Sounds, 1977

15th October 1977

There can be few people in the country who don't know by now that 'Consequences' is a triple-album by these two ex-10cc chappies who left the band to develop a device called the Gizmo, and that the album is more or less a result of their desire to produce a suitable demonstration of that device's potential.

How something could have developed from a single 45rpm demo record into a triple album lasting two hours and costing £11 was a question foremost in my mind when I put side one of Part One on the turntable. At the end of Part Three, side two, I still didn't know the answer.

'Consequences' has been hailed elsewhere as the "the most important and best album released in years." I would dispute that hotly! The Gizmo is probably the most important new development for guitarists (along with the Roland guitar synthesiser) in many years, but that alone does nit justify such praise for the album.

But let's ignore the Gizmo and look at the album as a 'concept'; after all,if we hadn't been told that something new was responsible for a lot of the instrumentation and sound effects on the album, it probabky wouldn't even have occured to us to enquire.

Frankly, I fear that 'Consequences' simply does not retain the listener's attention for the requisite two hours. Two hours is actually a very long time to sit and listen to anything; there are very few rock bands whose live acts warrant it; most significant pieces of classical music are much shorter and most movies too. This is not pure coincidence, but the manifestation of the artist's appreciation of the limitation of his audience.

But again, it is not as if one is being asked to criticse two hours of music. In fact taking the three lps together, there is actually precious little music. Part One contains only one song ('Honolulu Lulu'), Part Two contains three ('5 o'clock in the Morning', 'When Things Go Wrong' and 'A Lost Weekend') and Part Three just one ('Sailor'). To be fair, these songs are far from being the only musical sounds to be found between the extensive and (sometimes) amusing dialogue, but apart from the major part of the very last side in which the hero of the piece, a pianist whose attic somehow got built into a tower-block, creates his meisterwerk and calms the rampant elements, they are, I believe the only meaningful musical sounds.

To conclude, it seems to me that each primary element of this concept is individually strong, like primary colours, but on mixing them, the whole appears to be very much less than the sum of the parts. The songs Creme and Godley have written in the finest 10cc tradition; Peter Cook is a very amusing gentleman; and the Gizmo is surely a major breakthrough in the world of musical instruments. But each, in my opinion, works against the others' best interests.

And therein lies an alternative concept for this 'concept' album. Lol Creme and Kevin Godley should record two albums. One should be a collection of their songs from 'Consequences' (on which the Gizmo is extensively used). They should record a second album, to be sold at virtually cost price, which demonstrates the other effects which the Gizmo can produce. Lastly, Peter Cook should record and album on his own. They should be sold separately. Not as an expensive boxed set with an illustrated booklet. For as it stands, 'Consequences' is completely over the top. - Tony Mitchell