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First of all, let me get the bad news out of the way. In terms of liner notes, this set does leave some to be desired. For one thing, once again they didn't even get all of the songwriting credits correct--why is this so hard?? In addition to the ones mentioned by the previous reviewer, "Reds In My Bed" is credited as having been written by Eric Michael Stewart & Stephen Payton Tosh--uhh, it's actually Stuart Tosh, not Stephen Tosh. Also, the band history included is sketchy & scattershot--for instance, they go into considerable depth describing Godley & Creme's Gismo device, yet they mention 10cc's 1978 "Bloody Tourists" album, & then say they that they officially broke up in 1983 without mentioning any of their albums in between.
Granted, serious 10cc fans probably already know most, if not all of the information in the essay of this set, plus a whole lot more. With that out of the way, we get to what this set has going for it--a load of absolutely incredible music, & for the most part, sound quality that is truly superb. 10cc were a band simply loaded with brilliance--they offered up loads of songs that were ultra-catchy, splendidly tuneful, with imaginative, often humourous lyrics, & exquisite, innovative production values, not to mention great performances. You could quibble about the track list on disc 1--for instance, why there are 3 songs from 1977's "Deceptive Bends" & yet only 2 from 1975's "The Original Soundtrack"--but overall it's very smart--there's simply no arguing with the inclusion of brilliant songs like "The Dean And I" (included in its bass heavy single mix), "The Wall Street Shuffle", "I'm Not In Love", "Art For Art's Sake", "The Things We Do For Love", "Good Morning Judge", and "Dreadlock Holiday". Notice that the track list for the first 14 tracks on disc 1 here is identical to the 1997 "The Very Best of 10cc" CD--for some strange reason though, instead of making track 15 on here the lovely ballad "For You And I" as they did on that other disc, they end this first disc with "The Anonymous Alcoholic", which is a terrific track, but a bizarre choice to end the disc with--I would have put "For You And I" in this position instead of putting it on the second disc. Make no mistake about it, this set is not nearly all of the 10cc you need--however, the song selection, which sticks almost unfailingly to songs released as single A-sides, includes a wealth of gems from the criminally underrated period from 1978's "Bloody Tourists" up until their initial breakup in 1983. Although there has been a previous compilation entitled "Food For Thought" that contains lots of tracks from this era, the albums "Look Hear", "Ten Out of 10" (released in considerably different versions in the UK & US), & "Windows In the Jungle" are hard, if not impossible, to obtain in official CD releases, & this "Ultimate Collection" does a brilliant job of spotlighting highlights from the latter two albums & presenting them in glorious sound quality. One disappointment is the inclusion of the UK single version of "The Power of Love"--it was written by Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman, & Andrew Gold, & it's one of their catchiest tunes ever, however the version from the US "Ten Out Of 10" album, though very similar, has a more bracing mix and is clearly superior. Thankfully though, the drastically superior album version of "Les Nouveaux Riches" (opposed to the single version) is featured, & as is the UK album version of "Memories" (opposed to the inferior US album version)--the former has a mind-boggling, deliriously catchy chorus, while the latter is a terrific mix of moving, sentimental balladry with feel-good reggae; Stewart's tender, emotional love song "Don't Turn Me Away" is terrific as well. Huge praise also goes to this collection for the inclusion of full-length versions of 3 brilliant songs from the criminally underrated 1983 masterpiece "Windows In The Jungle", & the sound quality on all 3 of them is astonishing--"24 Hours" is an evocative, dreamy 'day in the life'-type song with Eric Stewart in peak form vocally, which is saying a lot--it's absolutely exquisite; "Feel The Love" is an infectious pop tune with an uncanny drum performance from Steve Gadd; & "Food For Thought" is, once again, incredibly catchy, and has humourous lyrics relating physical attraction to food terminology. "One Two Five", from 1980's "Look Hear?", is a great inclusion as well, although it's a rare case where the sound quality here does leave quite a bit to be desired. The 'main portion' of this set ends with two songs from the 1992 comeback album "...Meanwhile"--"Welcome To Paradise" & "Woman In Love"--and you can't argue with these gems either.
In addition to all of this, you get a 3rd "bonus disc" which gives you a taste of Godley & Creme's duo work including their big US hit "Cry" & the super cool British hit "Under Your Thumb", plus a pair of tracks from Wax UK, the duo that consisted of Graham Gouldman & Andrew Gold. Granted, there's nothing from Hotlegs, and it would have been additionally nice to have included highlights from Graham's 1980 "Animalympics" soundtrack, as well as Eric 1980 "Girls" soundtrack & 1982 album "Frooty Rooties", but still, the disc is a nice 'bonus'.
Like I said, if you're crazy about the music on this 3 disc set, by all means there's more you need, but this is a heck of a great collection that 10cc fans will truly love having, and even with the length, this is a damn fine overview/ introduction for casual fans/ new listeners to one of the greatest bands of all time, 10cc. This is one "Ultimate Collection" that really does a heck of a fine job of living up to its name.
