|
Post by snakelady on Feb 19, 2018 8:31:41 GMT
At the time of its release I simply considered this another typical (80s) Quo album of the time - not great by any means, but no worse than most of its predecessors (with the exception of AC). I liked some songs, even loved two and skipped a rather large number as well. The cover wasn't too exciting either .. Was it the start of the 'two guitar cult' ?
So I listened to the album for a while, but mainly waited for the next better one and again I didn't even consider going to a gig given the fact it were the slow songs I loved. TPOR never did anything for me. From the start I considered it a poor attempt at recreating a 70s Quo rock song - pure cliché.
|
|
mortified
Administrator
This is no' gettin' the bairn a shirt
Posts: 5,559
|
Post by mortified on Feb 19, 2018 9:28:46 GMT
Is it that time already? Very much a dust gathering Quo album. And I actually think it is worse than it's immediate predecessors. But I agree; The Power of Rock I never took to that much, although it's still one of the better tracks on the album. Too much of John Farnham's You're The Voice in there for me. Strangely political lyrics for Quo, much like Rollin' Home a few years earlier. Not sure what they were trying to say. Or why. Anyway, skip tracks. Half the album I now find; 6 out of the 12 tracks. I pretty much disliked from the beginning Little Dreamer, Heart On Hold, Tommy's In Love, Going Down For The First Time, Throw Her A Line and the absolutely dreadful Sorry lovely 1000 Years ( ). The rest are passable with Man Overboard easily the best of the bunch. At least Rick still had his head in the right place. Dull, lifeless production all round although I recall Pip saying somewhere that the album was released before he was finished working on it and while he was on holiday. The title track is also very good and, strangely, I do like Address Book. I have no idea why, I just do My overriding memory of this album is an odd one. I had a flat in the centre of Edinburgh and I was getting it ready to sell so I was giving it a fresh lick of paint. I'd just bought this album and stuck it on my new fangled CD player (this was the first Quo CD album I ever bought) and picked up my brush and got to work. It was about 30 minutes in that I realised I'd stopped listening! The whole thing was so uninspired that my mind had wandered off. That immediately told me all I needed to know. I bought Queen's The Miracle the same day I think. I put that on and it was also rubbish. It just wasn't my day. Oh, and the whole two guitar thing began with the Red Sky single but this album stuck it on the front cover for the first time. Given that it peaked at no.49 in the UK, I suspect many were unimpressed with that particular approach
|
|
|
Post by lazypokerblues on Feb 19, 2018 15:31:51 GMT
What a shocking album. Bland and uninspired. I remember being quite excited about the album when I saw the artwork, because the jukebox suggested to me that it would contain rock n roll hits. After the first play, I couldn't work out the conflict between the songs I'd heard and the album cover artwork.
I also remember thinking that they had taken the idea of the artwork from one of the final two EOTR show t-shirts, where three guitars were leaning against a signpost pointing to Milton Keynes and Crystal Palace, and developed it.
With respect to the crossed guitars, that all started with In The Army Now, and it should have stayed there, being a military theme image, like crossed swords, but they were obviously at pains to emphasise that the band was a partnership between the two of them.
I also recall Steve Wright playing Not At All, and being very openly dismissive about it.
|
|
mortified
Administrator
This is no' gettin' the bairn a shirt
Posts: 5,559
|
Post by mortified on Feb 19, 2018 16:10:11 GMT
I also recall Steve Wright playing Not At All, and being very openly dismissive about it. First time I heard Not At All was on that ITV Saturday morning show which I think was called "The Chart Show". It was all videos and wasn't bad actually. You did get to see and hear some new stuff and they had a rock top 10 which was usually watchable. The Quo single was previewed before it was released. Given it's chart performance I think the word "underwhelmed" might apply The 'B-side' Gone Thru The Slips was also pretty grim. Certainly bland. After the relative disappointment of the Ain't Complaining album, this was probably the final straw for many. Because it was even worse. But I'm glad I stuck by them because the next one was a beauty.
