10cc: Bloody Tourists - 1978

More quirkiness, then, this time with a strangely Caribbean slant in places (not quite sure why that was), but it works, particularly on its lead-off massive hit, Dreadlock Holiday, resulting, to an extent, in one of the group's most likeable and accessible albums. 

From Rochdale To Ocho Rios, for example, is irritatingly catchy. On the other side of the argument, however, it sounds like a couple of 10cc members being helped out by session musicians (which, of course, is exactly what it was) and the wry humour is starting to wear a bit thin by now (not before time, for me, either). 

You can't point too many fingers at classy numbers like For You And I, however or the irresistible Take These Chains. 10cc always seemed to be sending up one style or another in their music (such disco on Anonymous Alcoholic) as opposed to just playing it straight for a change. That wasn't their raison d'être, I guess. Either way, time was running out for them. 

Taken in isolation, though, and not in relation to the punk-new wave 1978 zeitgeist, this is actually a really good album. 

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