Bits of Blue Sky: Godley & Creme’s Duo Discography Collected for New Box Set
Between their time as half of the head-turning British rock band 10cc and a whole new career as innovative music video directors, Godley & Creme carved out a unique discography as a duo. It’s one that Edsel will revisit in a soon-to-be-released box set called Parts of the Process: The Complete Godley & Creme.
Due for release this Friday, February 28, Parts of the Process is an 11CD set that offers the duo’s seven studio releases – Consequences (1977), L (1978), Freeze Frame (1979), Ismism (1981), Birds of Prey (1983), History Mix (Vol. 1) (1985) and Goodbye Blue Sky (1988) – along with two newly curated collections of their 7″ singles, B-sides and remixes. Each original album sleeve is faithfully reproduced at CD size, and a booklet includes a newly-penned intro from Kevin Godley and a lengthy essay from Liam Newton, author of the 10cc biography The Worst Band in the World.
Godley and Lol Creme grew up in Manchester and had been performing together since the early ’60s, but really hit a stride when joining forces with another Mancunian duo, Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman, to form 10cc. The four multi-instrumentalists and endless studio tinkerers became U.K. chart darlings off the success of singles like “Rubber Bullets,” “The Wall Street Shuffle,” “Life is a Minestrone,” “Art for Art’s Sake” and the international smash “I’m Not in Love,” a No. 1 U.K. hit and No. 2 in America. But Godley & Creme longed for more avant garde and challenging output than the pop-minded Stewart and Gouldman, and would split off in 1976. Their initial work revolved around the perfection of an invention they deemed “The Gizmo”: a motorized bowing device for guitar. By 1977, their intended demo disc for the contraption had turned into a triple album called Consequences, a sprawling conceptual affair augmented by comedic pieces from satirist Peter Cook and vocals from jazz singer Sarah Vaughan. Follow-up L returned closer to the satirical nature of the duo’s 10cc songs, created almost entirely by the duo with a few exceptions, notably the presence of Roxy Music saxophonist Andy Mackay.
Third album Freeze Frame, released in 1979, featured the Dutch hit “An Englishman in New York” along with some contributions by another Roxy Music alum (guitarist Phil Manzanera) and even a Beatle, with backing vocals by Paul McCartney on closer “Get Well Soon.” “An Englishman in New York” offered a hint to Godley & Creme’s future work off the pop charts through a technologically intriguing music video the pair directed. They’d finally score two U.K. Top 10s off fourth album Ismism (released as Snack Attack in the U.S.), with “Under Your Thumb” and “Wedding Bells” reaching Nos. 3 and 7. But their next LP Birds of Prey wouldn’t even be released in the States, with audiences more knowingly preoccupied by Godley & Creme’s visual influence on MTV. (They directed classic clips for Duran Duran, The Police, Herbie Hancock, Asia, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Go West, Huey Lewis & The News, Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel and Wang Chung, to name a few.)
The closest Godley & Creme had to an international music hit might also be their weirdest: 1985’s The History Mix (Vol. 1) was an offbeat retrospective of the duo’s partnership, taking tracks from their discography (as well as material by 10cc and others), feeding it into a Fairlight CMI synthesizer/sampler and having Trevor Horn and J.J. Jeczalik of The Art of Noise program and sequence the medleys. The sole “new” track, “Cry,” hit the Top 20 on both sides of the Atlantic – but after 1988’s Goodbye Blue Sky, an unusual album distinguished by a traditional rock-band arrangement and the addition of two harmonica players (as well as three backing vocalists who’d later find success as members of Londonbeat and the dance hit “I’ve Been Thinking About You”), the duo called time on their professional partnership. Godley would continue to direct videos (and recently reunited with Gouldman for a special 10cc performance), while Creme later joined The Art of Noise and collaborated with Horn on the supergroup album Producers.
