GODLEY & CREME
Prog Related • United Kingdom
From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website
Kevin GODLEY and Lawrence (Lol) CREME, along with Graham GOLDMAN, had been in a number of bands together through-out the 1960's before they joined-up with Eric STEWART as session musicians at Strawberry Studios in Manchester. Together the four formed a song writing and production partnership producing a succession of one-off bubblegum songs that culminated in the top ten hit 'Neanderthal Man' under the name HOTLEGS, who after touring with THE MOODY BLUES, would later evolve into 10CC.
During recordings for 10CC GODLEY and CREME saw the need for an instrument that could replicate string sounds economically and developed the Gizmo, an attachment to a guitar that could create a polyphonic bowing action. Prototypes of the Gizmo were used on a number of 10cc songs, most notably 'Gizmo My Way' a short instrumental penned by GODLEY and CREME and released as the b-side to 'The Wall Street Shuffle'. GODLEY and CREME left 10CC in 1976 to develop and market the Gizmo and undertook an ambitious project to create a showcase album for their invention based around the short demo they had written. Over the following 18 months, the project grew exponentially, resulting in the 3 disc concept album Consequences. Comprising of three parts, the first part, a series of tunes composed almost entirely on the Gizmo and featuring only one vocal song, is followed by a musical play featuring English comedian Peter COOK that forms the bulk of the recording, and ends with a piano concerto entitled 'Blint's Tune (Movements 1-17)'. The primary concept of Consequences is Mother Nature turning against mankind and can only be quelled by music, in the form of a 17-part piano concerto composed by an electrician living below a divorce lawyer's office.
Consequences was not well received on its initial release, due in part to its length and high cost, and to it being released at the height of the Punk rock movement. Several attempts were made to reduce the album to a more commercial length but these also failed, however over the past decades it has gained a well deserved cult following.
The development of the polyphonic synthesiser brought an abrupt end to the Gizmo and GODLEY and CREME soon put Consequences behind them, releasing a series of successful Art-rock albums comprising of shorter intelligently lyrical songs in a similar vein to 10CC, (L, Freeze Frame, Ismism, Bird of Prey and Goodbye Blue Sky), that produced a string of hit singles, such as Under My Thumb, An Englis...read more
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GODLEY & CREME discography
Ordered by release date | Showing ratings (top albums) | Help Progarchives.com to complete the discography and add albums
GODLEY & CREME top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)
3.63 | 34 ratings
Consequences 1977 |
3.95 | 45 ratings
L 1978 |
3.37 | 42 ratings
Freeze Frame 1979 |
1.93 | 20 ratings
Ismism [Aka: Snack Attack] 1981 |
2.57 | 18 ratings
Birds Of Prey 1983 |
1.90 | 14 ratings
Goodbye Blue Sky 1988 |
GODLEY & CREME Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)
GODLEY & CREME Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)
GODLEY & CREME Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)
2.00 | 2 ratings
Music from Consequences 1979 |
2.32 | 8 ratings
History Mix Vol. 1 1985 |
0.00 | 0 ratings
Frabjous Days: The Secret World of Godley & Creme 1967-1969 2022 |
GODLEY & CREME Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)
2.00 | 3 ratings
Snack Attack 1982 |
GODLEY & CREME Reviews
Showing last 10 reviews only
Godley & Creme Prog Related
Review by Greta007
The music is highly complex and eclectic, ad not always sonorous, which can be a turn-off for some. Despite the duo's pop background, this is quite jaw-dropping prog rock, with superb playing, huge Queen-like harmonies, and infused with pitch black British wit and satire. Most of the tracks are as much mini-operas as they are songs. It's a stunningly original sound.
For me, the standouts are This Sporting Life, Sandwiches of You, Punchbag and Business is Business, It's not the most accessible album.
