Search - Godley & Creme :: Consequences

What the Dickens is a Gizmo!?

Douglas J. Hultsman | Corinth, Texas United States | 12/16/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"After hinting at the symphonic extravaganzas to come with "One Night in Paris" from "The Original Soundtrack" and "Don't Hang Up" from "How Dare You", Lol and Kevin left 10C.C. to put out this 3 album boxed set to showcase the Gizmotron. The "Gizmo" was a small unit of rotating wheels attached to the bridge area of a guitar. When the wheels were pressed and made contact with the strings, a bowing sound emanated. Cool huh? Well, maybe just a little too late for commercial success with the advent of things like the E-bow and cheaper PCM synthesizers, but the haunting sounds that Lol gets from this thing are fantastic. As an interesting side note, the venerable Jimmy Page used a gizmo'ed guitar for some of the great sounds on "In The Evening".Anyway, I still love this album 25 years on. I only gave it 3 stars to scare off those who are not Godley/Creme afficianodos who might not get the "concept". The concept of "nature taking revenge on a world gone mad" plays out with a sprinkling of great pop songs spaced between the dry Peter Cook dialogue(which may take several listens to get the gist of what's going on).Other highlights include a highly prized Sarah Vaughn guest vocal on "Lost Weekend", a haunting ode to the men who sail the seas in "Sailor", and a very lovely pop work out on "Five o'Clock In The Morning."The rest of the instrumental tunes that serve to help the story line show off more of the Gizmo's talents, and the accompanying booklet(that came with the 3-album set)showed such artifacts as the boys shoveling dirt down a staircase onto a Sennheiser dummy head to simulate the burial scene.And last but not least, they saved room for a beautiful symphonic extravaganza with "Blint's Tune-Movements 1-17", which show that these guys were certainly more than just your average pop rockers.All in all, a great display of talent, but just not your usual 10C.C.-type release, and certainly not for everyone, what with the unusual British dialogue and such. But for those that go for the slightly left o' center with a twinkle in their eyes, this just might hit the bullseye. Enjoy!!"

WONDERFUL

Scot Whetsell | Illinois | 08/09/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For anybody familiar with Godley and Creme's work this is a must have. I first came across this material in college (on LP) and thought that I would forever be left with only a cassette copy of part of it. I was amazed and delighted to find it on CD. I listen to it often HIGHLY recommended for those into avant-garde music."

Amazing and very funny

Allen I. Branson | Los Angeles, CA USA | 02/17/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album was released on my 17th birthday. If you are a fan of this album, you'll understand why I point that out. If you've never heard it, I'll leave that as an enigmatic statement as it would take far too much time and space to explain. I should also add that it is completely coincidental that I am writing this review on the 17th.



My 17th birthday was slightly over 30 years ago. I hadn't listened to this album for the last half of that time. Digging it out and giving it another listen, I was amazed at how fresh it seems. I still love the music and the Peter Cook "radio play" that weaves the songs together had me laughing out loud again.



What struck me about this album was how current the subject matter is. The aforementioned radio play (Cook wrote it and provides all but the female voices in a tour de force performance) is all about the weather having gone mad and threatening to wipe humanity from the face of the Earth while the attorney's of an estranged couple work to make what should be a trivial divorce into a major case. As the world (including the building they are in) literally falls apart around them, they remain oblivious to anything but the petty squabble about dividing the spoils in which they are embroiled.



Cook mined the sad facts of his own life for the material. Quite possibly, everything in the play is meant as a metaphor of his own life. What it serves as today, very nicely, is a metaphor of the world at large that is becoming less metaphor and more cold, hard fact. Our world is flying apart, including weather gone made, and most of us can't lift our heads above our petty concerns to notice. The realization that Cook's comedy had become near documentary made listening to the album bittersweet, but still laugh-out-loud funny.



One last point. In the modern musical environment of iTunes and disposable music, this album stands tall as an example of how the music industry might actually be able to sell entire albums again. While many of the songs can stand on their own, the whole album is constructed as one coherent piece rather than a mere collection of tunes. Buying only one track from this album would make about as much sense as buying one scene from The Matrix."