10cc
's second album was the next phase in what guitarist
Eric Stewart
called the band's "masterplan to control the universe.
The Sweet
,
Slade
, and
Gary Glitter
are all very valuable pop," he proclaimed, "but it's fragile because it's so dependent on a vogue. We don't try to appeal to one audience, or aspire to instant stardom, we're satisfied to move ahead a little at a time as long as we're always moving forward."
Sheet Music
, perhaps the most widely adventurous album of what would become a wildly adventurous year, would more than justify that claim. "It grips the heart of rock'n'roll like nothing I've heard before," raved
Melody Maker
, before describing
as "the
Beach Boys
of
"Good Vibrations,"
the
Beatles
"Penny Lane,"
they're the mischievous kid next door, they're the
Marx Brothers
, they're Jack and Jill, they're comic cuts characters, and they're sheer brilliance."
Stewart
certainly agreed -- he told that same paper,
's music was "better than 90% of the sheer unadulterated crap that's in the charts" and, 20 years on, bassist
Graham Gouldman
continued, "
is probably the definitive
album. What it was, our second album wasn't our difficult second album, it was our best second album. It was the best second album we ever did." Three hit singles spun off the record, and most of the other tracks could have followed suit; it says much for
's staying power that, no matter how many times the album is reissued, it has never lost its power to delight, excite, and set alight a lousy day. ~ Dave Thompson