Consequences 10cc podcast 56 - Looking for Lolagon 1: Creme post-Godley

Sean and Paul have for months now being racking our brains about what to do about Lol Creme. He's long since stated that doing a podcast interview just isn't his thing.  So we'll just do a pod talking about his 70s and 80s 'extra-curricular' projects and solo career after Godley and Creme - easy, right? Well, not really. The more we've dug around to find him, the more elusive he's seemed to have got!  He's seldom been very audible, let alone visible, in these last 30 years. 

This episode focuses on Lol's solo work, from his obscure Naughty Nola single in 1973 to the present day. Much of his work in that time has involved playing session guitar on established artists' records, and most of those as part of ace producer Trevor Horn's crack team. These musicians include the likes of Anne Dudley, Steve Lipson, Luis Jardim and Ash Soan - and more on these shortly. You'll hear many, many clips on this podcast from Lol's contributions to major and more minor artists' work, including Inga Humpe, Tom Jones, Cher, Tina Turner and Barry White, Robbie Williams and Olly Murs. An illustrious list, but in truth it's often difficult to pick out what Lol actually played on these records!

Much more interesting are his more substantial contributions (as writer-performer) to three outfits: Glam Metal Detectives, Art of Noise and Producers (more recently aka The Trevor Horn Band). All of them are helmed by the ubiquitous Mr Horn, and display very different facets of the Creme gemstone. The former's playful wackiness shows off some terrific rock guitar playing from Lol and his son Lalo. Joining ZTT's established but shifting Art of Noise collective in the late 90s, he brought them some subtly beautiful and tasteful guitar layers we'd never heard from them before. Most interesting of all perhaps is the 2012 album Made in Basing Street by the Producers line-up of Creme, Soan, Lipson and Horn, which although falling short of the 'second coming' status its pedigree promised, contains a few wonderful songs and some spectacular moments. Not to mention an elusive lead vocal from our diminutive ex-10cc man!

We've enjoyed picking through the bones of Lol's solo career here, but we're still feeling somewhat frustrated by how thinly its' spread across those decades. But, as Paul rightly says, 'it's our problem, not his.'

Next time we're joined by hugely entertaining author Paul Hamilton, who'll be sharing his singular views on Lol and Kevin's non-Godley and Creme projects.