Mirror Mirror (10cc album)

Background and recording

Gouldman admitted the album was "almost like two-halves of an album", largely a result of the fact that he and Stewart began recording in separate countries. "Vaguely, we intended starting off these tracks and then bring them together, finish them together, which a lot of people do," he said. "But it never happened, we got so into what we were doing, we wanted to keep it pure. I don’t like to say we hoodwinked the people, but you could say it’s not quite what it appears to be, and anyone with any sense, who reads the credits, could see that."

One of Gouldman's songs, "Ready To Go Home", was written after the death of his father, Hyme Gouldman, in 1991. Gouldman re-recorded the song for his 2000 album, And Another Thing..., when he observed in the liner notes: "It reflects my feelings at the time. I suppose I was trying to put a positive slant on his passing, remembering all the things we had done together and his artistic legacy to me. The last verse of the song best reflects my feelings on this. This song has been recorded by many artists and remains one of my favourites. Very emotional."

Reception

Allmusic panned the album, commenting that the claim of "I'm Not in Love" being reworked is dubious, since the track has no noticeable differences from the original recording. They summarized the rest of the album with "songs flashing the group's trademark lyrical wit generally tend toward musical vaporware, while those revealing an occasional glimmer of instrumental creativity go nowhere fast on the songwriting."

Track listing (Expanded Edition)

At least three different versions of the album exist. The most common version of the album has 10 songs. A European version of the album leaves out one song ("I'm Not in Love: Rework of Art Mix"), but also adds five new tracks: "Yvonne's the One" (Written by Eric Stewart and Paul McCartney, and first attempted in February 1985 during the sessions for Paul's Press to Play album, but remade and completed on this album, with Paul returning the favour by playing rhythm guitar), "Margo Wants the Mustard", "Blue Bird", "Now You're Gone", and a 1995 acoustic rendition of "I'm Not in Love". The Japanese version has 15 tracks, including all five new tracks, and the "Rework of Art Mix" version of "I'm Not in Love". The track listing below is based on that of the Japanese version.

1. "I'm Not in Love (Rework of Art Mix)" (Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman) – 5:51
2. "Peace in Our Time" (Gouldman, Steve Pigott) – 4:03
3. "Code of Silence" (Stewart) – 5:39
4. "Take This Woman" (Stewart, Gouldman) – 3:51
5. "Yvonne's the One" (Paul McCartney, Eric Stewart) – 4:26*
6. "The Monkey and the Onion" (Gouldman, Tim Rice) – 3:17
7. "Margo Wants the Mustard" (Stewart) – 3:54*
8. "Ready To Go Home" (Andrew Gold, Gouldman) – 4:37
9. "Everything is Not Enough" (Stewart) – 4:28
10. "Blue Bird" (Graham Gouldman) – 4:04*
11. "Age of Consent" (Stewart) – 5:24
12. "Grow Old With Me" (Gouldman) – 3:22
13. "Why Did I Break Your Heart" (Stewart, Gouldman) – 5:18
14. "Now You're Gone" (Gouldman) – 3:01*
15. "I'm Not in Love (Acoustic Session '95)" (Stewart, Gouldman) – 3:30*

Personnel