GODLEY & CREME: The Problem of 5 CCs

Title: Body of Work

Label: Polydor

The problem with Godley & Creme, as performing musicians, as a duo is…that they were Godley & Creme, performing musicians, as a duo. The guys eventually saw this issue too and ended up becoming supreme masters and innovators of the music video instead.

Earlier, when the chaps exited 10cc, they left a fractured band that span out of control, like an aircraft suddenly left with one wing at 50,000ft. It span out of the sky, without G&C (who had jumped, parachutes fixed to their backs, through the exit door), eventually crashing, while spouting a few hit singles on the way down. G&C, meanwhile, smug in their confident decision to ‘do their own thing’ entered their own creative space with vast amounts of optimism, creative energy, ideas and talent. Trouble is, they needed a catalyst to make it all work. And that catalyst was still falling to its death from 50,000ft.

What G&C produced, therefore, was was a stream of half-finished albums with lots of highlights, great songs, interesting ideas and oodles of ‘ifs’ and ‘maybes’ that never really worked out or came off as LPs. Frustrating for them and frustrating for the listener.

So you’d think that I would advise avoiding this new box set like the plague wouldn’t you? Not at all! This pair are so talented that even their half finished, quirky, eccentric and often Zappa-esque projects are more worthy than many of their contemporaries manicured albums. Included here are: L,Ismism, Birds of Prey, History Mix and Goodbye Blue Sky. The set also includes a fifth disc of B-Sides and extended mixes.

Audiophiles who enjoy CD play will be very happy with this box set in terms of its mastering quality. As with all commercial CDs, there is a touch of compression but it is lightly applied while detail and insight is to the fore here.