The Original Soundtrack

The Original Soundtrack is the third studio album by the English art rock band 10cc. It was released in 1975 and peaked at number four on the UK Albums Chart. The Original Soundtrack includes the singles “Life Is a Minestrone” and “I’m Not in Love”, the latter of which is the band’s most popular song.

The album was recorded and produced by the band at Strawberry Studios in 1974 with Eric Stewart engineering and mixing. The album received good reviews when originally released on LP and cassette by Mercury Records in March 1975. The album has since been reissued on several occasions with bonus tracks and has been remastered. The artwork was designed by Hipgnosis and illustrated by artist Humphrey Ocean.

The album was the first to be released by Mercury Records after signing the band for $1 million in February 1975. The catalyst for the deal was the fact the record executives had heard one song – “I’m Not in Love”. Eric Stewart recalled:

At that point in time we were still on Jonathan King’s label, but struggling. We were absolutely skint, the lot of us, we were really struggling seriously, and Philips Phonogram wanted to do a deal with us. They wanted to buy Jonathan King’s contract. I rang them. I said come and have a listen to what we’ve done, come and have a listen to this track. And they came up and they freaked, and they said, “This is a masterpiece. How much money, what do you want? What sort of a contract do you want? We’ll do anything, we’ll sign it.” On the strength of that one song, we did a five-year deal with them for five albums and they paid us a serious amount of money.

The rest of the album, which was already complete, was released just weeks later.

The album’s opening track, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme’s “Une Nuit A Paris”, is an nine-minute, multi-part “mini-operetta”. Its melody can also be heard in the overture to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1986 musical The Phantom of the Opera.

The album’s most famous song, “I’m Not in Love”, was built around a simple title by Stewart.[citation needed] The song is noted for its innovative production, especially its richly overdubbed choral backing.

The Original Soundtrack was a critical and commercial success reaching No. 4 in the UK and No.15 in the U.S.

Ken Barnes gave the album a rave review in Rolling Stone, commenting, “Musically there’s more going on than in ten Yes albums, yet it’s generally as accessible as a straight pop band (though less so than the two preceding 10cc LPs).” He particularly praised the album for being ambitious without being excessive or pretentious, and for its lyrical content.

Robert Christgau panned the album, remarking of the song “I’m Not in Love”: “stretching your only decent melody (a nonsatirical love song) over six tedious minutes, is that a joke?”

The first single “Life Is a Minestrone” was another UK Top 10 for the band, peaking at No. 7. Their biggest success came with the song that sold the album, “I’m Not in Love”, which gave the band their second UK No. 1 in June 1975, staying there for two weeks. The song also provided them with their first major US chart success when the song reached No. 2.