|
|
|
Post by snakelady on Feb 20, 2018 7:56:34 GMT
Is it that time already? .. Anyway, skip tracks. Half the album I now find; 6 out of the 12 tracks. I pretty much disliked from the beginning Little Dreamer, Heart On Hold, Tommy's In Love, Going Down For The First Time, Throw Her A Line and the absolutely dreadful Sorry. The rest are passable with Man Overboard easily the best of the bunch. At least Rick still had his head in the right place. Dull, lifeless production all round although I recall Pip saying somewhere that the album was released before he was finished working on it and while he was on holiday. The title track is also very good and, strangely, I do like Address Book. I have no idea why, I just do .. Sorry might be dreadful, but not on this album - I'm sure you're not dissing the beautiful 1000 Years .. Brownie points for liking AB though - it's the other song from the album I love - in all shapes and sizes, even this
|
|
mortified
Administrator
This is no' gettin' the bairn a shirt
Posts: 5,559
|
Post by mortified on Feb 20, 2018 9:57:03 GMT
Absolutely right, snakelady. I'm not sure what I was thinking! So amend and substitute "the absolutely dreadful 1000 Years" In fact, I will do Actually, I sort of have an idea what my thinking was. I've always got these two mixed up when I don't think properly. I really don't like them both and they are the closing tracks on albums that I rarely play and have no time for. I appreciate that they are both different but, to me, both are simply slow, dreary songs with unimaginative melodies. But each to their own. Address Book is just lightweight country but it has a catchiness to it that I like.
|
|
|
Post by I Ain't Complaining on Feb 20, 2018 12:54:08 GMT
Is it that time already? Very much a dust gathering Quo album. And I actually think it is worse then it's immediate predecessors. But I agree; The Power of Rock I never took to that much, although it's still one of the better tracks on the album. Too much of John Farnham's You're The Voice in there for me. Strangely political lyrics for Quo, much like Rollin' Home a few years earlier. Not sure what they were trying to say. Or why. Maybe the POR lyrics were Pip Williams? The Rollin' Home lyrics were John David obviously. I think TPOR was initially Pip's song which he took to Francis and Rick.
|
|
mortified
Administrator
This is no' gettin' the bairn a shirt
Posts: 5,559
|
Post by mortified on Feb 20, 2018 13:59:31 GMT
Is it that time already? Very much a dust gathering Quo album. And I actually think it is worse then it's immediate predecessors. But I agree; The Power of Rock I never took to that much, although it's still one of the better tracks on the album. Too much of John Farnham's You're The Voice in there for me. Strangely political lyrics for Quo, much like Rollin' Home a few years earlier. Not sure what they were trying to say. Or why. Maybe the POR lyrics were Pip Williams? The Rollin' Home lyrics were John David obviously. I think TPOR was initially Pip's song which he took to Francis and Rick. Possibly. He is cited as a co-writer. I'm not knocking the lyrics in any way. It's just unusual for Quo to go down that road. I always thought it was about the Middle East (same as Rollin' Home) but someone else said it was about Northern Ireland. Which actually makes sense as well. But not in the same league lyrically or musically as Someone's Learning.
|
|
|
Post by smokie on Feb 20, 2018 14:10:13 GMT
If I listened to this today, Little Dreamer, Not At All, Perfect Remedy, Address Book and 1000 Years would get a listen but I think I'd skip everything else.
As has already been said above, I don't think there's much to like about this album. You hear that a new album is due out and when it's released, it's this. Duff.
Were they trying to prove that there was more to them than the three chords, head down image etc and that's why they headed in this direction?
Just looking at the track listing, it's still hard to believe that this was released.
