10cc "Ten out of 10" (1981)

Ten out of 10
release date: Nov. 27, 1981
format: digital
[album rate: 2 / 5]

Track highlights: 1. "Don't Ask" (2,5 / 5) - 6. "Les Nouveaux Riches"

8th studio album by 10cc released through Mercury and produced by the composer-duo Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman.

I simply find both album and band highly overrated and of no interest except from track #6 here, which is just more than mediocre. It's really an album, and a musical style that I do not get.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

10cc "Bloody Tourists" (1978)

Bloody Tourists
release date: Sep. 1978
format: digital
[album rate: 2 / 5]

Track highlights: 1. "Dreadlock Holiday"

6th studio album by 10cc released on Mercury Records and produced by founding members Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart of the band. The style and production sound appear as something released in the early 1970s, and its a bit strange to realize that it was released at a time when musical standards had come to other levels. I think, this is poor and a somewhat awkward.
[ allmusic.com 2 / 5 stars ]

10cc "Deceptive Bends" (1977)

Deceptive Bends
release date: May 1977
format: cd
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]

Track highlights: 1. "Good Morning Judge" (2,5 / 5) - 2. "The Things We Do for Love" - 4. "People in Love" (3 / 5) - 9. "Feel the Benefit (Parts 1, 2, & 3)" (2,5 / 5)

5th studio album by 10cc released on Mercury Records and produced by the band. This was the first album release by 10cc after Gofley and Creme had left. The band has never been a favourite of mine but it seems they were always around in the 1970s. You cannot neglect the fact that they were extremely popular and somehow they were always able to have at least one really good song on each of their albums. In retrospect it only seems almost bizarre that they made this music at the same time as Ramones released Leave Home, Elvis Costello and The Clash launched their debut albums, as well as all the others of the British punk era - it all exploded and yet there was still room for Pink Floyd, Bowie, Eno et al with new frontier music. 10cc was already a pop / rock dinosaur - not revolutionary, not 'art' enough to be avantgarde and yet still labelled progressive enough to be anything but just mainstream pop. It's like the band flourished in its own little bubble, which became ever smaller and smaller as new artists attracted its fans.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

10cc "How Dare You!" (1976)

How Dare You!
release date: Jan. 24, 1976
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]

Track highlights: 4. "I'm Mandy Fly Me" (2,5 / 5) - 6. "Art for Art's Sake" - 8. "Head Room" (2,5 / 5)

4th studio album by 10cc released on Mercury Records and produced by the band. The only track I really enjoy on the album is the classic "Arts for Art's Sake" - the rest is not my taste, and actually, I'm closer at handing it only 2 stars as one good track out of 9 is poor. I think, the band could possibly release a decent best of album, as they have always been able to come up with one fine composition every now and then. Tensions within the band between the two songwriter duos Kevin Godley and Lol Creme on one hand and Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman on the other, led to Godley and Creme's decision to leave the band after this release.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

10cc "The Original Soundtrack" (1975)

The Original Soundtrack
release date: Feb. 1975
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]

Track highlights: 2. "I'm Not in Love" (4 / 5) - 4. "The Second Sitting for the Last Supper" (2,5 / 5)

3rd studio album by 10cc released on Mercury Records and produced by the band. I think the best thing about the album is the cover art designed by Hypgnosis, an art group that fronted many album covers in the 1970s and especially bands and artists of art pop, experimental, and progressive rock. The music is rather theatrical, but just boring with its fusion of rock opera, jazz elements and tedious arrangements. Yes, the album contains the 1970s great classic "I'm Not in Love", which really only seems misplaced here as no other song on the album comes close to that. Other than that the band was famous for having the composer duo Godley and Cream in its earliest and original line-up. Kevin Godley was the band's percussionist, drummer, (and lead) vocalist and songwriter, and Lol Creme was multi-instrumentalist, (backing) vocalist, and composer, and together they became famous as Godley & Creme, a successful producer- / composer- / video director-duo for lots of artists in the early 1980s. However. the classic track "I'm Not in Love" was written and composed by Etic Stewart and Graham Gouldman - the other two of the band.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

10cc "Sheet Music" (1974)

Sheet Music
release date: May 1974
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5]
producer: 10cc
label: UK Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "The Wall Street Shuffle" - 6. "Silly Love" (3 / 5) - 10. "Oh Effendi" (3 / 5)

2nd studio album by 10cc consisting of Eric [Michael] Stewart on guitars, keyboards, and vocals, Graham [Keith] Gouldman on bass, guitar, percussion, and vocals, Lol [Laurence Neil] Creme on guitar, keyboards, percussion, and vocals, and Kevin [Michael] Godley on drums, percussion, and vocals. Stylistically, this is art pop and pop / rock with hints of progressive and symphonic rock. The music doesn't really appeal to me but I must confess that this is the best and most interesting album by the band. Much of the music seem inspired by and comes out as a clone of The Beatles and The Band without coming close to either. The album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5 stars ]