Genre: progressive
Rating: ** (2 stars)
Title: L
Company: Polydor
Catalog: PD-1-6177
Year: 1978
Country/State: UK
Grade (cover/record): VG+ / NM
Comments: still sealed; cut top right corner
Available: 1
Catalog ID: 4404
Price: $15.00
Cost: $66.00
I use to think Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman were the two guys who came up with the commercial stuff in Ten C.C. They did, but I'm always amazed to hear how commercial Goley & Creme can be. The problem is that they simply can't focus long enough to let anything take proper shape.
So where's this one stand on the charts? Self produced, 1978's "L" manages to simultaneously encapsulate the pair's best and the worst creative traits. To my ears material such as 'Sporting Life' and 'Sandwiches of You' is almost hyperactive, bouncing all over the musical spectrum. Virtually every one of the seven songs features snippets that are quite commercial ('Business Is Business'), but they're all but lost in the flood of ideas that leaves me disconcerted and confused. The fact that tracks such as 'Sporting Life', 'Punchbag' and 'Hit Factory/Business Is Business' are full of dark and disturbing lyrics doesn't exactly lighten up the atmosphere. This is probably a crappy comparison, but it's like listening to a pissed off English version of Frank Zappa ...
"L" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Sporting Life (Kevin Godley - Lol Creme) - 7:25
2.) Sandwiches of You (Kevin Godley - Lol Creme) - 3:17
3.) Art School Canteen (Kevin Godley - Lol Creme) - 3:00
4.) Group Life (Kevin Godley - Lol Creme) - 4:11
(side 2)
1.) Punchbag (Kevin Godley - Lol Creme) - 4:44
2.) Foreign Accents (instrumental) (Kevin Godley - Lol Creme) - 4:37
3.) Hit Factory/Business Is Business (Kevin Godley - Lol Creme) - 7:08