Todd is God

Alan Childs

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Love Something/Anything! One of my favorite albums of all time.

Didn’t get hip until 1987. (I’m 53) I worked for Record World in Waterford CT. One day, I mentioned to my manager (who is my best friend to this day) that I loved “Hello It’s Me” but didn’t know much else about Todd. I gave him a Maxell XLII 90 and he taped me “Something/Anything”. I fell in love with it immediately. Everything about it was fantastic and I, like you, was impressed with the fact that he had done all of it himself. (Side 4 aside) I hipped a twenty something musician to it about 4 years ago and its one of his faves now too. Glad to have “passed it on”.

It is one of the VERY few studio double albums that has no filler. I speak of course of double albums from the classic era. Pre “vinyl resurgence”. (“Songs In The Key Of Life”, “Physical Graffiti”,  “Sign Of The Times”)

It took a few years before I did a full on deep dive with Todd. But I did. And I am all the better for it. One of my favorite artists.

Ed Toth

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I can’t pretend to be conversant in “Something/Anything”, but “The Ballad of Todd Rundgren” has a slew of absolutely wonderful tunes. “Wailing Wall” is as good as record-making gets. It’s brilliantly written, beautifully performed, brilliantly arranged, and beautifully recorded. For that one song alone I’d be willing to put Todd up there in the Pantheon.

Berton Averre

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We called him Todd.  Like he was a bud.  And we felt him in the room with us when we blasted his stuff to whatever it was that we were doing. Every listen was like a home visit.  You could feel him. Great songs, one after another, all of them evoking different feelings. And he’s still doing home visits with me, all these years later.  And I could tell stories and meander on.   But I’m short on words despite my excitement.  And you never could capture him with words, anyway. Could you?  Thanks for this piece.  I’ll settle in and “take a few of these…..”  And fans of Todd know what I mean.

Bill Nelson

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This is fun. Some footage for a music video?

Bill Seipel

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I’ve always loved this song.. To me it was a throwback to Motown back in the 60’s.

Jeff Laufer

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Believe it or not but in the early 60’s this boy, in his early teens…in Queens NY (!) was able to pick up Wolfman Jack on my transistor radio in the wee hours of the morning…@ 2 AM EST.
Sometimes it was fuzzy, sometimes the reception went in and out but using micro fiddling with the plastic tuning circle I was sometimes able to get a clear signal from Mexico.
I am still amazed.
Alan Crane

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The Mighty 1090 XERB out of Chula Vista is how I remember first hearing Wolfman Jack back in 1966 ~ Seems he was taking away listeners from all the local rock LA radio stations with that voice that made him famous ~ Also his playlist was different ~ He sounded crazy to most listeners so although as I remember it if your transistor radio wasn’t powerful enough or your battery was low you could hardly hear him ~ Not really as crazy as say Howard Stern but he did stand out from the norm back in the day ~

RS

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When I opened my first office upstairs in the Whisky a Go Go in August, 1969, Rundgren was one of my first customers, seaching for a keyboardist for his band, “Runt”.  He only came in once, and I never knew if he found someone through me or not.

Sterling Howard, founder/owner
https://www.MusiciansContact.com

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Nice!

Something/Anything is a desert Island LP/CD/Stream for me.

Michael Becker

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Back in the 1960’s, we had a radio unit made by a company called Telefunken.  It was state of the art/high tech at that time.

Late at night on the East Coast, we could get radio stations as far away as Laramie, Wyoming.  And in Laramie, there was a station on which you could catch the Wolfman Jack radio show.  And so we were among the very few high schoolers who not only knew who he was, but heard him live.  It was cool to be in such a select club.

R. Lowenstein

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Along with the “do it yourselfers” McCartney, Rhodes and Rundgren, let’s not forget the amazing Roy Wood. Founder of The Move, ELO, Wizard and curator of two brilliant early 70’s albums, “Boulders” and “Mustard”. He did everything and played everything on those two albums, including cello, saxes, banjo and much more. I was so thankful that he was inducted into the RRHOF with ELO. A truly gifted musical artist.
Dan Sturtevant

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Bob, don’t forget that Stevie Wonder was also a one-man band back then!

JimV

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He was a fun guy to hang with …he stopped by my club on a promo tour …..I blew his mind mixing records ….he came back later that night and had a blast hanging with the Disco folks  .. 1977 @ Celebration / Boston

Joseph Carvello

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Oh, contrare ….

