10cc's Original Soundtrack is a fascinating record. Musically there's more going on than in ten Yes albums, yet it's generally as accessible as a straight pop band (though less so than the two preceding 10cc LPs). Lyrically 10cc pose an alternative to timeworn lovelorn laments or tortuous interior monologs: They deploy clichés for multilevel effect and utilize hyperbole and parable...

The quintessential 10cc moment comes at the end of How Dare You: an ethereal voice pleads, "Don't hang up!" The riff is pretty and relaxing. Suddenly, "Brrr. . ." She's put the phone down. This is funny the first time, clever the second and irritating from then on. Which, I guess, sums up 10cc.

In the past, the group has suffered cruelly from being overrated. Praised for their wit and intelligence,...

A new strain of music has been developing of late, unheralded except by those who delight in new studio techniques applied in loving parody to old pop cliches. Roy Wood, with Wizzard and on his solo LP Boulders, has already done much in this vein, but he is no contender against the combined talents of Jonathan King and his latest sensation, 10cc.

King himself has accounted for untold pop formula...