What Single Song has all the elements you love about Quo

[craydarr]

Was driving home from work a week ago and this came up on a Quo disc I had made up myself. I had to play the track about 3 or 4 times as I enjoyed it that much and this made me think about the elements that made it so good for me. Essentially Quo at their very best.

The Driving Heavy Beat, Nice Groove, Rossi /Parfitt vocal interplay, Great lead solo from Fran, fantastic song, good harp from Andy, one of the best live line-ups of the band.

It doesn't have to be your favourite single or song, it more about the combination of elements that come together to make it so great.

Just trying to raise a slightly different topic, hopefully it work 

[mortified]

It will always be Forty Five Hundred Times; the original version. It just happens to be my favourite as well, which is sort of coincidental. 

Great quiet, melodic opening with very good Rick lyrics before it breaks into something thunderous. It then weaves in and out of various tempos all containing what became that trademark Quo shuffle. I know some of it was basically a jam borne out of the live version of Is It Really Me/Gotta Go Home but it is a work of genius. 

Whether Francis likes it or not 

There are numerous songs which I think can sum Quo up but this one, for me, is the perfect example of why I have always loved this band. It is a song I will never, ever tire of. Quo in a nutshell. 

[col]

Always will be Forty Five Hundred Times. Always.

Paper Plane as the classic single, drive, groove, feel and melody. 

[coldwarkid]

Forty Five Hundred Times the EOTR live version, every band member, especially Pete Kircher playing out of their skins

[snakelady]

Another important ingredient for me that hasn't been mentioned so far is interaction with the audience, audience participation.

So I'd say Most Of The Time, live !
That song is the quintessence of Quo, as it has everything: The first part sung a capella nearly followed by the solo, both with so much melody and feel - then the band comes thundering in and drives it to its climax, to end it with the audience singing their hearts out.
That song still gives me goosebumps after all these years. It's what Quo is all about, absolutely perfect. I was so happy and thankful to have had the chance to hear it live again one more time during the FF tour.

I love 4500x as well. The song is breathtaking with its long instrumental part and all its subtleties and rhythm changes, but I'd agree with @inna about ROLD too, which has more of the various typical Quo elements in it, the loud and the quiet part with the audience singing, the energy, the melody and the solo ..

What I realised at the FF gig I had missed the most in recent times (beside the vastly different set list ) were the solos. I became aware how starved I was for longer versions of songs, for real solos, for how Francis made the guitar sing. Such a shame the band believes their audience doesn't appreciate them any more and only wants shorter versions ..

[mortified]

Sept 18, 2017 8:11:05 GMT snakelady said:

Such a shame the band believes their audience doesn't appreciate them any more and only wants shorter versions ..

I hate to point fingers but the band have actually created that audience. Well, whoever is or has been in control of such things. The short attention span, hits only audience has been deliberately and systematically targeted for decades. I don't think it's a case of careful what you wish for. It's what has paid the wages and built the 21st century touring business. 

They never got any critical acclaim for the 70's material or live performances so who can blame them? 

There is, of course, the additional factor that Francis can't be bothered with solos and has never really liked doing them. According to Pip Williams anyway.  

[lazypokerblues]

My first thought about which song to nominate was 'Roll Over Lay Down', but now I'm wondering if it's 'Don't Waste My Time'?

ROLD for the simple, driving 12 bar rock. DWMT for a great tune, melodic guitar solo, crowd participation.

Re short versions & medleys - yep the band were simply responding to the changing audience, post Live Aid.

It was a gradual change from 86 until Don't Stop period, where they went from being the 'Roadhouse Blues' band to the 'Rockin' All Over the World Band'.

You'd get new people coming in who wanted to hear WYW and RAOTW, and they replaced the outgoing hardcore who wanted to hear 4500 Times and Roadhouse Blues.

Those of us who stuck around throughout this period could see the change happening incrementally on each subsequent tour.

By the time of Don't Stop, I'd pretty much thrown the towel in, as they were morphing into a covers band, like The Shadows or something. It was only my emotional, deep seated love for them that continued my interest. Then of course the Message Board came along, and it completely re-vamped my passion for them, because we were able to connect with other fans and discuss all sort of opinions and share memories etc.

I really do think that the Message Board was a life saver for some of us older fans. I daresay it kept people going along to gigs.

[mortified]

Sept 18, 2017 11:30:56 GMT lazypokerblues said:

Re short versions & medleys - yep the band were simply responding to the changing audience, post Live Aid.

