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MORE THAN A FEELING
1976
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"...I've nibbled the
cheese of it, the birds and the bees of it..."
Following on from the March
1975 monster album "The Original Soundtrack" – an event audiophile vinyl
LP that carried the mesmerizing "I'm Not In Love" and the pastrami Pop brilliance of "Life Is A Minestrone" - was never going to be an
easy task. Manchester's
super-songwriting 10cc would have to up the game all the way and on the 24
January 1976 release of their fourth studio album – they did.
I remember buying
the original LP with its wildly clever Hipgnosis artwork continued on
the inside with a beautifully presented gatefold and further lyric inner sleeve. Then there was the
needle down and being duly taken aback by the aural sophistication on the grooves
inside. Like its 1975 predecessor, you didn't know where to look, such was the
innovation and cleverness displayed on every single twisty-bendy song – even if
in my mind some of them just didn't work then and still don't now ("Iceberg" and "I Wanna Rule The World" in particular too clever-clever
for their own clogs).
Kind of worse than that for
me is the overall impact of the Remaster which to my ears sounds more muddled
than "The Original Soundtrack" disc in this series. HDY! is good, but there is a seriously over-produced feel to the album that is upped by
the ROGER WAKE transfer - though not in a good way. The inner sleeve artwork with
the brilliant lyrics is missing entirely, no pictures of those tasty foreign 45
sleeves either ("Lazy Ways" was issued as a 45 in France but not in the UK
or US) and the 4:12 minutes edit of "Art For Art's Sake" along with
the 4:40 minutes edit of "I'm Mandy Fly Me" could have been easily
added on as Bonus Tracks as they were on the 2008 Japanese CD Reissue. But let's
get to what we do have...
UK released June 1997 -
"How Dare You!" by 10cc on Mercury 534 975-2 (Barcode 731453497528)
is a 'Digitally Remastered' Expanded Edition CD Reissue with One Bonus Track
that plays out as follows (45:26 minutes):
1. How Dare You [Side 1]
2. Lazy Ways
3. I Wanna Rule The World
4. I'm Mandy Fly Me
5. Iceberg
6. Art For Art's Sake [Side
2]
7. Rock 'n' Roll Lullaby
8. Head Room
9. Don't Hang Up
Tracks 1 to 9 are their
fourth studio album "How Dare You!" - released January 1976 in the UK
on Mercury Records 9102 501 and January 1976 in the USA on Mercury SRM-1-1061.
Produced by 10cc - it peaked at No. 5 in the UK and No. 46 in the US LP charts.
BONUS TRACK:
9. Get It While You Can
Track 9 is the 21 November 1975
UK 45-single on Mercury 6008 017, Non-LP B-side of "Art For Art's Sake"
(15 Nov 1975 USA on Mercury 73725)
The 8-page booklet is both
good and bad - functional at best. Only the front and rear cover of the LP is represented with the
inner gatefold and the hugely detailed lyric inner-sleeve both AWOL. In their
place is a new set of liner notes from CHRIS WHITE that cover their second LP
for Mercury Records with archival interview quotes from all four of the boys. Unfortunately too much of its time is spent
recanting the band's history prior to the LP and the split into two factions
after "How Dare You!" - Godley
and Crème going solo - while Stewart and Gouldman carried on as 10cc to "Deceptive
Bends" and "Bloody Tourists" in May 1977 and September 1978 (and further). And despite the rear inlay printing "Art For Art's Sake" at 4:19 minutes (the single edit timing) - it is actually the full album version at 5:59 minutes.
ROGER WAKE who did all the
Strawbs and Joan Armatrading CD Remasters on A&M Records – handles the
Remaster here and it’s a very mixed bag for me - victim of the heavily
overdubbed recordings (horrible muffle on "Art For Art's Sake") on one hand whilst jumping out of your speakers because
of it on the other ("Head Room" and the fabulous album finisher "Don't Hang Up"). If in doubt, crank it is actually a good instruction! To the music...
"How Dare You!" opens with the title track as an instrumental to 4:14 minutes (no exclamation mark for some reason) which then segues immediately into "Lazy Days". On the strength of these two brilliant ditties alone (clever changes of mood abound in the opener) - you begin to think this is another Pop masterpiece and echoes of where Tears for Fears would go with "The Seeds Of Love" flood in. But then its all chucked out the window by the clever but seriously irritating "I Wanna Rule The World". All is redeemed by one of the album's true gems - "I'm Mandy Fly Me". It opens with an obscure 10cc tune in the left speaker about fear-of-flying called "Clockwork Creep" from their second album "Sheet Music" in 1974 on UK Records - then the real speaker-to-speaker flanging of "I'm Mandy Fly Me" crashes into your living room. But it's the guitar parts that are utterly brilliant - a genuine 10cc moment of joy. Side 1 ends with the awful "Iceberg" with its mock-Tango rhythms and corny in-jokes.
Preempting the album by nearly three months, the 4-minute edit of the catchy as Hell "Art For Art's Sake" was issued on both sides of the pond in November 1975 as the album's first 45-single (lyrics above). With the only-OK Non-LP "Get It While You Can" on the flipside (a Bonus Track on this CD) - it returned 10cc to the British and American singles charts and nicely set up a buzz for its parent LP. The full album cut at just under six minutes is an impressive piece of song-assembly, but the audio on the Remaster feels damp and muffled - though I suspect this may be more to do with how it was studio-trickery recorded in the first place. No such audio compromises on the brilliant trio that ends Side 2 - "Rock 'n' Roll Lullaby", "Head Room" (lyrics above head this review) and the weirdly unsettling/moving "Don't Hang Up" - they sound great with both "Head Room" and "...Lullaby" fencing some very funny lyrics. And that dial-tone that ends "Don't Hang Up" still grates after all these decades.
"How Dare You!" should have done better in the US album charts, but I hold a candle for it (the trusty LP remains in my heavy-gauge plastic in Mint condition to this day).
"I've called a million times, but to me you're never in..." they sang on the sad and funny "Don't Hang Up". I'd go back and revisit this marriage-on-the-rocks density - it has stag nights and violins and aisle-walking and scum buzzing around busy bodies you should check out one more time (she's got a Rocky terrain too you know)...
