422 Goodbye 10cc - Run Away*

(* note  the  mistake  on  the  sleeve )

Chart  entered : 7  August  1982

Chart  peak : 50

This  little  record  can  be  seen  as  a  minor  tree  branch,  temporarily  breaking  what  is  still  the  steepest , most  inexplicable, fall  from  grace  in  chart  history. I  can't  think  of  any  other  act  whose  fortunes  dipped  so  spectacularly,  immediately  after  chalking  up  their  third  number  one.

 " Dreadlock  Holiday"'s  ascension  to  the  top  spot  had  provided  the  final  proof  that  the  band  could  thrive  without  Kevin  Godley  and  Lol  Creme   who  had  quit  in  1976  to  record  more  experimental  stuff  featuring  their  newly-invented  Gizmatron  guitar  accessory. Eric  Stewart  and  Graham  Gouldman  decided  to  continue  as  10cc  and  expanded  the  group  to  a  sextet  with  the  addition  of  drummer  and  synth  player  Paul  Burgess, guitarist  Rick  Fenn, drummer  Stuart  Tosh  and  keyboard  player  Duncan  Mackay  though  the  duo  still  called  the  shots. Paul  was  another  Mancunian  who'd  been  helping  them  out  live  since  1973, Rick  was  a  friend  of  his  from  Oxford, Duncan  was  from  Leeds  and  had  a  prog  rock   solo  album  "Chimera"  to  his  credit  and  Stuart  had  been  the  drummer  with  Pilot. The  new  line  up  was  immediately  vindicated  when  "Things  We  Do  For  Love"  became  a  Top  5  hit  in  America.

If  you  looked  closely  though  there  were  signs  that  the  band's  fanbase  might  not  be  as  solid   as  you  might  expect. Their  success  in  the  albums  chart  didn't  keep  pace  with  their  singles, never  managing  higher  than  a  number  3  placing  ( three  times )  and  they  were  a  band  whose  musicianship  should  have  made  them  a  formidable  force  in  the  albums  market. And  their  very  impressive  singles  chart  stats  disguise  that,  even  at  the  height  of  their  fame,  there  were  a  couple  of  singles  that  didn't  chart  at  all.

After  "Dreadlock  Holiday"  dropped  out  of  the  charts  the  problems  started. The  follow-up  "Reds  In  My  Bed"  failed  to  make  the  chart  and  then  in  January  1979  Eric  was  involved  in  a  serious  car  crash  just  before  they  were  due  to  tour  Japan. Due  to  damaging  his  left  ear  as  well  as  eye  he  couldn't  even  go  near  music  for  six  months.  While  waiting  for  Eric  to  recover  Graham  had  a  minor  hit  with  the  theme  song  to  the  film  Sunburn.
  
By  the  time  Eric  was  well  enough  to  resume  work,  a  new  decade  was  upon  them  and  things  had  changed. They'd  always tested  the  patience  of  radio  programmers  with  singles  of  above  average  length  and  now  found  they  were  no  longer  being  cut  any  slack  and  not  getting  played. With  no  hit  singles  to  promote  it , 1980's  lacklustre  "Look  Hear"  album  could  only   limp  to  number  35.   By  the  time  of  the  next  one, 1981's   "Ten  Out  of  Ten "  Stuart  and  Duncan  were  no  longer  involved  and  Paul  and  Rick  seem  to  have  been  relegated  to  the  status  of  session  players. Warner  Brothers  , their  US  label, were  unhappy  with  the  album  as  it  stood  and  suggested  they  work  with  Andrew  Gold  to  produce  a  few  more  tracks  hopefully  with  more  of  an  American  AOR  flavour. The  duo  were  more  than  happy to  collaborate  with  the  author  of  Lonely  Boy  and  Never  Let  Her  Slip  Away  and  the  union  produced  three  songs  but  Gold  declined  the  offer  to  join  the  band.

