Live And Let Live

The first live rock and pop concert/gig i ever went to was 10cc at Manchester apollo in March 1982.it was truly amazing.So listening to this 2 disc live album from said group,is somewhat special.recorded five years earlier at two venues: Manchester Apollo and Hammersmith odeon; it sees the band in fine and confident form.Determined to carry on after Godley and Creme's departure in 1976,they perform songs from that era.eg; second sitting for the last supper,Art for arts sake,Life is a minestrone,I'm mandy fly me,Waterfall and the classic;I'm not in love.post G&C; The things we do for love,Good morning judge and other selections from then current album: Deceptive bends including: the wonderful - Feel the benefit.Group introductions at the start by unnamed person - sounds like Andy Peebles of radio 1 - at round about the time - to me,band members' introductions and general chat to the audience,give an intimate and friendly feel to this live album.Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman wanted to make it a group effort,so let Tony O'malley sing lead vocals on Art for arts sake (not entirely a good move) but rescued the performance with strong backing vocals and superb guitar playing on this full length album version of the song.trademark witty and intelligent lyrics are maintained throughout.The closing encore track: Modern man blues (also from Deceptive bends),is a blusey,rocking little number and ends the performance on a notable high.Most stages of 10cc's career are represented by the set list,and the band as a whole sound very tight and on top of their game - utter nonsense to suggest otherwise.Crystal clear sound quality and informative sleeve notes,compliment an excellent,long awaited re-release of Live and let live.Thank you 7t's records for making this possible.

I love live albums, and I remember when this was released being very excited about it. Unfortunately I found this a bit of a let down. The playing is lacklustre and Stewart and Goldman seem to be keen to "introduce" the new members at the expense of some of the songs (most notably Arts for Arts Sake where Stewart hands over the vocals to a much lesser vocalist in Tony o Malley to spoil)The plus point is definitely the extended version of Feel the Benefit, complete with bass solo , though this would improve throughout the remaining yearsIn retrospect this was a very strange time to release a live album. The band had splintered in 1976 and this was the first tour with the new line up. The set is based around their most recent album Deceptive Bends and the majority of the classic Godley/Creme songs were left out leaving a somewhat lopsided set.Although the playing is professional the album sounds hesitant at times and does not "take off" the way that some live albums do (or indeed 10cc did the times I saw them a few years later - even though their time had passed by then) . I think that this because the band are in this transition and haven't had time to gel as they would do even just a year later.I'd say that if you find this album mid price it is worth getting but I wouldn't go out of my way to get it. Unfortunately the other live album from the Stewart/Goldman era is from the nineties - Live in Japan, by which time the band were going through the motions, whilst King Biscuit Hour from the original foursome only contains music from the first 2 albums and the sound quality, whilst good is not the greatest.Now if someone could discover a good quality recording from 1976 . . . . . . .

This is a good live album but it's not a great one.For my tastes it features too much from Deceptive Bends (the album they were promoting at the time) and too little from their past glories. Perhaps the split was acrimonious and Gouldman and Stewart bore a grudge against Creme and Godley but, in my opinion, it was a mistake to ignore their classic songs. The 10CC sound was defined by those quirky early singles like Rubber Bullets, Donna, The Dean And I and Silly Love and they are badly missed.While the set list isn't ideal, I think the band put in a really good performance and I'm pleased that they didn't fall into the trap of trying to perform their songs just as they were recorded in the studio.I'd love to think that we could see an archive release of a full concert from the original 10cc from 1975's Original Soundtrack tour or the following year's How Dare You tour. The rough and ready King Biscuit album was recorded in Nov' 1975 on the OS tour but for some reason, it only features songs from the first two albums.In the absence of a definitive live album from the band, this is recommended. It's not as essential as their first three albums (10cc, Sheet Music and The Original Soundtrack) but it may improve your opinion of the band after the split.

I am from Portugal and over here there are not many 10CC fans, unfortunately. But I am a real fan. In 1977 I was 20 and lived in London so I went to one of the concerts which turned out to be this live recording (first only on vinyl). I was mad about 10 CC at that time. This concert came after their release of the studio album "Deceptive Bends" which was the first one without Lol Creme & Kevin Godley who had left the group by 1976. At that time when almost everyone was thinking that 10 CC would go down after Godley and Creme departure, the contrary happened. 10 CC gained more power and success just with Eric Stewart & Graham Gouldman on the lead. Almost the same happened when Peter Gabriel left Genesis (and that was also on 1975 or 1976 I think).This album is awesome, great songs, good sound, great musicians (with two great lead guitars Eric Stewart & Rick Fenn). I had the original vinyl record and just bought the CD. I recommend it.