The Original Soundtrack

Formed in 1972, 10cc were at once commercial, at once strange - described as the 'missing link between the Beatles and Blur', it was rare to have four talented writers, singers and multi-instrumentalists all under one roof; but in Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman, Lol Creme and Kevin Godley, 10cc had just that - they released some of the most inventive and elaborate pop music ever to emerge from Britain. After two albums and a run of hit singles on the UK label, the group moved across to Mercury Records in 1975. On the strength of one song, 10cc did a five-year deal with them for five albums. That one song was 'I'm Not in Love'. The group's signature song - played over five million times on US radio - was one of many riches on their eagerly anticipated 1975 album, 'The Original Soundtrack'. Also containing the hit single 'Life Is a Minestrone', the album opens with the infuential nine-minute mini-opera, 'Un Nuit a Paris', demonstrating how far pop music had travelled in a short space of time.