The Consequences Podcast

Hi everyone. It's been a while!

Paul and Sean have been busy, of late... We may have been embroiled in an uber-ambitious tribute gig, but secretly, Sean's just enjoyed not having to edit endless podcasts in the wee small hours these past few months!

In the meantime, our good chum Panayiotis Bogdanos chimed in from San Leandro, California with a proposition: let's talk about 50cc... We've missed the old chap, so we had to give in! We really hope you enjoy our random snapshot of our lovingly-concocted live rendition of what this podcast has been all about.

Pany quizzes us on the genesis of the 50cc project, the concept and the crazy ideas, the songs we were dying to play, the challenges, the crushing disappointments and the surprising successes, and of course the extraordinary team that we suddenly found ourselves with on those two nights in Stockport on June 24th and 25th 2022.

You'll hear lots of music clips here, including some outtakes that don't appear in the released video, but also a sample of how we attempted to capture Consequences, Godley and Creme solo and 10cc's eclectic career in three hours. The full video download and YouTube stream can be found here:

https://www.seanmacreavy.com/50ccshop

We truly hope you enjoy our efforts. We've loved doing this, and the gigs were just the icing on the cake!

This episode was (mostly) edited by Pany. Cheers old boy!

Paul and Sean were so glad to invite Henry back for another whistle-stop, rollicking ride through the rest of his career. We kick off with The Christians, his best-known venture, with our analysis of their trademark harmonies, Motown influences and ‘gritty’ messages. We have some tasty baked goodies to share with you too, notably a live performance from one of the band’s very first gigs. We coo over two particular hits - both extremely beautiful and poignant. We listen heart in mouth as he describes the moment last December when he and the band completed a moving tribute to Iranian hostage Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. The reworked Christians song ’Naz Don’t Cry’ created a stir on social media just before Christmas 2021. Despite Henry’s solo career not kicking off in earnest until the start the last decade - at the tender age of 53 - he has no end of fantastic stories about his prolific activity as composer, collaborator and producer in the 90s and 00s, including Take That’s Mark Owen, no less. Signing once again to Island Records for his acclaimed album “The Chronicles of Modern Life”, followed some years later by “The Last Mad Surge of Youth” and "Six of One & Half a Dozen of the Other” (with Les Glover), all three records show an emerging wryness, warmth and self-deprecation, and Henry is hilariously honest about his outlook on life, his music and getting older!
As an absolute treat for fans of 10cc and Graham Gouldman, we’re thrilled to be able to share with you some of a pile of demo tapes Henry’s shared with us. All feature him and Graham in the throes of collaboration, and *no one* has heard these! Many of these terrific songs were largely intended for inclusion in the hit West End show Dreamboats and Petticoats. Other tapes are one-off recordings with such collaborators as John Campbell from It’s Immaterial. They’re terrific, and we’re really looking forward to hearing new versions of some of them featured on Henry’s forthcoming album ‘Beautiful Ruins’.

Musicians Paul McNulty and Sean Macreavy chew the fat about the central character of 'Consequences'. Nope, not Mr Blint, but the ingenious Gizmo(tron). A guitar-playing device invented by Godley and Creme, capable of spellbindingly beautiful and versatile sounds. The record was originally conceived as a 3-minute instrumental demo for the Gizmo, before it spiralled so wonderfully out of control!

Paul and Sean argue fruitlessly over where we first heard this contraption, but we do hear some stunning musical snippets from 10cc and Consequences that demonstrate just what a fabulous musical invention this was. They go on to talk about Kev and Lol's stellar work with visual art (with the amazing album art and other projects), as well as dipping their toes into what became arguably the duo's most successful phase: their ground-breaking music promo videos.

A sprawling episode, then, but hopefully enough to prompt some debate and some re-evaluation of Godley and Creme's huge artistic achievements. Stay tuned next week, where the 'casters attempt to throw some light on *IT*!

Today, Sean and Paul are extremely excited to announce our unique tribute concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Stockport's most famous band: 10cc! This is a two-night residency at Stockport's Garrick Theatre, on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th June 2022. Tickets for both shows can be booked using the link below.
It's going to be an ambitious homage to some incredible music, including *all* the great 10cc hits and a selection of stunning, classic album tracks and lost gems. 50cc will also be showcasing some of the wonderful solo songs written by Lol Creme, Kevin Godley, Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart since the 1960s. These will include lesser-known classics by The Mockingbirds, Mindbenders, Herman's Hermits, Godley & Creme and Wax. Some of these songs have never been performed live before!
As a special and unique treat for fans of 10cc and Stockport's iconic Strawberry Studios, this concert will feature the first ever live tribute to Godley & Creme's epic 1977 debut album, 'Consequences'.
Ticket link: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/50cc

Hope to see you there!

Paul and Sean make no apologies for enjoying this conversation as much as we did! Iain continues to give us fascinating insights into his eclectic and accomplished solo work, including last year’s excellent ‘Lockdown’ album Fly Away Home. But it’s inevitable that we’re frothing at the mouth to hear more about his experience of playing in the touring carnations of 10cc with Graham, ELO with Jeff Lynne and Yes with Anderson, Wakeman and Rabin. His accounts are amazing, as is his musicianship. Check out the many live clips on YouTube to see what we mean. Stepping into the late Chris Squire’s shoes is no mean feat; nor is recreating the luscious vocal textures of Jeff Lynne’s best production work. We also discuss 10cc and Graham’s recent publicity work for the new compilation LP, the thrilling unveiling of Natural Wonder and the new piece with Brian May. Finally, we couldn’t resist the temptation to include some of the joyous rabbit hole we dived down on immediate contact with Iain. Before we’d even started to talk about 10cc, solo projects, ELO or Yes, we discovered a huge shared love. And indeed rabbited on about it for a while... For completists only, we suspect! ;- ) This will be our last podcast for a little while, as we really need to focus on 'getting on with IT'...