AtoZ 10cc

Before, During, After 7/10 Four-disc set ventures deeper into the other careers of the ’70s pop eccentrics

Surely this is the first collection that connects dots as diverse as British Invasion also-rans the Mindbenders, US bubblegum-popsters Ohio Express, The Art Of noise, neil Sedaka and the mercifully brief recording career of Manchester City FC. Then again, little about 10cc ever made much sense. These four discs are divvied up between a single-disc best-of, with another covering pre-10cc endeavours, and two more for solo works and collaborations. Underneath their shimmering surfaces, 10cc’s songs benefited from a tension born from the sometimes clashing commercial and artistic imperatives of the Gouldman/Stewart and Godley/Creme teams, respectively. With the members free to indulge their tendencies, the music on either side of 10cc’s imperial phase can be excessively saccharine or wilfully obtuse. Even so, the highlights here are as startling (the rare mix of “Pretty Little Head”, a mutantdisco curio that Eric Stewart concocted with Paul McCartney for Press To Play) as they are baffling (Tristar Airbus’ “Willie Morgan” being the set’s other footie-related oddity). Extras: 7/10 Paul Lester’s liner notes in the Godley-designed 40-page booklet chart 10cc’s many winding roads via new interviews.