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Post by snakelady on Jan 5, 2018 7:55:37 GMT
For some reason I owned this album from shortly after release - maybe a birthday present ? As was usual around then, I hated both singles and didn't consider them particularly imaginative either. Ol' Rag Blues and A Mess Of Blues didn't have any distinguishing features for me, just two superficial instantly forgettable pop tunes. I do wonder whether MT was a single here at all ? If it was too, I never heard it ..
I prefer the album over its two predecessors though, while there aren't exactly outstanding songs on it, some of them are at least listenable. Many people hate GDT, I know, but I've always loved the song. At least it has some energy building up in it, although the longer version sure is the better one. Overall I'd say BTB is simply a typical 80s Quo album ..
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mortified
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Post by mortified on Jan 5, 2018 8:41:34 GMT
Right. Here we go. And I await a response from col as well. Because I know it's a particular favourite of his We tend to agree on most things Quo and we are in unison with this one. Quo's worst ever album. Very average (to say the least) material but also dreadfully arranged. Someone mentioned a 'nadir' about a previous album. Well this was it. I agree about the singles. Alan fans tend to cite Ol' Rag Blues as a great track in a lot of discussions. It isn't. Although the lyrics, I admit, became pertinent in retrospect and probably were when he wrote it. The cover of A Mess Of Blues completely detracts from the classic original. Thankfully that was superbly remedied on Aquostic II.There were four singles released in the UK - all hits - and Marguerita Time was unfortunately a massive success. Thus justifying it's existence. I was gutted. However, because this is Quo, nothing is all bad. I still play (occasionally) three songs; Can't Be Done, Too Close To The Ground and No Contract. I actually like the arrangement of that last one. I know it's Rick doing his hairy metal bit but it's got a good overall sound and has more energy than the rest of the album put together. The best track by far came with the remaster and Quo's cover of Cadillac Ranch. That might have saved the original release from it's place at the bottom of the heap for me. As they say up here in the frozen tundra, the album was mince
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Post by Rick Roper on Jan 5, 2018 12:16:40 GMT
Right. Here we go. And I await a response from col as well. Because I know it's a particular favourite of his We tend to agree on most things Quo and we are in unison with this one. Quo's worst ever album. Very average (to say the least) material but also dreadfully arranged. Someone mentioned a 'nadir' about a previous album. Well this was it. I agree about the singles. Alan fans tend to cite Ol' Rag Blues as a great track in a lot of discussions. It isn't. Although the lyrics. I admit, became pertinent in retrospect and probably were when he wrote it. The cover of A Mess Of Blues completely detracts from the classic original. Thankfully that was superbly remedied on Aquostic II.There were four singles released in the UK - all hits - and Marguerita Time was unfortunately a massive success. Thus justifying it's existence. I was gutted. However, because this is Quo, nothing is all bad. I still play (occasionally) three songs; Can't Be Done, Too Close To The Ground and No Contract. I actually like the arrangement of that last one. I know it's Rick doing his hairy metal bit but it's got a good overall sound and has more energy than the rest of the album put together. The best track by far came with the remaster and Quo's cover of Cadillac Ranch. That might have saved the original release from it's place at the bottom of the heap for me. As they say up here in the frozen tundra, the album was mince Same as Billy - I love No Contract, it's the best on the album by far, and Can't Be Done and Too Close To The Ground I like a lot too... The rest of the album had about as much life in it as an arthritic animal waiting to be put down... It was lazy, like 1+9+8+2, and it showed... A band in self-destruct mode. Rick Roper.
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Post by gogs on Jan 5, 2018 16:51:45 GMT
Sorry to be unimaginative, but I've ticked them all; I simply don't play this album. From memory, I didn't play it much after I bought it either. Meh
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2018 19:48:38 GMT
Terrible album....but I do like No Contract.
I have nothing more to say on this.
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Post by craydarr on Jan 5, 2018 20:57:55 GMT
I actually had the re-master on in the car last week and don't mind it, I can't understand why Cadillac Ranch wasn't included at the time??
