the 1981 Listening Post - 10cc - Ten Out of Ten

 10cc - Ten Out of Ten

#545

November 27 1981

10cc

Ten Out of Ten

Genre: Pop Rock

2.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Don’t Turn Me Away

I almost forgot what it’s like to hear actual songs. 

Now, before you get excited, these are not great songs. 

They sound like what you would expect from ELO if Jeff Lynne left and only a couple players were left to make a record. 

It’s mid-70s honky-tonk glam and I guess that’s fine in a Brinsley Schwartz kind of way but haven’t we moved past this?

I’ve become way too jaded at this point. 

These guys are too erudite to be songwriters. “Overdraft in Overdrive” should have been a Squeeze track. That’s what they really remind of, Difford and Tilbrook at their least catchy. 

I really just don’t like your songs, guys. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/ten-out-of-10/1443842931

The 1980 Listening Post - 10cc - Look Hear

10cc - Look Hear

#131

by Erik Paesel

10cc

Look Hear

Genre: 70s Pop Rock

Allen’s rating: 3.75 out of 5

Erik’s Rating: 2 out of 5

Look Hear by 10cc

This album seems left over from 1970s. It came out in 1980. It plays as innocuous non-descript background music which avoids at all costs being in anyway outstanding. 

I at first was intrigued by the band’s name 10cc which most people thought was a reference to the average amount of cum from a man’s ejaculation. But the story like the album is less interesting than that. It actually came to the lead singer in a dream….in reference to nothing…

The sound of all of the tracks are 70s folk pop with a hint of high end tinny percussion..aka Bee Gees Disco. 

At every turn this album seeks to not offend or stand out in anyway. I think I read that it was done as a kind of b-side without some of the original members of the band. Post some of the bands more aggressive better albums.  It certainly plays like that. 

As I was listening to the tracks my wife asked in passing, “what is that horrible music?”  That says it all.

https://open.spotify.com/album/31QbsXQzz5JS0mQDOpL0sU?si=cY5hKg57S46ATUwg9egtTQ

The 1983 Listening Post - 10cc - Windows in the Jungle

10cc - Windows in the Jungle

#172
September 1983
10cc
Windows in the Jungle
1.5 out of 5

Highlights:
City Lights

If 10cc was ever good I wasn’t around for it. This is self-important prog-rock middle of the road pap.
I would rather listen to The Beach Boys’ “Kokomo” on repeat for a week than ever listen to “Oomachasaooma” again. Ok, that’s hyperbole, but, I feel pretty strongly about my dislike of this song.
Much of this record feels like the whitest boys in the world trying to sound like BoyzIIMen. And yes, I know they wouldn’t be around for a while but I have no frame of reference for this garbage.
It’s not bad enough that these tracks are terrible, they are also stupidly long and have absolutely no business being more than 3 minutes a piece. I hate this band. (Okay, I kind of enjoy “City Lights” where the band sounds like they are trying to be as much like Squeeze meets Chicago as possible)