It was almost as if there were two bands at this stage. One that released albums like this and one that were still capable on putting on a great live show. I might be in the minority one but I genuinely think that a Quo show during this era was still a great night out. The set was regularly changed from tour to tour and I still looked forward to seeing them live and I still enjoyed going.
|
|
|
Post by gogs on Feb 20, 2018 15:17:33 GMT
Re all the above. I don't think this album was planned to be of any style in particular. Patti's book says that the whole recording process was a coke binge and that nothing was done until right at the end of the booking, then it was a mad rush. No reason to doubt her on this, and the evidence is there in the album. I think this is the album I like least of all. If I play it I only listen to 5 tracks (side 1 as it were minus HOH.)
|
|
mortified
Administrator
This is no' gettin' the bairn a shirt
Posts: 5,559
|
Post by mortified on Feb 20, 2018 16:11:43 GMT
I might be in the minority one but I genuinely think that a Quo show during this era was still a great night out. No. I don't think you are. The gigs were still superb despite very below par albums. Albums which seemed to try too hard to be "something else". Rick wasn't a big contributor at this time. Only two tracks on this and two on Ain't Complaining. I appreciate he rarely was prolific but we were now hitting the CD era where there were upwards of a dozen songs on an album and things got even more lop sided because his contribution remained relatively low. Compare that to the Rossi-Frost combination. Seven songs on Perfect Remedy and nine on the much maligned Thirsty Work 5 years later. When that partnership dominated, albums were usually not what Quo fans wanted to hear. So they tend to be voted bottom of any list in polls like this. But the gigs were full of new songs all of which sounded much better live than on record.
|
|
|
Post by snakelady on Feb 21, 2018 7:25:56 GMT
Absolutely right, snakelady . I'm not sure what I was thinking! So amend and substitute "the absolutely dreadful 1000 Years" In fact, I will do Actually, I sort of have an idea what my thinking was. I've always got these two mixed up when I don't think properly. I really don't like them both and they are the closing tracks on albums that I rarely play and have no time for. I appreciate that they are both different but, to me, both are simply slow, dreary songs with unimaginative melodies. But each to their own. Address Book is just lightweight country but it has a catchiness to it that I like. You forgot to amend half of it, so I've helped you with it It's actually impossible to mix up these two songs : One's a thing of beauty with great heartfelt lyrics, the other .. well, the less said the better .. we'll soon have to talk about that album ( ) anyway. Edit: .. and about the schizophrenic difference between albums and gigs: Sadly the albums kept many of us from going to gigs, so they caused a lot of damage ! I sincerely regret now to only having seen Quo during the RTYD tour in all those years.
|
|
|
Post by gentlemanjoe on Feb 21, 2018 7:55:15 GMT
Apart from a few moments in Power of Rock(an attempt at a new 4500 times), it's poor, Very poor.
Playing on the name, and live gigs.
|
|
mortified
Administrator
This is no' gettin' the bairn a shirt
Posts: 5,559
|
Post by mortified on Feb 21, 2018 8:37:13 GMT
Absolutely right, snakelady . I'm not sure what I was thinking! So amend and substitute "the absolutely dreadful 1000 Years" In fact, I will do Actually, I sort of have an idea what my thinking was. I've always got these two mixed up when I don't think properly. I really don't like them both and they are the closing tracks on albums that I rarely play and have no time for. I appreciate that they are both different but, to me, both are simply slow, dreary songs with unimaginative melodies. But each to their own. Address Book is just lightweight country but it has a catchiness to it that I like. You forgot to amend half of it, so I've helped you with it It's actually impossible to mix up these two songs : One's a thing of beauty with great heartfelt lyrics, the other .. well, the less said the better .. we'll soon have to talk about that album ( ) anyway. Edit: .. and about the schizophrenic difference between albums and gigs: Sadly the albums kept many of us from going to gigs, so they caused a lot of damage ! I sincerely regret now to only having seen Quo during the RTYD tour in all those years. Thanks for helping me along. Lyrics? Who cares? This is Quo. There are some good ones but without an interesting melody they're worthless, although personal to the composer. If you want words, read a book
|
|
|
Post by smokie on Feb 21, 2018 9:05:49 GMT
I might be in the minority one but I genuinely think that a Quo show during this era was still a great night out. No. I don't think you are. The gigs were still superb despite very below par albums. Albums which seemed to try too hard to be "something else". The reason that I said that was because I had a friend who was a massive Quo fan and he stopped going after JC left the band.
I used to try to persuade him every tour to come along but he absolutely refused. He assumed that the concerts were of the same standard as the albums and that put him off.