The  revamped  album  didn't  chart  in  the  US  either  but  all  three  songs  written  with  Gold  were  released  as  singles  in  the  UK, "Run  Away"  being  the  middle  one. It's  hard  to  know  exactly  why  it  was  a  relative  success  as  it's  surely  the  dullest  thing  they  ever  put  their  name  to,  a  dreary  soft  rock  ballad  with  none  of  the  wit  or  invention  you'd  normally  associate  with  them. The  lyrics  in  particular  are  criminally  banal. The  choral  synths  seem  to  be  in  there  deliberately  to  invoke  the  spirit  of  "I'm  Not  In  Love"  but  that  only underlines  how  far  they'd  fallen  by  this  point.  I  think  a  combination  of  their  tenth  anniversary  tour  earlier  in  the  year, the  recent  success  of  Godley  and  Creme  ( covered  below )  and  Eric's   raised  profile  as  Paul  McCartney's  new  songwriting  foil  helped  it  into  the  charts  but  it  wasn't  destined  to  be  a  launch-pad  for  a  real  revival.

The  follow up  "We've  Heard  It  All  Before"  is  at  least  relatively  entertaining ,  an  episodic,   reactionary  rant  against  the  prevalence  of  synth  pop  which  reminds  me  most  of  the  Not  The  Nine  O  Clock  News  parody  song  "Nice  Video , Shame  About  The  Song". Stuart  was  back  on  board  for  the  next  album  in  place  of  Paul  who'd  gone  off  to  join  Jethro  Tull.  The  lead  single  "24  Hours"  is  a  slice- of -life  epic  that  has  some  good  ideas  but  was  far  too  long  for  a  single. For  the  follow  up , the  white  reggae  number "  Feel  The   Love",  they  engaged  Kevin  and  Lol  to  do  the  video  to  no  avail  except  in  Holland  where  it  reached  number  7. The  album  "Windows  in  the  Jungle"  scraped  to  number  70  in  September  1983. A  third  single , the  turgid  reggae  of  "Food  For  Thought" released  in  Holland  only  made  number  18  in  the  charts.

After  a  UK  tour  in  October  that  year  Eric  and  Graham  decided  to  give  the  band  a  rest, Eric  continued  to  work  with  Macca  up  to  1986  and  also  produced  albums  by  Sad  Cafe  and  Agnetha  Faltskog. Graham  called  up  Andrew  and  they  formed the  duo  Common  Knowledge.  The  first  single  "Don't  Break  My  Heart "  in  the  summer  of  1984  is  a  reasonably  attractive  blend  of  sixties  melody  and  eighties  production  but  got  little  attention. The  follow  up  "Victoria "  is  a  rather  dreary  synth  and  drums  ballad,  similar  but  inferior  to  The  Cars'  Drive.  

Dissatisfied  with  Mercury's  promotion  of  the  group  Graham  left  the  label  and  pitched  the  duo  to  RCA  with  the  new  name  of  Wax.  In  the  meantime  Graham  helped  Gerry  Marsden  organise  The  Crowd  charity  single  for  the  Bradford  fire  victims.  The  first  single  in  the  autumn  of  1985   "Ball  and  Chain" ' produced  by  the  Cure's  Phil  Thornalley,  is  an  angry  lament  for  the  worker's  lot  set  to  an  ominous  synth  riff . It  sounds  like  they're  aiming  for  Depeche  Mode  but  have  to  settle  for  somewhere  between  The  Thompson  Twins  and  Nik  Kershaw. It's  not  bad  - apart  from  Andrew's  ill-advised  rap  towards  the  end -but  didn't  butter  any  parsnips.  The  follow  up  "Right  Between  The  Eyes"  is  an  over-produced  dogs  dinner  of  Hall  and  Oates, Mike  and  the  Mechanics  and  Go  West  with  a  horrible  Fairlight  brass  sound  on  the  chorus  but  gave  RCA some  hope  of  a  return  on  their  investment  by  reaching  number  60  here  and  43  in  the  US  .  Their  third  single  "Shadows  Of  Love"  is  much  better, a  decent  pop  song  given  room  to  breathe  by  Thornalley. Like  its  parent  album  "Animal  Magnetism"  it  failed  to  chart. The  first  side  is  OK  though  you  are  aware  of  a  mismatch  between  seventies  singer-songwriter  values  and  kitchen  sink  eighties  production  but  the  second  side  is  very  ropey. Fourth  single  "Systematic"  is  alarmingly  similar  to  the  Five  Star  song  of  similar  title , "Only  A  Visitor"  sounds  like  Howard  Jones  and  "Rise  Up"  is  a  risible  attempt  at  a  Peter  Gabriel -style    WOMAD  anthem.

