10cc is a singularly talented group who use mid-Sixties Anglo rock as a stepping stone to their own bizarrely imaginative style, yet manage to stay within the supposedly limited confines of short, AM-oriented rock — small wonder since each of the four, though not name performers, were part of the British Invasion of ten years ago. Sheet Music, a worthy successor to their debut 10cc, includes a McCartneyesque poke at Wall Street, a reggae barn-burner, frequent Beach Boys harmony, and crisp fuzz-toned guitar throughout. All are infused with outrageously humorous lyrics which lament burned-out flash guitarists, carry on a dialogue between a jet plane and a time bomb aboard it, and invent a new dance called "The Sacro-Illiac"—not your everyday Top 40 fare. But all ten cuts here would sound fine on any DJ's playlist, because 10cc has concocted standard pop into their own inventive, even sophisticated, art—an art that you can tap your feet to, and turn up the car radio about. (RS 169)

CHARLEY WALTERS