It was a gradual change from 86 until Don't Stop period, where they went from being the 'Roadhouse Blues' band to the 'Rockin' All Over the World Band'.

You'd get new people coming in who wanted to hear WYW and RAOTW, and they replaced the outgoing hardcore who wanted to hear 4500 Times and Roadhouse Blues.

Those of us who stuck around throughout this period could see the change happening incrementally on each subsequent tour.

Yep, all very true. Especially the highlighted quote.

I also thought there was a really noticeable change in the audience, particularly down the front, from about 2001 or 2002. In the UK at least. I have no idea why. It was just very tangible and it seemed to happen almost overnight. 

The message board - the old official one - certainly had an impact. That impact was initially positive and then became very negative. It began to get a bit iffy after it was announced that the next album was going to be Riffs. We were all a bit underwhelmed with that one    By the time Bula Quo came along, it was almost all out war of the trolls. 

All a bit off topic I guess but interesting to reflect. 

[lazypokerblues]

I know what you mean about the audience down the front.

I think there was a combination of factors:

1. The band were playing smaller provincial theatres which meant that you could see them very easily multiple times on a tour.

2. I perceived a bit of 'bragging rights' on the Message Board - there was a bit of one-upmanship about how many times you'd seen the band, which proved just how much of a 'true fan' you were. The easily accessed gigs only went to feed this. I used to just go to one show per tour, but I found myself going to half a dozen, because of increased disposable income, and living in Sheffield, it was easy to drive to quite a few different gigs from Halifax down to Nottingham.

3. The core fan base was getting thinner and thinner, so you would end up seeing the same faces (myself included) at every single gig. This was in turn fuelled again by the message board, with people arranging to meet up and go on tours with each other.

[snakelady]

Sept 18, 2017 9:17:27 GMT mortified said:

Sept 18, 2017 8:11:05 GMT snakelady said:

Such a shame the band believes their audience doesn't appreciate them any more and only wants shorter versions ..

I hate to point fingers but the band have actually created that audience. Well, whoever is or has been in control of such things. The short attention span, hits only audience has been deliberately and systematically targeted for decades. I don't think it's a case of careful what you wish for. It's what has paid the wages and built the 21st century touring business. 

They never got any critical acclaim for the 70's material or live performances so who can blame them? 

There is, of course, the additional factor that Francis can't be bothered with solos and has never really liked doing them. According to Pip Williams anyway.  

I don't think it's quite that easy. In the mid- to late 70s the music world shifted. Rock bands disappeared or changed, songs became shorter and poppier (those Travolta films were a sign of the mainstream music then) and radio-friendliness became relevant. So it wasn't merely Quo .. 

What was first chicken or egg ? The 'old' rock bands trying to keep up with musical developments or were they simply bored with what they had done previously and in consequence changing their style ? The audience wanting something different, as in a new generation growing up loving the Travolta films and disco music ? The radio formats changing .. ? I've no idea if it can even be pinpointed on any particular thing, but I know it happened. Then the next and even more abrupt and drastic change happened in 82 when NDW music took over and English music nearly vanished from the charts completely, bands had to sing in German to stay relevant. When the NWD finally faded, the music world was completely different and as near as all 70s bands were gone.  Quo were one of merely a handful that managed to survive through that, but they achieved it with changing their music that much, they alienated their fans of old. I left at the start of the 80s and, @inna has already mentioned it before, so did she and many others with us. 

The band may have still played similar sets, the way they always did, but the audience changed and with it the atmosphere at gigs. And that was long before 86. Yes, the band more and more concentrated on the songs that had given them mainstream chart success - they couldn't have done so up till the end of the 70s, because they simply had none (they may have had success earlier in the UK, but that was just one country and their set had to fit all of their touring territory and was perceived as niche rock elsewhere). So their gradually adjusting the set was understandable.

In the end I'm not sure whose 'fault' it actually is that we've ended up with what we get now, a stagnant hits set - band, audience, circumstances, age, all ?
Maybe their lack of courage to dare more radical changes that has always been typical for their set, once they had left psychedelic behind, is what had to inevitably lead to it - but maybe that same lack of courage is what's responsible the band is still around after all these decades, after half a century ?


