Do you remember the days before digital when you would have to get up and flip a vinyl record half way through an album? Can you still hear the sound of the scratch as you place the needle down?

In remembrance of their own hugely successful record an iconic 70s band will perform two sets in one night at the Alban Arena, separated by a symbolic turning of the vinyl.

For the 40th anniversary of their seminal album Sheet Music, 10cc will perform the record in its entirety followed by their Top 10 hits and others, including their three number ones, I’m Not In Love, Rubber Bullets and Dreadlock Holiday which found fame again after featuring in the 2010 film The Social Network, about the founding of Facebook.

Released in 1974, Sheet Music reached number nine in the UK album charts and made it into the Top 100 in the US.

The current live band, which has been together for more than 10 years, features co-founder Graham Gouldman on vocals, bass and guitar; Rick Fenn on guitar and vocals, Paul Burgess with drums and percussion, Mick Wilson on vocals, guitar and percussion, and Keith Hayman with keyboards, guitar and vocals. Rick and Paul have both worked with 10cc since the mid-‘70s line-up.

“Where did the years ago?” Graham asks reflectively. “It is hard to believe that 2012 was 40 years since we were in the studio recording Donna – but I am delighted that the music of 10cc is alive and well.”

Graham puts the 10cc’s longevity down to the quality and individuality of the band’s songs. “They don’t seem to date; they are original, we never followed any trend we simple wrote for our own pleasure. The fact that the songs are being played as often on the radio today as they ever were shows how true that is,” he says.

“It was all about the songs. Not the image or who the singer was or who played which instrument. Year on year we get busier and busier. It’s great, we love touring and playing together and we get on really well.”

During the band’s continued success Graham has been receiving particular recognition in the US for his songwriting, including hits he wrote for artistes such as The Hollies and Bus Stop, The Yardbirds and For Your Love, and Herman’s Hermits with No Milk Today.

He has even been inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame – an arm of America’s National Academy of Music, and awarded Icon status by Broadcast Music Incorporated.

“The audiences these days are very gratifying” Graham tells me. “You get the people you would expect, who grew up with 10cc, but you also get young kids who know the songs too.

“Now whether they’ve discovered 10cc for themselves, via the internet or radio, or just grown up with their parents playing it in the house, I don’t know. But we get a great mix of people from the generations.

“This is as near as you’re ever going to get to hearing the perfect 10cc. Hit after hit after hit. It’s relentless. We show no mercy.”

Alban Arena, Civic Centre, St Albans, AL1 3LD, Friday, October 7. Details: 01727 844488