Mason + Fenn
Three former members of the rock group 10cc return on these two records, which differ widely in style and quality. Drummer/keyboardist Kevin Godley and guitarist Lol Creme have gone on to great success as commercial and video makers since their 10cc days, creating award-winning music clips for Duran Duran, Herbie Hancock and others. Musically, though, they don't seem to have made any progress. The History Mix (Polygram) (CD) is a garage sale of an album: a cheap offering of junk with one valuable item stashed in its midst. There is a disastrously jumbled and lengthy medley of 10cc songs, called Wet Rubber Soup, as well as some other tunes Creme and Godley created as a duo. The one worthwhile song is Cry, a bouncy ballad produced by Trevor Horn. Implicitly acknowledging the slim pickings they offer, Godley and Creme have included versions of Cry on both sides of The History Mix. Good thing they have found another career as video purveyors. Rick Fenn, the guitarist who joined 10cc in 1976 just after Godley and Creme left, is a full-time musician. That singleness of purpose is evident on Profiles (Columbia), his collaboration with Nick Mason, former drummer for Pink Floyd. Their mostly instrumental record, with its classical, jazz and pop influences, could be classified as art-rock, a genre Fenn perfected when he worked with such avant-gardists as Mike Oldfield and Rick Wakeman. Fenn's bravura slide guitar playing itself makes Profiles worth much more than Godley and Creme's padded cast-off LP.
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