10cc - "Sheet Music" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1974 (UK Records)

In the early 1970s, I was intrigued with the band 10cc, due that two of the musicians were very much part of the music business or scene of the 1960s.  Graham Gouldman wrote hits for The Yardbirds, The Hollies, and Herman's Hermits, while Eric Stewart was a member and writer for Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders.   The new guys in the band (at the time) Kevin Godley and Lol Creme came out of nowhere but soon became prominent music video directors as well as working with the group Art of Noise.  What made 10cc interesting is the creative tension between Godley/Creme and Gouldman/Stewart.   Generally speaking, the veterans had a classic songwriting approach to their material, but Godley/Creme always had a visual flair to their songwriting which was cinematic and ambitious.  

10cc at their weakest are sometimes a parody act, or a very pretentious reach to expand their pop sensibilities. "Sheet Music," their second album plays on both sides of the coin and succeeds greatly.  "The Wall Street Shuffle" and "Silly Love" are classic songwriting with a broad sense of satire and the Beatleastic (mostly on the Paul side of the world) touches of melody and production makes them a witty counterpoint to McCartney's blandness at the time. "The Worst Band in the World" and "Clockwork Creep" are fantastic pieces of pop fun, with "Creep" showing its sinister side of being a song about a bomb and that object's point of view.  

At the time, I purchased all the early 10cc albums, but "Sheet Music" stayed with me because it was fresh and it still sounds vital.  I think due to the intensity of four very creative guys working together to make a pop album that had serious issues but done ironically or humorously.  It's worth noting that Paul McCartney used the same recording studio as 10cc when they recorded "Sheet Music."   Paul was co-writing and producing his brother's solo album "McGear," which is a great Paul album.  There is a sound that goes back and forth between "Sheet Music" and "McGear."  For sure, a sense of adventure and playfulness.