In 1965, we listened to Wolfman Jack (from Del Rio, Texas) while in college in Fairfield Iowa – and he came in crystal clear (on clear nights).

He was somewhat a religious experience in those day.

A long time ago

Onward …

Alan Newman

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One of my favorite albums. “Marlene” is my go to song. I knew Todd in Phiadelphia during his Woody’s Truck Stop days. He was the first person I knew with multi-colored hair. He was always a star.

Rich Arfin

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Thank you, sir, for the lesson!  Wow what a track!

Joshua Hall

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Ah yes. Wolfman Jack.
I knew I wasn’t the only one who looooooved that one. I was also a “real” Wolfman Jack fan. I used to imitate him when I was a teenager, who wanted so bad to get in to radio.
As I recall, there was also a single of that glorious song released and they had Wolfman add his little adlibs throughout the song.
As a kid, I was living in Grand Forks North Dakota, and as was my usual thing, I stayed awake nights with my transistor radio under my pillow looking for those songs, and DJ’s who told us what we wanted to know about the music. I first heard The Wolfman when he was doing his shows with the transmitter in Mexico so they could blast his show to all of us who wanted to hear what he would play and the crazy things he would say.
Nothing beats those good old days for listening. Give me the Wolfman over any Spotify playlist any day.
Bill live from MN.

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Bruno Mars should do a cover of this song. He could definitely bring this to life again!

Anita Heilig-Zaccaro

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The Wolfman magic captured 4 thirteen year old teenage imaginations’ thousands of miles away in an industrial town on the river Thames (Gravesend) Great Britain – we listened to the soundtrack for months. Knew every song off by heart. There’s a story behind the songs chosen by George Lucas. Please get him on the Podcast :-)  Thanks Bob..

‘The songs and music of American Graffiti were all Poetry In Motion to us boys who knew off by heart everything Wolfman said on the record. “Those Green Onions are hanging around the studio, especially to keep them Vampires away – you understand” in his husky, gravel voice as he cued-up the Booker T and MGs instrumental organ twister Green Onions’.

Eddie Gordon

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You nailed it. For me, Wolfman Jack was *exactly* something from the early 60s, pre-Beatles.

As an adolescent in what seemed to me to be the ultimate stagnant backwater town in Florida, I was truly thrilled to discover his late night show on XERF, blasting out at 100,000 watts from Mexico across the river from Del Rio, TX. This was years before FM and AOR came on the scene, and I was perpetually searching for better music than the Bobby Vee-Little Peggy March fare cycled endlessly on the local Top 50 station. The black radio station that played the stuff I liked went off the air at night, and that’s when I began scanning the AM dial and found the marvelous pre-FM clear channel AM stations like XERF and WLS out of Chicago. I had to sneak my very 50s style pink plastic clock radio under the covers to listen, as I was around 12 or 13 and was supposed to be asleep. My mom never knew I was listening to Bobby Blue Bland instead of getting my shuteye.

Long time reader, and always enjoy your thoughts and insights.

Marty DeHart

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Wolfman Jack on XERB, coming through the transistor radio in my Cupertino, California bedroom, when I was supposed to be sleeping, dancing between the static. It felt like audio contraband, the Wolfman was breaking the rules, emanating from below the Mexican border.

Ecstasy.

One more thing – the search for copies of all three Nazz albums and Todd’s two Ampex releases consumed a big chunk of my teenage years. The SGC red vinyl of Nazz Nazz was the biggest prize; it  contained “Under the Ice,” a song that would have fit Black Sabbath quite well.

Thanks for the memories. I still listen to Something/Anything fifty years on.

Cheers,

Michael Witthaus

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I was working at a college clothing store in Madison, WI in 1972 when a local FM DJ I knew walked in with the radio demo copy of S/A.  He handed it to me and said it would blow my mind.  I went home, put it on the turntable.  Sat in low light on the top bunk of my bunk bed.  Listened to it track by track and followed with lyric sheet.  I was astonished the each successive song was better than the last one.  Became a lifelong TR fan.  All the songs on S/A ARE memorable.

Agree that Ballad is as good or better.

But S/A changed my life.  Even sounds fresh today.

And the opening track is classic, no matter how you slice it.

ed.wolfman

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Hey Bob –

It’s so great to see you writing about Todd.

He’s such an incredible artist, and he’s known among the musician community but lesser known–at least currently–among the younger music fans.

And “Wolfman Jack” is an amazing piece of art.

Incredible that he played all the instruments on most of that album…..

