Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

We are always advised to trust the process, whether it be in sport’s management or from those to whom dictate our lives in government, and dare we argue that the process is far from satisfying, that the flaws within are too obvious, as individuals, as society we expect a certain kind of kick back, we get called names, showered with discourse of an unseemly nature, we become gaslit by those we are advised to trust.

In Godley & Creme though the fan and the newcomer can place their absolute trust in as they unveil the brand new boxset of all their collected works as a duo and away from 10cc where they initially made their creative name. In the examination of their souls and art, Parts Of The Process – The Complete Godley & Creme stands out as an equal partner to everything that the pair, along with Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart, believed that music should be to the masses, relevant, enjoyable, entertaining, enlightening, and dramatic; and whilst it could be argued that the two sides should not be compared, the two cogs of the machine are so interlinked that it is impossible not to do so.

Parts Of The Process is art at its most accessible and direct, it is a no nonsense application of sound, the subject matter sometimes genius, at others surreal, but as the listener leans in on each studio album and added extras, the concept of Art Rock is beautifully administered and played with distinction.
Kevin Godley and Lol Creme are not just writers and musicians, they are painters of the spoken word and the recorder and instigator of images, they have provided art for art’s sake, but memories for all, and as tracks such as Cry, An Englishman In New York, Under Your Thumb, Wedding Bells, Snack Attack reintroduce themselves, as albums such as Ismism, the excellent Freeze Frame, and the final studio recording of Goodbye Blue Sky capture the attention of the audience, that art is not only sizeable, it is cosmic, it is infinite, and filled with exactness.

The process of making art is always shrouded in a kind of mystery, the magician and the artist never shy of showing the refined and completed performance, but wonderfully secretive when it comes to the treatment, the method of building from the ground up, and that is exactly what the pair provided, the effect of the whole being much greater than what the audience could have ever imagined.

Parts Of The Process – The Complete Godley & Creme is simply a boxset of divine music ability and artistry, it is progressive, it surrounds itself in pop, it is unafraid to go down certain routes and explore many themes, but overall it is an catalogue that dares to be reckoned with. Absolutely incredible.

Ian D. Hall