Godley & Creme Prog Related
Review by Dr�mmarenAdrian
The album consists of nine songs which are quite similar in style and feeling. It is a humble feeling laying over it and it is dressed in an electronic, modern rap style. I call it rap but it has very few similarities with the music people usually refer to as rap. One similar form of singing is of course Murray Head's rap on "One night in Bangkok". My, and other people's low rating of this album could make you believe this isn't good at all. But actually I am quite positive to what Godley & Creme did here. They experimented a lot and some songs here are enjoyable, intelligent and worth listening to. The vocals are fine and especially in the two humble quite ordinary songs "Under your thumb"(6/10) and "Sale of the century"(7/10) you can get the feelings from some of 10cc's best moments. The last mentioned track is in my opinion very nice. I also like the opening track "Snack attack"(7/10). Beside these mentioned songs this album is rather boring. All songs are well performed and there is something interesting everywhere but I think this new thinking of rap and electronic sounds was to much here. The band could have done a more varied record. I would also have liked this record more if the tops were higher.
My song to song rating ends at 2.44 which makes this a two star rating. 5/10 would have been more fair and to be honest I must say that "Consequences" isn't so much better than this. But "Ismism" unfortunately is a step down from "Freeze Frame".
Best tracks: Sale of the century, Snack attack, Under your thumb
Godley & Creme Prog Related
Review by Dr�mmarenAdrian
The album surely has its lovely parts. It feels like the band here became more experimental again and tried to once again expand the pop music standard out of its limits. The biggest difference from "L" in my opinion is that the sound feels more electronic and less authentic. It feels programmed and computerized. In my opinion that wasn't a desireble development . Godley & Creme experiment a lot with instruments and vocals and here they were quite a long distance from the most famous hits of 10cc. The result is yet praiseworthy. The vocal harmonies on many tracks and the msuicality is high. "Get well soon"(8/10) is my favourite from this album and "An Englishman in New York"(7/10), "Random Brainwave"(7/10), the weird sounding "I Pity Inanimate Objects"(7/10) and "Freeze Frame"(7/10) are also amongst the more interesting parts. The whole album is still good and I would recommend it. It has a very intelligent sound that wasn't usual in the late seventies and the early eighties.
My rating ends at 3.38 which makes this a solid and good record, but still not one of those I would pick as an example of the best prog rock, which I could have done with "L" or some of the best 10cc albums. Now I look forward to hear how 10cc could sound in the early eighties.
Best track: Get well soon
Godley & Creme Prog Related
Review by Dr�mmarenAdrian
Kevin Godley and Lol Creme took help from three guests on the album "L": Andy Mackay who played saxophone, Paul Gambaccini who was the bad Samaritan and Jonathan Handelsman who played saxophone. The design on the sleeve is as simple as possible with a red "L" on a white background. The music on the record is magnificant and exactly what you want from these musical masters. It's like the spirit from 10cc but more extreme; there are more vocal harmonies, more experimental melodies and lyrics and less hit feelings. I am totally sure that people who like 10cc will like this too. Beside fantastic vocals the instruments are awesome: guitar, bass and keyboards of different shapes.
The first song "This Sporting Life" is long and totally wonderful, it is powerful and almost hard rock but very melodic and interesting (10/10). "Sandwiches of you" is also lovely(8/10) as well as all of the other tracks, especially "Punchbag"(8/10) and the instrumental "Foreign Accents"(8/10). I appreciate this fantastic and innovative music very much and I believe I will keep it near me and that it will grow in my opinion too. The progression from "Consequences" is very positive. When Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman in some way did more conventional pop songs, yet interesting and thoughtful, Lol Creme and Kevin Godley expanded their musicality much more. I like the both of them. I would like to recommend this "L" record to everyone.
Four strong stars Best tracks: This sporting life, Sandwiches of you, Punchbag, Foreign Accents
Godley & Creme Prog Related
Review by Dr�mmarenAdrian
Consequences is a difficult record to handle. It lasts for almost two ours and I was a triple-LP when it came. There are a few kind out usual songs and a lot of sound experiments that are very progressive. In this case I believe the label "prog related" is not enough to describe the music. Together with this the record also contains a long radio play by the comedian Peter Cook. Well, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme has here made an interesting mess. There are so many sound experiments and talking on this album that you could be annoyed if you felt that you wanted some ordinary music. "Consequences" isn't a place for ordinary music but still I think most people will find things to love here. The comical play that is separated in many parts would amuse many, it is funny and the extremely progressive compositions are intriguing as well. Other, such as me prefer the album's quite ordinary songs which are lovely in many ways. I will now gave you my favourites on the album.
