Search - 10cc :: Ultimate Collection

Liner note flaws aside, an astonishing collection of music

Dave | United States | 12/18/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First of all, let me get the bad news out of the way. In terms of liner notes, this set does leave some to be desired. For one thing, once again they didn't even get all of the songwriting credits correct--why is this so hard?? In addition to the ones mentioned by the previous reviewer, "Reds In My Bed" is credited as having been written by Eric Michael Stewart & Stephen Payton Tosh--uhh, it's actually Stuart Tosh, not Stephen Tosh. Also, the band history included is sketchy & scattershot--for instance, they go into considerable depth describing Godley & Creme's Gismo device, yet they mention 10cc's 1978 "Bloody Tourists" album, & then say they that they officially broke up in 1983 without mentioning any of their albums in between.



Granted, serious 10cc fans probably already know most, if not all of the information in the essay of this set, plus a whole lot more. With that out of the way, we get to what this set has going for it--a load of absolutely incredible music, & for the most part, sound quality that is truly superb. 10cc were a band simply loaded with brilliance--they offered up loads of songs that were ultra-catchy, splendidly tuneful, with imaginative, often humourous lyrics, & exquisite, innovative production values, not to mention great performances. You could quibble about the track list on disc 1--for instance, why there are 3 songs from 1977's "Deceptive Bends" & yet only 2 from 1975's "The Original Soundtrack"--but overall it's very smart--there's simply no arguing with the inclusion of brilliant songs like "The Dean And I" (included in its bass heavy single mix), "The Wall Street Shuffle", "I'm Not In Love", "Art For Art's Sake", "The Things We Do For Love", "Good Morning Judge", and "Dreadlock Holiday". Notice that the track list for the first 14 tracks on disc 1 here is identical to the 1997 "The Very Best of 10cc" CD--for some strange reason though, instead of making track 15 on here the lovely ballad "For You And I" as they did on that other disc, they end this first disc with "The Anonymous Alcoholic", which is a terrific track, but a bizarre choice to end the disc with--I would have put "For You And I" in this position instead of putting it on the second disc. Make no mistake about it, this set is not nearly all of the 10cc you need--however, the song selection, which sticks almost unfailingly to songs released as single A-sides, includes a wealth of gems from the criminally underrated period from 1978's "Bloody Tourists" up until their initial breakup in 1983. Although there has been a previous compilation entitled "Food For Thought" that contains lots of tracks from this era, the albums "Look Hear", "Ten Out of 10" (released in considerably different versions in the UK & US), & "Windows In the Jungle" are hard, if not impossible, to obtain in official CD releases, & this "Ultimate Collection" does a brilliant job of spotlighting highlights from the latter two albums & presenting them in glorious sound quality. One disappointment is the inclusion of the UK single version of "The Power of Love"--it was written by Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman, & Andrew Gold, & it's one of their catchiest tunes ever, however the version from the US "Ten Out Of 10" album, though very similar, has a more bracing mix and is clearly superior. Thankfully though, the drastically superior album version of "Les Nouveaux Riches" (opposed to the single version) is featured, & as is the UK album version of "Memories" (opposed to the inferior US album version)--the former has a mind-boggling, deliriously catchy chorus, while the latter is a terrific mix of moving, sentimental balladry with feel-good reggae; Stewart's tender, emotional love song "Don't Turn Me Away" is terrific as well. Huge praise also goes to this collection for the inclusion of full-length versions of 3 brilliant songs from the criminally underrated 1983 masterpiece "Windows In The Jungle", & the sound quality on all 3 of them is astonishing--"24 Hours" is an evocative, dreamy 'day in the life'-type song with Eric Stewart in peak form vocally, which is saying a lot--it's absolutely exquisite; "Feel The Love" is an infectious pop tune with an uncanny drum performance from Steve Gadd; & "Food For Thought" is, once again, incredibly catchy, and has humourous lyrics relating physical attraction to food terminology. "One Two Five", from 1980's "Look Hear?", is a great inclusion as well, although it's a rare case where the sound quality here does leave quite a bit to be desired. The 'main portion' of this set ends with two songs from the 1992 comeback album "...Meanwhile"--"Welcome To Paradise" & "Woman In Love"--and you can't argue with these gems either.



In addition to all of this, you get a 3rd "bonus disc" which gives you a taste of Godley & Creme's duo work including their big US hit "Cry" & the super cool British hit "Under Your Thumb", plus a pair of tracks from Wax UK, the duo that consisted of Graham Gouldman & Andrew Gold. Granted, there's nothing from Hotlegs, and it would have been additionally nice to have included highlights from Graham's 1980 "Animalympics" soundtrack, as well as Eric 1980 "Girls" soundtrack & 1982 album "Frooty Rooties", but still, the disc is a nice 'bonus'.



Like I said, if you're crazy about the music on this 3 disc set, by all means there's more you need, but this is a heck of a great collection that 10cc fans will truly love having, and even with the length, this is a damn fine overview/ introduction for casual fans/ new listeners to one of the greatest bands of all time, 10cc. This is one "Ultimate Collection" that really does a heck of a fine job of living up to its name."

Nice 3 CD set could have benefited from additional tracks...

Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 07/20/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"10cc never achieved the fame that Queen did in the US but musically they were even more innovative. Perhaps not having a frontman early on hurt the band. Either way, though, they scored some healthy US hits including "I'm Not in Love", "I'm Mandy(Fly Me)", "The Things We Do For Love", "Good Morning Judge", "For You and I" and "Dreadlock Holiday". This fine collection packages both earlier 10cc (when they were a four piece featuring Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman, Lol Creme and Kevin Godley)till the end when only Stewart and Gouldman were left.



Sound quality is great and we get tracks from a number of out-of-print albums and highlights from lesser releases. Curiously only three tracks are drawn from the superb "Deceptive Bends" while five tracks are drawn from the less accomplished "Bloody Tourists". Unfortunately, the original stereo master for the album was used for "Bloody Tourists". Why unfortunately? Because it was damaged and a couple of tracks speed up and slow down throughout the songs (I believe this is referred to as "Wow" and "flutter"). It does give the songs an odd, "Strawberry Fields Forever" feel but it wasn't part of the original vinyl or CD release that I recall.



We also get two tracks from the out-of-print "Are You Normal?"(the one with the sheep at the beach on the cover). Of particular interest to fans will be the five tracks drawn from "Ten Out of 10" and ""Windows in the Jungle". Two of the tracks from "Ten out of 10" come from the US release of the album (which was retooled replacing 4 of the tracks from the European release with brand new songs)while the remaining three come from the European release. These two 10cc albums are underrated and the former is one of the Stewart and Gouldman's best much better than "Bloody Tourists." "24 hours" recalls the slicker sound of "Deceptive Bends" but has the hooks missing from some of the band's other albums. The third disc or "bonus" disc here has six of the best tracks from the Godley & Creme albums and two from Graham Gouldman's collaboration with Andrew Gold ("Lonely Boy")recording as Wax.



There are a couple of mistakes in the credits. "Life is a Minestrone" is credited to Godley & Creme as songwriters while it was written by Eric Stewart and Lol Creme. "Five O'Clock in the Morning" is credited to Peter Cook (?) who did the narration for Godley & Creme's "Consquences" but didn't write the song (Godley & Creme did and its one of their best songs on the album). Also, "Donna" is credited as written by Stewart & Gouldman when, in fact, it was written by Godley & Creme. Both of these mistakes originally cropped up on the reissues a couple of years ago.



All the hits (both UK and US) are here plus we get a nice sampling of songs from Godley and Creme (who had one hit when they left the band "Cry")as well as Graham Gouldman's duo with Andrew Gold (yes, the guy that wrote and sang "Lonely Boy")Wax UK. Like "The Ultimate Collection: Joe Jackson" this set is a bit light when it comes to the third bonus disc. Certainly more material could have been included from 10cc's first incarnation (Hotlegs particularly the three rare tracks) and Eric Stewart's first signed band (The Mindbenders who had the hit "Groovy Kind of Love)as well as material from Stewart's solo albums. Ah well, such is life.



Still, the packaging is nicely done (digipak)with the third disc slid into a spot inside the package. This is probably about as close as we'll ever get to a boxed set for this fine band, I just wish it had been possible to license more rare and unreleased material as well as pre and post 10cc stuff. As it is, this is, indeed, the ultimate collection until something else comes along. The booklet comes with a very brief history of the band their chart success. The inside has images drawn from all the albums by 10cc, Godley & Creme and Wax UK used on this release. There are some minor gaps but, on the whole, this is as close as we're likely to get to a 10cc boxed set now that Universal/Polydor has run into some licensing issues in their attempt to get a boxed set off the ground."

An Excellent Compilation

peterfromkanata | Kanata, Ontario Canada | 10/07/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This collection is comprised of three generously-filled CDs, covering 10CC's career, and some subsequent gems from Godley/Creme. The sound is terrific, and no fan should miss this beautiful package from Holland. I must say that our Dutch friends are putting out some superb collections these days ( see my review of the double CD retrospective of the Animals, another winner from Holland ).10CC were easily one of the most inventive bands to come from Britain in the 70s. Their songs were very musical and commercial, in a positive way--no bubblegum material here. In fact, few bands could rival them for clever, witty lyrics, except possibly Steely Dan. Having seen 10CC live, I can also attest to their vocal and instrumental abilities--these guys were real pros !Of course, all the big hits are here--"Rubber Bullets", " Wall Street Shuffle", "Silly Love", "Art for Art's Sake", "Dreadlock Holiday" and the two songs that also were huge in the USA, "I'm Not in Love" and "The Things We Do For Love". While 10CC had some success in the States, it always puzzled me that American fans did not make them even bigger. "Wall Street Shuffle", in particular, should have been a monster !With a band like 10CC though, even a lengthy compilation like this cannot include all of their great songs. For example, their second album, "Sheet Music" is, in my opinion, a perfect pop record--every song is different, beautifully crafted and memorable. When I bought the LP nearly 30 years ago, it was on my turntable a lot ! I suspect that many 10CC fans would agree with me.Their later material is also strong, and the wonderfully-produced songs by Lol Creme and Kevin Godley on the third CD are a "bonus" in the true sense of the word.If you remember 10CC fondly, and they are "under-represented" in your CD collection, this anthology will fill a large gap. For others less familiar with the band, what an introduction !"