| Sheet Music | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 24 May 1974 [1] | |||
| Recorded | January 1974 | |||
| Studio | Strawberry Studios, Stockport, Cheshire, England | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 37:12 | |||
| Label | UK | |||
| Producer | 10cc | |||
| 10cc chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Sheet Music | ||||
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Sheet Music is the second album by the English rock band 10cc. It was released in 1974 on UK records (No: UKAL 1007), and yielded the hit singles "The Wall Street Shuffle" and "Silly Love". The album reached No. 9 in the UK and No. 81 in the United States.
The album was produced by 10cc, engineered and mixed by Eric Stewart. It includes all possible combinations of co-writing duos between Stewart, Gouldman, Godley and Creme, which the band used to experiment and explore new creativity while making the album.
In a 2006 interview, ex-drummer Kevin Godley said: "We'd really started to explode creatively and didn't recognise any boundaries. We were buzzing on each other and exploring our joint and individual capabilities. Lots of excitement and energy at those sessions and, more important, an innocence that was open to anything." [4]
While 10cc were recording their album during the night, Paul McCartney was using the Strawberry Studios in the daytime to produce his brother Mike's album McGear . Graham Gouldman remarked how the band used Paul's drum kit for their album, and how Paul's influence was certainly felt while making the record. [5]
The subject of the song "Clockwork Creep", which ends side one of the album, is a bomb aboard a jumbo jet describing the final minute in its countdown to detonation. [6]
Three singles were taken from the album, all of them released in 1974. The lead single "The Worst Band in the World" failed to chart, while the follow-up "The Wall Street Shuffle" made #10 in the UK and #2 in the Netherlands. The third single "Silly Love" made #24 in the UK.
The album was reissued several times with different b-sides from the 10cc and Sheet Music singles as bonus tracks. The most recent version is 2007 UK reissue which combines only Sheet Music related bonus tracks.
The album in its entirety—including all of the bonus cuts from the 1993 release and the 2007 release—appears, along with 10cc's first album 10cc and all its released bonus cuts, on 10cc - The Complete UK Recordings on Varèse Sarabande Records. [7] [8]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [9] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B [10] |
| Tom Hull | C+ [11] |
Charley Walters in his 1974 Rolling Stone review felt that the band had "concocted standard pop into their own inventive, even sophisticated, art", and that while not typical pop music it would be popular with AM-oriented DJs and their listeners. [12] Billboard felt the band had a "certain zany feeling", but that "their songs are far from silly when carefully listened to" and they had "some of the most innovative vocal techniques and instrumental arrangements around". [13]
Dave Thompson, in a summary of the album for Allmusic, felt that it had staying power and that it was "perhaps the most widely adventurous album of what would become a wildly adventurous year". [14] George Durbalau in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die felt it was "a piece of well-crafted, highly idiosyncratic pop" and was "in a word, inventive". [15]
Kevin Godley, Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart have subsequently referred to Sheet Music as 10cc's zenith throughout their career. [16]
Graham Gouldman performed the album live in its entirety in 2015 with his 10cc touring band. [17]
Producer J Dilla sampled the track "The Worst Band In The World" on his track "Workinonit" from 2006's Donuts. In 2020, after J Dilla's track was used in two Dave Chappelle Netflix specials, Music Sales Corporation and Man-Ken Music, Ltd. (the latter of which owns the 10cc composition) sued Universal Polygram International Publishing Inc. and E.P.H.C.Y. Publishing, for copyright infringement [18]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Wall Street Shuffle" | Stewart | 3:54 | |
| 2. | "The Worst Band in the World" |
| Creme | 2:49 |
| 3. | "Hotel" |
| Godley | 4:54 |
| 4. | "Old Wild Men" |
| Stewart and Godley | 3:21 |
| 5. | "Clockwork Creep" |
| Creme, Godley, Stewart and Gouldman | 2:46 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Silly Love" |
| Creme and Stewart with Godley | 4:01 |
| 7. | "Somewhere in Hollywood" |
| Godley with Creme | 6:39 |
| 8. | "Baron Samedi" |
| Stewart with Godley | 3:46 |
| 9. | "The Sacro-Iliac" |
| Gouldman and Godley with Creme | 2:33 |
| 10. | "Oh Effendi" |
| Godley and Stewart | 2:49 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "18 Carat Man of Means" |
| Stewart with Godley and Creme | 3:27 |
| 2. | "Gismo My Way" |
| instrumental | 3:43 |
| 3. | "The Worst Band in the World (Radio Version)" |
| Creme with Gouldman | 2:49 |
Credits sourced from the original album liner notes.
| Chart (1974) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report) [19] | 87 |
| United Kingdom (Official Charts Company) | 9 |
| United States (Billboard 200) | 81 |
10cc are a British rock band formed in Stockport in 1972. The group initially consisted of four musicians — Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme — who had written and recorded together since 1968. All four members contributed to songwriting, working together in various permutations. Godley and Creme’s songwriting has been described as being inspired by art and cinema. Every member of 10cc was a multi-instrumentalist, singer, writer and producer. Most of the band's records were recorded at their own Strawberry Studios (North) in Stockport and Strawberry Studios (South) in Dorking, with most of those engineered by Stewart.