My poo poo tracks are Can't Be Done, Marguerita, Your Kind Of Love & Goin Down Town.
I do LOVE Old Rag Blues which is funny because I'm not a massive fan of Alans writing, I prefer the version with Fran Singing tho.
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Post by coldwarkid on Jan 5, 2018 23:20:35 GMT
I love Alan's version of Old Rag Blues and also the longer version Going Down Town but I've always been a huge fan of Andy Bown's work and his contribution to the Quo sound.
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Post by gentlemanjoe on Jan 7, 2018 11:12:48 GMT
Total and utter rubbish from start to finish.
Stunned it ever got released, especially with the Quo name on it.
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col
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Post by col on Jan 7, 2018 19:38:58 GMT
Right. Here we go. And I await a response from col as well. Because I know it's a particular favourite of his We tend to agree on most things Quo and we are in unison with this one. Quo's worst ever album. Very average (to say the least) material but also dreadfully arranged. Someone mentioned a 'nadir' about a previous album. Well this was it. I agree about the singles. Alan fans tend to cite Ol' Rag Blues as a great track in a lot of discussions. It isn't. Although the lyrics. I admit, became pertinent in retrospect and probably were when he wrote it. The cover of A Mess Of Blues completely detracts from the classic original. Thankfully that was superbly remedied on Aquostic II.There were four singles released in the UK - all hits - and Marguerita Time was unfortunately a massive success. Thus justifying it's existence. I was gutted. However, because this is Quo, nothing is all bad. I still play (occasionally) three songs; Can't Be Done, Too Close To The Ground and No Contract. I actually like the arrangement of that last one. I know it's Rick doing his hairy metal bit but it's got a good overall sound and has more energy than the rest of the album put together. The best track by far came with the remaster and Quo's cover of Cadillac Ranch. That might have saved the original release from it's place at the bottom of the heap for me. As they say up here in the frozen tundra, the album was mince Hello Mr.Mortified A Happy New to you. To answer fairly, there should have been a "skip all tracks" option, as that is what this album deserves. Proof, really, that the drugs don't work!! The eighties were a pretty poor period for rock music, which is strange when I look back. Both Just Supposin' and Never Too Late continued a rich vein of form that started with the WYW album and my favourite album of the 80's was released in '81, UFO's The Wild, The Willing and The Innocent, in case anyone was interested. 1980 had AC/DC's Back In Black, Judas Priest had released British Steel, Motorhead had Ace Of Spades, Black Sabbath unleashed Heaven & Hell,Rush released Permanent Waves, Whitesnake did Ready & Willing and Live In The Heart Of The City, all bands reaching their peak, albeit with a sound that had evolved over the previous few years. Bands such as Iron Maiden, Saxon, Gillan, MSG, Van Halen and Def Leppard, not all of which were my favourites, were having an impact (and this is all off of the top of my head). Rock seemed to be in robust health. Although, looking back, Rainbow had certainly changed their sound, had hits and I never purchased an album of theirs again. By '82 it had all gone wrong, all the follow ups were lacklustre at best, re-heats in general. Some band kept their mojo, Rush, Motorhead and the Ramones were always worth a listen. And with all this pish around, Quo release a lump of mince. Can't Be Done became the 'B' side of the abomination that was The Blunderer, that's all it was fit for, and that is the albums highlight. Everything sounds contrived and forced. The best bits are the gaps between the tracks. It fills a much needed void.
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mortified
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Post by mortified on Jan 8, 2018 6:47:12 GMT
col pretty much sums up 80's rock for me. By 1983 it had completely exhausted itself and unfortunately Quo joined in. Two brilliant years in '80 and '81 then the inspiration was gone. Most of the heavier bands - those that had been around since before the new wave of British heavy metal - produced very fine albums but all of a sudden the big production and keyboards came in and they just as quickly released their worst. Even Budgie, Judas Priest and Van Halen for goodness sake! Rush got away with it because they leaned towards prog a bit more. They were also cleverer than most. The irony is that bands like Priest and Van Halen became very successful, especially in the States. Maybe that was the problem. Anyway, a topic for another day I guess. But the point is that Quo simply became victims of this same approach. Drugs were the symptom, Back To Back was the result and the temporary cure took about 8 years. A full recovery took much longer.
