and Creme were contractually obligated to Polydor records to deliver one further album, so this collaboration suited all the parties involved. The record label naturally promoted the album as a full reunion, but a quick check of the writing credits leaves us searching in vain for the Godley/Creme numbers. Godley and Creme's contribution is in fact largely restricted to occasional backing vocals, although Kevin Godley does single lead on "The Stars Didn't Show".

The album was recorded in the Bearsville studios (Todd Rundgren) in new York, and produced by Gary Katz (Steely Dan). This gives it something of a transatlantic feel, which unfortunately leaves it somewhere in the middle of said ocean. On the plus side, guests include Gouldman's Wax partner Andrew Gold and Dr. John makes a guest appearance. The lengthy list of mainly session musicians though would later lead to Graham Gouldman in particular being less than fully satisfied with the results.

We should not get to bogged down in the negatives though, overall this is a decent addition to the 10CC discography. Tracks such as the beautifully melodic "Wonderland" take us back to the finer album tracks of the band, if not the perfect pop of their trade mark singles. On the other hand, "Fill her up" and "Welcome to paradise" remind us that sometimes this band were just too damned clever for their own good, resulting in a deficiency of quality control.

As a rule, the songs are more laid back than usual, agreeable mid-paced melodic pop ballads being the order of the day. Even tracks such as "Green eyed monster", which we might have expected to have been an upbeat rock number, drifts along with smooth elegance. Fortunately, there is no "Dreadlock holiday" equivalent, indeed the album is pretty much devoid of genuine flippancy.

The closing track has some additional interest in that Paul McCarney receives a co-writing credit. Once again though, this is a pretty routine pop ballad; nice enough but unremarkable.

Overall, "..meanwhile" fails to live up to the promise a reunion of the gang of four might represent. The songs are safe, but this also means they lack the spark required to re-ignite interest in the band. Polydor would quietly walk away from the multi-album contract they had negotiated when the album failed to find the expected success, and the two factions would once more leave in different directions.

While this isn't the worst 10CC album, it is certainly the most disappointing. In 1977 Lol Creme and Kevin Godley left the band, to promote their invention the Gizmo (an electric device that imitated a violin bow effect on guitar strings). They recorded the exceptional (and critically panned) "Consequences", followed by "L". Then, like Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman in what was left of 10CC, their output began to run off of the interestingly creative track, and more toward the mundane AC pop. In 1992 Polydor announced that the band had reunited for the recording of "Meanwhile".

Reunited was a bit of false advertising. Godley & Creme are here, but as barely noticable supporting musicians. Both sing backup here and there, and Godley takes the lead on The Stars Didn't Show. But neither has any hand in the songwriting, nor do they play any instruments. Mac Rebenack (Dr. John) has more of a presence, playing piano on three tracks.

Musically, the songs are the same sort of MOR pop blandness that 10CC had been heading toward on their last few albums. There are a handful of decent pop tunes. Woman In Love has an okay melody, although the lyrics are trite. Wonderland is my favorite song on the album, and the one where Godley and Creme's background vocals are the most evident. Welcome To Paradise, the obligatory reggae track and Green Eyed Monster are the closest they get to the humor of the old 10CC, but not very close.