- Godley & Creme
Infobox musical artist
Name = Godley & Creme
Img_capt = Kevin Godley (top) and Lol Creme.
Background = group_or_band
Birth_name =
Alias =
Born =
Died =
Origin =Stockport ,England
Instrument =
Genre = Pop, Rock
Occupation =
Years_active =1977 –1988
Label =
Associated_acts =10cc Hotlegs Doctor Father The Magic Lanterns Godley & Creme were a duo of English
pop music ians andmusic video director s,Kevin Godley andLol Creme . The pair began releasing albums as a duo after splitting from pop band10cc .Musical career
Godley and Creme met in the late
1950 s and for a brief time were in a band together. Through the1960 s they played in different bands, withKevin Godley briefly inThe Mockingbirds with future10cc cohortGraham Gouldman .The pair began their music career together proper in
1969 , performingbubblegum music inStrawberry Studios atStockport nearManchester withEric Stewart andGraham Gouldman . Their first chart success was as members of the short-livedHotlegs , which evolved into10cc in1972 . 10cc enjoyed strong chart success, most notably with their1975 single "I'm Not in Love ", a hit on both sides of the Atlantic.After the recording of 10cc's fourth LP, "
How Dare You! ", Godley & Creme left the band to work on a device they called "The Gizmo ", which attached to the bridge of a guitar to create a wide variety of sonic textures. The Gizmo was featured heavily on their poorly receivedconcept album "Consequences", released in1977 . The album was savaged by critics, but has since accrued a cult following; it features a guest vocal bySarah Vaughan and an extended comedy performance byPeter Cook .In a 1997 interview [http://www.othermachines.org/blint/kev.shtml Lol Creme interview, "Uncut", December 14, 1997] ] Godley expressed regret that he and Creme had left 10cc, saying:
cquote|We'd reached a certain crossroads with 10cc and already spent three weeks on the genesis of what turned out to be "Consequences" ... The stuff that we were coming up with didn't have any home, we couldn't import it into 10cc. And we were kind of constrained by 10cc live ... We felt like creative people who should give ourselves the opportunity to be as creative as possible and leaving seemed to be the right thing to do at that moment.
Unfortunately, the band wasn't democratic or smart enough at that time to allow us the freedom to go ahead and do this project and we were placed in the unfortunate position of having to leave to do it. Looking back, it was a very northern work ethic being applied to the group, all for one and one for all. If we'd been a little more free in our thinking with regard to our work practices, the band as a corporate and creative entity could have realised that it could have been useful rather than detrimental for two members to spend some time developing and then bring whatever they'd learned back to the corporate party. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be.
The duo gradually regained critical favour with a trio of innovative albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s – "L", "Freeze Frame" and "
Ismism " (released as "Snack Attack" in the United States). "Freeze Frame" included several songs that gained airplay on alternative radio in many countries, notably "I Pity Inanimate Objects" and "An Englishman in New York " (not to be confused with the Sting song of similar name), which was accompanied by an innovativemusic video . The single "Snack Attack" was also a minor hit. They made the UK Top Ten with the singles "Under Your Thumb" (No. 3) and "Wedding Bells" (No. 7) in 1981, both from "Ismism". Their 1970s single "The Boys in Blue" was played at mostManchester City football club matches in the 1990s and is still occasionally played there in the 21st century.In
1983 they released "Birds of Prey" which took their music in a more electronic direction, using electronic drum machines for the entire album.Their
1984 single "Golden Boy" was included on1985 's "The History Mix Volume 1 " album which celebrated 25 years of recording together. The album, co-produced byJ. J. Jeczalik ofArt of Noise , remixed samples of their previous recordings to a disco beat. This album also contained the single "Cry" which, helped in part by the video, became their biggest US hit, reaching No.16. The song reached No. 19 in Britain. A video cassette was also released with visual imagery to complement the music.Godley & Creme released their final album, "Goodbye Blue Sky", in
1988 . This album abandoned electronic instruments and used harmonicas, organs, and guitars to tell the story of the earth on the brink of nuclear war.The pair ended their working relationship soon after the release of "Goodbye Blue Sky". In a 1997 interview ] Creme explained:
Music videos
Godley and Creme achieved their greatest success as the innovative directors of more than fifty music videos in the early
1980s . They created memorable videos forThe Police ("Every Breath You Take ", "Synchronicity II ", "Wrapped Around Your Finger "),Duran Duran ("Girls on Film ", "A View to a Kill"),Herbie Hancock ("Rockit "),Frankie Goes to Hollywood ("Two Tribes ", "The Power of Love"), Sting ("If You Love Somebody Set Them Free"), among many others, up to Godley's video for the1996 single fromThe Beatles , "Real Love", featured in the "Beatles Anthology ".Of their "Wrapped Around Your Finger" video, which featured The Police performing amid hundreds of burning candles, film maker Daniel Pearl recalled: "Directors Godley and Creme communicated from their homes in London that we would require 1000 candles for the shoot. Trying to stay on top of things and get information for the art department, producer Fiona Fitzherbert requested a diagram of what they wanted. Several days passed without any fax. She finally insisted she be given some advance information, and received a drawing of a candle.
