Sheet Music

They're not the worst band in the world, but I can't decide if they were trying to be Dad Rock, Yacht Rock, or Frank Zappa. It's a fun little experimental album by a band with a lackluster name, but I can't see myself listening to this one again. Favorite Track: "The Worst Band In The World".

A bizarre album that has no idea if it wants to be pop or rock or something entirely different… and I enjoyed myself! Some songs like "Hotel" were not for me, but other tracks like "Somewhere in Hollywood" made up for it. This record is strange and experimental-ish in an amusing way, not in a head-scratching way. I was also impressed when I realised its release date was 1974; not what I was expecting from this time period, though perhaps that's only cause I've barely listened to music from the 70's. Not the most incredible project out there, but a decent spread of art rock and pop that doesn't take itself too seriously!

Number: 285 Familiarity: Aware (2) Rating: 3 Before: ======= Hm 10cc, Art Rock? I never would have put those two words together. But then again, I don't think I've ever listened to this particular album from them, though I assume I at least have skimmed through it before. After : ======= Interesting. Probably would have been more interesting in 1974.

454/1089 clockwork creep is kinda weird and theatrical, i like that about it. it was a fun album that started a little slow but had a couple highlights and ended well faves: clockwork creep, somewhere in hollywood 45/100

First album I bought so of course it’s a 5/5

Terrible

Very enjoyable and kind of goofy, I liked it but I don't think I'll be going back to it regularly 3/5

Not my thing at all. A bit boring and immature for my liking.

I’m not in love………… with this album

This one took a couple of listens and reading of some of the positive reviews to click, and I am glad that I stuck with it, because there is a lot to love here. The production sounds great, the music is frequently inventive, and the lyrics are as smart as they are completely stupid. I can't give this 5 stars though because some of the humour does not land at all and I can see this being extremely annoying if I am not in the right mood for it.

I remember the name 10cc but can't remember what songs I've heard and currently don't have any songs by them liked on Spotify. Wonder if I'll recognize anything from this one. After the first 3 songs I was already tired of this. Words that come to mind - pointless, goofy, dorky, silly, stupid - but none of this in good way. Sort of reminded me of the Frank Zappa record I heard on here. Oh and here comes a song called "Silly Love". It never got better through the end of the album. Sometimes this reminded me of Queen in it's sound - but Freddy Mercury is a much better singer and their music is usually much more interesting. The Kinks had many songs that were humourous but they also had a bigger point - like Apeman as one example - and musically and lyrically and vocally they were so much better than this. I mean, was this necessary to listen to before I died? I don't think so. I don't need to hear any of this again. Liked songs on Spotify: 0/10 Rating: 1/5 (should be zero)

There is one good song on this (Somewhere in Hollywood).

bit weird, nothing amazing but I like that it is different

nice

Very busy. I can hear those beatles influences, and they because of this have bits that sound like queen, cheap trick, elo, jellyfish. There is also B Wison vocal styling if not mistaken. So should like. But they are too clever by half, it's all over the place in it's h so knowing quirky way. Was 4 songs in and thought had been listening for hours and the whole thing when looked is less than 40 minutes, not a good sign. Just all over theplace, little cohesion. 2 Star

Actually this is quite interesting, not exactly what I expected. Super awesome to recognise "the worst band in the world" as being heavily sampled by J Dilla in "Workin On it" so thats very cool, crazy song. Def at least 2, maybe even 3 stars cause why not

At times it seemed like they were ripping off the Beatles. At other times, the Beach Boys. And they did a horrible job in both cases.

Butt secks

Classic 1970's pop rock. A decent album with some funny lyrics. Pop was somehow better back then than it is today.

3 stars

Didn't get past more than two songs because of life, but it sounded weird AF from what I heard

-Tracks longer than 3:59: Sadly, yes -Long tracks interesting or special: No -Album shorter than 58 minutes: Yes -Will listen to album again: While I appreciate that the lyrics to these songs makes me feel like 10cc doesn’t take themselves too seriously and made me smile at times, I can’t say I really enjoyed any other aspect of the music.

Really interesting. I’ve always heard that 10cc are for music nerds, and I definitely get that.

Before 10cc would drop one of the greatest songs ever made with I'm Not in Love on their album The Original Soundtrack, they released a much more joyful and bright sophomore album with Sheet Music. I haven't ever really been a big fan of 10cc's music outside of a few tracks and this album does not change my perception on the band whatsoever. This album is all over the place and extraordinarily scattered in terms of ideas and cohesion. I feel like 10cc puts themselves up on a pedestal when it comes to their music despite never actually coming anywhere near it in quality. They have only done it on a few small occasions and Sheet Music is absolutely not one of them. Sorry to any 10cc fan out there but this is not for me.

