Sheet Music (album)

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.

For other uses, see Sheet music (disambiguation).

Sheet Music
Studio album by
10cc
ReleasedMay 1974
RecordedJanuary, 1974
StudioStrawberry Studios, Stockport, Cheshire, England
Genre
Length37:12
LabelUK (original release)
Mercury (1982 reissue)
Repertoire (2000 German CD reissue)
Producer10cc
10cc chronology
10cc
(1973)		 Sheet Music
(1974)		 The Original Soundtrack
(1975)
Singles from Sheet Music
  1. "The Worst Band in the World" b/w "18 Carat Man of Means"
    Released: January 1974
  2. "The Wall Street Shuffle" b/w "Gismo My Way"
    Released: May 1974
  3. "Silly Love" b/w "The Sacro-Iliac"
    Released: August 1974

Production

The album was produced by 10cc, engineered and mixed by Eric Stewart. It is notable to include all the writing duos between Stewart, Gouldman, Godley and Creme which the band utilized 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."[2]

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.[3]

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.[4]

Release

Three singles were taken from the album, all of them released in 1974. "The Worst Band in the World" failed to chart, while "The Wall Street Shuffle" made #10 in the UK and number 1 in the Netherlands. "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.[5][6]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Christgau's Record GuideB[7]
Tom HullC+[8]

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.[9] 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".[10]

Legacy

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".[11] 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".[12]

Kevin Godley, Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart have subsequently referred to Sheet Music as 10cc's zenith throughout their career.[13]

Graham Gouldman performed the album live in its entirety in 2015 with 10cc touring band.[14]

Track listing
Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
1."The Wall Street Shuffle"
Stewart with Gouldman3:54
2."The Worst Band in the World"
Creme with Gouldman2:49
3."Hotel"
Godley with Gouldman4:54
4."Old Wild Men"
  • Creme
  • Godley
Stewart and Godley3:21
5."Clockwork Creep"
  • Creme
  • Godley
Creme, Godley, Stewart and Gouldman2:46
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
6."Silly Love"
  • Stewart
  • Creme
Creme and Stewart4:01
7."Somewhere in Hollywood"
  • Creme
  • Godley
Godley with Creme6:39
8."Baron Samedi"
  • Stewart
  • Gouldman
Stewart with Godley3:46
9."The Sacro-Iliac"
  • Gouldman
  • Godley
Gouldman and Godley2:33
10."Oh Effendi"
  • Stewart
  • Godley
Godley and Stewart2:49

1993 CD release bonus track
  1. "Waterfall" (Gouldman, Stewart) – 3:43

2002 Japanese CD reissue bonus tracks
  1. "Bee in My Bonnet" (Gouldman, Stewart) - 2:01
  2. "Gismo My Way" (instrumental) (Godley, Creme, Gouldman, Stewart) – 3:43
  3. "18 Carat Man of Means" (Godley, Creme, Gouldman, Stewart) – 3:27

2007 UK CD reissue bonus tracks
  1. "18 Carat Man of Means" (Godley, Creme, Gouldman, Stewart) – 3:27
  2. "Gismo My Way" (instrumental) (Godley, Creme, Gouldman, Stewart) – 3:43
  3. "The Worst Band in the World" (Radio Version) (Creme, Gouldman) – 2:49

Personnel

10cc

References
  1. Grimstad, Paul. "What is Avant-Pop?". Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  2. "Kevin Godley interview". Muzikreviews.com. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  3. Stannard, Joseph(2010)."Are You Normal? 10cc's Graham Gouldman Interviewed". The Quietus
  4. Lester, Paul (22 November 2012). "10cc: 'It was a tragedy we didn't stay together'". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  5. Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "10cc: The Complete UK Recordings 1972-1974" (review; CD release date, 16 March 2004). AllMusic. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  6. "10cc: The Complete UK Recordings". Varesesarabande.com (publisher's product description). Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  7. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: T". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved 15 March 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  8. Hull, Tom (April 1975). "The Rekord Report: First Card". Overdose. Retrieved 26 June 2020 – via tomhull.com.
  9. Charley Walters (12 September 1974). "10cc – Sheet Music". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  10. "10cc – Sheet Music". Billboard. 1974. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  11. Dave Thompson (2012). "Sheet Music – 10cc | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 26 April 2012. Dave Thompson
  12. George Durbalau. "1001 Albums: You Must Hear Before You Die". Books.google.co.uk. Octopus Publishing Group. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  13. The Worst Band In The World: The Definitive Biography of 10cc by Liam Newton (2000: Minerva Press) ISBN 0-75410-311-0
  14. Roger Wink (12 December 2014). "10cc To Perform Sheet Music Album Live". noise11.com. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
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