L

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.

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