Francis may well have set out to become a rhythm player, strumming , but I vividly remember an interview from the time of the reunion tours (from an FTMO issue ?) in which he when talking about them, he called himself 'an old geezer indulging in his playing' and wondering why the audience should like that, as if it was a guilty pleasure, as if he loves to play them and it's the audience that aren't interested usually. And Francis has never thought himself to be a good enough solo player to be of interest for the audience, which is probably more the explanation behind his not wanting/'hating' to play solos than anything else. And he's so wrong ..

[mortified]

There will be an element of truth in some of what you say, your Royal Snakeness, but I didn't see any other bands I loved on UK shows like Cannon & Ball, Des O'Connor Tonight or Noel's House Party. All Saturday night peak time and all very light entertainment. All kerrap as well incidentally 

That has to have been a deliberate and calculated policy, surely? Because until about 1983, that simply didn't happen. 

It bothered me at the time but then I was in an age group that, first of all, refused to watch that rubbish and, secondly, still had a certain snobbery about music in me. Doesn't bother me now. You grow up. Musical snobbery is stupid. But I still got irritated when I saw Rick and Francis more recently on shows like The One Show, Good Morning or Alan Titchmarsh in the Afternoon. Mainly because these shows are inane, superficial drivel aimed at the bored housewife or the really fat bloke on permanent sickness or disability benefit (no offence   ). Watching well known daytime TV presenters poncing about with inflatable guitars makes me wince. 

Am I going too far here? 

But they did what they did to court the mass appeal audience. I get that. And it has worked a treat. They are now an 'institution' apparently. And they've been able to tour incessantly on the back of it all. They certainly don't need me and my nose in the air approach. 

But they're getting it anyway 

[lazypokerblues]

I'd be interested to see if Francis (and Richie?) turn up on BBC Breakfast later this year to plug the er, Plugged In shows.

Traditionally, the presence of Rossi & Parfitt on a sofa would be classed by the presenters as 'an institution', but I'm not sure if that holds water anymore.

It's a bit like Francis is now out on his own, representing the Old Guard, much like Noddy Holder, Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne et al.

I can tell you now exactly how the conversation will go:

"So, Francis, you said that you were doing Last Night of the Electrics, and only acoustic shows from now on. What changed?"

"We did that for Rick's benefit because he was unable to do the electric shows, but now he's no longer with us, we seem to have got an injection of youthful vigour again from Richie, and it just feels so good that we don't want to stop doing it.  Plus all our crew have mortgages to pay and I have to put my kids through college."

"Well we wish you all the best for the tour, and here's hoping that you will continue to Rock All Over the World for many more years to come."

etc.

[mortified]

Are we suggesting an element of predictability here? 

To be honest, the answers will remain predictable as longs as the questions do. And they usually do. 

Also, to be fair, I think the response might well be true. But it's almost like they just couldn't say it - or Francis couldn't - while Rick was still with us. That could simply be out of respect for Rick - which I heartily agree with - or it just wasn't considered good PR. And there may be one or two PR people in tow with the band 

Don't get me wrong; I'm not knocking the band for how they changed their approach. It's just an observation based on how I perceived things then and now. They still made (mainly) very good albums and their gigs have always been superb. 

I just can't stick light entertainment.    Never have. It pi$$ed me off to see my favourite band minimising their considerable talents larking around with second rate comedians and presenters. My main problem is that they have never mixed it up. Daytime TV and light entertainment is perfectly fine but appearing on actual music shows (other than TOTP) is deemed as too 'serious'. 

No Joolz Holland which would be a perfect stage to show off their power and some different material is a good example. Another was a show back in the 90's called The White Room which I think was on Channel 4 or maybe Channel 5. They were set to be on it but they pulled out. That was a bl00dy good music programme for a while. 

I always think its a pity that they don't take themselves seriously; in public at any rate. The happy, public persona seems all important.

God, I'm not half letting off some steam here. I must be in a mood. I'll be OK tomorrow.  

[mortified]

And I'm much better now. Calm. Deep breaths. All is fine and dandy with the world.  

Ain't complaining 

[lazypokerblues]

I got into Quo in 1980 with the release of 12 Gold Bars, when I was 10 years old.
I was still at primary school and had decided to pin my colours to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, although I didn't know it was called that at the time. So Quo, AC/DC, Motorhead etc.
In 1982 I decided that Quo would be my favourite band, due to the NEC gig footage and the broadcast on Tommy Vance.
So any appearances by them on TV (Tiswas, Cannon & Ball etc.) I absolutely lapped up, because I was too young to go to gigs until 1984.