Wax   had  their  moment  in  1987  when  their  next  single  "Building A  Bridge  To  Your  Heart"  reached  number  12  in  the  UK. Now  produced  by  former  Dollar  helmsman  Christopher  Neil   it's a   likeable  if  slightly  vacuous  tuneful  synth  pop  number  which  helped  the  parent  album  "American  English" reach  number  59.  I  prefer  the  two  singles  which  followed, the  title  track  with  its  stabbing  Propaganda  synths  and  "In  Some  Other  World" , a  bilious  attack  on  televangelists  and  politicians  with  a  terrific  chorus. Otherwise  the  album  is  a  showcase  for  their  ability  to  mimic  current  pop  trends  - "Heaven  In  Your  Bed"  sounds  like  Hue  and  Cry - with  only  the  touching  baby-anticipating  "The  Promise"  standing  out.

By  the  time  of  their  third  LP, "100,000 In  Fresh  Notes" in  late  1989  I  think  all  parties  knew  the  game  was  up. For  the  lead  single  "Wherever  You  Are" , a  well-crafted AOR  ballad later  covered  by  Asia, the  band  had  to  make  do  with  a  video  of  their  appearance  on  This  Morning  strolling  around  Albert  Dock. "Anchors  Aweigh"  the  follow-up  is  a  lumpy  piece  of  bombast  pinned  to  a  drum  hook  like  The  Bee  Gees'   You  Win  Again. The  album  is  listenable  but  generic  apart  from  the  French-flavoured  "Pictures  of  Paris" and  the  closing  "Credit  Where  Credit's  Due"  where  they  decided  to  rap  the  album  credits, a  novel  idea  which  loses  its  appeal  after  half  a  minute.

While  the  duo  were  considering  whether  to  persevere,  Graham  took  a  call  from  Eric  about  re-forming  10cc  and  Wax's  fate  was  sealed. They  probably  did  deserve  better  but  the  designer  jackets  and  flashy  videos  couldn't  disguise  that  they  were  two  guys  on  the  cusp  of  40  who  weren't  going  to  compete  with  Bros  and  Wet  Wet  Wet  in  the  teen  mags.

The  10cc  "reunion"  was  something  of  a  fraud. Kevin  and  Lol  had  dissolved  their  partnership  while  still  owing  Polydor  an  album  and  so  pitched  the  idea  of  a   new  10cc  album  to  fulfil  the  contract. Neither  man  contributed  anything  more  than  vocals  to  Eric  and  Graham's  songs   on  the  album  ".... Meanwhile"   and  at  no  point  were  all  four  in  the  studio  together . Both  Eric  and  Graham  were  happy  with  the  record  company's  choice  of  producer, Steely  Dan's  Gary  Katz  and  his  use  of  trusted  session  men  or  the  finished  product.

The  album  was  some  time  in  gestation  and  by  the  time  it  was  ready  for  release  Polydor  had  lost  interest  in  it   whether  that  was  down  to  a  change  in  personnel  or  lack  of  faith  in  the  music. It  passed  me  by  at  the  time; I  don't  recall  it  even  being  mentioned  in  Q, a  sign  of  how  far  the  band's  stock  had  fallen. The  singles  weren't  going  to  change  anything; "Woman  In  Love"  is  a  slice  of  turgid  AOR  rivalling  "Run  Away" in  its  dullness  while  "Welcome  To  Paradise"  tries  for  "Dreadlock  Holiday" 's  Caribbean  vibe  but  is  no  better  than  routine. The  album  sank  without  trace  and  Polydor  dropped  them.

Kevin  said  that  he  could  sense  Eric  and  Graham  growing  apart  during  his  couple  of  days  in  the  studio  and  by  the  time  of  their  next  album  "Mirror  Mirror "  in  1995  they  were  reluctant  to  work  together  at  all  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  solo  efforts  by  one  or  the  other,  recorded  in  different  studios. The  sombre  "Ready  To  Go  Home" about  the  passing  of  Graham's  father  is  really  the  last  Wax  recording  with  Andrew  co-writing  and  singing  the  track  while  "Yvonne's  The  One"  and  "Code  of  Silence" are  out-takes  from  Eric's  time  with  Macca. Their  acoustic  re-working  of  "I'm  Not  In  Love"  was  released  as  a  single  and  reached  number  29 , their  last  appearance  on  the  chart  but  it  couldn't  do  anything  to  raise  interest  in  the  album.

