Latest news with #10cc
Times
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
10cc review — a royal success from the court jesters of prog
A grand courtyard of red-brick Tudor splendour (the extremely civilised Hampton Court Palace Festival, with a cushion-bellied Henry VIII roaming the gardens) seemed a fitting locale for 10cc, the court jesters of Seventies art rock. Where their peers traded in po-faced prog, cult glam and cocaine experimentation, their speciality was in boogie-based collage rock, amalgamating strains of blue-eyed surf pop, vaudevillian operetta, new wave, calypso, and colourful semi-comic storytelling and metaphor. Life is a minestrone and death a cold lasagne, they famously posited in 1975, like a profoundly existential edition of Nadiya Hussain's Cook Once, Eat Twice. And you know what, if you thought about it for long enough on the frankly smashing drugs knocking around back then, it kind of was. Here, they were clearly a reduced outfit, with only the bassist Graham Gouldman remaining from the original line-up, his decaying vocals bolstered by his co-frontman Iain Hornal and the long-standing guitarist Rick Fenn. But like the jesters of old, their opening few songs spoke truth to power even at 50 years' remove. The hyper-capitalist parody The Wall Street Shuffle is still powerfully prescient and the wiry, industry-skewering Art for Art's Sake, with its rock-as-commodity chorus of 'Art for art's sake, money for God's sake', could be Spotify's theme song. The satire may have been ageless — witness a bloodthirsty boogie-woogie National Guard loading up on Rubber Bullets, then turn on Newsnight — but the music was firmly nostalgia-zone. Bar one 2024 Gouldman solo song — the languid cruise ship ballad Floating in Heaven featuring Brian May, who was (dramatic pause) 'not here tonight' — nothing was dated post-1978. Dreadlock Holiday in particular, their infamous cod reggae tune about being mugged by Jamaican locals, sat in the realm of 'things they got away with in the Seventies' — although the crowd, themselves largely in their seventies, lapped it up. The overriding sense was one of envious amazement that such imaginative, shapeshifting stuff was ever mainstream-adjacent. The Things We Do for Love drenched a classic Beatles-style doe-eyed doo-wop in unutterable anguish, while Clockwork Creep unravelled the dialogue between a bomb and the passenger jet it's about to blow up to the sound of operatic music-hall art pop with Disney whistles on. And though there were undoubtedly sags in the set and a covers-act sheen to the affair, there were also sublime passages, where the airline jingle turned dreampop drama I'm Mandy Fly Me gave way to the gorgeous phantom harmonies of I'm Not in Love, or when the full band gathered centre stage for a stunning barbershop take on their debut single, Donna. In philosophical dining terms: mostly minestrone.★★★★☆ 10cc play the Sign of the Times Festival, Herts, on Jun 20 and the Brit Festival, Cheshire, on Jul 6,
Telegraph
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
‘I don't like cricket' singer enjoys first match 47 years later
The rock singer whose band sang 'I don't like cricket, I love it' has enjoyed watching his first match 47 years later. Nearly five decades after 10cc's hit song Dreadlock Holiday, Graham Gouldman watched England romp to a 3-0 series clean sweep over the West Indies at The Oval. The reggae song was co-written by Gouldman and has become a regular feature at cricket matches since its 1978 release. Speaking to BBC Three Counties Radio, Gouldman, 79, said: 'After today's experience I can say 'I don't like cricket, I absolutely love it. 'I've had a really lovely day really, enjoyed it... great atmosphere, great people. 'I just had a wonderful time.' A founding member of the band from Stockport, Gouldman previously told how the lyrics for the song came after speaking to a Jamaican man on holiday. When he asked him if he liked cricket, he replied: 'Oh no… I love it.' The song is a firm fan favourite among both cricket players and fans. Phil Tufnell, the former England bowler, said it was the 'soundtrack to my cricket career'. He told Gouldman: 'Wherever we was touring, it was always on. 'Also I'm pretty sure when I came out of the second jungle [on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here] that was the tune I came out to.' The singer even teased a sequel song could be in the offing, when he was asked if he could write another hit about attending his first match. He said: 'When you have had a nice experience like this I'm sure somewhere, at some point, something will crop up in a song.' The band 10cc had five consecutive UK top-10 albums between 1972 and 1978. Twelve of their singles reached the UK Top 40, including three that were chart-toppers. Their other hits include Rubber Bullets and I'm Not in Love.
