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Post by snakelady on May 10, 2019 7:02:20 GMT
Now it's getting tricky, with these two original albums that turned the tide for Quo. One saw Francis still writing with Bernie, the other shows the return of Bob. Still, the quality of song writing throughout both has stood the test of time IMO. It's actually 20 years since the release of UTI :oo: . So which one do you prefer - or do you even prefer one ?
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mortified
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Post by mortified on May 10, 2019 7:24:37 GMT
I do like both. But I do prefer Heavy Traffic. I remember listening to it for the first time travelling to and from work on the bus and the first 11 tracks completely blowing me away. A Quo album hadn't done that in a very long time. Under The Influence was certainly a step in the right direction for me after what seemed like an age. 8 years to be precise And it contained what I thought at the time - and still do - a track that was amongst the best they'd ever recorded in Shine On. Only Rick within the band could have come up with such a dark, brooding feel to a song. It's a stand-out from the customary Quo fare and the album is all the better for it. The title track is also a cracker. Quite Rossi/Frost dominant with that partnership accounting for half the songs. That gives the album a different overall feel to Heavy Traffic. A very light and shade album when compared to Heavy Traffic. But I do prefer my shade as a rule. Each to their own as they say Oh, and as an aside, I think Blessed Are The Meek is pretty dreadful. A mundane melody coupled with strangely childish, Sunday school, Christians round the camp fire, happy clappy lyrics. Am I getting the point across at all?
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Dark
High Flyer
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Post by Dark on May 10, 2019 11:45:13 GMT
Is very close, but I’m tempted to go with Under the Influence, just think it has a few more standout songs.
My favourite song over the two albums is Heavy Traffic, absolutely brilliant commercial hard rock song, why it wasn’t the lead single from the album still mystifies me to this day. After that though I don’t think there is anything on Heavy Traffic to touch, Round & Round, Makin Waves, Shine On or Under the Influence.
The opening 7 songs on Heavy Traffic are good though, even if, title track aside, not quite hitting the highs of the UTI album. Unfortunately from then on there is a real drop in quality, starting with Jam Side Down, for me a b-side at best, never an album track, let alone a lead single, which I felt sent out a completely mixed message about an album that was supposedly harking back to the classic Quo days.
Worst song over the two albums does though to Blessed are the Meek, I’m not sure what I dislike most about it, the terrible lyrics or the grating music and melody.
With regards to presentation, I think the artwork was dreadful for both. Had they not put the band members on the HT cover, I think that would have improved it a lot. By being there I think they just make it look a bit comical and quite naff. An image more akin to the Back to Back album I think would have suited the album more. The UTI cover is just awful full stop, the bent fork that was used on a re-issue was much better.
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mortified
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Post by mortified on May 10, 2019 12:41:43 GMT
With regards to presentation, I think the artwork was dreadful for both. Had they not put the band members on the HT cover, I think that would have improved it a lot. By being there I think they just make it look a bit comical and quite naff. An image more akin to the Back to Back album I think would have suited the album more. The UTI cover is just awful full stop, the bent fork that was used on a re-issue was much better. I can see where you're coming from, especially with Under The Influence and the remaster sleeve was much better. At least it had a subtlety to it. I believe it was the original artwork idea but was only used for the first single in the end. I dare say Mr Walker had an 'influence' on the final album cover. Although the cover of Heavy Traffic isn't brilliant, I was sort of chuffed at the time that it had every member of the band on it. Which was unusual. Before and since actually. I'd never seen Quo as a double act despite the marketing - and my avatar . The rest of the band were usually saved for the covers albums. Lucky them
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Post by craydarr on May 11, 2019 7:30:46 GMT
I have put Both albums down as equals as I like different aspects of each. But if I had to choose one it would be HT as I think the songwriting is superior.