After that, once I had started gigging, I also share your disappointment with the TV stuff ('Address Book' with Richard Digance particulary sticks in the craw). I especially disliked Hale and Pace doing a Status Quo opera sketch, and also those adverts for WH Smith. I think that was when Whatever You Want seemed to get elevated from just another song in the set, to this big massive anthem. The combination of WYW being used on the WH Smith advert, and also wasn't there some other BBC Saturday night light entertainment show actually called 'Whatever You Want' (which used the song as their theme tune) - that all seemed to somehow contribute to its elevation in the set.
It was as if, rather than having a big hit single in the charts, that needed to be played at gigs, they were somehow responding to what the light entertainment TV audience were perceived to be 'demanding' instead.

It's also no coincidence that this also happened at the same time as Radio 1 stopped playing their music, so they had to adapt from being a rock band on the radio to a national institution double act on the telly.

[gogs]

@ lazypokerblues. Your last sentence is very, very relevant. The Radio 1 hierarchy, who all claimed to love Quo etc, stopped the station playing music by any established rock band (except U2, Saint Bono was untouchable) and Quo had to find an outlet for their "new" music. That it all happened when the covers albums were being released made it doubly noticeable. Radio 2 hadn't yet morphed into what it is now, so mainstream TV and light entertainment shows, were the only outlet. CAVEAT - This is as it relates to the UK. Was it different in Continental Europe? btw I'm in complete agreement re the Digance show. He clearly loved Address Book, but the angst on F&R's faces is indelibly sketched on my brain. ARGHHH.

[mortified]

Sept 20, 2017 9:34:35 GMT lazypokerblues said:

....('Address Book' with Richard Digance particulary sticks in the craw). I especially disliked Hale and Pace doing a Status Quo opera sketch, and also those adverts for WH Smith....

I'd forgotten all about those! I dare say if we trawled You Tube we'd find all manner of embarrassing drivel. 

I also remember Rossi Frost on Cheggers Plays Pop - or something like that. Although Modern Romance did fit on that nicely! 

The best thing during that whole era was probably the Two Ronnies' sketch ("I'm very fond of 'er"). Great stuff! It sent the band up nicely and won't have done them any harm. Ironically the band weren't involved. 

Whatever You Want has been used endlessly. There was the "What Everyone Wants" advert. Quo had released their own brand of jeans through "What Every Woman Wants" before the shop changed it's name so there was a connection there anyway. I actually bought a pair. They weren't half bad. If a little on the skin tight side. 

If I wore them now I'd have 3 Adams apples 

[lazypokerblues]

Ha! That's funny, gogs! ARGHHH indeed!!

And Morty, with your three Adam's Apples!!

Another thing I've just thought about: their constant reliance on stunts and events and anniversaries to constantly justify promotion for a new product. It was a perfect storm really.

Some might argue that there was no other option for them since Radio 1 had dropped them, but you didn't see other bands resorting to such tactics. But in the mid 90s, Quo were still a huge live draw, playing arenas. There was always a dichotomy between their live shows, and how they were perceived on the TV. If you'd never been to a Quo show then it would be fair to perceive them just like the Two Ronnies sketch / Chas n Dave etc.

[mortified]

Sept 20, 2017 10:43:30 GMT lazypokerblues said:

If you'd never been to a Quo show then it would be fair to perceive them just like the Two Ronnies sketch / Chas n Dave etc.

That's very true. Their TV persona is very different from their live one. Has been for over 3 decades now. 

A case in point is a bloke who worked behind the scenes in some way at Glastonbury the year Quo first played there and he was bemoaning the fact that they'd been added to the bill as he "couldn't stand them" and thought that the organisers should have gone for this hip act or that one. He was asked if he'd ever seen Quo live and his response was "no chance". 

Of course, we all now know that Quo were - according to "Q" magazine - "the surprise success of the weekend." A surprise to who? Presumably those who had only ever seen them on questionable TV shows. 

Not sure what the moral is there but there has to be one 

[lazypokerblues]

Well. Everyone looks at everything in life through a filtered lens of their own making.

So if you decide that Status Quo are a naff double act, then that's what they will be to you, regardless of the fact that hundreds of thousands of other people will have had their lives changed immeasurably for the better by experiencing 4500 Times at a live gig. (See? I managed to bring this thread back on topic!)

So everyone has their own expectations and biased opinions until something comes along to change your mind.

