mail: daniel_fjall@hotmail.com
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deceptive bends
Deceptive Bends Released: 1977 Rating: 8/10 Track listing: 1. Good Morning Judge/ 2. The Things We Do For Love/ 3. Marriage Bureau Rendezvous/ 4. People In Love/ 5. Modern Man Blues/ 6. Honeymoon With B Troop/ 7. I Bought A Flat Guitar Tutor/ 8. You’ve Got A Cold/ 9. Feel The Benefit Deceptive Bends was quite a surprise for most people when it was released in 1977. 10cc had lost two members of the group after Kevin Godley and Lol Creme was fed up and left. However, Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman was not ready to leave 10cc dying and continued releasing albums under the 10cc name. The first record the duo was Deceptive Bends and it was supposed to be an embarrassing failure. It was far from that. What we got here is great musicians that’s offering a slick and clean album with careful, precise production. May seem boring, but thanks to a great sense of melody and hooks it’s a catchy and impressive collection of great pop songs. It’s impossible to defend oneself against the smooth vocal harmonies that reminds of both the Beach Boys and Queen ("Honeymoon With B Troop" especially sounds like the California group). What other choice do you have but to surrender to the interesting arrangements in every song? Pure McCartney-ish pop in “The Things We Do For Love”, funk rock influences in “Good Morning Judge”. “Marriage Bureau Renedzvous” is a good ballad and “I Bought A Flat Guitar Tutor” is a sunny, easy listening jazz tune. “Modern Man Blues” starts off as a rather unimaginative blues, but redeem itself when it reaches the catchy, more pop/rock chorus. However, the highpoint of the record and the most ambitious number is the closing “Feel The Benefit”. It’s built on different parts; ballad, pop, boogie, ballad... Pretty similar as the Beatles song “You Never Give Me Your Money”. It’s tight, it’s moving, and it’s played with perfection. The only thing I can complain about is the lyrics that boarders to the banal. It’s not important, though. The overall feeling of the song is too satisfying and it holds more interesting musical ideas than most bands comes up with during their whole career. And not only interesting, but listenable as well! Two thumbs up from me. What’s more to say? Well, I haven’t described “You’ve Got A Cold” because I don’t know how to.
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