Mark Feldman

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Hi, just read your piece about Wolfman Jack and was wondering if you’d heard the version by female-fronted Tiny Demons on the tribute album Someone/Anyone? Changes the context a little bit when a woman is singing it.

That whole album is pretty cool if you haven’t heard it yet! Reinterpretations and straight covers galore of the songs we know and love.

https://toddtribute.bandcamp.com/track/tiny-demons-feat-bobby-strickland-wolfman-jack

Holly Duthrie

Note: Entire tribute album here: https://bit.ly/36aDgJU and here: https://spoti.fi/3O7DnXK

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In the military in Germany, early 1970s, on Armed Forces Radio (actually it had been renamed American Forces Radio) we heard this crazy guy called Wolfman Jack.  He wasn’t on any of the Philly radio stations.  Totally new, nuts and refreshing and we all got into him.  My company commander’s last name was Jackson, so of course he was nicknamed accordingly.  And then American Graffiti and Midnight Special.  And I still occasionally pull up Guess Who’s Clap For The Wolfman….

Dave Thorn

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and of course there is the great Guess Who track, “Clap For The Wolfman”!

Bill Migicovsky

Montreal

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Very cool. Wasn’t even aware of the Wolfman track! Thanks for unearthing it from the mothballs. Wolf was one of the first celebrities I ever met as a very young person in Sacramento radio at the time. I was familiar with him based on our syndication of his weekly show and my tuning into XERB during summer camp near Yosemite. Less than a decade later, as a DJ on XTRA (The Mighty 690), broadcasting from a coastal shack about 10 miles south of Tijuana I sorta felt his spirit. What a legend!

Rob Tonkin

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To me, one of the true highlights is the “conversation” that happens before “Slut”.
The cocaine references (way before the general populace had any idea) are hysterical.

And then, of course, the shining moment: “I just decided I’m changing the name of the album to “Throw Money.”

“Something/Anything” LIVES ETERNAL!!!

Matt Auerbach…

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I have been a reader for ages and always look forward to what you have to say.

I enjoyed this riff a lot. Made me smile.

I was at UCSD when “Something Anything” came out. It was right at Todd’s transition to more of the fusion jams of bands like “Yes.” One of my bandmates loved TR.

I also remember when I discovered wWolfman Jack at 13 years old in Vista, California (hipped to him by the older brother of one of my close friends.)

He was the coolest underground disk jockey.

I think you might have missed a track on “Something Anything” that hasn’t aged too well. “S-L-U-T.” Wasn’t that on there?

Big ensemble chorus shout:

S    (S!)   L    (L)!     U    (U!)   T!

She may be a slut but she looks good to me!

Times change.

Will Anderson

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Have always loved all Todd’s Nazz and early solo work. Something/Anything was a huge influence on me as a multi-instrumentalist and session player. Wolfman Jack is such a great cut and totally catches the sound and feel of that era.
Wonder if it provided any inspiration for the Guess Who’s Clap For The Wolfman.

Michael Gregory

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50 years ago I took a chance based on a friends half stoned suggestion that we move to  D.C.- but actually ended up in Arlington ,VA in a large house with 14 bedrooms with 15 others  trying to “find ourselves”. The reason we went? Jobs, construction jobs to be more exact- being laborers at almost twice what we were paid back in Michigan being busboys and gas station attendants. So while cleaning the buildings of wood, drywll,nails etc, we would listen to WGTB -Georgetown Broadcasting-and more specifically the “Spiritus Cheese Show”. This is the station and the show that introduced me to so many bands and artists from Tom Waits to Jim Kweskin to Bob Marley and everything in between. This was also the station where I heard so many songs from Something/Anything. I heard all the songs you mentioned and more from that album and on a Friday payday I stopped at a record store on  the way home, bought the album and spent most of the weekend in my room playing it loud on my Columbia stereo. Later bought an 8 track tape for the car. Those songs were such a part of my late teens. Thanks to your email, I guess I know what I will be listening to a great part of this weekend. (I still have the original vinyl I bought then)

Jeff Appleton
Marathon Entertainment

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You didn’t have to live in SoCal to listen to Wolfman Jack.  His taped broadcasts were on XERF in Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, on the border with Texas.  XERF had 250,000 watts and could be heard in 48 states.  I listened to him in both Texas and Arizona.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfman_Jack#Film,_television,_and_music_career

“Though Smith was managing a Minneapolis radio station, he was still broadcasting as Wolfman Jack on XERF via taped shows that he sent to the station”  1962-64.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XHRF-FM  (this is a cool story)

One of Freed’s fans was Bob Smith, a disc jockey who also adopted the Moondog theme by calling himself Wolfman Jack and adding his own sound effects. Smith took his act to Inter-American Radio Advertising, who sent him to the studio and transmitter site of XERF. It was here that Wolfman Jack invented his own style of border blasting by turning the airwaves into one long infomercial featuring music and off-the-wall products.