Kevin Michael Godley is a British singer-songwriter, drummer and music video director. He was a singer and drummer of the art rock band 10cc and later was part of collaboration duo Godley & Creme with Lol Creme.
Godley & Creme were an English rock duo formally established in Manchester in 1977 by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The pair began releasing music as a duo after their departure from the rock band 10cc. In 1979, they directed their first music video for their single "An Englishman in New York". After this, they became involved in the production of videos for artists such as Ultravox, the Police, Yes, Duran Duran, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Huey Lewis and the News and Wang Chung, as well as directing the groundbreaking video for their 1985 single "Cry". The duo split at the end of the 1980s. Both have since been involved in music videos, TV commercials, and sporadic music projects.
Laurence Neil "Lol" Creme is a British musician and music video director, best known for his work in 10cc. He was later one half of the duo Godley & Creme, with 10cc drummer Kevin Godley. Creme has collaborated with Trevor Horn's Band. He sings and plays guitar, bass and keyboards.
Graham Keith Gouldman is an English singer, musician and songwriter, best known as the co-lead singer and bassist of the art rock band 10cc. He has been the band's only constant member since its formation in 1972. Before 10cc, Gouldman worked as a freelance songwriter and penned many hits for major rock and pop groups, including the Yardbirds, the Hollies, Herman's Hermits and Ohio Express.
10cc is the debut album by the British rock band 10cc, first released in 1973. It was recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport, which was part-owned by guitarist and engineer Eric Stewart, and released on Jonathan King's UK Records label. The album reached number 36 in the UK Albums Chart.
"I'm Not in Love" is a song by British group 10cc, written by band members Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman. It is known for its innovative and distinctive backing track, composed mostly of the band's multitracked vocals. Released in the UK in May 1975 as the second single from the band's third album, The Original Soundtrack, it became the second of the group's three number-one singles in the UK between 1973 and 1978, topping the UK Singles Chart for two weeks. "I'm Not in Love" became the band's breakthrough hit outside the United Kingdom, topping the charts in Canada and Ireland as well as peaking within the top 10 of the charts in several other countries, including Australia, West Germany, New Zealand, Norway and the United States.
How Dare You! is the fourth album by British band 10cc. Released in 1976, it included UK hit singles "I'm Mandy Fly Me" and "Art for Art's Sake". The album was the band's third to have cover artwork by the Hipgnosis creative team.
Deceptive Bends is the fifth studio album by the British rock band 10cc, released in 1977. It was the first album released by the band after the departure of founding members Kevin Godley and Lol Creme and produced the hit single "The Things We Do for Love".
Look Hear? is the seventh studio album by 10cc, released in 1980.
...Meanwhile is the tenth studio album by the British rock band 10cc, released in 1992. It was the band's first in nine years and marked the brief comeback of the original 10cc members Kevin Godley and Lol Creme.
Greatest Hits ... And More is a 2006 compilation and video albums of songs by English pop group 10cc as well as pre-10cc and post-10cc work by its founding members, Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart and Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, performing as Godley & Creme.
Solitaire is a 1972 album by American singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka.
"The Wall Street Shuffle" is a single by the British pop/rock band 10cc, released in 1974 on the UK Records label, from the band's 1974 album Sheet Music. It was the most successful single to be released from the album, reaching No. 10 on the UK chart.
Changing Faces – The Very Best of 10cc and Godley & Creme is a compilation album that included the hits of 10cc and Godley & Creme, the first album to include both bands.
Live and Let Live is 10cc's first live album, released in the Autumn of 1977. It was recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon in London between 18 and 20 June 1977 and the Manchester Apollo, Manchester between 16 and 17 July 1977.
"Life Is a Minestrone" is a 1975 song by 10cc released as a lead single from their third album, The Original Soundtrack.
100cc, also known as 100cc - Greatest Hits of 10cc is a compilation album by the English rock band 10cc.
"Silly Love" is a song recorded by an English rock band 10cc released as the third and final single from the album Sheet Music through UK Records in 1974.
Clever Clogs is a live and video album by 10cc released in 2008.
Dave Thompson