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Post by kursaal75 on Jan 8, 2018 10:00:26 GMT
It would of been quicker to tick the tracks I do play. I did like Ol Rag Blues (both Francis & Alan's lead vocal) and the single version of Going Down Town Tonight, with Rossi's guitar solo, other then that, I don't play the album.
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Post by I Ain't Complaining on Jan 8, 2018 12:42:08 GMT
For some reason I owned this album from shortly after release - maybe a birthday present ? As was usual around then, I hated both singles and didn't consider them particularly imaginative either. Ol' Rag Blues and A Mess Of Blues didn't have any distinguishing features for me, just two superficial instantly forgettable pop tunes. I do wonder whether MT was a single here at all ? If it was too, I never heard it .. I prefer the album over its two predecessors though, while there aren't exactly outstanding songs on it, some of them are at least listenable. Many people hate GDT, I know, but I've always loved the song. At least it has some energy building up in it, although the longer version sure is the better one. Overall I'd say BTB is simply a typical 80s Quo album .. Wikipedia says that MT peaked at number 52 in the german chart, which is why you don't remember it.
Marguerita Time Chart (1983)
Position
UK Singles Chart 3 Switzerland 23 Netherlands 35 Germany 52 Ireland 7
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Post by smokie on Jan 15, 2018 21:44:57 GMT
Definitely Marguertia Time. Always skip that one, never really liked it, just think it's a bit twee. Plus, there's family reasons which I've mentioned before on here as to why I don't like it.
I'd listen to the first two singles, I didn't mind those, although I knew AMOB was an Elvis cover, I'd never heard it before so I had nothing to compare it to.
I'd never skip TCTTG but as for the rest of them? It would depend on the mood that I was in at the time but I haven't even picked this cd up in a very long time never mind play it which probably says a lot.
Agree with the comments re Cadillac Ranch.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2018 18:52:14 GMT
If I'm playing an album,I never skip any tracks, but this was a real disappointment. I always felt it was just a collection of what was available at the time, rather than a properly planned album.
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frozenhero
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Post by frozenhero on Feb 14, 2018 13:58:41 GMT
I actually had the re-master on in the car last week and don't mind it, I can't understand why Cadillac Ranch wasn't included at the time?? My poo poo tracks are Can't Be Done, Marguerita, Your Kind Of Love & Goin Down Town. I do LOVE Old Rag Blues which is funny because I'm not a massive fan of Alans writing, I prefer the version with Fran Singing tho. I thought Cadillac Ranch was recorded later, during the Wanderer sessions, no?
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Post by Quoincidence on Feb 18, 2018 17:03:14 GMT
Too Close To The Ground would have been better with Rick on vocals (As intended),,, Rossi doesn't have the voice for those types of track
Going Down Town Tonight only became a great track (IMO) when they went back and re-recorded it, with the inclusion of a guitar solo. The original one is piss poor in comparison.
Overall I wouldn't call it a Quo album as it doesn't seem like a band effort... more or less Rossi & Frost solo / throwaway tracks
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Post by snakelady on Feb 19, 2018 8:08:09 GMT
.. Overall I wouldn't call it a Quo album as it doesn't seem like a band effort... more or less Rossi & Frost solo / throwaway tracks I don't quite get this, I've got to admit. You don't like the album, neither do I, but a Rossi/Frost solo album it is not. The number of Rossi/Frost tracks is the same if not less than on most previous albums - a mere 4 if you include STN written with a Miller guy (whoever that is ?). They all weren't able to come up with the goods at the time, so why merely blame Francis (plus Bernie) ?
