10cc Album: “20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection”

10cc were an incredible band who wrote loads of splendidly tuneful/ catchy songs, & with their elaborate production, they were highly innovative as well. Now, I really don't have any hard feelings in general about Universal's "20th Century Masters Collection", but still, this 2002 installment into the series is indeed somewhat needless & lacking. In addition to not including anything past 1978, this disc doesn't even include anything from their UK Records years/ first two albums, meaning that classics such as "The Dean And I" & "The Wall Street Shuffle" are missing--instead, the disc starts off around the time where the band hit it big stateside in 1975. I don't think it was wise to open this collection with "Life Is A Minestrone", which is repetitive & annoyingly pompous, even though I know it's supposed to be humorous. However, things turn around with "Channel Swimmer" which is a rather strange inclusion in the sense that it was not a hit A-side, but actually the b-side to the single for "I'm Not In Love". It's accurate to say that this disc basically covers the period when 10cc were at their most popular in the US--1975-1978--that said, if you're an extremely casual fan, you might be perfectly satisfied with this disc, but the thing is, you really owe it yourself to explore this superb band A LOT more thoroughly than this disc. Certainly there's no arguing with the inclusion of "I'm Not In Love", "Art For Art's Sake", "Good Morning Judge", "The Things We Do For Love", "Dreadlock Holiday", & "For You And I", but indeed they are all available on more thorough collections. This IS a quasi budget-line disc, so to be fair, it's certainly not a terrible introduction to this terrific band, plus also to this disc's credit, the sound quality is really excellent, the liner notes are respectable (even though they're not 100% accurate), & by all means THEY GOT ALL OF THE SONGWRITING CREDITS CORRECT!! Also, they included here the version of "Dreadlock Holiday" that's a tad longer than the album version (the "Ultimate Collection" release also doesn't feature this longer version). Still though, this is a painfully incomplete portrait of 10cc--you can get a MUCH better feel for their consistent & varied brilliance with the highly recommended 3 CD set, "Ultimate Collection".

I was in FYE today and I was looking for the offical greatest hits package. They didn't have it, so this was the closet thing to it. All songs are pretty good. I expected more out of this, but hey, it's 20th Century Masters. All their collections pretty much suck ass. But anyway, 10cc is one of the best bands out there. Buy the other one, don't buy this one!

I'll make this one short and sweet.

The kings of 1970s progressive pop were no doubt 10cc. Very rarely do I listen to pop, but 10cc are the rare exception. They are all incredibly skilled and gifted musicians who are capable of producing some mighty fine music when they wanted to. They faced several difficulties and rocky patches over the years, including the departures of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme in 1976 (who later went on to form their own side project, Godley & Creme, another fine pop duo -- but that's another review), but they've carried on and had their biggest American hit without the help of G&C, 'The Things We Do For Love.'

10cc's installment in the budget-line series '20th Century Masters' isn't bad. It's a good starting disc, and yes, I'll admit it, this was my first proper introduction to the band with this disc. And, for the casual fan, it's got all of the basics. 'I'm Not in Love,' 'Dreadlock Holiday' and 'The Things We Do for Love,' their three big American hits are all here, as are many good album tracks from the group ('Art for Art's Sake,' the rocking 'Good Morning Judge' and 'Channel Swimmer' being the favorites for me).

But, why buy this when there's an even better collection on the market? 'The Very Best of 10cc' has 15 tracks, with 10 of the 11 songs on this disc appearing on that disc as well, with several early album tracks (1972-1974, their first two years with Jonathan King producing) and even a Godley & Creme track thrown in for good measure. The only song here that does not appear on that compilation is 'Channel Swimmer.'

Overall, go for 'The Very Best of 10cc,' from 1997. It's a much better disc, and you can buy it relatively cheap too. This is a good introduction to 10cc, but 'The Very Best of 10cc' is far more satisfying and for the casual fan will provide all they need.