So I have really only listened to one side of How Dare You which is I think the fourth 10CC album so they were probably (whether they knew/acknowledged it or not) trying to get over the hurdle of having the massive fuck off hit of 'I'm Not In Love' and stay true to Christ knows what they thought they were doing. I don't wish to sound derogatory. I'm super impressed by the bits but it's so-o-o disjointed! (Maybe I shouldn't say 'but'). It's described in various places as 'art rock', obviously most art rockers would not expect to sell a million albums particularly with a selection of sweetly played deconstructed hooks like this. 'I'm Mandy Fly Me' is so much not single material, it's a fucking mess, silly histrionic George Harrisonesque guitar (Todd Rundgren has this problem on some of his 70s material too, it's gross) and a really basic tune and words that... look, maybe it's just that the world has moved on in the last 45 years and so it should have. Of course, what do I know - I wasn't in one of the biggest selling, best-known bands of the 70s - I guess they were doing it right. I'm still amazed at how bitty the album is, it's like a freaky scrapbook.
As per the first album, there are bits of songs which I can't get out of my head they're just so catchy and so good, but most songs are a shamble with a strong presence of indigestible, fibrous, matty crap in there that make it hard to listen all the way through with pleasure. So, 'I Wanna Rule the World' for instance has a brilliant opening, an amazing section (the slightly ska 'watcha gonna do...' bit) and then sort of ridiculous chanting and silly theatrics... then the ghastly 'child vocal' section... who are these people!? It's like they are trying to make something new, but they only have these limited, archaic tools at their disposal. That track is more like a radio play than a song, and it's not much like a song - ! Then you know 'Icebergs' - what was it with the 70s and their obsession with the 30s? I blame it on Paul McCartney, but I guess stars like 10CC were entering their 30s in the 70s so their own parents were in their 50s/60s and had the 30s as their reference points... they're engaging a bit with their parents' culture (and I guess their parents' culture was what they saw as 'adult').
Exhausting! Can't wait to play side 2 (although I have waited 44 years).
(Later: I watched the 2015 BBC documentary on 10CC tonight, whoever uploaded it has inserted some completely bizarre material towards the end with captions across the screen justifying scenes from soap operas etc as being thematically related to 'I'm not in Love'. I had to stop watching.)
No comments:
Post a Comment