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Post by Quoincidence on Feb 19, 2018 19:16:14 GMT
.. Overall I wouldn't call it a Quo album as it doesn't seem like a band effort... more or less Rossi & Frost solo / throwaway tracks I don't quite get this, I've got to admit. You don't like the album, neither do I, but a Rossi/Frost solo album it is not. The number of Rossi/Frost tracks is the same if not less than on most previous albums - a mere 4 if you include STN written with a Miller guy (whoever that is ?). They all weren't able to come up with the goods at the time, so why merely blame Francis (plus Bernie) ? I'm putting blame on the band as a whole. By this period they were well worn out as a recording band, whereas live they could still pull it off... There's a reason bands didn't and still don't really last more than 10 years. You become tired with one another... touring and recording becomes a chore. They should've taken time off in the early 80's... as they all definitely needed it or wanted it. Same goes for the 1986 - 2000 line-up... they were great up until about the mid 90's when setlists become a jumbled mess of nonsense and they were recording covers albums. Rock 'Til You Drop was that lineups best album (IMO)... the only attempt at a good Quo album
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Post by snakelady on Feb 20, 2018 7:45:40 GMT
I don't quite get this, I've got to admit. You don't like the album, neither do I, but a Rossi/Frost solo album it is not. The number of Rossi/Frost tracks is the same if not less than on most previous albums - a mere 4 if you include STN written with a Miller guy (whoever that is ?). They all weren't able to come up with the goods at the time, so why merely blame Francis (plus Bernie) ? I'm putting blame on the band as a whole. By this period they were well worn out as a recording band, whereas live they could still pull it off... There's a reason bands didn't and still don't really last more than 10 years. You become tired with one another... touring and recording becomes a chore. They should've taken time off in the early 80's... as they all definitely needed it or wanted it. Same goes for the 1986 - 2000 line-up... they were great up until about the mid 90's when setlists become a jumbled mess of nonsense and they were recording covers albums. Rock 'Til You Drop was that lineups best album (IMO)... the only attempt at a good Quo album Agree about RTYD although I'd add UTI. The rest - and I'm counting from 80 (JS album) on I consider the wilderness years . Although I regret that because of the dubious quality of albums I merely saw them less than a handful of times for about two decades. Obviously the 90s were, when they were at their most innovative when it comes to the set. I actually blame Rick more than Francis for the lack of album quality. Francis did at least try, but Rick was simply too lazy/drugged out to even try to come up with the goods. The contrast of output from various songwriters is obviously needed to put a Quo album above average. So it's no surprise that the two albums with notable contributions from Rick RTYD (One Man Band, Good Sign) and UTI (Shine On, Little White Lies) are the two albums that stand out (at least for me). At the start of this time span Alan was past his best as a songwriter, then Rhino for a long time was of no use as a Quo songwriter and Andy seems to need one of the others to inspire him and Francis obviously wasn't available as he exclusively wrote with Bernie (big mistake IMO). I'm not sure about this time off thing though. They had a year off in 80 ! Think they only played one show - San Remo - but nothing else. IMO it were the underlying problems that destroyed the band. They experienced major changes, most of them major catastrophes too, in their private lives, hard drugs had crept in, there were clashes of personality, Alan had moved to Australia, changes of management took place with first Bob then Colin out .. So many aspects that led to a kind of vicious circle with the music slipping down to the bottom of their scale of important things. Fame was obviously enough .. So again IMO, no matter how long they'd been apart, as long as they weren't prepared to sort out their lives, the problems would've resurfaced, whether that be 2 or 5 years (one year wasn't enough as they proved to themselves). Back then bands tended to be forgotten after 5 years though.
