The Lefsetz Letter: 10cc At The United Theater

The encore was an a cappella/barbershop quartet model of “Donna” that was completely spectacular, the perfect factor I’ve seen all yr.

However you’ve most likely by no means heard the unique.

10cc was a band no one wished that was signed by Jonathan King, of “Everybody’s Gone to the Moon” fame, and its preliminary album got here out on King’s “UK” label through Mercury within the States and there was no airplay however loads of ink, and if you happen to had been a devoted follower of print you had been intrigued and purchased it.

At the very least I did.

I needed to hear the observe that went to primary in England, “Rubber Bullets.”

“I went to a celebration on the native county jail

All of the cons had been dancing and the band started to wail”

It seemed like nothing a lot because the Seaside Boys, who at this level had misplaced the formulation. It was like listening to a brand new Beatles track, fully sudden, however oh so nice.

“Load up, load up, load up with rubber bullets

I really like to listen to these convicts squeal

It’s a disgrace these slugs ain’t actual”

And there was a humorousness in addition. 10cc evidenced an mental high quality whereas the airwaves had been being ever extra dominated by meat and potatoes and company rock. They had been virtually too good for the airwaves.

“Sheet Music,” the band’s second album, began with a delineation of finance virtually a full decade earlier than the viewers caught on, earlier than Reagan legitimized greed and everyone was doing the “Wall Road Shuffle.”

However “Sheet Music” had even much less business influence within the U.S., if that was attainable, after which got here “The Unique Soundtrack” and “I’m Not In Love.”

Now usually while you go to see an act of seventies hitmakers, that’s simply what individuals need to hear, the hits. You realize, the songs that crossed over to Prime 40, and through the remainder of the set the viewers talks, goes to the toilet, eats.

However not Thursday evening.

Should you weren’t a fan of 10cc, if you happen to didn’t know the albums, you weren’t in attendance. It was a convocation of music nerds, those that lived for the music, and knew each observe. How else might you begin with “The Second Sitting for the Final Supper,” an album reduce if there ever was one. It’d be like Paul McCartney beginning the present with “You Gave Me the Reply” from “Venus and Mars,” arduous core followers can be thrilled, and informal followers can be fully flummoxed. However like I stated, there have been no informal followers there Thursday evening.

However there was cognitive dissonance. What was as soon as a band of 4 now solely has one authentic. You heard Eric Stewart’s elements, however they had been sung by this younger bloke with a excessive voice and intellectually it was not straightforward to swallow.

After which got here “Artwork for Artwork’s Sake.”

And I couldn’t assist throw my palms within the air.

“Artwork for artwork’s sake

MONEY FOR GOD’S SAKE!”

I used to be grabbed by the music and introduced proper again to 1976, solely this was 2024, and it felt simply as important because it did again then. And simply as significant.

There aren’t any bands like 10cc. You possibly can’t examine them to anybody. And due to this fact their music has by no means dated. It’s as recent because it ever was, ready to be found or reconnected with everytime you hear it.

Now I used to be on the boat, on the cruise, I’d left all preconceptions behind, as a result of I used to be listening to a track I knew by coronary heart that was greater than a ditty, all these years later, in spite of everything, 10cc hadn’t carried out reside within the U.S. since ’78, on the Santa Monica Civic, I used to be there, I may even let you know the place I sat, and the truth that after I acquired house my girlfriend was in mattress and feigning sleep, she didn’t need me to to.

However I needed to.

However the pièce de résistance was “Really feel the Profit.” The final track on 1977’s”Misleading Bends,” when it was now two, after Godley and Creme had left to pursue their work with the Gizmotron.

There was much less humor on “Misleading Bends,” however there was a slice of pure pop that was plain, that you simply solely needed to hear as soon as, “The Issues We Do for Love.”

A sing-songy quantity straight out of the center sixties I assumed was a takeoff on that period, however Graham Gouldman has assured me it was written straight, all I do know is it’s a grasp class in songwriting, proper right down to the bridge.