Can’t understand why Blessed are the Meek is getting a pasting though as I like it. 😁
With regard to the cover I love HT and think the cover for the remastered UTI was far superior to the original.👍
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Isaac Ryan
Special Forces
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Post by Isaac Ryan on May 11, 2019 21:38:20 GMT
Both good albums but HT for me
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Post by snakelady on May 12, 2019 7:17:44 GMT
I have put Both albums down as equals as I like different aspects of each. But if I had to choose one it would be HT as I think the songwriting is superior. Can’t understand why Blessed are the Meek is getting a pasting though as I like it. 😁 With regard to the cover I love HT and think the cover for the remastered UTI was far superior to the original.👍 Agree with most of this, but concerning the songwriting, we've got to distinguish from whom. IMO Rick's contributions to UTI - Shine on and LWL - are far superior to Creepin' from HT. Francis songwriting generally peaked at the time, no matter who his partner was and there are very few duffers (Another Day). The singles You'll Come Round and Thinking Of You including the B-side You Let Me Down are proof of that as well. Actually I think You Let Me Down was the last Quo song with a long outro with tempo changes and all. Didn't get the attention and recognition it deserved IMO. Were the four single tunes (including Rick's Lucinda) ever included on a deluxe or special (or whatever the name) edition ? That would be worth buying !
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mortified
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Post by mortified on May 13, 2019 6:38:40 GMT
I have put Both albums down as equals as I like different aspects of each. But if I had to choose one it would be HT as I think the songwriting is superior. Can’t understand why Blessed are the Meek is getting a pasting though as I like it. 😁 With regard to the cover I love HT and think the cover for the remastered UTI was far superior to the original.👍 Agree with most of this, but concerning the songwriting, we've got to distinguish from whom. IMO Rick's contributions to UTI - Shine on and LWL - are far superior to Creepin' from HT. Francis songwriting generally peaked at the time, no matter who his partner was and there are very few duffers (Another Day). The singles You'll Come Round and Thinking Of You including the B-side You Let Me Down are proof of that as well. Actually I think You Let Me Down was the last Quo song with a long outro with tempo changes and all. Didn't get the attention and recognition it deserved IMO. Were the four single tunes (including Rick's Lucinda) ever included on a deluxe or special (or whatever the name) edition ? That would be worth buying !No, not so far. The deluxe editions only go up to Ain't Complaining at the moment. I'm not entirely sure they'll be done up to as late as the mid 2000's. I'm never 100% certain how far Universal's involvement goes once we reach the late 90's. You'll Come Round, Thinking Of You and Lucinda were all part of the XS All Areas compilation package so not sure what they might be included on in the future, if anything. A deluxe and remastered Heavy Traffic (if we were to ever get one) would probably include You Let Me Down and The Madness, both of which are superb. Possibly also the demo I Cried which ultimately became the title track. Because singles, in Quo terms, have almost become redundant there have been much fewer of those 'extra' tracks we used to get. I found it interesting that the remaster of Under The Influence didn't include Driving to Glory, Obstruction Day or Analyse Time but did include the Night at the Proms version of Twenty Wild Horses. I think Mike Paxman said they were from different sessions or something. So they might always be omitted. Be a shame that.
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gav
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Post by gav on May 14, 2019 19:53:47 GMT
I have a bit of a problem with Mike Paxman's production on Quo albums. To me, there is nothing heavy about Heavy Traffic. In fact, it sounds anything but. It sounds small and light. UTI is a more poppy album so his production suits that slightly more. The songwriting is more varied too. HT is Quo trying to get back to basics. They manage, but it is too basic, and the production too dry and bland.
My vote is for UTI.
Had Quo not succumbed to technology in their latter years, and kept a raw, denseness to their sound, with overspill, more layers of guitars and vocals, just a fuller sound in general, these albums would sound much 'bigger' and bolder. Their almost polite production in later years really let them down.
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Post by snakelady on May 15, 2019 6:30:59 GMT
mortified - I'm aware that the current edition hasn't reached as far yet and it's dubious due to the band's label-hopping if it ever will. I was mainly talking about previous re-releases. I know there have been some (e.g. by Tim Turan), just not if it were all albums and whether they included any extras as I stuck with my originals. I even haven't replaced all of the CDs included in the B2B series. (merely WYW, as that was definitely worth it, due to the missing songs, the extras and the overall quality). In a way the inclusion of bonus material is inconsequential I dare say. It's not that the night of the proms stuff is from the same session either and that wasn't an incentive to buy the album again - at least for me, as I already owned it. Guess all fans agree that HT is the worst sounding album in latter years and that it needs the full remixing and remastering treatment. Only I'm not sure if it's really Paxo who is to blame. The band heard what he did and were content with it. They could've always said 'No Mike, we'd like it to sound ..'. They didn't. And they kept returning to him, so obviously they were happy with this sound. Maybe all those years of playing super loud music has damaged their collective ears after all .
