Jonathan Geddes

THEY may have enjoyed many hits, but the creative high-point of 10cc was surely second album Sheet Music.

Now the band will revisit the record in full at the Royal Concert Hall next week - assuming they can master the album's tricky tracks.

"We know the hits so well that while we don't get blasé about them, it's more of a challenge to do these ones," says singer Graham Gouldman, the only remaining member from their 70s pomp.

"Looking at some of them, I can understand why we never did them back then - we always recorded songs as we wanted to record them, without thinking about then recreating it live.

"Some of these will be quite challenging to do, but there's a certain satisfaction in doing that."

Sheet Music arrived in 1974 with the group at their most experimental, with Graham joined by guitarist Eric Stewart, guitarist Lol Creme and drummer Kevin Godley to form the band's classic line-up.

Two years later Godley and Creme, always the more off the wall section of the band, departed, while the group carried on with chart smashes like Dreadlock Holiday and Good Morning Judge.

Yet Sheet Music displays the band at their most creative.

"There were no boundaries because we had our own studio and were completely self-sufficient, down to the fact that Eric was an engineer as well as a songwriter and musician," recalls Graham.

"We'd sometimes be in the studio with just the four of us.

"Also, Paul McCartney was recording an album with his brother Mike McGear at the time, they were coming in at night and we were in during the day, so there was a crossover going on and we were listening to each other's records."

While next week's gig, which will see Sheet Music performed in full followed by a selection of 10cc's greatest hits, only features Graham from the 70s line-up, Kevin Godley will be putting in a video appearance.

"I wanted Kevin to do the tour with us, because there's a lot of songs that he sang on there," adds Graham.

"He said he wouldn't do the tour but he would do a video contribution, and it works great. It'll be quite a moment when he appears.

"We're doing the Royal Albert Hall in May, and that's possibly the place to have something more than just a video appearance happen, but I can't say anymore..."

Prior to making music with 10cc, Graham worked as a songwriter for other artists, including the Hollies, the Shadows and the Yardbirds.

Those days are quite a contrast to the modern pop machine that dominates the charts now.

"It's more down to dance music, to production and to having teams of people working on a song now," he adds.

"I remember at the Ivor Novello awards a few years back for one song about 10 people got up to receive the award. Maybe the guy that makes the tea now gets a credit as well, but it's a different business.

"I wonder, if one could use this as proof of a great song, how many of those songs will be sung in 10 years time?

"I'm not saying they're any better or worse than older songs, it's just different now - maybe people now have got a six month span and then are happy to move on to a new song."

While he reeled off a host of hits with 10cc, the 68-year-old's never tired of playing them, either.

"I never get fed up playing the hits - I don't know how many hundreds of times I've played them, but there will be people in the audience who have never heard them before.

"I still want people who've never seen us before to go away and say that was amazing, I'll tell all my mates about it."

10cc, Royal Concert Hall, Tuesday February 10, £29.50-£32.50, 7.30pm