He eventually relented during the Heavy Traffic Tour and he said afterwards that he regretted missing all those years.
It's not uncommon though, snakelady mentions this above too.
That's a good point re the "live" versions of the songs being much, much better than the album versions. I agree.
|
|
mortified
Administrator
This is no' gettin' the bairn a shirt
Posts: 5,559
|
Post by mortified on Feb 21, 2018 10:49:17 GMT
I often think it would be good to have an official release of all those songs played live (however briefly) that never made it on to live albums. These for example (and in no particular order): I Saw The Light Mad About The Boy Ring Of A Change Rockers Rollin' Like A Good Girl Gonna Teach You To Love Me Oh! What A Night Nightride Perfect RemedyPower of RockLike A Zombie One Man Band Fakin' The Blues No Problem Let's Work Together Under The Influence Twenty Wild Horses Rude Awakening Time Soft In The Head Roll Over Beethoven Gravy Train
There are many more. But that's a full set in itself! Might make a small change from the 127th live version of Rockin'....
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2018 19:49:35 GMT
Just awful and albums like this are why I lost interest in Quo from 1983 to 2010.
I did buy it from iTunes when I re discovered the band but I just found it embarrassing really.
Thankfully things did improve some years later.
|
|
|
Post by craydarr on Feb 25, 2018 7:44:30 GMT
There are 4 tracks I like on this album, Heart on Hold, Perfect Remedy, The Power of Rock and The Way I Am. Sometimes I don't mind Address Book but it depends on my mood. Shocking album!!
|
|
col
High Flyer
All my Gods are leaving......
Posts: 302
|
Post by col on Mar 4, 2018 23:12:24 GMT
It's an odd one, I really have to be in the mood to play it and I usually skip most of side 2.
Therefore I skip 3,5,8,10,11,12
You would be hard pushed to find a worse three song run than the last three on this album, except Back To Back, which the last ten songs were awful!
|
|
mortified
Administrator
This is no' gettin' the bairn a shirt
Posts: 5,559
|
Post by mortified on Mar 5, 2018 7:24:00 GMT
Yeah, the last three on this and the last four on Thirsty Work are as bad as it gets. I suppose at least there's some half decent tempo to one or two on the latter album but they're still a tough listen. He suggested politely.
|
|
|
Post by cammythemortonfan on Mar 6, 2018 20:05:04 GMT
They actually recorded The Voice but John Farnham had also done it and released it first so it got scrapped.
Pip was aware they needed something else on album- The Power of Rock was his idea , with Francis reluctantly getting involved!!
|
|
|
Post by cammythemortonfan on Mar 6, 2018 20:06:33 GMT
Not sure if it was Ain’t. Complaining they tried the Voice for, as a footnote
|
|
|
Post by I Ain't Complaining on Mar 8, 2018 13:38:59 GMT
Not sure if it was Ain’t. Complaining they tried the Voice for, as a footnote Bit of a strange one for Quo to try for a 'normal' Quo album as opposed to a covers album. Although I bet they've tried many things over the years that we've not heard about. If you think how many covers they've done (excluding the 3 covers albums), how many more do you reckon they tried that didn't make the final cut or never got passed demo stage.
|
|
frozenhero
Administrator
Drop-D beautiful
Posts: 1,420
|
Post by frozenhero on Mar 14, 2018 12:13:26 GMT
I often think it would be good to have an official release of all those songs played live (however briefly) that never made it on to live albums. These for example (and in no particular order): I Saw The Light Mad About The Boy Ring Of A Change Rockers Rollin' Like A Good Girl Gonna Teach You To Love Me Oh! What A Night Nightride Perfect RemedyPower of RockLike A Zombie One Man Band Fakin' The Blues No Problem Let's Work Together Under The Influence Twenty Wild Horses Rude Awakening Time Soft In The Head Roll Over Beethoven Gravy Train
There are many more. But that's a full set in itself! Might make a small change from the 127th live version of Rockin'.... I've made suggestions like that, possibly as part of a "rarities" box...
|
|