Wolfman Jack gained a huge audience which brought in enough money to not only pay the bills, but to cause bandits and corrupt officials to also take enough interest in taking over his promotions for themselves. As a result, Smith began to pay his own security force to protect him, because although he lived in Del Rio, Texas, because of the Brinkley Act he had to actually broadcast from the station itself in Ciudad Acuña in Mexico.

Bill O.

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Yeah. Todd. A B&W Bearsville promo poster of Todd hangs over my studio desk at all times, gazing at me, reminding me to do better; to go in harder. The bar has been set higher.
And just to remind us how chock full o’ song Todd was during this period, “Wolfman Jack” is followed on “Something/Anything” by the Nyro-esque gem “Cold Morning Light”- a full on heart melter. C’mon.
I’m with you- I always preferred “Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren” to “Something/Anything?— perhaps there was just too much content to unpack on the latter? Dare I say: too much brilliance? Dunno. At now age 50, I discovered all Nazz and 70’s era Todd after the fact, and in random order… first really discovering the Todd WTF-ness with a random Dr. Demento spin of “Lockjaw” from A Cappella when it was released, and then picking up the 12” single of the same album’s “Something To Fall Back On” at the glorious Record Trader 5/$1 parking lot sale shortly thereafter. Instantly hooked. I worked backwards, mind constantly blown. It still is.
I get the same feeling of “throw off” 60’s psychedelic whimsy from Runt’s “I’m In The Clique”. But where to begin and where to end with Todd?
I guess I’ll be buying those tickets to the Daryl Hall with Todd show coming up here in L.A. after all, damnit. Maybe I’ll see you there.
Thank you Todd/thank you Bob

-Jeff Babko
the valley

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As we used to say in the day: Todd is God.

queenie taylor

George Thorogood calls in to talk about his new album “The Original George Thorogood.”

Tune in today, April 12th, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3KuS44V

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3rksmbN

This was before “Midnight Special.” This was even before “American Graffiti.” You had to live in Southern California or be an ardent music fan to know who Wolfman Jack was. Wikipedia tells me that he was also on Armed Forces Radio but that was before being a soldier was cool, back when the goal was to stay out of the army, long before the slew of Vietnam movies began. But still, “Wolfman Jack” was the third track on Todd Rundgren’s 1972 double album opus, “Something/Anything?”

It was a year and a half before “Hello It’s Me” was released as a single and became a hit. And I’ve always preferred the initial version, with Nazz. And I’m also a heretic in liking Todd’s previous album, “The Ballad of Todd Rundgren,” more than “Something/Anything?” But that does not mean “Something/Anything?” was not a masterpiece. Todd was one of a trio, including Paul McCartney and Emitt Rhodes, who did it all themselves. Although he fourth side of the album did contain a band.

The advantage of doing it all yourself is you can do it your way. With no interference. You can take your time to get it right. And today others do this, then again others buy beats, but fifty years ago home recording equipment was nonexistent, at least four tracks plus. And a record deal separated the wheat from the chaff. And speaking of record deals, Todd’s first two LPs were distributed by Ampex, a noted tape manufacturer with a fledgling record distribution arm which ultimately failed. So you couldn’t find Todd’s first two albums, and there was little promotion, but if you needed them, if you knew who he was and wanted more, you ultimately laid your hands on them, And about the time “Something/Anything?” appeared, distributed by Warner Brothers, the first two LPs showed up in cutout bins.

The opening track was made to be a hit and it was a mild one. I’m speaking of course of “I Saw the Light.” And it’s good, and it’s catchy, and I like it, but there are better numbers on the double album. As a matter of fact, the second cut on the first side, “It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference,” was superior.

And on the second side there was “The Night the Carousel Burned Down,” which had the up and down feel of riding the ponies. And “Marlene,” with the lyrics:

“Marlene, Marlene

Who’d believe that you’re only seventeen

I’m in trouble if your folks get mean

And if they do

Then I don’t care if they bust me

And I guess that means that I love you”

It was a different era, but we all knew under eighteen was a problem, yet Todd admitted it, and owned it! I never heard of any prosecution. But doing research I just found out her name was Marlene Pinkard and after changing her moniker to Marlene Morrow she was “Playboy”‘s Miss April of 1974. I love the internet.