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mortified
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Post by mortified on Feb 20, 2018 10:04:49 GMT
I think we'll always disagree about Just Supposin' and Never Too Late, snakelady. Both good albums for me and even 1+9+8+2 was tolerable. So the 80's weren't a complete write off. Not in my book anyway. For me, the decade 1988 to 1998 represented the 'wilderness years' with only Rock 'Til You Drop saving us from year after year of dross. Since then, it's all been pretty good in the main, certainly on the recording front. If we discount the covers albums anyway. But, yeah, Back To Back demonstrated a band disinterested in each other but, more importantly for us, in the music. All of them were culpable and no one came up with anything inspirational.
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Post by Quoincidence on Feb 25, 2018 15:33:33 GMT
I'm putting blame on the band as a whole. By this period they were well worn out as a recording band, whereas live they could still pull it off... There's a reason bands didn't and still don't really last more than 10 years. You become tired with one another... touring and recording becomes a chore. They should've taken time off in the early 80's... as they all definitely needed it or wanted it. Same goes for the 1986 - 2000 line-up... they were great up until about the mid 90's when setlists become a jumbled mess of nonsense and they were recording covers albums. Rock 'Til You Drop was that lineups best album (IMO)... the only attempt at a good Quo album Agree about RTYD although I'd add UTI. The rest - and I'm counting from 80 (JS album) on I consider the wilderness years . Although I regret that because of the dubious quality of albums I merely saw them less than a handful of times for about two decades. Obviously the 90s were, when they were at their most innovative when it comes to the set. I actually blame Rick more than Francis for the lack of album quality. Francis did at least try, but Rick was simply too lazy/drugged out to even try to come up with the goods. The contrast of output from various songwriters is obviously needed to put a Quo album above average. So it's no surprise that the two albums with notable contributions from Rick RTYD (One Man Band, Good Sign) and UTI (Shine On, Little White Lies) are the two albums that stand out (at least for me). At the start of this time span Alan was past his best as a songwriter, then Rhino for a long time was of no use as a Quo songwriter and Andy seems to need one of the others to inspire him and Francis obviously wasn't available as he exclusively wrote with Bernie (big mistake IMO). I'm not sure about this time off thing though. They had a year off in 80 ! Think they only played one show - San Remo - but nothing else. IMO it were the underlying problems that destroyed the band. They experienced major changes, most of them major catastrophes too, in their private lives, hard drugs had crept in, there were clashes of personality, Alan had moved to Australia, changes of management took place with first Bob then Colin out .. So many aspects that led to a kind of vicious circle with the music slipping down to the bottom of their scale of important things. Fame was obviously enough .. So again IMO, no matter how long they'd been apart, as long as they weren't prepared to sort out their lives, the problems would've resurfaced, whether that be 2 or 5 years (one year wasn't enough as they proved to themselves). Back then bands tended to be forgotten after 5 years though. I wouldn't quite say they had a year off in 1980, as they will have spent most of it in the studio for the Just Supposin' and Never Too Late albums, as both those albums derived from those sessions in 1980. The only reason they didn't tour is because Rick was told not to by the doctors as he had serious back problems... If they took a genuine few years out, not touring and not writing tracks they probably would've come out the other end better off... and if management weren't ripping them off then they wouldn't have had to worry about money.