Fine

3.5. This was quirky and weird in a fun way.

A pleasant surprise. I've never heard of 10cc and liked every song on this. It was unique and catchy and never predictable. It reminded me a bit of the 90's band "Jellyfish"

1.5 - Started out kinda good and became a “nope” real fast.

Weird pop-rock noise that takes clear inspiration from contemporary and previous (60s) greats. The singing, guitar, and other instruments are surprisingly good for how goofy and eclectic the album becomes. The Wall Street Shuffle finds a (terribly clichéd) riff and sticks with it. The vocals switch constantly between goofy, disco-anticipating falsetto, standard good soft-rock, and low, almost growled bass. And all within just a few seconds. Cool, eh? Nice section that I think is intended to be a piano solo, yet the melody remains pretty understated. A pretty confusing opener that is at once cool and confusing as heck. Another wacky, poppy, rocky piece in The Worst Band In The World. Lots of falsetto and what I can only assume are different vocalists riffing off each other. Weird short guitar solo that tries (and fails) to go somewhere. The line “But we’re workin’ on it” punctuates the chorus nicely. After all that rock, 10cc reckon you need a break with roughly 90 seconds of stupid alien-sounding synths, and so they give you Hotel. Part 2 of the song, if you can make it that far, is such a sharp contrast that your ears may bleed. (Mine did.) A Latin-inspired fast dance, with hand percussion easily taking the spotlight. Reminiscent of Cecilia (S&G), yet somehow sounding drastically more modern and slightly whiter. I’m unconvinced by Old Wild Men; its vague resemblance to King Crimson, and Queen in the latter half, kind of saves it. Great guitarwork toward the end. And despite the beginning and end being confusing to high hell, the juxtaposition works decently. Ending side 1, we have the deliberately bizarre Clockwork Creep. (Tickaticka time bomb, right kids?) This song, more than the vast majority of music I’ve ever listened to, is near impossible to compare to another song. What is this whimsy and glee? I’ve never experienced such a foreign commodity. Silly Love… is that Geddy Lee on the mic? Such brazen drive here. Heavily harmonised, mixed and recorded to maximise aural interest, a fast pace that manages to excite and demoralise (in equal parts). It seems 10cc’s guitar solos are slowly improving, too. A solid one in the middle, and a knock-out corker in the outro. Delightful. Somewhere In Hollywood, the longest track by a good margin, sounds like an experimental-era Beach Boys track. You even got the Brian Wilson vocals (and Wilson/Love/Jardine backings). Then there are a bunch of intense, fun, contrasting song sections, some of which sport orchestral accompaniment. The up-tempo part at around 3:20 is the strongest. And the la-la-(you-better-lie-low)s take the runner-up prize. Unfortunately, the song is very clearly overindulgent, and it suffers for that. Did you miss that Latin-esque style? You remember, the one that sounded almost like appropriation back in Hotel? Well, it comes back with a vengeance in Baron Samedi, a goofy track that manages to remain technically good but also lacks a solid hook that would make me want to recommend the song to friends. The Sacro-Iliac... wha-... huh. I'm befuddled. Is this an extended cut of Tommy if he became a doctor instead of a pinball wizard? Another mysterious cut in the ever-mysterious Sheet Music. The grand finale, Oh Effendi, again smells of Tommy and a bit of mixed Beach Boys output. I like the wobbly guitar lines. The song cuts off suddenly after the line "Goodbye friends / There's no more goodies in the pipeline", and then I was sad. 4/5 Key tracks: The Wall Street Shuffle, Clockwork Creep, Silly Love

I hated it less as it went on but also why is this on here

Proto-they might be giants

Raros los tipos. Me gustó el album. Corto y consistente, con cosas de humor. Bastante entretenido 6/10

There's some albums you love and some you undoubtedly hate. And then there are those that don't exist in either of those camps. This is Sheet Music. I didn't like it, but I was consistently curious about it. The music zigged when I wanted it to zag. The writing is kind of bonkers. The musicians are on point. It's an altogether interesting listen. The kind of thing that I'll never return to, but I'm not disappointed having sat with this.

I always seem to get 10cc and Supertramp mixed up. I don't know why because they are completely different musically. This album shows the variety that 10cc play. I do quite like it. Obviously there are the 2 hits here, and the rest are reasonable. Its a good solid album. Worth a 3.

Absolutely pathetic song writing. I was shocked at how bad / lazy / childish / nonsensical this is.

Is is just me or is this just an embarrassing listen in the 21st century? My dad had a copy and I remember listening to it many times, but I cant remember if my seven or eight year old aelf enjoyed it or not. Fast forward to 2026 for a play and ithe first thing which hits me is the lyrics may well be clever, but they were not particularly funny, maybe a bit zany. Sadly, the subtleties the band were trying hard to elicit were lost on me and the whole sorry show came across as over indulgent twaddle. That said it wasn't technically rubbish, just annoying in ways it shouldn't have been.