"Five O'Clock in the morning" which also is the most usual track is totally fantastic. It contains lovely vocals from Godley & Creme and the melody and the text brings me joy all over my house(10/10). The short "Honolulu Lulu"(8/10) which continues in the beginning of next track is also lovely such as "Lost weekend"(8/10) with fine harmonies. I also love "Sailor"(8/10) by the same reasons. I don't like the fact that they didn't sung more than they did here because they are so great at singing. Of instrumental track I would also recommend "Blint's Tune Movements 1-17"(7/10) which is a pretentious and interesting little musical symphony, made thet same year as "Feel the benefit-suite" but is something totally different. The song "Rosie" is very fine too(7/10) and the same should be written about "Cool, cool, cool"(7/10). I also enjoy a lot of the instrumental and experimenting parts where the sound sounds like water or what it is.
I appreciate "Consequences" much more than I like it. I like the intentions and thoughts that lie behind it. So even if I thought it was quite hard to get through it, I would say that the result is intriguing and I will give the record three stars. But what a pity 10cc broke up. Despite what I may write or have written it feels like the band separated into one too experimental part and one too easy listened part(but I haven't written about Bloody tourists yet).
Best tracks: Five O'Clock in the morning, Honolulu Lulu, Sailor Three stars
Godley & Creme Prog Related
Review by
AtomicCrimsonRush
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator
Being a compilation of sorts it features some of the great Godley and Creme songs such as the masterpiece 'An Englishman In New York' which is a song I have never forgotten ever since I saw the bizarre streamlined film clip in the 80s. I even tried to write out the lyrics that were indecipherable to a teenager of the 80s but still had fun elements with ideas such as 'demented new york athletes staggering around the block... devotion to Bloomingdales gift wrapped in red in the land of blue rinse... happy to see you, Avon crawling!" The sheer cynical sardonic edge is irrisistible, even when he sings "Hitler is king of the jews." It makes a lot of statements about the human condition "strange apparatus, you've never seen", our waste of resources and our rubbber knecking at what others should or should not be purchasing in a consumer society; "I've got to be the first on our block, no way street, happy to see you, have a nice day". And it was the first time I came across the word "Anglophile" and found out what it meant. The song holds power even today and really it is the pinnacle of brilliance as far as I am concrned. Nothing else the band did came close or moved in the same way.
'Light Me Up' is interesting with female vox and a poppy 80s aroma, but forgettable. 'Save a Mountain for Me' drags interminably until I have had enough of its mediocrity. 'Golden Boy' is okay at first with the deep bass synths but goes on too long with the repetition of "golden boy" grating on the nerves.
Overall this is a poor compilation and if bought just for 'An Englishman In New York' you might be well advised to get hold of "Freeze Frame" instead, that at least had prog songs scattered thereabouts.
Godley & Creme Prog Related
Review by
HolyMoly
Special Collaborator Retired Admin
Well frankly, I think it depends a lot on how much you like Frank Zappa. His pieces often lay out a theme in a recognizable, usually stylized manner (e.g. lounge music, reggae, hard rock, whatever), and then scatter little sonic banana peels all over the place, causing the listener to slip and slide around, never really sure what will happen next. That's what happens on this album a lot, and if that kind of thing bothers you, you probably won't like this. It says to the listener, "Ha Ha! Caught you getting in the groove there - here, have some 32nd note trills in 7/8 time!" If you hate that, stop reading right now.
Still here? Good, so am I.