Status Quo built up such a great live reputation in the 70s that they didn't need to plug themselves. So there was no need to play live on Whistle Test or other serious musician shows (Jools Holland, White Room etc). They had nothing to prove because seven nights at Hammersmith would be proof enough.

So why go on these TV shows? Must have been to plug their latest record. There's the assumption that the hardcore would buy the record anyway. So they were advertising their product to 'non fans' who might be persuaded to pick up a copy of 'Mess of the Blues' or whatever.

Thinking about it - an awfully high percentage of their singles releases were cover versions, or songs written by people not in the band (John David etc).

With the advent of the internet, we fans would know about the latest tour & record anyway - so all these light entertainment appearances must have been, surely, just a mopping up exercise to try and squeeze some extra money out of people who otherwise wouldn't have known that there was yet another Greatest Hits album to buy Dad for Christmas.

[mortified]

Sept 20, 2017 13:56:01 GMT lazypokerblues said:

....we fans would know about the latest tour & record anyway - so all these light entertainment appearances must have been, surely, just a mopping up exercise to try and squeeze some extra money out of people who otherwise wouldn't have known that there was yet another Greatest Hits album to buy Dad for Christmas.

I suppose there's an element of taking things for granted in that outlook and I think Francis once said that they used to then had to rethink as things changed. 

"Naff double act" is quite a good description actually. They were pretty much marketed as a double act. The naff bit, like you say, is just an individual perception. 

We've sort of hijacked this one. Sorry, folks. We'll leave it there 

[snakelady]

Sept 20, 2017 10:28:50 GMT gogs said:

@ lazypokerblues. Your last sentence is very, very relevant. The Radio 1 hierarchy, who all claimed to love Quo etc, stopped the station playing music by any established rock band (except U2, Saint Bono was untouchable) and Quo had to find an outlet for their "new" music. That it all happened when the covers albums were being released made it doubly noticeable. Radio 2 hadn't yet morphed into what it is now, so mainstream TV and light entertainment shows, were the only outlet. CAVEAT - This is as it relates to the UK. Was it different in Continental Europe? btw I'm in complete agreement re the Digance show. He clearly loved Address Book, but the angst on F&R's faces is indelibly sketched on my brain. ARGHHH.

Hey, leave Address Book alone, it's great - and I love that early acoustic video !

I can merely tell you my perception, but as far as I'm aware Quo rarely ever (if at all) appeared on any daytime TV show. Not as guests in any case, all they did were short interviews during tours for local broadcasters to promote the gigs at the respective venues. Sometimes good stuff came of that - mainly radio interviews though.

The one TV show they appeared on repeatedly over decades and for which even gigs were moved and the band flown in, was the biggest of all 'Wetten Dass ?', due to Thomas Gottschalk being a huge Quo fan. He was even included in the Hello Quo documentary .. That definitely didn't hurt them or their image, rather the opposite. Since that show ended a few years ago I'm not sure they've been on the telly even once. The main radio stations as near as never play them, so vast parts of the general public have no idea the band (still) exists.

[smokie]

I know it was never a single but I really like this song/this type of song.

Heavy Traffic has everything that I like about the band. Driving guitars, great melody, great lyrics and a great band performance too.

I like the lyrics too. Especialy "Every time I see a red light burning, Don't it always make the air turn blue". Clever. Don't know if that's one of Rhino's but I think we've all been there.

snakelady, I shall cast the second the vote for Address Book. I like a song that has a little story in it as opposed to words just to fit the tune.

[Rick Roper]

In terms of songs released as singles, it has to be Roll Over Lay Down - No question about that!
In terms of their total output, for me it has to be Don't Think It Matters - Balls to the wall, no sh*t, unpretentious, and totally un-cool Heavy Rock. Just how I like it!

Rick Roper.

[mortified]

This whole 'Quo on light entertainment TV' thing appears to be a topic in itself. It also appears that we all have our own hide behind the cushion experiences. 

Inna's right; an interview in the 70's was a rare treat, especially on TV. There were more on radio (although not much) and I used to try and listen in if I knew they were on. But knowing was the difficult part. 

I do remember Rick and Francis on Noel Edmunds' Multi-Coloured Swap Shop one Saturday morning where they were giving away a video of their hits and I was desperate to win it! Video was new technology at the time so it was probably the early 80's. I didn't win by the way and had to wait till 1986 when the official video came out.  

But this was pre Des O'Connor/Cannon & Ball. They hadn't yet sold their souls (now I'm in deep?).