They  did  a  tour  to  support  it  after  which  Eric  announced  he  was  quitting  the  band  and  as  far  as  he  was  concerned  it  was  finished, a  stance  he  has  maintained  to  this  day. Since  then  Eric  has  been  more  interested  in  restoring  classic  racing  cars  and  property  renovation  than  making  music  though  he  did  put  out  a  couple  of  solo  albums   recorded  in  his  own  studio  in  France  in  the  noughties.

  Graham  curated  new  compilations  of  unreleased  material  from  the  Wax  and  Common  Knowledge  periods  ,  played  on  Andrew  Gold's  1998  psychedelic  extravaganza  Greetings  From  Planet  Love  and  did  some  writing  with  Paul  Carrack  and  Kirsty  MacColl.  In  1999  he  put  a  new  version  of  10cc  together  to  tour  the  hits  which  included  Paul  and  Rick  but  there  was  never  any  intention  of  releasing  new  material  as  10cc.  In  2000  he  put  out  his  own  solo  album "And  Another  Thing"  which  contained  some  re-workings  along  with  new  collaborations  with  the  likes  of  Gary  Barlow, Suggs  and  Chris  Difford. The  result  was  a  listenable  LP  of  plaintive  guitar  pop  in  the  Crowded  House  vein  although  Graham's  voice  is  only  serviceable. In  2003  he  featured  on  a  track  by  electronica  group  UNKLE.   In  2006  Graham  did  some  recording  with  Kevin  and  released  four  tracks  on  line  as  GG/06. Kevin  got  on  stage  with  the  new  10cc  to  perform  some  of  them  at  Shepherd's  Bush  Theatre. I'm  not  very  impressed - too  wordy  and  self-referential ,

Graham  put  out  another  solo  album  "Love  And  Work"  in  2012  , dedicated  to  Gold  who'd  died  the  previous  year. The  song  "Daylight "  is  a  touching  tribute  to  his  former  bandmate. With  feet  firmly  planted  in  the  Crowded  House / Squeeze  middle  ground  Graham  can  still  write  a  decent  melody  but , like  so  many  of  his  generation  still  writing , his  songs  do  nothing  but  evince  a  nostalgia  for  days  gone  by. Graham  was  in  The  Independent  just  the  other  day  calling  for  a  limit  to  the  number  of  people  who  can  claim  songwriting  credits.

Stuart  went  on  to  play  in  The  Alan  Parsons  Project  then  little  was  heard  of  him  until  Pilot  reunited  last  year. Duncan  joined  Camel  briefly  in  1981  then  became porn  king   Paul  Raymond's  son-in-law  in  1985. In  2004  he  made  a  little  known  album  "The  First  Time"  with  South  African  singer  Greg  McEwan-Kocovaos.

And  so  we  come  to  Kevin  and  Lol. After   leaving  the  band  in  1976,  they  re-emerged  the  following  year  with  perhaps  the  greatest  of  pop's  grand  follies, the  triple  LP  "Consequences"  a  truly  baffling  mix  of  a  prog  rock  concept, discordant  orchestral  passages, surreal  Python/ Stanshall  comic  dialogue  largely  delivered  by  an  inebriated  Peter  Cook, Pink  Floyd  sound  effects  and,  just  occasionally,  a  song  or  two . The  album  was  also  intended  to  be  a  showcase  for  the  Gizmotron  device  they  had  invented.  Prohibitively  expensive  and  released   at  probably  the  worst  time  in  the  history  of  pop  they  could  have  chosen  the  record  was  universally  panned  and  a  colossal  flop  making  a  brief  appearance  at  52  in  the  UK  charts. A  later  release  of  the  more  coherent  musical  bits  as  a  single  LP  did  not  save  it. The  Gizmotron  itself  was  also  a  commercial  disaster.  It  was  difficult  to  set  up, not  durable  enough  and  inconsistent  in  performance; only  a  handful  of  other  artists  even  briefly  used  it.  The  rather boring  piano  ballad  "Five  O  Clock  In  The  Morning"  was  released  as  a  single  and  got  a  wild  card  slot  on  Top  of  the  Pops  but  didn't  chart.

