5 Out Of 5 Stars
10cc, prior to "The Original Soundtrack," were something of a novelty act. They came up with arty songs with humorous twists, like "Donna," "The Dean and I," and (their biggest US single before this album) "Rubber Bullets." The album before "Soundtrack," "Sheet Music," hinted that the band had some great things potentially in store with songs like "Clockwork Creep" and "Old Wild Men." It was also beginning to show that Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme were becoming formidable songwriters."The Original Soundtrack" blew all their previous efforts out of the water. Opening with a cinematic suite titled "Une Nuit In Paris," it was eight minutes of mini-opera complete with Gendarmes and ladies of the evening. It took all the smart-arse confections of the past and turned it into artiness, a couple years before Queen would do roughly the same thing with "Bohemian Rhapsody." Then came knockout punch number two, "I'm Not In Love." Richly multi-tracked vocals buoy the lamenting singer's defense of a break-up, all while being utterly unconvincing about his non-nonchalance. It was simple but extremely effective, and hit number 2 on the US Pop Charts.
Nothing else here matches the brilliance of those opening tracks, but 10cc sure did try. The satirical quirks return on "Blackmail" and "Life is a Minestrone," while "The Film of My Love" ended the album with another nod to the cinema. The topical "Second Sitting For The Last Supper" is notable for its questioning of religion ("2,000 years and he ain't come yet, we've kept his seat warm and a table set...") These were salad days for 10cc, as the band worked in two halves. Gouldman and Stewart were more conventional, Godley and Creme the artier. While it all worked on this album and the follow-up ("How Dare You"), upcoming frictions would make 10cc's albums lesser efforts. "The Original Soundtrack" was the highpoint.
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