Description
Many bands expend so much imagination and energy on their first album that the limits to their talents become all too apparent when it comes to fashioning a follow-up. Not 10CC, whose June 1974 release ‘Sheet Music’ put them on the musical map with a vengeance. Like its predecessor, ’10CC’, it contained a selection of snappy singles, though the chart failure of ‘The Worst Band In The World’ when released ahead of the album was a case of being too clever for the general public. ‘Worst Band’ might have been the best collection of music business in-jokes since the Raspberries’ ‘Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)’, but it suffered the same flop fate. Interestingly, McCartney was working in Strawberry Studios in Stockport at the time ‘Sheet Music’ was recorded. Strawberry was where guitarist Eric Stewart and Gouldman first got together, and, says Gouldman, was then operating 24 hours a day. ‘That gave the studio an atmosphere it had never had before. There was something in the air, and something came across on ‘Sheet Music’ that we never captured again.’