"... A big part of the mission was to make "Wrapped" for as little as possible... As we neared the end of our 12 hour day, the producers declared us wrapped. Sting protested, saying that he felt we were doing something very innovative, and that he would pay personally for us to continue shooting. The producers, mindful of the stigma of the price of "Every Breath" refused to allow him to throw more money at it, and in the end it was agreed that we would do one more take and then wrap.
"Godley and Creme took Sting off for a brief chat, which I was purposely excluded from, while I was instructed to build the camera hand held. The stage was cleared of everyone except Sting, myself, and my focus puller. Their parting words to me were to follow Sting where ever he went on the stage, and to keep rolling no matter what happened. About halfway through the track Sting started knocking the candles over and molten wax was flying everywhere. I definitely was shocked as I started to get hit, but fortunately we weren't burned too badly, and we did capture some amazing footage." [ [http://www.cinematography.net/Pages%20DW/Candle_Effect.htm Daniel Pearl comment at Cinematography.net website] ]
The pair's innovation extended to their videos for their own songs, notably "Wide Boy" and "Cry". "Cry"'s groundbreaking and very popular
1985 video featured faces blended into each other using analog cross-fading, anticipating the digital effect ofmorphing , later used in a very similar way inMichael Jackson 's1991 video, "Black or White". The "Cry" video was memorable enough that in 1993, it was shown in an episode of MTV'sBeavis and Butt-head .Today
Creme joined the band
Art of Noise in1998 . Kevin Godley continued to direct music videos. In2006 he teamed up with Graham Gouldman again, and they released four new tracks under the name GG06 [ [http://www.gg06.co.uk GG06] ] .Godley & Creme's song 'Cry' is featured in
Rockstar Games 'GTA IV , release in April 2008, in the in-game radio feature.Discography
"Albums"
* "Consequences" - Mercury/Phonogram (1977 )
* "L" - Mercury/Polydor (1978)
* "Freeze Frame" -Polydor (1979)
* "Ismism/Snack Attack" - Polydor/Mirage (1981)
* "Birds of Prey" - Polydor (1983)
* "The History Mix Volume 1 " - Polydor (1985)
* "Goodbye Blue Sky" - Polydor (1988)"Singles"
* "5 O'Clock in the Morning" (1977)
* "Sandwiches of You" (1978)
* "An Englishman in New York (Strange Apparatus)" (1979)
* "Submarine" (1980)
* "Wide Boy" (1980)
* "Under Your Thumb" (1981) #3 UK
* "Wedding Bells" (1981) #7 UK
* "Snack Attack" (1982)
* "Save A Mountain For Me" (1983)
* "Samson" (1983)
* "Golden Boy (Extended)" (1984)
* "Cry" (1985) #19 UK #16 US
* "Cry (Remix)" (1986) #66 UK
* "A Little Piece of Heaven" (1988)
* "Love Is Dead" (1988) #84 UK
* "10,000 Angels" (1988)Music Videos
Some of the notable clips directed by Godley and Creme
*10cc - "Feel the Love"
* Godley and Creme - "Cry", "An Englishman in New York", "Wide Boy"
* The Police - "Every Breath You Take", "Wrapped Around Your Finger", "Synchronicity II", "Don't Stand So Close To Me '86"
*Herbie Hancock - "Rock-it"
*Frankie Goes to Hollywood - "Two Tribes", "The Power Of Love"
* Asia - "Heat Of The Moment" "Only Time Will Tell"
* Yes - "Leave It"
* Go West - "We close our eyes"
*Patti LaBelle - "Oh People"
*Huey Lewis - "Hip To Be Square"
*Duran Duran - "Girls On Film" and "A View to a Kill"
*Status Quo - "Something bout you baby I like"
*Ultravox - "All Fall Down"
*Visage - "Fade To Grey"
*Wang Chung - "Everybody Have Fun Tonight"
*George Harrison - "When We Was Fab"
*Elton John - "Kiss The Bride"References
External links
* [http://www.othermachines.org/blint Page devoted to Consequences album] interesting Uncut interviews with both gentlemen
* [http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/godley_creme/artist.jhtml VH1 Artist Profile - includes video clip from "Cry"] (requires Windows operating system)
* [http://www.minestrone.org/17.htm Minestrone (10cc/Godley & Crème fansite)]
* [http://www.mvdbase.com/tech.php?last=Godley+.and.+Creme Music Video Database - Godley & Creme videography]
* [http://rocknrolluniverse.com/rocknrolluniverse_456.htm 2007 Rock N Roll Universe Kevin Godley Interview]
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