Deceptive Bends - 10CC*****

Good Morning Judge/The Things We Do For Love/Marriage Bureau Rendezvous/People In Love/Modern Man Blues/Honeymoon With B Troop/I Bought A Flat Guitar Tutor/You've Got A Cold/Feel The Benefit

The art-rock group 10cc suffered a severe blow with the departure of half their members leading to fears of a decline in songwriting capabilities. Happily, Deceptive Bends proved these fears to be largely unfounded. Features the UK top ten hits Good Morning Judge and The Things We Do For Love. (US:31 UK:3)

“Having cornered the intelligent pop market with a brace of hit singles and a quartet of albums which made the most of each individual band member’s top-draw songwriting and cutting-edge production techniques, 10cc had now very little to prove. In retrospect Deceptive Bends was a brave attempt by the remaining members of 10cc to keep the ball rolling despite the departure of Godley and Crème.”

“The music on the album is unmistakably the sound of 10cc, line-up changes or not. High quality art pop/rock with lots of clever musical twists and great tongue in cheek humour. To my ears very little has changed and the two remaining members easily fill the roles of the two that left.”

“10cc were never quite the same once Godley and Creme left. The same tight harmonies, some funny lyrics but just not as clever. This has some really good tracks like Good Morning Judge and The Things We Do For Love and the stand out track Feel The Benefit and still better than most of the music released at the time.”

“With Gouldman and Stewart responsible for tracks, the only minor difference from earlier work was a slight shift to a more commercial sound; some of the earlier experimentation seemingly absent.”

“Deceptive Bends was the beginning of the end for 10cc. The band had split into two, Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart regrouped and came back with a beautiful pop album that showed a subtle change in the sound. The music was still alive with fresh ideas and inventive productions, but was just a bit less cerebral. Every song on this album has become a highlight for me.”

“This album is brilliant from start to finish, with great melodies, crisp harmonies, the usual quirky stories, plus exciting, fun music from master musicians. The closer, Feel The Benefit is one of the all-time great songs.”