Meh

2.5

Sometimes the quirkiness of this band overshadows their songwriting talents but sometimes it really works and honestly when they start rocking out it's really a fun album songs like Wall Street Shuffle, Hotel and Silly Love and Baron Samedi really show off their songwriting craft as well as their quirkiness in a absolute fire fashion. But then you got songs like Worst Band in the World and The Sacro-iliac that makes you just want to roll your eyes at the whole project I know that's part of the point of worst band in the world but it was definitely a choice to put that second. All in all I really did enjoy the album as a whole there's a lot of fun in it even though there are tracks that just really pull it down from being a strong four, maybe if it wasn't so all over the place but quite frankly that is kind of the energy that Stewart, Gouldman, Godly, and Creme obsession. (7.95) ★★★½

Too theatrical. 2 stars

This is a pretty lousy album that mostly sounds like Dollar General Queen. I mostly knew 10cc from their yacht rock hit "I'm Not in Love", which is way preferable to whatever they're doing here. "Hotel" and "Old Wild Men" were okay, but the rest was a hard pass. 2 stars.

I hear a dash of Rush, a pinch of Queen, and a splash of Beatles in this album. I hear other bands in the mix too, some I that I can’t yet put my finger on (undoubtedly they’ll come to me tonight when I’m trying to go to sleep). Fun! I think I will revisit this someday!

Feels like Beatles inspired classic rock. I like the off-kilter lyrics and variation in the tracks.

For det meste bare masete og irriterende.

Kukt! Sterk 3er

Ah.. En deilig åpenbaring. Artsy og humoristisk 60-tallsmusikk. Kanskje jeg kommer tilbake og oppjusterer.

This was fine. I think 10cc are somewhat of an underrated band. They have some interesting choices of sound, and feel experimental which I really appreciate. We listened to this in the car and I don't think I really digested it fully. But it was interesting none the less. It felt very 70s though.

Ben-type beat

Surprisingly good! Felt like a slightly more experimental and less annoying version of Queen or ELO. This was a nice discovery for me.

Dilla!

interessante e vario

Bello, album molto vario

Not quite my jam

Rocking, loud and in your face refreshes what it means to bring the eccentric flair.

31

Production technology evolved in big leaps more than as a gradual, smooth flow. In the early/mid-seventies we were getting Todd Rundgren, Pink Floyd, 10cc … notes for a longer essay perhaps. So the phenomenal production of this album, combined with some really elaborate compositions make for a fairly interesting and entertaining work. And some of the most perfectly executed vocals and instrumentation you’ll ever hear. And that’s the problem. It’s very much “overworked,” they sanded and polished it down so much that the feeling and any discernible edge is gone. Which is why this is a pop album and not a rock album I suppose. Rock has, at its core and as its most defining characteristic, a rebellious, underground quality. Difficult to describe, but the sinister, outsider attitude of the music and musicians gives rock its appeal. This ain’t it. But who’s to say that everything should be rock, or that it’s somehow the best or has an elite place in music? I think the term “rockist” has been coined for that attitude. And I am 100% not going to justify my own rockist leanings. One of the great things about doing this project is getting away from it more and more through exposure to all the stuff I wouldn’t necessarily listen to because of rockist bias (in my defense, not all my own doing). So as it relates to Sheet Music, I think it would be better if the band took their foot off the production pedal and felt the music a little more.

liked most of it. pretty good. 3.5

I like music to be moving / sad / powerful / joyful - I do not like music to be funny. Its not what I am looking for. I enjoyed large parts of this album - some great hooks and melodies- but found the humour/ novelty elements took me out of the music too much.

Hmm... prog pop? Some light-hearted, Beatles-esque attempts at song variation, with prog rock composition thrown in. Gets a bit annoying by track 6. It's not Dreadlock Holiday or I'm not in Love. Maybe they can be quite good when they focus on a good tune and melody. Merit for the album being on this list? Was this groundbreaking in 1974? Queen, ELO, Mike Oldfield inspiration? Hmm...

Not really sure what I just listened to, but it was enthusiastic?

I was disappointed to see this album as the 10cc entry into the 1001 albums list, rather than “The Original Soundtrack” or “Deceptive Bends”, but I can at least understand its inclusion, since the band seems to think it’s their best album. Maybe this is just catching me today in a state where I am not feeling it, but this album really came across as very precious and arty. Probably a two star listening experience overall, but docked a star for reminding me way too much of Sparks while not coming up with an album half as “good” as that group was capable of.

Music to turn off immediately

Goofy like a bad musical. Hard to believe they wrote "I'm Not In Love", which is such a great song. Points for trying a lot of different things. 2.5/5.0: Mixed.

they tried alot of things, most of them didnt work but points for trying.

