Posts Tagged ‘Strawberry Studios’

10cc – ” Before During After – The Story of 10cc ” Box Set / ERIC STEWART – ” Anthology “

Posted: July 28, 2017 in MUSIC
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This July, Universal will issue “Before During After – The Story of 10cc”, a new 10cc four-CD box set curated with input from the band to “detail each and every chapter of their musical story”. The box features the band together and apart and therefore features work from artists like Paul McCartney, the Art of Noise, Wax and Godley and Creme.

CD one is basically a 10cc ‘best of’ while the second disc is dubbed ‘What We Did Next‘ and here’s where it gets interesting. Eric Stewart co-wrote six songs on Paul McCartney‘s 1986 album Press To Play and one of these tracks, Pretty Little Head, is included on disc two. However, it’s the single mix that features here, which was radically remixed by Larry Alexander for the seven-inch single. This version has never been issued on CD, so this is a genuine rarity.

The other two discs are ‘And Friends‘ which features collaborations and production work, while the final CD ‘Before 10cc – The Early Years‘ which has work from early beat group The Mindbenders which featured Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman and Hotlegs which was an early incarnation of 10cc.

Before During After – The Story of 10cc is released on 28 July 2017. A two-CD edition called ‘During After’ will featured the first two discs in the box.

Two CD set. Eric Stewart is most known for his tenure with the Mindbenders in the 1960s, and 10cc from 1972 to 1995. In 1968, he became a co-owner of Strawberry Studios in Stockport, where he developed skills as a recording engineer and record producer. His involvement in Strawberry was instrumental in the eventual formation of 10cc. Stewart has collaborated with Paul McCartney on three of his albums recorded between 1982 and 1986. He has also recorded three solo albums and released Viva La Difference in 2009. This compilation brings together tracks from all his solo albums and some tracks from his period in 10cc for the first time. Compiled and co-mastered by Eric, these two discs showcase the talents of one of the UK’s best producers and writers. Some of these tracks are available on CD for the first time.

10 cc – ” The Original Soundtrack ” Released 22nd March 1975

Posted: March 29, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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10cc Star In Their Own Soundtrack

The rare and estimable ability to create both catchy, bite size singles that sounded great on the radio, and sophisticated, ambitious album content, That was never better illustrated than in the hands of 10cc. By the time they reached their third long player, ‘The Original Soundtrack,’ that skill had become second nature to these four innovative British musicians. The album is marking the 40th anniversary of its debut, on March 22, 1975.

Produced as usual by 10cc themselves, the record would soon have the calling card of a typically amusing and irreverent hit single, ‘Life Is A Minestrone.’ Within a few weeks of that reaching No. 7 in the UK, clamour for ‘I’m Not In Love’ to be released as a swift follow-up led to that extraordinary ballad racing to No. 1.

10cc

The album itself showed 10cc in their most confident and expansive form to date, opening with the episodic Kevin Godley and Lol Crème composition ‘Une Nuit A Paris,’ all eight minutes and 40 seconds of it. For all of the band’s pop sensibilities, ‘The Original Soundtrack’ contained some dark lyrical themes, addressing the pornography trade on Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart’s ‘Blackmail’ and the drug trafficking industry on their ‘Flying Junk.’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP2yxRgnR8Q

‘Soundtrack’ debuted on the British album survey at No. 6 and spent its first ten weeks inside the top ten, peaking at No. 3 in the ninth of those, in May. It stayed in the top 40 all the way into October, reappearing intermittently until well over a year after its release. The LP’s aggregate of 40 weeks on the bestsellers remained the best tally of 10cc’s career.

The New Musical Express critic Charles Shaar Murray, notoriously ascerbic in much of his writing, was fulsome in his praise, marveling at 10cc’s creative autonomy on ‘The Original Soundtrack.’ “Once they scuttle into Strawberry Studios,” he wrote, “and get stuck into their composing, arranging, producing, engineering, overdubbing, compressing, mixing and so on and so forth, they mess your mind around a treat.”