Parts of the Process can be ordered below; as an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Parts of the Process: The Complete Godley & Creme (Edsel EDSL0226 (U.K.), 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
CD 1-3: Consequences (Mercury CONS 017 (U.K.)/SRM-3-1700 (U.S.), 1977)
- Seascape
- Wind
- Fireworks
- Stampede
- Burial Scene
- Sleeping Earth
- Honolulu Lulu
- The Flood
- Five O’Clock in the Morning
- Dialogue
- When Things Go Wrong
- Dialogue
- A Lost Weekend
- Rosie
- Dialogue
- Office Chase
- Dialogue
- It’s Cool, Cool, Cool in the Morning
- Dialogue
- Cool, Cool, Cool (Reprise)
- Dialogue
- Sailor
- Dialogue
- Mobilitzation
- Dialogue
- Please, Please, Please
- Dialogue
- Blint’s Tune
CD 4: L (Mercury 9109 611 (U.K.)/Polydor/Mar-Ken PD-1-6177 (U.S.), 1978)
- This Sporting Life
- Sandwiches of You
- Art School Canteen
- Group Life
- Punchbag
- Foreign Accents
- Hit Factory/Business is Business
CD 5: Freeze Frame (Polydor POLD 5027 (U.K.)/PD-1-6257 (U.S.), 1979)
- An Englishman in New York
- Random Brainwave
- I Pity Inanimate Objects
- Freeze Frame
- Clues
- Brazilia (Wish You Were Here)
- Mugshots
- Get Well Soon
CD 6: Ismism (Polydor POLD 5043 (U.K.), 1981)
- Snack Attack
- Under Your Thumb
- Joey’s Camel
- The Problem
- Ready for Ralph
- Wedding Bells
- Lonnie
- Sale of the Century
- The Party
CD 7: Birds of Prey (Polydor POLD 5070 (U.K.), 1983)
- My Body the Car
- Worm and the Rattlesnake
- Cats Eyes
- Samson
- Save a Mountain for Me
- Madame Guillotine
- Woodwork
- Twisted Nerve
- Out in the Cold
CD 8: History Mix (Vol. 1) (Polydor POLH 22 (U.K.)/422 825 981-1 Y-1 (U.S.), 1985)
- Wet Rubber Soup
- Cry
- Expanding the Business
- The ‘Dare You’ Man
- Hum Drum Boys in Paris
- Mountain Tension
CD 9: Goodbye Blue Sky (Polydor POLH 40 (U.K.)/422 835 348-1 (U.S.), 1988)
- H.E.A.V.E.N.
- A Little Piece of Heaven
- Don’t Set Fire (to the One I Love)
- Golden Rings
- Crime & Punishment
- The Big Bang
- 10,000 Angels
- Sweet Memory
- Airforce One
- The Last Page of History
- Desperate Times
CD 10: Non-Album Tracks & 7″ Versions
- Wide Boy
- Submarine
- Marciano
- Power Behind the Throne
- Babies
- Welcome to Breakfast Television
- Golden Boy (7″)
- Light Me Up
- Love Bombs
- Golden Boy (1985 Remix)
- Bits of Blue Sky
- Rhino Rhino
- Hidden Heartbeat
- Can’t Sleep
- Sandwiches of You (7″ Edit)
- An Englishman in New York (Single Edit)
- Silent Running
- Cry (Single Edit)
- Wet Rubber Soup (Edit)
- Snack Attack (7″ Remix)
- A Little Piece of Heaven (7″ Single Version)
Track 1 released on Polydor U.K. single POSP 145, 1980
Tracks 2-3 released as Polydor U.K. single POSP 171, 1980
Track 4 released on “Under Your Thumb” U.K. single – Polydor POSP 322, 1981
Track 5 released on “Wedding Bells” U.K. single – Polydor POSP 369, 1981
Track 6 released on “Save a Mountain for Me” U.K. single – Polydor POSP 490, 1982
Track 7 released on Polydor U.K. single POSP 677, 1984
Tracks 8 and 10 released as Polydor U.K. single POSP 760, 1985
Tracks 9 and 18 released as Polydor U.K. single POSP 732, 1985
Tracks 11-12 and 21 released on Polydor U.K. CD single POCD 901, 1988
Tracks 13-14 released on “10,000 Angels” U.K. 12″ single – Polydor POSPX 913, 1988
Track 15 released on Polydor U.K. single 6008 104, 1979
Tracks 16-17 released as Polydor U.K. single POSP 80, 1979
Tracks 19-20 released as Polydor U.K. single POSP 875, 1987
CD 11: Extended Mixes
- Snack Attack (Extended Version)
- Strange Apparatus (An Englishman in New York – Extended Version)
- Samson (Dance Mix)
- Golden Boy (Long Version)
- Jack Attack Dub
- Cry (Extended Mix)
- Golden Boy (Full-Length 12″ Mix)
- Snack Attack (Extended Remix)
- A Little Piece of Heaven (Extended Mix)
Tracks 1-2 released on Polydor U.K. 12″ POSPX 412, 1982
Track 3 released on B-side of Polydor U.K. single POSP 550, 1983
Track 4 released on Polydor U.K. 12″ POSPX 677, 1984
Tracks 5 and 8 released on Polydor U.K. 12″ POSPX 875, 1987
Track 6 released on Polydor U.K. 12″ POSPA 732, 1985
Track 7 released on Polydor U.K. 12″ POSPX 760, 1985
Track 9 released on Polydor U.K. POSPX 901, 1988
I do hope that CD 11, track 6 will be the first ever CD release of the outstanding J.J. Jeczalik remix in master quality. To date all other CD releases with this mix are vinyl rips.
Great box set by the way. The teaser arrived a few months ago, now it’s finally available.