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Post by snakelady on Feb 25, 2018 18:44:49 GMT
Agree about RTYD although I'd add UTI. The rest - and I'm counting from 80 (JS album) on I consider the wilderness years . Although I regret that because of the dubious quality of albums I merely saw them less than a handful of times for about two decades. Obviously the 90s were, when they were at their most innovative when it comes to the set. I actually blame Rick more than Francis for the lack of album quality. Francis did at least try, but Rick was simply too lazy/drugged out to even try to come up with the goods. The contrast of output from various songwriters is obviously needed to put a Quo album above average. So it's no surprise that the two albums with notable contributions from Rick RTYD (One Man Band, Good Sign) and UTI (Shine On, Little White Lies) are the two albums that stand out (at least for me). At the start of this time span Alan was past his best as a songwriter, then Rhino for a long time was of no use as a Quo songwriter and Andy seems to need one of the others to inspire him and Francis obviously wasn't available as he exclusively wrote with Bernie (big mistake IMO). I'm not sure about this time off thing though. They had a year off in 80 ! Think they only played one show - San Remo - but nothing else. IMO it were the underlying problems that destroyed the band. They experienced major changes, most of them major catastrophes too, in their private lives, hard drugs had crept in, there were clashes of personality, Alan had moved to Australia, changes of management took place with first Bob then Colin out .. So many aspects that led to a kind of vicious circle with the music slipping down to the bottom of their scale of important things. Fame was obviously enough .. So again IMO, no matter how long they'd been apart, as long as they weren't prepared to sort out their lives, the problems would've resurfaced, whether that be 2 or 5 years (one year wasn't enough as they proved to themselves). Back then bands tended to be forgotten after 5 years though. .. The only reason they didn't tour is because Rick was told not to by the doctors as he had serious back problems... If they took a genuine few years out, not touring and not writing tracks they probably would've come out the other end better off... and if management weren't ripping them off then they wouldn't have had to worry about money. That's not quite correct. in 80, after they didn't tour, the reason given here was Rick having injured his knee when playing football. He told the the Bravo guys when interviewed at the San Remo festival - they even mentioned how carefully he moved because of it. Months later the band admitted towards the same magazine that it had all been a lie which they had used because they didn't want to tour. I still have both articles (@inna might remember as well ?). Agree that they were forced to tour again for financial reasons. We mustn't forget they were expensive times for them too, moving to new places, divorces, drugs - even without being ripped off. Maybe 1-2 more years off and without recording yet another album would indeed have helped. On the other hand - the music business here moved on quite considerably during those years and I guess even that one year without tour lost them more than just a few fans. 'Old' bands were forgotten quickly when the NDW took off and Quo albums weren't exactly great any more either. Might have been different in the UK, no idea .. I find it difficult to speculate what could've been from today's perspective. The problems between Francis and Alan concerning the band seemed to have resurfaced after/during the second reunion tour again, so within a very short time after a gap of three decades nearly. Why should it have been any different after a much shorter time away from each other in the 80s ?
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mortified
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Post by mortified on Feb 26, 2018 6:55:56 GMT
.. The only reason they didn't tour is because Rick was told not to by the doctors as he had serious back problems... If they took a genuine few years out, not touring and not writing tracks they probably would've come out the other end better off... and if management weren't ripping them off then they wouldn't have had to worry about money. That's not quite correct. in 80, after they didn't tour, the reason given here was Rick having injured his knee when playing football. He told the the Bravo guys when interviewed at the San Remo festival - they even mentioned how carefully he moved because of it. Months later the band admitted towards the same magazine that it had all been a lie which they had used because they didn't want to tour. I still have both articles (@inna might remember as well ?). Agree that they were forced to tour again for financial reasons. We mustn't forget they were expensive times for them too, moving to new places, divorces, drugs - even without being ripped off. Maybe 1-2 more years off and without recording yet another album would indeed have helped. On the other hand - the music business here moved on quite considerably during those years and I guess even that one year without tour lost them more than just a few fans. 'Old' bands were forgotten quickly when the NDW took off and Quo albums weren't exactly great any more either. Might have been different in the UK, no idea .. I find it difficult to speculate what could've been from today's perspective. The problems between Francis and Alan concerning the band seemed to have resurfaced after/during the second reunion tour again, so within a very short time after a gap of three decades nearly. Why should it have been any different after a much shorter time away from each other in the 80s ? The albums you're talking about were successful in the UK (very) and were considered by Quo fans to be good ones. They led to the huge success of 1+9+8+2. In 1980, they will also have been living off the massive success of 12 Gold Bars - an album many forget about from this time.