The  duo  came  back  quickly  the  following  year  with  the  album  "L"  which  should  really  have  been  called  "Z", so  indebted  is  it  to  the  satirical  art  rock  of  Frank  Zappa  ( the  song  "Art  School  Canteen"  actually  acknowledges  the  debt  ) . Relative  sanity  prevailed  with  seven  actual  songs and  a  running  time  of  just  34  minutes  but  it's  difficult  to  love  and  "Sandwiches  of  You"  was  an  extremely  unlikely  single.  The  album  improved  on  its  predecessor's  performance  by  just  5  places.

1979's  "Freeze  Frame"  missed  the  charts  altogether  despite  co-producer  Phil  Manzanera  bringing  a  bit  of  discipline  to  proceedings. It  did  however  have  an  ace  in  the  hole  in  the  opening  track  "An  Englishman  in  New  York"  which  was  released  as  a  single  in  edited  form  ( dropping  the  lines  about  Hitler  and  bowel  movements )  in  October  1979. I  heard  it  on  Noel  Edmunds's  show  and  thought  "Ooh  that's  interesting " then  never  heard  it  again. It's  an  Alan  Whicker-esque  commentary  on  New  York  society  set  to  a  big  band  arrangement  with  mordant  verses  giving  way  to  a  Busby  Berkeley  chorus. It  didn't  chart  in  Britain  or  the  US  but  was  a  hit  in  Germany, Holland  and  Australia  which  gave  vital  exposure  to  its  groundbreaking   self-directed  video  with  the  boys  performing  alongside  an  orchestra  of  mechanical  mannequins. A  whole  new  career  opened  up  for  them.

Two  standalone  singles  in  1980  - the  New  Wave-styled  "Wide  Boy"  with  Andy  Mackay  on  saxophone  and  "Submarine"  a  weird  reggae  instrumental  -  gave  little  hint  that  their  fortunes  were  changing  but  by  the  end  of  the  year  they'd  directed  the  video  for  Visage's  Fade  To  Grey  and  were  much  in  demand.  Shortly  after  drawing  criticism  for  the  soft  porn  trimmings  in  Duran  Duran's  Girls  On  Film   they  suddenly  found  themselves  in  the  charts  again  when  Radio  One  finally  got  behind  their  next  single  "Under  Your  Thumb". This  oddball  ghost  story  which  blends  gorgeous  melody  with  an  absolutely  brutalist  synth  pulse  and  no  beat  at  all  reached  number  3  in  the  charts.  The  lush  romantic  pop  of  "Wedding  Bells"  followed  it  into  the  Top  10  although  the  parent  album  "Ismism"  only  peaked  at  29  , a  poor  performance  for  an  album  with  two  big  hits  suggesting  that  some  suspicion  of  the  duo  still  lingered. A  third  single  "Snack  Attack"  provides  a  handy  summary  of  early  eighties  dietary  habits  in  a  proto-hip  hop  setting  but  failed  to  make  the  chart.

Their  fifth  album  "Birds  of  Prey"  came  out  in  1983  when  they  were  heavily  involved  with  The  Police  , making  the  videos  for  the  singles  from  Synchronicity   and   it's  hard  not  to  think  their  eyes  were  somewhat  off  the  ball  musically  while  making  it. "Save  A  Mountain  For  Me "  , the  lead  single ,is  a  lugubrious  jailhouse  lament  that  sounds  like  a  lesser  track  from  Paul  Young's  No  Parlez  album . The  follow  up  "Samson"  , the  offbeat  tale  of  a  racehorse  set  to  a  fast  skank  could  have been  a  hit  with  some  airplay  but  it  wasn't  forthcoming. Another  standalone  single " Golden  Boy" quickly  followed  ,  a  rather  dour  piece  of  synth  pop  that  neither  soulful  backing  vocals  or  another  smart  video  could  lift  into  the  chart.

