10CC: Live On "The King Biscuit Flower Hour" in 1974
Written: Feb 05 '03 (Updated Feb 09 '03)
Product Rating:
Pros: Top 10 British hits "Donna," "Wall Street Shuffle" and "Rubber Bullets."
Cons: Weak CD booklet. Doesn't include the band's later hits like "I'm Not In Love."
The Bottom Line: Very clean-sounding live performance of a band approaching its peak in popularity. Will be appreciated by 10CC fans more than the general public.
Don_Krider's Full Review: King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents-in Concert by 10...
"The King Biscuit Flower Hour," a wonderful syndicated live concert series in the 1970s, brought many an up-and-coming band to pop audiences on radio --- among those acts were future British hit-makers 10CC in November 1974.
The shows aired on that series are gradually being issued as CDs on King Biscuit Flower Hour Records and the sound quality of the series is outstanding.
"King Biscuit," years before CDs existed, was recorded and broadcast using high tech remote studios --- those broadcasts have been digitally remastered from the original multi-track recordings for the CD series "King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents..."
The brink of stardom in the USA:
Caught on the eve of conquering the United States, England's 10CC were caught at the Santa Monica Civic Center in November 1974 (this is the correct date, the date in the CD booklet, although the back album cover incorrectly lists the year as 1975).
Already huge in England (where they scored 11 Top 10 singles, including three which hit # 1, and seven Top 10 albums), in 1974 they had hit the U. S. charts only once. That first U. S. hit in 1973 was "Rubber Bullets," which peaked at # 73.
As a result of this U. S. performance on radio (and pre-recorded video performances aired on the syndicated TV series "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert"), 10CC would eventually enjoy nine U. S. Hot 100 singles, including "I'm Not In Love" (which hit # 2 for three weeks in 1975) and the million-seller "The Things We Do For Love" (which earned them a Gold Record Award and peaked at # 5 in 1977).
The material here, including "Rubber Bullets," is all from their first two studio albums, so "I'm Not In Love" and "The Things We Do For Love," both released after 1975, are not on this 1974 recording.
What is here, however, is a tight, energetic, intelligent band that is eager to please its audience. In my opinion, they succeed.
10CC's background:
The band members had enjoyed some success before linking up as 10CC.
Singer-guitarist Graham Gouldman wrote some of the biggest hits of the 1960s before joining the band.
He scored U. S. Top 40 hits as a songwriter with The Hollies ("Bus Stop," which hit # 5 in 1966, and "Look Through Any Window," # 32 in 1965), The Yardbirds ("For Your Love," # 6 in 1965, and "Heart Full Of Soul," # 9 in 1965) and Herman's Hermits ("No Milk Today," # 35 in 1967).
Gouldman's songs were also recorded by The Jeff Beck Group and by Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders ("Pamela, Pamela").
Singer-guitarist Eric Stewart was a member of that same Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders for five years. During his stint, he sang lead of the group's # 1 U. S. hit (# 2 in England), "A Groovy Kind Of Love" in 1965.
Stewart also wrote the Mindbenders second U. S. Top 10 hit, "Game Of Love," which peaked at # 2 for two weeks in 1966.
Stewart hooked up with singer-keyboardist-bassist Lol Creme and drummer Kevin Godley to form Hotlegs, a band that hit # 22 in the U. S. (# 3 in England, with worldwide sales of two million copies) in 1970 with "Neanderthal Man."
Adding Gouldman to the Hotlegs lineup, all four band members were used as backup musicians by Neil Sedaka (on his albums "Solitaire" and "The Tra-La Days Are Over" in 1971).
The band's demo recording of "Donna," with its Beach Boys' feel and a parody of the 1958 Ritchie Valens hit of the same name, reached UK Records' executive Jonathan King.
King liked the band and re-christened them as 10CC.
Success:
10CC took off like a rocket in England as "Donna" rose to # 2 in 1972 (it did not chart in the U. S.). They followed this with "Rubber Bullets," which rose to # 1 in England (while peaking at # 73 in the U. S. during an eight week chart run).