Side three had the indelible power ballad “Black Maria.” It also contained “Couldn’t I Just Tell You,” which was a single, and good, but not as good as some of the rest of the tracks on the album.

Like “Dust in the Wind,” a Moogy Klingman original on side four.

Side four also contained the memorable “Piss Aaron,” then again all the songs on “Something/Anything?” are memorable.

So you’ve got the bouncy “I Saw the Light” opening the album, and then the meaningful, mid-tempo “It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference” following it up. But then…

“Hey baby, you’re on a subliminal trip to nowhere

You better get your trip together before you step in here with us”

“Wolfman Jack” sounds like something from the early sixties, pre-Beatles. And it’s just as catchy. And a revelation after what came before, an injection of adrenaline just when your mind was drifting, thinking about past relationships. And it was the opening cut on a Spotify playlist someone sent me yesterday.

I was traipsing through the e-mail last night, I had over two hundred to go through, and unlike those who work at the company all my e-mail is directly to me, I’m not cc’ed constantly, kept in the loop on things I don’t care about. And I was intrigued by the e-mail, so I clicked and while I’m on to the next missive out of my computer speakers come the above words, and I know immediately that it’s “Wolfman Jack”! And my mood changes completely.

It was a gray day. Everyday life can be kind of boring. But then this sound emanated from the substandard speakers in my MacBook Pro and still I got it, my mood lifted, I started shimmying in my chair, this was the best I felt all day!

And of course I know “Wolfman Jack,” but listening fifty years later reinforced how great it was, how much better than today’s dreck it was. Maybe because it was channeled directly from Todd to the listener. There weren’t twenty writers. There weren’t endless remixes, comped vocals. “Wolfman Jack” was alive, even if the Wolfman himself passed away in the last century.

Maybe if you’re under thirty you don’t get it. “Wolfman Jack” is not bass heavy. It’s got more than one chord. And Todd sings as opposed to talks. And it’s not a diva-esque pop song, bland, made to pull your heartstrings. “Wolfman Jack” is a tear, a throw-off, a comet blistering across the sky which shines brightly for under three minutes then disappears. Whew!

“If you want yourself a day man well I don’t mind

You just ditch him when the sun goes down

‘Cause the moon shines bright and everything’s all right

When the Wolfman he creeps into town”

Nothing good happens during the day, unless you’re still in bed with your significant other. The sun shines bright into every corner, everybody’s working. That’s one of the reasons you become an artist, because you don’t have to work during the day. Don’t confuse this with being a businessman. For some reason they have to attend the gig at night yet be in their office early in the morning. You can only burn the candle at both ends for so long, but sometimes you want to, if you’re an artist, you want no restrictions, you just want to follow your muse.

That’s right, everything good happens at night. When the straight people retire. When everything does not have the light upon it. When you can hide in the dark and do not only nefarious things, but fun, meaningful ones too!

“Now you’ll maybe want a man who throws ’round his money

But he ain’t as cool as Wolfman Jack

You might want yourself a man who don’t act so funny

But he ain’t your fool like Wolfman Jack”

A rich man can’t compete with an artist, a musician, a performer. Come on guys, you’ve seen it, you’ve experienced it, you’re giving it your all but your heart’s desire is infatuated with the dirty, greasy, sometimes even broke, musician on stage. You’ve got no chance.

“I don’t mean to treat you evil

I’m just a good boy gone bad

But if I catch you after dark walking through the park

I’m just liable to do something mad”

There’s that after dark precept once again.

You can’t escape Wolfman Jack. You don’t want to!

And really the song isn’t about the lyrics so much as the feel, the changes. Like an amusement park ride you’re at attention, the whole time, a few minutes go by, it’s over and you ask yourself…WHAT WAS THAT?

Not that I expect that to have a renaissance. I don’t expect the younger generation to discover “Wolfman Jack,” never mind the rest of “Something/Anything?” As for Todd himself, he’s shifting the show constantly, playing to fans. Hard core fans will keep you alive, if there are enough of them.

So it’s a small movement. As is the case with so many acts of yore, assuming they’re not dead. But there are so many who can’t tour at all, the economics prohibit it, there just aren’t enough passionate fans out there.

But Todd has them.

And if you listen to “Wolfman Jack” you’ll know why.

LOVE 10cc!