If the Zappa comparison holds, then the 7 minute opening track "The Sporting Life" is their equivalent of "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" -- it begins and ends with a slow, jazzy lament, and the middle of the song is a long procession of quick changes in volume, tempo, and style, giving the impression of someone going to sleep, having a weird chaotic dream, and then waking up again. It's actually very well put together, but the herky jerkiness of it might be off putting at first. Next, "Sandwiches of You", ostensibly the "single" off the album, is just as strange lyrically and instrumentally - jarring little guitar bursts peek through the spare, brisk drum-centered arrangement, though it features a catchy/annoying refrain and a fairly normal song structure overall. "Art School Canteen" leads us into mellow territory, with gentle crooning by Kevin Godley (he has such a lovely voice, doesn't he?), poking fun at art school students. They name-drop Zappa in this song too. "Group Life" sounds more like what Godley and Creme would do on future albums -- artsy, experimental dance-oriented music. Not my favorite track, but it's welcome as a breather after the last three quirky tracks.
Side Two opens with one of the more shocking songs here, "Punchbag", a wildly unpredictable batch of constantly changing rhythms and themes, with only the abrasive refrain of "Fourth Form! Punchbag!" holding it together. The lyrics are sung from the point of view of a bullied school kid (perhaps making this a sequel to 10cc's "I Wanna Rule the World"?). For the non-sympathetic listener, this song is the most likely to annoy. For the sympathetic listener, though, it's pretty impressive. Next comes possibly my favorite tune on here, the completely bizarre "Foreign Accents". I guess it's their take on "T'Mershi Duween" (an early 70s complex Zappa instrumental). The backing track throughout is a light shuffle featuring handclaps and an inviting saxophone lick. Over this, at seemingly random intervals, a harsh series of unison Zappa-like rhythmic puzzles enter and exit at will. The effect is pretty hilarious, and somewhat disturbing (what were these guys on?). The last track is a 2 song medley of "Hit Factory/Business is Business" - a relative weak spot on the album, trying to conjure up the image of an actual factory (complete with industrial noises) "making hits", before leading into the weird quasi blues of "Business is Business" - again, fun idea, but just a little too self-consciously weird for its own good.
I'm extremely glad that Godley and Creme had the guts to leave the "sure thing" of 10cc and strike out on their own experimental path. They really are fantastic musicians with talent to spare, and here they made one of the more eclectic prog albums from 1978 you're likely to hear (at a time when many of the big-name prog bands were either on hiatus or streamlining their sound). But like a lot of Zappa's more silly works, sometimes you can have a little too much of a good thing - "too clever for their own good" has probably been writ in many reviews of this album. I'm wavering between a 3 and a 4 here. I'll round up to a 4, because I'm in the "weird is good" camp.
Godley & Creme Prog Related
Review by
HolyMoly
Special Collaborator Retired Admin
What eventually happened was that Godley and Creme left 10cc to devote their full energies to this, a vast three-record concept album based almost entirely on sounds produced by the Gizmo. Imagine what guts those guys had. The result is one of the most confounding, eccentric album packages ever conceived. But is it good? Yes and no.
The concept: Mother Nature reclaims the Earth with violent storms and other natural disasters, destroying everything in her path; such are the "Consequences" of Man's abuse of Earth's natural resources. Meanwhile an eccentric man (who has predicted all along that this would happen, and even correctly predicted the day it would happen) composes a Piano Concerto designed to pacify Mother Nature and thus save the human race. Meanwhile (and here's where things get really weird), there's a very long and somewhat tedious black comedy going on in this man's attic (?) between two lawyers and their clients who are in the process of divorce proceedings. In the end, this eccentric man (Mr. Blint) unleashes his grand Piano Concerto (all of side 6, as it happens), and presumably all ends well, since I'm still alive and writing this review right now.
The execution: The first record (sides one and two) is entirely instrumental, and entirely performed using the Gizmo. Musical sounds of every conceivable type are blended in exciting ways - horns, strings, wind effects, crashing waves, voices, a large rock festival being decimated by a storm, and so on, all produced by this device. Just read this excerpt from the producer's fascinating liner notes included in the set:
"Getting a guitar to sound like a saxophone seemed an impossible task, but it was achieved after three days in the studio. Each note of a guitar solo was recorded separately and faded in on the track so there would be no percussive element. The track was sent through a speaker and out of a rubber hose with perforated cigarette paper at the end. Enough pressure was displaced by forcing the sound through the holes of the cigarette paper to give the rasp of a saxophone"
Far out, huh? Good thing we now have samplers to do all that sort of thinking for us.