Quo's financial issues in the early 80's are well documented but the biggest at that time was the punitive UK tax which, for the wealthy, was sitting at something like 90%. They and others simply had to move. Even John Coghlan (I think) went to the Isle of Man. But I think we can all agree that things weren't right in the band and the turn of the 80's was the beginning of a complete meltdown . I don't care what was to blame. I can't find a good excuse for Back To Back. Not even drug induced insanity
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Post by snakelady on Feb 27, 2018 7:46:51 GMT
That's not quite correct. in 80, after they didn't tour, the reason given here was Rick having injured his knee when playing football. He told the the Bravo guys when interviewed at the San Remo festival - they even mentioned how carefully he moved because of it. Months later the band admitted towards the same magazine that it had all been a lie which they had used because they didn't want to tour. I still have both articles (@inna might remember as well ?). Agree that they were forced to tour again for financial reasons. We mustn't forget they were expensive times for them too, moving to new places, divorces, drugs - even without being ripped off. Maybe 1-2 more years off and without recording yet another album would indeed have helped. On the other hand - the music business here moved on quite considerably during those years and I guess even that one year without tour lost them more than just a few fans. 'Old' bands were forgotten quickly when the NDW took off and Quo albums weren't exactly great any more either. Might have been different in the UK, no idea .. I find it difficult to speculate what could've been from today's perspective. The problems between Francis and Alan concerning the band seemed to have resurfaced after/during the second reunion tour again, so within a very short time after a gap of three decades nearly. Why should it have been any different after a much shorter time away from each other in the 80s ? I would have thought they didn't tour that year because Francis and Bob had fallen out with one another and Rick had to live through his own personal hell with the tragedy that had befallen him and his family in August 1980. I have no idea, snakelady , what the music mags in the early 80s told their readers simply because I had stopped reading them. I wasn't even in this country when it all happened, Quo not touring and "NDW". That's why I wouldn't say that "old" bands were forgotten easily. Definitely not by me. Some different kind of music did take over, though, synths were all the rave and helped a lot of one-day wonders to appear on the music scene. Admittedly, some of them stayed on for a while as we can see from the 80s thread on here. I wasn't aware you were living abroad at the time. So your musical experiences will have been similar to the Brits' .. At the time Quo used to tour in spring Feb., March the latest, so it would've been before Rick lost his daughter. Obviously Quo were still successful with their albums in the UK, but not here. Neither JS,NTL, 1982 or BTB did chart well and for a while the charts were dominated by songs sung in German. It was a surprise the Quo singles still managed to chart, although I couldn't stand most of them. I only ever bought any of those teenage magazines when they contained something interesting about Quo. I know that in their early days Bravo had supported them and promoted them, but articles became rare in the early 80s when a new generation was interested in new, younger bands and I stopped buying them once and for all too. The vast majority of NDW artists never made it into the UK charts, because songs were simply in the wrong language. The very few that did, had been translated - e,g, Nena's 99 Luftballons. So there had to be bands unknown or a lot less popular here. Interesting discussion this
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mortified
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Post by mortified on Feb 27, 2018 9:40:45 GMT
Nena's 99 Red Balloons actually had the German version on the B-side in the UK. I wasn't keen on the song but I did like her performances on "Top Of The Pops". They were, eh, visually interesting to a mid-twenties hairy idiot It sounds like the UK and Europe - well West Germany - went their separate routes back then. I'm not sure what NDW is but I presume it's the German new wave. Quo were still successful in the UK despite the punk and new wave movements and were also able to ride on the coat-tails of the NWOBHM (new wave of British heavy metal) which was huge over here although largely ignored by the music press and radio alike. It's why we still have things like the Monsters of Rock festival today. The first one was in 1980 right in the middle of it all. And, of course, Quo headlined in 1982. It's also when Kerrang! magazine started up. Again, that's still here. One thing in Quo's favour across the decades is that they have never been pigeon-holed regardless of the quality or otherwise of their albums. So fashions come and go but Quo remain. Incidentally, there is a Paul Weller NME special magazine out at the moment which covers all of his musical influences and history. There's a two-page spread on Quo where he praises them to the hilt after seeing them in 1972. The NME must have choked on that one
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