Love Graham.

We toured together in Ringo’s band a few years back and I got to play those songs you mentioned with him.  Graham is an amazing talent and what a songwriter. Think of the hits he wrote PRE-10cc!  Bus Stop for the Hollies- Heart full of Soul for the Yardbirds to name 2 of many…

Also one of the nicest cats I ever met. Old school English gentleman. The opposite of me. hahaha We get on great! 10cc is doing shows with us in Europe this summer and I look forward to seeing him again.

Amazing band as well!

Luke

(Steve Lukather)

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long-time reader, first time commentor (I think… ).

I was born in the UK in the mid-60s and therefore grew up with 10cc in the 70s. I live in Norway now, on a stretch of the coastline in the south known for its temperate climate, and a couple of summers back I went to see Graham and the boys (I hope they won’t mind me calling them boys, as someone of a not-dissimilar age I practically invite its use) at one of the two towns local to me (Tønsberg, the oldest town in Norway).

It’s worth commenting that the band put on an amazing show, packed with songs that were great to hear live after so many years. The venue was not massive, but the energy and enthusiasm for the music coming from the band was palpable. I mean, why wouldn’t it be with that catalogue to call on…!? But we’ve all seen bands going through the motions and this was as far from that as it’s possible to be.

It’s quite a thing to get normally reserved Norwegian audiences to whoop and holler, but 10cc managed it on that balmy summer night.

Both band and audience could feel the benefit (sorry, not sorry).

All the best from the fjords,

Dave King

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Such pop brilliance!!

Kim Bullard

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Best thing ever. Brilliant song. Brilliant song writer.

Joe D’Ambrosio

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Always consistently great music from 10CC. And it started with Hotlegs’ fantastic ’Neanderthal Man’ – did that ever appear in the US charts?

Hugo Burnham

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Hi Bob – Have been a Graham Gouldman fan since his early songwriting days (Yardbirds, Hollies, Herman Hermits) which led me to 10cc and Rubber Bullets (great rhyme with balls and chains and balls and brains). My flatmate and I listened to the first several 10cc albums cover to cover and really locked in on the Original Soundtrack side 1 opener Une Nuit a Paris fading into I’m Not in Love. Plus the cover art was cool as well as the next couple of covers by the Hipgnosis team. Miss that fantastic LP art and packaging. Agree with you on Deceptive Bends. Thanks again for your writing and observations.

Boyd Allen

Exeter, NH

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That whole album is a work of genius. I got it in grade 9, 1978. Wore it out, got it on cassette, CD, and iTunes. Still play it. Only recently did I come to know that Graham Gouldman wrote Bus Stop, when he was just a kid. A hidden gem on Deceptive Bends is ‘I Bought A Flat Guitar Tutor’ which – via clever segways in the lyrics – tells you all of the chord changes to play the song, right on time.  ‘I bought A flat, *diminished responsibility, you’re D9th person to C, to B suspended…’ Honestly, I love it.

Kind regards,

Rob Whittaker

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Nice one Bob.

10cc is one of the 10 most underrated Brit bands ever.

And Graham Gouldman should be in the Songwriters Hall of Fame For Bus Stop, Look Through Any Window, Heart Full of Soul and For Your Love alone.

Stephen Dessau

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Totally agree with you Bob, 10cc was a ridiculously good band with fantastic clever lyrics that consistently surprised the listener while beautiful melodies stuck in your head.  I bought everything they did from Rubber Bullets to Bloody Tourists.  Thanks as always for the great deep cut dives that transport us back!

 

Dan Butler

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Great props to very deserving ARTISTS.

Dennis Pelowski

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Bob,

Headline Hustler!! Holy Macca!

When they sing “under my plastic mac, under my plastic mac” … man!

Thomas Quinn

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I have always LOVED ‘Feel The Benefit’, especially the live version on the double live LP, ‘Live And Let Live’. It even has a bass solo in the coda of the song? Love the build at the end. ‘Bloody Tourist’ is a great record, too. I still pull out the 10cc vinyl on a regular basis.

bfletcher28

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HONEYMOON WITH B TROOP (from 10cc Deceptive Bends lp)

DON’T HANG UP  (HOW DARE YOU lp)

superb band

etc etc etc

Don de Brauwere

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Great to feel the love for 10cc’s “Deceptive Bends” particularly their epic closer “Feel The Benefit” which had always been a fave. These days, only Graham Gouldman remains as an original member (2.5cc) but he’s surrounded by long time compatriots who do just fine making their music sound terrific. Gouldman’s side project with Andrew Gold was also an interesting listen.