“Ooh, you made me love you

Ooh, you’ve acquired a manner

Ooh, you had me crawling up the wall”

And while you love a track a lot you play the album to loss of life. Which is how I do know “Really feel the Profit.” At this level it’s the 10cc report I play essentially the most, the one I sing in my head.

Now the factor is “Really feel the Profit’ is a minor symphony, over eleven minutes lengthy, the type of quantity you by no means count on to be performed reside, like one thing from “Sgt. Pepper,” not possible to duplicate.

However Thursday evening 10cc hit each observe.

Stewart might have been gone.

However Rick Fenn and Paul Burgess had been there, band members for many years. And Fenn is an absolute grasp, from the period when guitar heroes had been a dime a dozen and due to this fact somebody like Rick didn’t get the eye he deserved.

It was positively astounding, the notes, the sounds he was wringing from his guitar. To not point out Keith Hayman’s work on the keys. After which two-thirds of the best way by way of Graham Gouldman pulled off a bass solo that confirmed he was greater than a songwriter, MUCH MORE!

It was mesmerizing. It garnered a standing ovation. And never the one one.

Like I stated, the viewers knew the fabric.

The venue wasn’t fully full, however I used to be shocked what number of arduous core devotees there have been of this music. Which was not cool like Jane’s Dependancy, that wasn’t for boys solely like Rush, however hit you within the head in addition to the center.

We had been all on the identical practice. We had been on a non-public journey, and the remainder of the world didn’t matter. I learn that Sabrina Carpenter simply performed the Discussion board, there’s all this hoopla over Chappell Roan, however they’ll’t maintain a candle to what 10cc was…and now nonetheless is.

You see this music labored by itself, it didn’t want chart success to offer it an imprimatur of greatness. The band took the sixties and synthesized them into one thing new.

I received’t say you needed to be there, as a result of if you happen to did, YOU PROBABLY WERE!

It was unusual. The unique lead singer, top-of-the-line within the enterprise, was absent, nevertheless it was a non secular expertise nonetheless. You see there was the enjoying, however much more there have been the songs.

You couldn’t assist however have a smile in your face.

It was a non-public factor, however for everyone in attendance.

We had been all celebrating the band, even these in it.

After which got here the encore of “Donna.”

The preliminary 10cc album was akin to Zappa’s “Ruben and the Jets.” It hearkened again to the sounds of yore, however with a twist, with humor.

“Donna” in its authentic incarnation was a doo-wop parody. Not one thing you anticipated to listen to reside, then once more I didn’t count on to listen to “The Dean and I” both.

And I’d be sincere if I stated I wasn’t dying to listen to “Donna” Thursday evening, I hoped for “Outdated Mister Time” or another deep reduce from “Bloody Vacationers.”

There’s not a ton of instrumentation on the recorded “Donna,” however there have been no devices in any respect Thursday evening.

It was the primary encore, earlier than the closing “Rubber Bullets.”

The band stood round one mic, like Dion and the Belmonts and each avenue nook group of the late fifties.

“Whoa, Donna

You make me get up

You make me sit down Donna”

On this case Andy Park nailed the falsetto lead vocal and the remainder of the members supported him, they usually had been smiling, virtually laughing, and also you had been standing there, simply ready for them to hit a foul observe, to fail, BUT THEY NEVER DID! IT WAS ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!

The band solid a spell. And for sure, when it broke, the viewers exploded.

This had nothing to do with rock, had nothing to do with hits, had nothing to do with whether or not you knew the quantity, this needed to do with MUSIC! Which was what enraptured us all these years in the past.

The present was over and I wished to see it once more. I wished to focus on what I missed, I wished to luxuriate on this music as soon as extra, I wished the excessive to proceed.

I discovered it practically not possible to go to sleep. Due to the pure pleasure. It wasn’t about taking pictures selfies, telling anyone I’d been there, however simply being there myself, within the second.

You possibly can’t actually ask for rather more.