My Amazon Reviews: 10cc "How Dare You!"

Dare Accepted
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Not quite as good as "The Original Soundtrack," but hitting many of the same high points, 10cc parlayed the success of "I'm Not In Love" to an album that tinkered with pop conventions and progressive rock with "How Dare You!" It's also the band's last proper album as a four piece; by the next album Kevin Godley and Lol Creme would depart to focus their attentions on artier rock and their guitar invention, the Gizmotron, which is used to good effect on the album's title track. (It used a set of small wheels against the guitar strings that allowed you to almost infinitely sustain guitar notes.)

"How Dare You!" also grapples with the art-rock sensibilities of Godley and Creme vieing with the more conventional pop and rock aspirations of Graham Gouldman and Eris Stewart. I've previously postulated that 10cc was the kind of rock band Monty Python would have dreamed up if not The Rutles, which again finds the band wrestling over their direction. The still funny "I Want to Rule The World" is narrated by an angry baby who's had it up to here and wants to be the world's youngest tyrant (shades of Stewie from "Family Guy," anyone?). On the opposite end, you have "I'm Mandy, Fly Me," which opens with a snippet of "Clockwork Creep," then goes on to narrate the tale of a plane crash survivor who dreams of his rescue by the stewardess on the travel brochure. All of this is going about through some radical tempo shifts and a meaty guitar solo. It ranks among the band's best compositions. Then comes that dichotomy again; the uncomfortable tale of the stalker in "Iceberg."

That back and forth is what holds "How Dare You!" from achieving the full heights of "The Original Soundtrack," probably adding to or abetted by the creative schisms in the band itself. "Art For Art's Sake" seemingly confronts this dilemma head on. It might be the most straightforward song the band ever wrote, highlighting the differences between creativity and commercial production. It's kind of like "The Worst Band In The World," except that band has grown up and is lost in a quandary of their success.

"Money talks so listen to it,
Money talks to me.
Anyone can understand it
Money can't be beat."

If there was any note to go out on, "Art For Art's Sake" summed it up pretty well. While Gouldman and Stewart would retain a level of success under the 10cc banner on "Deceptive Bends," the push and pull of the two factions of the group are what made 10cc (and by extension, "How Dare You") such a fascinating band.