Sheet Music (10cc Album)

''Sheet Music'' is the second album by the English rock band 10cc. It was released in 1974 on UK records (No: UKAL 1007), and yielded the hit singles "The Wall Street Shuffle" and "Silly Love". The album reached No. 9 in the UK and No. 81 in the United States.

Production

The album was produced by 10cc, engineered and mixed by Eric Stewart. It includes all possible combinations of co-writing duos between Stewart, Gouldman, Godley and Creme, which the band used to experiment and explore new creativity while making the album.

In a 2006 interview, ex-drummer Kevin Godley said: "We'd really started to explode creatively and didn't recognise any boundaries. We were buzzing on each other and exploring our joint and individual capabilities. Lots of excitement and energy at those sessions and, more important, an innocence that was open to anything."

While 10cc were recording their album during the night, Paul McCartney was using the Strawberry Studios in the daytime to produce his brother Mike's album ''McGear''. Graham Gouldman remarked how the band used Paul's drum kit for their album, and how Paul's influence was certainly felt while making the record.

The subject of the song "Clockwork Creep", which ends side one of the album, is a bomb aboard a jumbo jet describing the final minute in its countdown to detonation.

Release

Three singles were taken from the album, all of them released in 1974. The lead single "The Worst Band in the World" failed to chart, while the follow up "The Wall Street Shuffle" made #10 in the UK and #2 in the Netherlands. The third single "Silly Love" made #24 in the UK.

The album was reissued several times with different b-sides from the ''10cc'' and ''Sheet Music'' singles as bonus tracks. The most recent version is 2007 UK reissue which combines only ''Sheet Music'' related bonus tracks.

The album in its entirety—including all of the bonus cuts from the 1993 release and the 2007 release—appears, along with 10cc's first album ''10cc'' and all its released bonus cuts, on ''10cc - The Complete UK Recordings'' on Varèse Sarabande Records.

Reception

Charley Walters in his 1974 ''Rolling Stone'' review felt that the band had "concocted standard pop into their own inventive, even sophisticated, art", and that while not typical pop music it would be popular with AM-oriented DJs and their listeners. ''Billboard'' felt the band had a "certain zany feeling", but that "their songs are far from silly when carefully listened to" and they had "some of the most innovative vocal techniques and instrumental arrangements around".

Legacy

Dave Thompson, in a summary of the album for Allmusic, felt that it had staying power and that it was "perhaps the most widely adventurous album of what would become a wildly adventurous year". George Durbalau in ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' felt it was "a piece of well-crafted, highly idiosyncratic pop" and was "in a word, inventive".

Kevin Godley, Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart have subsequently referred to ''Sheet Music'' as 10cc's zenith throughout their career.

Graham Gouldman performed the album live in its entirety in 2015 with his 10cc touring band.

Track listing

1993 CD release bonus track

# "Waterfall" (Gouldman, Stewart) – 3:43

2002 Japanese CD reissue bonus tracks

# "Bee in My Bonnet" (Gouldman, Stewart) - 2:01
# "Gismo My Way" (Godley, Creme, Gouldman, Stewart) – 3:43
# "18 Carat Man of Means" (Godley, Creme, Gouldman, Stewart) – 3:27

2007 UK CD reissue bonus tracks

Personnel

* Eric Stewart – Lead Vocals (1,4,8), Electric Piano (1,8), Grand Piano (1,6), Lead Guitar (1-4,6,8,10), Mellotron (1), Organ (1), Electric Guitar (3,6,9), Backup Vocals (3,5,6,7,10), Slide Guitar (4,7), Vocals (5,6,10), Phase Guitar (7), Gizmo (8), Marimba (8)
* Lol Creme – Electric Guitar (1,2,4,6,10), Backup Guitar (1), Lead Vocals (2,5,6), Grand Piano (2,5,7,8), Electric Piano (2,5,7,9), Percussion (2), Acoustic Guitar (3), Lead Guitar (3,7,8), Mellotron (3,8), Synthesizer (3,4,7), Backup Vocals (3-10), Gizmo (4), Whistles (5), Vocals (7,9), Maracas (10)
* Graham Gouldman – Bass (1-3,5-10), Acoustic Guitar (1,3,9,10), Electric Guitar (1,5,8), Percussion (1-3,8,9), Backup Vocals (2-6,8,9,10), Tambourine (4,10), Autoharp (4), Bouzouki (5), Tubular Bells (7), Lead Vocals (9), Sleigh Bells (10)
* Kevin Godley – Drums (1,2,5-10), Percussion (1,2,4,5,7,9,10), Backup Vocals (2-5,7-10), Lead Vocals (3,4,7,10), Congas (3,8), Timbales (3), Rhythm Skulls (3), Vocals (5,6,8), Tap Dancing (7), Bongos (8), Harmony Vocals (9)

Charts

References

External links

''Sheet Music''
(Adobe Flash) at Radio3Net (streamed copy where licensed)

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10cc albums
1974 albums
Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis
UK Records albums
Mercury Records albums
Repertoire Records albums
Avant-pop albums
Albums recorded at Strawberry Studios