The  duo  then  decided  to  throw  their  whole  back  catalogue  ( including  10cc )  into  the  blender  i.e  the  Fairlight  and  get  Trevor  Horn  and  his  associate  J J Jeczalik  to  come  up  with  something  coherent  and  danceable. The  sessions  produced  a  last  great  pop  single  in  "Cry"  remembered  for  its  famous  morphing  faces  video  as  well  as  its  sumptuous  production. It  reached  number  19  here   and  16  in  the  States  ( their  only  hit  there ). The  "History  Mix"  album  got  to  number  37  in  the  US  but  didn't  chart  here.

By  the  end  of  1986  the  pair  were  getting  bored  of  video   and  not  taking  many  more  commissions. In  1988  they  released  what  turned  out  to  be  their  final  album  "Goodbye  Blue  Sky". They  dropped  the  synths  and  explored  earthier  styles :  Tex-Mex  ( on  the  lead  single  "A  Little  Piece  of  Heaven", a  hit  in  Germany  and  Holland  ),  rockabilly  ( on  the  second  single  "10,000  Angels" )  gospel  ("Desperate  Times" )   and  R &  B  (" The  Big  Bang" )  on  a  set  of  songs  often  concerned  with  religion.  The  album  also  features  a  liberal  use  of  harmonicas  and  the  vocal  arrangements  are  largely  contracted  out  to  the  trio  Londonbeat. The  results  are  always  competent  but  lacking  in  sparkle  and  the  album   was  largely  ignored.

At  the  time  They  were  more  interested  in  their  new  film  project, "Howling  at  the  Moon "  based  on  the  life  of  John  Wesley  Harding. When  that  fell  through  Kevin  wanted  to  call  time  on  their  partnership  and  Godley  and  Creme  were  no  more.

After  the  split  Kevin  continued  to  work  primarily  as  a  video  director   working  with  Sting, Bryan  Adams, Katie  Melua  and  Ronan  Keating  among  others  though  he  hasn't  done  one  since  2011.  In  1990  he  organised  the  chain  tape  charity  album  "One  World  One  Voice". In  the  past  few  years  he's  been  working  on  an  app  called  "WholeWorldBand"  , one  of  the  aims  of  which   is  to  get  musicians  a  better  deal  in  the  digital  age. The  GG06  tracks  have  been  his  only  further  musical  contributions.

Lol  went  over  to  Los  Angeles  to  direct  a series  of  car  commercials  for  Plymouth  Automobiles  with  Tina  Turner ( a  by-product  was  the  video  for  The  Best ).  He  finally  got  to  direct  a  film  in  1991, the  Jamaican  comedy  The  Lunatic  and  a  US  TV  series  Limboland    three years  later  but  neither  were  successful  enough  to  establish  him  as  a  Hollywood  player.

In  1998  his  old  pal  Trevor  Horn  invited  him  to  join  a  new  line  up  of  Art  of  Noise, primarily as  a  guitarist. He  recorded  two  albums  with  the  group. The  first  went  unreleased  but  in  1999  a  single  "Metaforce"  came  out  ( which  we  will  cover  in  due  course - hopefully ) .  This  trailed  the  album,  "The  Seduction  of  Claude  Debussy"  an  ambitious  concept  album  blending  drum  and  bass , opera   and  jazz  with  the  composer's  work  and  a  narration  from  John  Hurt . This  must  have  induced  some  feelings  of  deja  vu  in  Lol  particularly  when  it  failed  to  chart. It  did  however  have  the  honour  of  providing  the  bulk  of  the  soundtrack  to  London's  Millennium  fireworks  display. After  a  few  live  shows  the  band  dissolved  again  in  2000.

In  2006  Lol  reunited  with  Horn  in  the  supergroup   called   The  Producers  ( sadly  not  Creme  Horn ).  They  started  out  as  a  hobby  band  allowing  the  guys  to  play  their  greatest  hits  live  but  soon  started  working  new  material  into  the  set  and  eventually, after  five  years  of  trailing  it, they  released  an  album "Made  In  Basing  Street". The  other  Buggle  Geoff  Downes   did  some  playing  on  it. Not  all  of  it  works  for  me  but  "Every  Single  Night  In  Jamaica"  and  "Garden  of  Flowers" are  exquisite  recreations  of  the  classic  Buggles  sound  on  The  Age  of  Plastic. Maybe  there's  more  to  come.