BBC News
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
10cc star Graham Gouldman sees first match and does love cricket
A rock musician who co-wrote a song with the lyrics "I don't like cricket - I love it" has just gone to his first match - nearly 47 years after the hit was released. Graham Gouldman, a founding member of the band 10cc, had never seen live cricket, despite the 1978 hit "Dreadlock Holiday" being adopted as an anthem by many fans of the with the help of BBC Three Counties Radio, Gouldman saw England beat the West Indies in Tuesday's one-day international at The Oval."After today's experience I can say 'I don't like cricket, I absolutely love it'," said Gouldman, 79. He added: "I've had a really lovely day really, enjoyed it... great atmosphere, great people. "I just had a wonderful time." Asked if he would attempt to write another hit about his first match, he said: "When you have had a nice experience like this I'm sure somewhere, at some point. something will crop up in a song." He is the only original member in the current line-up of 10cc, which formed in Stockport in band had five consecutive UK top-ten albums and twelve singles in the UK Top 40, including three has said "Dreadlock Holiday" was inspired by a man he met on holiday in Jamaica. Since it hit number one in several countries, including the UK, the song has been played at countless was described by former England cricketer Phil Tufnell as the "soundtrack to my cricket career"."Wherever we was touring, it was always on," he told Gouldman."Also I'm pretty sure when I came out of the second jungle [on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here] that was the tune I came out to." Fans told BBC Three Counties presenter Justin Dealey - who helped organise Gouldman's day at The Oval - they could hardly believe it was the musician's first match. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
The whispering woman behind 10cc's I'm Not In Love
BBC "Be quiet - big boys don't cry... big boys don't cry ... big boys don't cry!" Those whispered words are, of course, an essential part of 10cc's best-known hit single, 1970s pop masterpiece I'm Not In Love which was recently reprised by two of the band - Kevin Godley and Graham Gouldman - in a session for BBC Radio Two's Piano Room. Now, 50 years since the record's release, the woman who delivered those words can still scarcely believe her 15 seconds of fame. It all began when receptionist and secretary Cathy Redfern answered the phone at Stockport's Strawberry Studios, which were part-owned by the critically acclaimed Mancunian band. She was blissfully unaware drummer Kevin Godley felt the "middle eight" section was lacking a certain something in Eric Stewart's song about his wife not being happy with him for hardly ever saying he loved her. The band had added layers of overdubbed vocals and haunting instrumentalism to the song. Godley was whispering the line "Be quiet - big boys don't cry" in the control room when Cathy popped in to deliver a message. The then 19-year-old had only been working at the studios for about a year and did not want to disturb the band. However, she knew she had to pass on a message. She recalled: "I could see they were very busy, so I just went to the door and whispered to Eric: 'There's a phone call for you.' "They just said 'That's it." Impressed by the tone of her spoken voice, the band immediately asked her to replace Godley in committing them to tape. "I immediately said no way," said Cathy, who is now known by her married name of Warren. She said she remembered thinking: "I can't sing." It turns out the band were very persuasive, however. She said guitarist Lol Creme "put me over his shoulder and carried me back to the studio". Cathy added: "Kevin Godley came into the studio with me and would tap me on the shoulder when they wanted me to speak - I managed to do it in around three to four takes." At the time, she did not really think much of it, other than a brief distraction from her day job. All that changed, though, when the song hit number one and 10cc performed it on BBC One's Top Of The Pops. Looking back, she told the BBC: "It is a fabulous song. I never get tired of hearing it even now. It just stops you in your tracks really. "I never thought I would be hearing it 50 years later." The tune can also turn up in some unexpected places, she said. "It has followed me wherever I go. One time, I was returning from a family holiday in Greece when it started as we boarded the plane." Cathy Warren Kudos for her role in pop history seems to have skipped a generation, though, since her children were not especially impressed by their mum's exploits. Cathy said: "My grandson is really impressed, though, because his teacher is a massive 10cc fan." She said she had fond memories of her time at Strawberry Studios. Cathy said the band viewed her as their "kid sister". "They really looked after me," she said. "It was a great time." So many big name acts recorded at Strawberry Studios, which have been dubbed the Abbey Road of the North. Was Cathy star-struck? "Not really," she replied. "As it was just my job. The nearest I came was when I worked for the band when they played Knebworth. "Eric said to me 'I have a job for you which I think you are going to like - can you look after Paul McCartney for two hours?'" She recalled: "We had lunch and he was a really lovely man. I was really interested in what he had to say, but he was really interested in what I did... especially what I did for I'm Not In Love." Her more tangible memory of the time is a silver disc which the band gave her in recognition of the crucial role she played in their most famous song. "That was just typical of them," she said. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer Stockport
BBC News
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Strawberry Studios: Gig and album celebrate 'Abbey Road of north'
A special gig celebrating the recording studio where 10cc, The Smiths and Joy Division recorded their music is taking place Studios, which has been described as "the Abbey Road of the north", started out as Inter-City Studios in 1967, but was renamed after Beatles song, Strawberry Fields gig at Stockport Plaza pays homage to the cradle of Manchester music and will feature cover versions of the city's pop anthems by local bands, plus guest appearances from Peter Hook of Joy Division and New Order, Clint Boon of Inspiral Carpets and Andy Couzens, a founder member of The Stone Roses.A vinyl album, Strawberry Studios Forever, is also being released. Also lined up at the gig are The Lottery Winners who will perform two songs by The Smiths. "It's hard to imagine how Manchester might have been without Strawberry Studios," Boon, who will be singing Solitaire, said. The comeback hit was written by US 60s legend Neil Sedaka and recorded in Stockport in the early 1970s."It was pioneering - there was nothing like it outside of London," he Barratt, the man behind the album and gig, which highlights Stockport's musical pedigree worked with his ex-wife Rosemary, a musical journalist, to create The Stockport Music Story project. "It was the Abbey Road of the north," he said, referencing the London recording studio where The Beatles recorded many of their Barratt said: "It was affordable with the latest sophisticated technology which meant fledgling bands like Joy Division were able to record - it was why Martin Pannett was able to create the sound for the band's album Unknown Pleasures."Set up in 1967 in a 20 sq ft (6 sq m) room above a record store it was initially called Inter-City Studios but after Peter Tattersall bought it for about £500 and Eric Stewart, of The Mindbenders and 10cc, became a partner, it was renamed Strawberry Recording Studios. "We were having trouble thinking of a name when Eric suddenly thought of his favourite Beatles song - Strawberry Fields forever," Tattersall also produced and recorded the novelty hit There's No-One Quite Like Grandma, by local children from the St Winifred's RC School choir where his own children December 1980 it knocked John Lennon off the number one slot as the UK's best selling single of the year with 980,000 copies sold beating The Police and Barbara Streisand. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
