Post by I Ain't Complaining on Dec 4, 2017 16:57:37 GMT
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cb/WhateverYouWant-AlbumCover.png
Whatever You Want
Whatever You Want (Parfitt/Bown)
Shady Lady (Rossi/Young)
Who Asked You (Lancaster)
Your Smiling Face (Parfitt/Bown)
Living On An Island (Parfitt/Young)
Come Rock with Me (Rossi/Frost)
Rockin' On (Rossi/Frost)
Runaway (Rossi/Frost)
High Flyer (Lancaster/Young)
Breaking Away (Rossi/Parfitt/Bown)
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5e/JustSupposin_StatusQuo.jpg
Just Supposin'
What You're Proposing (Rossi/Frost)
Run To Mummy (Rossi/Bown)
Don't Drive My Car (Parfitt/Bown)
Lies (Rossi/Frost)
Over The Edge (Lancaster/Lamb)
The Wild Ones (Lancaster)
Name Of The Game (Rossi/Lancaster/Bown)
Coming And Going (Parfitt/Young)
Rock 'N' Roll (Rossi/Frost)
After the uncertainty of RAOTW and IYCSTH, came 3 (I believe) fairly well received albums (these two and Never Too Late). WYW spurned two hits from the pen of Rick (and Andy and Bob), whilst JS spurned three singles, one of them being a double A-side. What You're Proposing was a massive hit (number 2 in the UK), followed by Lies/Don't Drive My Car (the last single to feature Rick on solo lead vocals), and then curiously Rock 'N' Roll which was released after the first single to the next album had come out. Here's the album reviews from All Music (not sure when they were written).
After seven years at the top of the British charts, even Status Quo fans were beginning to wonder whether the band wasn't simply rewriting the same riff over and over again, then putting it out with a new catch phrase for a title. From "Down Down" to "Rocking All Over the World," Status Quo had enacted some of the most excitingly primal rock behemoths of the decade. But they'd also composed some of the most enduring clichés as well. However, nothing -- repeat nothing -- could have prepared the world for Whatever You Want, a record which, almost three decades later, still sounds like the most ruthless piss-take you've ever heard. And, of course, it became one of their biggest hits ever. Mercifully, the remainder of the album titled by this unfortunate monstrosity shows that there was more than one idea rattling around the band's heads at this point: "Living on an Island," with its acoustic wash and mournful melody, was one of the most unexpected songs they'd made in years, while the likes of "Shady Lady," "High Flyer," and the wonderful "Who Asked You" all had a bellicose punch that defied anyone to accuse the band of stagnation. The fact was, however, that "Whatever You Want" itself so scarred the record that it was hard not to hear the entire thing from beneath that baleful shadow. And, when the 1980s proved that Quo really had given up trying (at least for a few years) -- well, now you know why a lot of fans gave up around then. By Dave Thompson.
Recorded side-by-side with the following year's Never Too Late, Just Supposin' ushered Status Quo into a new decade with a surprising new sound, one that married the expected boogie to a new wave quirkiness that was straight out of the year's hippest fashion guides. It works, as well -- for the most part, anyway. "Run to Mummy" and "Name of the Game," both co-written by keyboard player Andy Bown, are delightfully prickly, while "Don't Drive My Car" is one of the latter day band's most sparkling performances. Of course the old Quo is still blazing. "What You're Proposing," the album's first hit single (and one of the biggest in Quo's entire career) is back to basics brilliant, while both "Lies" and "Over the Edge" shrug away their less than memorable riffs to become catchy little rockers in their own right. And then there's "Rock 'N' Roll," a made to measure terrace anthem that, once past the somewhat maudlin lyrics, becomes one of the biggest crowd-pleasers in the whole Quo catalog, not to mention one of the few songs out there that can actually take such a hoary old message and make it sound meaningful. By Dave Thompson.
I'm not sure about either of these reviews, but I thought I'd include them anyway, give us more to discuss!
Cast your votes peeps!