Goldmine

VERY GODLEY

He was the deep voice on “Rubber Bullets,” and part of the choir on “I’m Not In Love.” He sang of “An Englishman In New York,” lamented the “Snack Attack” and he soared skyward on “Cry.”

Between the early 1970s and the late 1980s, Kevin Godley possessed one of the most recognizable voices in rock, while he was also one half of the team that produced some of the most captivating videos of the MTV era, from Duran’s “Girls on Film” to the Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” and onto Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s initial visual assault.

He conceived and directed the 1990 One World One Voice project (and looks forward to its reissue later this year), and he has been quietly active ever since, but never — for long — in musical terms. One of the world’s great singers, one of its greatest ever songwriters… he just found other things to do.

Until, sometime around 2016/2017, when he had a rather peculiar idea.

It was 10 years since he and fellow ex-10cc-er Graham Gouldman struck out as GG/06, a short-lived but extraordinarily thoughtful duo who cut half a dozen songs for their website and then parted again. A couple of years since , an audiobook that just happened to have a in 2016, he acknowledged “I’d love to write and record a (solo) album, but it’s an outmoded format. I think Kanye West has the right idea. Keep improving the recordings; keep updating them, changing them. Confound the audience as well as thrilling them.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Goldmine

Goldmine3 min read
10 Albums That Changed My Life
In a career that’s generated about 20 studio releases over 45-plus years, either with bands (The Nerves, The Plimsouls) or on his own, singer-songwriter Peter Case is still achieving creative firsts. Before Doctor Moan, Case never went through the
Goldmine10 min read
Ace Voltage!
“It’s probably my best album that I’ve made in many years, maybe my strongest since my 1978 solo record,” enthuses former Kiss guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Ace Frehley. And that’s not false modesty speaking. 10,000 Volts, Frehley
Goldmine1 min read
Goldmine
Issue 948, Vol. 50, No. 1 EDITORIAL EDITOR Patrick Prince DESIGN Dave Hauser COPY EDITOR Chris M. Junior CONTRIBUTING EDITORS John M. Borack, Ray Chelstowski, John Curley, Frank Daniels, John French, Gillian G. Gaar, Mike Greenblatt, Chris M. Junio

Related