Another trawl through the dusty recesses of the iPod, truly a wonderful machine. Had someone told me back in the seventies that I could carry a sizeable record collection in my pocket then I would not have been able to comprehend what they were talking about. That it happened within my lifetime I find quite stunning. As Arthur C Clarke once said “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
So yesterday found me stumbling across 10cc, forgotten heroes of seventies pop, while ELO occasionally get reprieves and are considered by some to be cool 10cc have never quite managed that. I think its probably a combination of nobody loves a smart arse and the fact that “Im not in Love” was such a huge hit.
As I listened to the power chords of “Wall Street Shuffle” and the wry lyrics of “Life is a Minestrone” I was transported back to the early eighties (no not the seventies… this was a stop off on the way back). Back then I contibuted to Midland Banks internal magazine, always an aspiring writer, and I wrote an article about Strawberry Studios in Stockport. I used to drive past Strawberry on my way over to see Val at weekends, and arranged to call in one day for a look around. Strawberry was home to 10cc and a number of other Manchester bands, I think Sad Cafe recorded there, but I vividly recall sitting at the mixing console where the lush chords of “Im not in Love” was mixed.
Interesting. 10cc have been known to frequent my neck of the woods as well. The Studio boss, Nigel, who did the mixing on my own mega-hits “Tierra del Fuego” and “The Evolution Song”, also used to be an assistant engineer for 10cc when they recorded “Deceptive Bends” (named after a road sign near Leatherhead, which, sadly, was removed (probably by some 10cc fans)). Didnt realise the Manchester connection. Did they move there … or from there?
Love the blog, by the way.
My understanding is that they were northern lads who moved south.
Deceptive Bends was the first album to be recorded at the bands strawberry South studio, created in an old cinema in Dorking in 1976.
And Tierra Del Fuego deserved to have been a massive hit, if only in Chile!