The band was hard to describe, their music being a blend of The Beach Boys, The Beatles and Frank Zappa. Their harmonies and musicianship were outstanding.
By the time they did the "King Bisuit" show in the U. S. in November 1974, the band had failed to chart additional hits stateside, but had scored two additional British Top 10 smashes with "The Dean and I" and "Wall Street Shuffle."
They decided that to conquer America it would have to be done as a live band.
The "King Biscuit" appearance:
Using their best material from their two Top 10 British albums, the band took the Santa Monica, California, stage in 1974 for a 10-song set.
The songs:
Following a brief lightening-and-wind sound effect-laden "intro," the band performed "Silly Love", "Baron Samedi," "Old Wild Men," "The Sacro Iliac," "Somewhere In Hollywood," "Donna," ""Ships Don't Disappear In The Night Do They?," "Worst Band In The World," "Wall Street Shuffle" and "Rubber Bullets."
The best tracks:
"Donna":
Godley and Creme's "Donna" is presented as '50s rock meets "Abbey Road," a curious mix of both humor and romanticism ("you make me sit down, Donna... you make me stand up...").
The tune is both gently strummed and aggressively played --- one minute '50s sweetness, the next minute Frank Zappa acid-rock.
"Wall Street Shuffle":
With its gorgeous fuzz guitar intro, "Wall Street Shuffle" is the group's cynical take on the economy and the pursuit of wealth, all played with a haunting keyboard melody and ringing power chords (the guitar work here is extraordinary). The intelligent lyrics (such as "got to be cool on Wall Street when the index is low, Dow Jones ain't got time for the bums") are to be enjoyed on the chorus:
"Oh, Howard Hughes / did your money make you better? / are you waiting for the hour when you can screw me / 'cause you're big enough / do the wall street shuffle / let your money hustle / bet you'd sell your mother / you can buy another..."
"Rubber Bullets":
With a "1-2, 1-2-3-4" count the band leaps into its most Beach Boy-ish moment with its controversial "Rubber Bullets," a tune that is against the use of "rubber bullets" by law enforcement officers.
The band sings of a "local dance at the local county jail" which gets out of hand, leading to a call for the police to stop the event.
The band sings of over-zealous lawmen (with siren sounds playing in the background):
"...load up / load up / load up / your rubber bullets / I love to hear those convicts squeal / it's a shame these slugs ain't real / but we can't have dancing at the local county jail..."
The present:
The band has split and regouped several times since the 1980s. Gouldman has recorded with Andrew Gold, while Stewart has worked with Paul McCartney ("Press To Play" and "Give My Regards To Broad Street").
Godley and Creme recorded as a duo after leaving the band in 1976 (Gouldman and Stewart continued on without them for years), scoring several British Top 10 hits. In the U. S., the video for their song "Cry" received considerable MTV airplay and hit the U. S. Top 40 Singles chart.
The CD booklet:
The illustrated, 12-page booklet has a brief biography of the band and two photos, but mostly is an advertisement for other albums in the CD series and a long history of the radio series.
Recommendation:
A very energetic, clean, crisp-sounding live recording with clear vocals and fine musicianship by the band. This recording avoids many of the drawbacks of other live recordings and is a joy to listen to.
10CC is guilty, at times, of '70s rock "jamming," which can get rather boring after a few minutes, but they only fall into to this rut at the end of "Rubber Bullets." Rock bands used to "jam" to prove what great, talented musicians the band members are; in this case, 10CC had nothing to prove, but I suspect they thought this was what U. S. audiences wanted at the time.
If you're a fan of the band, this is a good choice to purchase. If you just want the studio versions of the songs and all the hits, then buy their album "The Very Best Of 10CC" instead. My review of that album is at: http://www.epinions.com/content_25635098244 .
On the web:
"King Biscuit" official site: http://www.kingbiscuit.com
10CC official site: http://home.wanadoo.nl/matters.10cc
10CC official fan club: http://home.wanadoo.nl/matters.10cc/htm/frams10.htm
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