When you get a chance, put on “Blue Guitar” by Justin Hayward and John Lodge. That’s 10cc as their backing band. Oh, to think what that ensemble could have created.

Dave Logan

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“Feel the benefit” a great song.

I always liked their “Queen meets Gershwin” mini rock opera “Un nuit a Paris” too. “Pretentious? Moi?” (Fawlty Towers.)

Thought 10cc basically fell between 2 stalls.

Too poppy for the prog fans.

Too proggy for the pop fans.

It’s all folk music anyhow. “I ain’t never heard no horse sing a song” (Louis Armstrong.)

Art for art’s sake…

Mark Hudson

Schenectady, NY

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“I’m Not In Love”…had the disc on my turntable playing the morning after I broke up with my first real love post high school.  I realized she and I weren’t getting along and broke it off.  “Just because…”

“Big boys don’t cry…

Big boys don’t cry…”

It was bleak time for me…

Tim Pringle

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10cc are a band whose album tracks I’ve warmed to over the years. Their singles were some of my faves, but the ultimate jukebox of Spotify has allowed me to dip in to their catalog and fall in love with a batch of their LP.s I then started picking up vinyl copies of their albums; their s/t debut, its follow-up Sheet Music, and just last week their double live Live and Let Live ($2.50 at Arroyo Records in Eagle Rock).

Like XTC, they’re often too clever by half, taking their songs towards obscure, proggy directions, and obscuring their insane facility crafting hooks. But that’s also the point. They don’t always make it easy for you, and their knotty, intricate songs reward repeat listens.

I included “Honeymoon With B Troop”, also on Deceptive Bends, on a playlist, and have listened to the track over and over.

Come to think of it, guess I have to buy that album one on vinyl too.

Michael Krumper

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The “young” fellow in 10CC (i.e. the one who isn’t in his seventies) is a guy called Iain Hornal. I don’t know him or anything, but he’s also a touring member of ELO when the play live, so you know he has to be a bit good, and he has a couple of solo albums that well worth checking out – the latest one is here:

The title track is not a bad place to start to get an idea.

Matthew Best

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Deceptive Bends is among a number of vinyl albums I’ve kept from back in the day. From Good Morning Judge to Feel the Benefit, it remains one of my favorites.

A few years back I attended my third or fourth Ringo and his All Starr Band concert primarily to see and hear Graham Gouldman perform the 10cc songs.

Hoping for a 10cc tour of the States.

Andrew Paciocco

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Long time reader from France. Always listen to your great podcasts. We listened to 10cc after your podcast with Kevin Godley. I was never really a fan (aged 58 now) as I was more of a rocker at that age but I did always love Feel The Benefit…..great song and I had to explain to my French wife, the meaning of the title (I was born in Cocker country – Sheffield, up north). I think my explanation to her was, word for word, like the one below (except for the Graham bit !).

All the best – keep up the great work !
Cheers
Mark Shaw

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First of all “Feel the Benefit Pt. 1, 2 & 3” is a masterpiece that doesn’t get its due.  Still love the simplicity, but power of that guitar solo at the

end.

Side note-A million years ago, I was at Johnson’s clothing store on Kings Road in London.  I was literally the only person in the store and I was trying on some clothes when I heard voices.  Four guys walked in, and from the dressing room stall which was enclosed by the kind of doors you see in Western movies, I peered over to see Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Lol Creme and Kevin Godley perusing the garments in the store.

I couldn’t believe my fly-on-the-wall perspective and what I was witnessing. If social media had been around then, a short video capturing the scene might have inspired rumors of a reunion.  It was then, after hearing the banter between the four guys for a minute or two, that I surmised that Lol and Kevin were looking at potential wardrobe for a video for their former bandmates.

Great band, in every way.  They need to come back and play in America!

Brian Diamond

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Thank you for validating my playing of “Deceptive Bends” continuously for the past 45 years.

I also owned the previous four LPs; my best friend and I thought we were in some exclusive private club where 10cc (and Roxy Music, Supertramp, etc.) existed.

I really thought that the departure of Godley and Creme would end one of my favorite bands… boy, was I wrong.

You are correct – “Bloody Tourists” is a superior LP, but for some reason I don’t revisit it quite as often.

Seeing 10cc at Santa Monica Civic in 1978 remains one of the concert highlights of my life.