Meh. First song is pretty good then a bit shit really

Groupe connu par le tube ‘I’m not in love’ que j’apprécie beaucoup, mais qui n’est malheureusement pas dans cet unique album du groupe proposé par le générateur. Les morceaux sont plus originaux que la moyenne (sonorités expérimentales, harmonies vocales qui font penser à Queen, structure). Et n’ont pas grand chose à voir avec le tube que je connais. L'album est assez inégal, mais il reste suffisamment intriguant pour me donner envie de l’écouter une seconde fois. =>3/5

I like objectively bad music. That being said, I actually enjoyed this album.

On this record, a person named Lol Creme plays a Gizmo.

Let me down a bit. I initially enjoyed it but found it a little bland overall.

I always thought of 10cc as more of an 80s band, but that's just probably when I discovered them, because this music is pure 70s.

Standard British rock. There's some interesting music, but overall it's not very memorable.

Doesn’t fully hit the highs of Original Soundtrack or How Dare You! But 10cc does rip

du bon rock des 70s que je ne connaissais pas! Entraînant, inventif dans les petits riffs catchy. Un peu générique?

Du art rock rigolo, c'est oui. Quand même drôle de faire une chanson intitulée The Worst Band in the World

Weird

Didn't know what to expect here but it was pretty good. Lots of ideas per song and only occasionally veered into wacky.

This one really surprised me. It had a great theatricality to it and storytelling that was fun yet relevant even today

wtf?

Very 70's music! Not bad, just very dated.

Not what I expected

What an odd/fascinating album. I thought it was delightful and something fun. Not something I would buy to own but .... I will mention/expose to friends and family just so I'm not the only who has experienced it.

I can fully imagine a group of British white men sat around a table, smoking so much crack, thinking, "durrr what if we just, like, ummmm... made some music and, ummm, it was all of the genres durrrr and also racist because that's funny!!!!! hahaha durrr... who wants more crack?... ummmm, we're like the new Beatles hahaha"

Enjoyed this a fair amount. Good level of quirkyness with strong songwriting. Decent.

As someone who likes Queen, ELO and 70s prog I think this album is supposed to be for me. That said…it was not. The jokes aren’t funny, the music is all over the place, and not technically proficient enough to justify their choices. Another entry in the list that leaves me wondering why? 1.5⭐️ (I’ll round up)

Not my fav. The last few werent bad, they were very beatles-esk

Maybe this album just has the unfortunate coincidence of being like the 10th English rock band in my rotation but I'm not sure what's so special about it to be on this list.

Meh

I have no idea what I just listened to. This album is all over the place. It has some enjoyable songs, but in technical terms the cohesiveness is a cluster fuck.

Neither annoying nor particularly entertaining - kind of the definition of a three.

Day 26 This is Sheer Heart Attack for the class clowns Fav track: Baron Samedi

Tough crowd! I thought this one was fun

Super surprised by how fun this is. It’s catchy, funny, and J Dilla sampled one of the songs. Now, why is a Clockwork Creep?

Not sure why some are so vitriolic about this on here. I don’t think it’s the greatest album ever structurally and I agree with the complaints that it’s a scattershot record that throws in everything including the kitchen sink. Still, the production work is pretty excellent and I enjoyed the songwriting way more than other albums I’ve listened to on here.

This was unfortunate not my favorite album. I wouldn’t seek this out again.

Not at all what I expected, but great songs

Didn't know they had bangers besides I'm not in love

Eh. Maybe it was my fault for expecting it to be more like I’m Not In Love, but wasn’t my favorite it sounded pretty generic to this time period to me. I liked somewhere in Hollywood though. Sucks because I love the album cover!

It was decent at first but the overall weirdness just got boring after a while.

Eigenlijk verwacht je dat dit soort jarenzeventigprogpop hoge ogen gaat gooien, maar het werkt vooral op de zenuwen. Op een bepaalde manier doen ze vergelijkbare dingen als Queen, maar dan juist niet interessant. Maniertjes, loopjes, uithalen. Wellicht dat ik er op een ander moment vatbaarder voor was geweest, maar nu is het dit cijfer geworden.

Wat een apart speels album. Het schiet alle kanten op, maar is toch ook één geheel. Mensen die voor het radiovriendelijke singeltje het album gekocht hebben, zullen gek opgekeken hebben na dit eerste nummer. Nummer 2 is al wat speelser. Nummer drie start met rare digitale spacy / spooky geluiden. Nummer 4 brengt weer wat rust. Waarna bij nummer 5 het theaterdoek opgetrokken wordt. Al met al irriteert een hoog stemmetje of een raar geluid mij wel eens. Maar dit is wel een album dat een belevenis biedt en in de volle breedte zijn aandacht heeft gehad. 3,5 ster