Deceptive Bends is a backs-to-the-wall album, Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman decisively showing that their copper-bottomed, immaculate pop sound (“The Things We Do For Love”) and witty lyricism (“You’ve Got a Cold”) could withstand the 1977 departure of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. With sparkling melodic gems such as the plaintive “People in Love” and the rocking “Good Morning Judge,” they proved more than equal to the task. And their pillow-soft harmonies are as sumptuous as ever.