Hotlegs - You Didn't Like It Because You Didn't Think Of It - The Complete Sessions (2012 Grapefruit Records) 1970 - 1971

Biography : One of the finest archive products of the pre-CD age, You Didn't Like It was released in the U.K. in 1975, at the height of 10cc's success, as a reminder that there was more, so much more, to the members' past incarnation as Hotlegs than the hit "Neanderthal Man." Rounding up every track that the ultimately ill-starred combo cut -- that is, the entire Thinks: School Stinks album, plus four additional performances -- You Didn't Like It not only took the edge off an increasingly desperate collectors market (copies of that original album were impossible to come by), it also reminded listeners just how much of Hotlegs' legacy had been bequeathed to the members' next project. "Fly Away," itself re-recorded from a Godley-Creme contribution to a 1969 Marmalade label sampler, offers the prototype for any number of subsequent ballads -- innocent vocal, innocent song, but a deceptive beast of a lyric. "How Many Times" (the doomed U.S. follow-up to the hit "Neanderthal Man"), "Take Me Back," and "All God's Children" each had a close relation lurking within the 10cc catalog, while "You Didn't Like It" itself had already been pressed back into surface, as the first 10cc album's closing "Fresh Air for My Mama." "You Didn't Like It" is one of four songs appended to the original Thinks album. Of the remainder, "Lady Sadie" was released as a single in 1971 and went absolutely nowhere, while "Today" and "The Loser" saw service on the "second" Hotlegs album, Songs. Despite such generosity, however, You Didn't Like It fared no better than either of its predecessors, and, bitterly, one remembers why. 10cc at the time were universally regarded among the most creative bands on the planet. Hotlegs, on the other hand, were good for one thing and one thing only. "I'm a Neanderthal man -- CRASH; you're a Neanderthal girl -- CRASH...." And collectors notwithstanding, that was never going to change.  Review by Dave Thompson

Tracklist:
01. Neanderthal Man 4:15
02. How Many Times 4:18
03. Desperate Dan 2:19
04. Take Me Back 5:01
05. Um Wah, Um Woh 5:07
06. Suite F.A. 12:49
- a) First Movement: On My Way
- b) Second Movement: Indecision
- c) Third Movement: The Return
07. Fly Away 2:45
08. Run Baby Run 2:53
09. All God's Children 4:00
10. The Loser 3:39
11. Today 4:03
12. Lady Sadie 4:20
13. You Didn't Like It, Because You Didn't Think Of It 4:33
14. Neanderthal Man (alternative US mix) 4:18

Line.up:
Eric Stewart - vocals, guitar, bass, moog
Kevin Godley - vocals, drums, percussion
Lol Creme - vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards
and:
Graham Gouldman - bass guitar
Mike Timoney - organ
Peter Tattersall - left-handed boogey piano
Rod Morton - on-beat tambourine
Baz Barker - violin
Ian Brookes - trumpet
Mike Bell - saxophone