Thanks, Bob

bkilgour

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I too have the full 10cc set on vinyl from my younger days. Currently laid up convalescing from foot surgery, and immediately threw on the headphones to listen to this again after so many years and feel the full benefit of your spot on newsletter. Thanks for the reminder of why these guys are so great. Have a great Monday!

Ralph Covert

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Every few months a high school buddy sends me a FB message on how he just put Feel The Benefit on his excellent stereo and cranked it to 11. We were in high school when Deceptive Bends was released and we had become album guys, through the benefit of our local still free-form FM station (circa ’78-’79). Used to cruise around in my Honda Civic with FTB at ear-splitting volume…probably at least part of the reason that I have hearing aids.

The entire album was great, if a bit clever at times (I Bought A Flat Guitar Tutor – loved it as a guitar player though). But FTB was the gem of the bunch. And you are spot on about the guitar solo. Still one of my favourites to this day. Couldn’t believe an “unkown” like Eric Stewart could deliver a Page/Clapton/Beck worthy solo like that.

Regards,

DFinley

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Hi, Bob. Thanks for your email about 10cc and Feel the Benefit. Folks interested in learning more about the band can check out the Consequences Podcast, which started out as an homage to the Goldey and Creme triple LP but morphed into all things 10cc.

Tim Wood

Chatham, MA

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Greetings Bob,

 

10cc has long been one of my favorite bands.  I was immediately drawn in by “The Wall Street Shuffle” when it was released as a single from their second album, Sheet Music in 1974.  I rushed out to buy the album and was thrilled to find that the entire album was excellent.  I subsequently bought their first album (which admittedly, was an acquired taste), and continued buying their albums until the band’s breakup.  Their tongue-in-cheek lyrics and incredible melodies have held up really well, and I frequently revisit those first six 10cc albums.  The four musicians (Lol Creme, Kevin Godley, Graham Gouldman & Eric Stewart) in the original 10cc band are simply incredible, with each player bringing extensive credentials to the group.

 

Upon first hearing Deceptive Bends, the fifth 10cc album and the first to be released after the departure of Godley & Creme, I was struck by the opus “Feel the Benefit pts 1, 2 & 3” and was amazed that rock radio hadn’t picked up on it.  We played it many, many times at Long Island’s non-commercial alternative, WUSB, Stony Brook, where we have no designated playlists (one of the few stations where truly anything goes – visit wusb.fm).  And come to think of it, I’ll be playing “Feel the Benefit” again on Saturday, April 23rd as part of WUSB’s Vinylthon  (collegeradio.org/vinylthon) on Record Store Day (recordstoreday.com/).  I can’t wait to “Feel the Benefit” yet again.

 

Thanks for the reminder, Bob!

 

P.S. I had the pleasure of interviewing 10cc’s Graham Gouldman a few years ago.  He’s a delightful chap, and it was a wonderful conversation.  BTW – Graham’s favorite 10cc albums are Sheet Music and Deceptive Bends.

 

Bob Duffy

Senior Programmer

WUSB-FM, Stony Brook, NY

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…….10cc = 4 creative geniuses under one roof……spectacular!

Tommy Allen

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“Sheet Music” was a great album. “Do the Wall Street Shuffle” is well, very today. “Three yids and a yod” they called themselves…In 1979 I got Graham to write the songs for “Animalympics” (now running on Amazon Prime) and he wrote wonderfully catchy, tuneful numbers that the animators had a great time with (one of them, Roger Allers, wrote “The Lion King”. Another (an “in-betweener”) was Brad Bird. Very talented bunch….Graham was a smart hire!

Michael Fremer

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Thank you Bob!  You thoughtfully articulated a feeling and emotion which has been buried in my memory.   I do focus on the lyrics, words and even the meaning.  A regular activity I also do with my daughter.  However, long gone are my days of laying on the floor or ground, headphones on or off, staring at the ceiling or sky, and just getting lost in the music as it “washes” through me.  You are absolutely right, “…the music sets them (us)  free:”  “They (We) don’t feel the benefit”.  So true… music heals.

Best,

Judi Helfant

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I love 10cc. I had tickets to see them in Pittsburgh back in the 1970s but the show got cancelled for reasons that I can’t remember.

I may be an old fart but I still lie on the floor and let the music take me away and now I go to the gym regularly so I’m still able to get up.

Harold Love

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“but no one lies on their bed or the floor and stares at the ceiling anymore as the music sets them free”

I still do.

Mike Marrone

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I was going to suggest that rather than being a casino, life is actually a minestrone.

Vince Welsh