10cc are an English art rock band from Stockport who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970's. The band initially consisted of four musicians — Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme — who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the name "10cc" in 1972. For the most part, 10cc featured two strong songwriting teams, one "commercial" and one "artistic", but both teams injected sharp wit into lyrically dextrous and musically varied songs. Stewart and Gouldman were predominantly pop-song-writers, who created most of the band's accessible songs. By way of contrast, Godley and Creme were the predominantly experimental half of 10cc, featuring an Art School sensibility and cinematic inspired writing. (More from Wikipedia)
Many of the songs in the English Freakbeat Series were by musicians that became famous in later bands or in other contexts. For instance, the English Freakbeat, Volume 3 LP includes cuts by the Mockingbirds, a predecessor band to 10cc.
(March 2014/2)
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As with many of the British Invasion bands, the Yardbirds initially played American R&B and blues songs rather than their own compositions. As reported in Wikipedia, during their days at the Crawdaddy Club: “They drew their repertoire from the Chicago blues of Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy Williamson II, and Elmore James, including ‘Smokestack Lightning’, ‘Good Morning Little School Girl’, ‘Boom Boom’, ‘I Wish You Would’, ‘Rollin’ and Tumblin’’, and ‘I’m a Man’.” In fact, Eric Clapton left the Yardbirds in March 1965 as a protest when the band finally got a hit single with a song that did not come from this milieu, “For Your Love” (written by Graham Gouldman, later a member of 10cc).
(May 2014)