Sides three, four and five are dominated by a strange little comedic play written and performed by the talented comedian Peter Cook. This is where the dialogue concerning the divorce proceedings mentioned above happens. Low key pop songs (songs! the first time I actually mentioned songs in this review!) show up every now and then, but they seem secondary to the dry, pun-filled, not-quite-funny-but-not-quite-anything-else-either dialogue. This is the part of the album I'm most prone to skipping, mainly because the dialogue is really hard to digest unless you listen very closely (most of it is real quiet), and even then I still find myself scratching my head in confusion most of the time. Seems like they could have thought this part through a little better.
Finally, side six is "Blint's Tune (Movements 1-17)", in all its pretentious glory (I mean that in an endearing sense). A 14 minute Piano Concerto (still relying heavily on Gizmo sounds, but featuring real piano) that really is quite dramatic, enjoyable, and satisfying. I'm still left wondering what the point of all this was, and why we needed three records to do it, but it's as good a finale as I could have asked for.
When I first heard about this album a few years ago, I longed to own it, despite the fact that every review I read said it was terrible. It's just one of those oddities that exemplify the kind of anything-goes atmosphere that pervaded certain intellectual sectors in the 1970s - this was released, by the way, with full support by a major label, Polygram/Mercury, who thought they just might have a new "Tubular Bells" on their hands. Using primitive technology by today's standards, Godley and Creme aimed for nothing less than making an album with sounds never before heard on a record. And they pulled it off - barely. But I'll give this basically three-star album an extra star just for showing so much moxie.
Godley & Creme Prog Related
Review by Music By Mail
But if you are a listener attracted to pop rock, you may find some interest here, even though it is more than obvious that the golden days are gone and the inspiration is on the thin side. Something that struck me is this focus on mouth harmonicas, present on each track AND on the front cover! What happened? Love at first sight? Old passion? Desperate attempt at something undone? The surprise is that I must admit they did achieve quite a few things in the recording of this - to my ears - horrible instrument, like bringing flanging or varying its sound. Some other valid points are also made in the vocal arrangements, though we've heard better from them on previous albums. The lyrics also bring some pertinence, like on the tunes "The Big Bang", "Air Force One" or "Crime & Punishment". Musically speaking, I didn't really find any memorable good melodies; only plain trist pop rock trickery, worn out clich�s and what also appears to me like a worn out duo. Gone are the good times of L and this isn't a swan song that raises the flag high. But as a pop rock album, I would raise the rating to two stars, still wondering what the hell it has to do on this site, when hundreds of other bands or albums NOT presented here would have in fact a far better and legitimate reason to be indeed included!
Godley & Creme Prog Related
Review by
Dobermensch
Prog Reviewer
Bah! How wrong I was. Ignored and ridiculed for years, I finally took the plunge 6 years ago with the gargantuan overindulgence of the ultra original prog-comedy 'Consequences' - recorded with foul mouthed funny man Peter Cook.
For many 'L' will sound at points just a wee bit too whacked out and off kilter to be taken seriously. It's a very unusual amalgamation of commercial and experimental playfulness.
'L' is basically an eccentric and clever deconstruction of pop music strung together in a state of the art studio. Like all their other early recordings the lyrics are inspired and very memorable which stick to the songs like glue. They're very unusual and mostly completely off-the-wall.
'L' sounds very at home in the Prog Archives with its rapid chopping and changing within tunes. It has very little wrong with it at all in fact. It may have a crumby front cover - but you'll remember it that's for sure. The only reason this album fails a five star maximum is due to the entirely instrumental 'Foreign Accents'. I've no gripes with it, it's just that I want more of those wonderful vocals and crazy lyrics. A brilliant and original album that has me quoting verses of madness at work as people look at me blankly.