10cc. Every Album, Every Song

Hailing from Manchester, England, sophisticated pop purveyors 10cc hit the ground running with their 1972 debut single, ’Donna’. Their pedigree reached back to bassist Graham Gouldman’s ’60s’ songwriting successes including The Yardbirds’ ’For Your Love’ and The Hollies’ ’Bus Stop’. Guitarist and recording engineer, Eric Stewart, was already a bonafide pop star having sung the global 1966 hit, ’Groovy Kind of Love’, for his group The Mindbenders. When the pair teamed up with drummer/singer Kevin Godley and multi-instrumentalist/singer, Lol Creme, the combination wrought a legacy of four albums. They included the ambitious The Original Soundtrack and several hit singles, including the groundbreaking ’I’m Not In Love,’ that were rich in eclectic boundary-pushing pop that earned 10cc comparisons to The Beatles while still occupying a unique position in music. Departing in 1976, Godley and Creme moved on to create genre-defying experimental albums, while Gouldman and Stewart continued their run of hit singles and albums with a new 10cc lineup. Their final album was 1995’s, Mirror Mirror, a highly respectable full stop on the influential band’s colourful and innovative discography. This book examines every released recording by both Godley & Creme and 10cc, including the band’s debut album under their early name, Hotlegs.