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mortified
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Post by mortified on May 15, 2019 8:12:09 GMT
snakelady , I agree. I think most if us thought that Heavy Traffic sounded perfectly fine at the time. It's just that in retrospect it seems to be sonically a bit dull by comparison to what's come out since. It's still very listenable though and I'm just being a bit picky. The Tim Turan remasters did include bonus tracks but nothing that hadn't been released before apart from the odd demo. The new deluxe editions are similar, although a few have not previously released live stuff, some of which isn't particularly great quality. Unless you're a collector, I wouldn't say they'd add anything to enhance your listening experience
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gav
Wild Horse
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Post by gav on May 16, 2019 16:26:00 GMT
Guess all fans agree that HT is the worst sounding album in latter years and that it needs the full remixing and remastering treatment. Only I'm not sure if it's really Paxo who is to blame. The band heard what he did and were content with it. They could've always said 'No Mike, we'd like it to sound ..'. They didn't. And they kept returning to him, so obviously they were happy with this sound. Maybe all those years of playing super loud music has damaged their collective ears after all . Yes, i should have mentioned that all the responsibility should not be laid at Mike Paxman's door.
I think they were so far down the path of 'proper production' (as opposed to the more care-free plug in, hit record, and play 70's days of self production) that they couldn't go back.
I just loved some of the 70's stuff, particularly Down Down and the OTL album where you can't really tell how many guitars are in there, there could be many! By HT there only seemed really to be 2, Francis' and Rick's, and i feel they were going for a processed sound, trying to sound organic. Bit of an irony i think. And they were going back to basics, but just too basic. They lost the powerful, driving sound.
The only way to listen to HT, i think, is to turn it up to an abnormally loud volume. It works better like that IMO.
That said, Paxman's production is preferrable, only just, to the slick, sanitised sounds of Thirsty Work and Don't Stop.
Things have improved since HT. ISOTFC would be spot on if it hadn't been a player in the 'loudness wars' (no dynamics). QPQ was pretty much there. And then it all went.........acoustic!!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2019 20:06:13 GMT
Another 2 albums I only discovered in 2010/11 when getting back into Quo.
I like both albums very much and I have voted that I like them equally. Obviously on any given day that can change but these two albums were clearly a breath of fresh air after years of pretty dire stuff.
I’m just glad that the first band I ever loved as a kid still had it in the locker albeit with a different line up.
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Post by snakelady on May 24, 2019 7:08:24 GMT
Another 2 albums I only discovered in 2010/11 when getting back into Quo. I like both albums very much and I have voted that I like them equally. Obviously on any given day that can change but these two albums were clearly a breath of fresh air after years of pretty dire stuff. I’m just glad that the first band I ever loved as a kid still had it in the locker albeit with a different line up. Seems to be the story with many of us. We fell in love with the band in the 70s, were alienated/disappointed during the 80s and rediscovered them sometime around or after 2000. To then find out they were still/again a great live band and the original albums of the time were surprisingly good as well. The 00s were a good time to be a Quo fan (again) even if we may have missed a few good moments during the wilderness years. So far this poll has made it rather clear that we like both albums, even if some prefer one slightly over the other.
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frozenhero
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Post by frozenhero on May 29, 2019 12:23:49 GMT
Agree with most of this, but concerning the songwriting, we've got to distinguish from whom. IMO Rick's contributions to UTI - Shine on and LWL - are far superior to Creepin' from HT. Francis songwriting generally peaked at the time, no matter who his partner was and there are very few duffers (Another Day). The singles You'll Come Round and Thinking Of You including the B-side You Let Me Down are proof of that as well. Actually I think You Let Me Down was the last Quo song with a long outro with tempo changes and all. Didn't get the attention and recognition it deserved IMO. Were the four single tunes (including Rick's Lucinda) ever included on a deluxe or special (or whatever the name) edition ? That would be worth buying !No, not so far. The deluxe editions only go up to Ain't Complaining at the moment. I'm not entirely sure they'll be done up to as late as the mid 2000's. I'm never 100% certain how far Universal's involvement goes once we reach the late 90's. You'll Come Round, Thinking Of You and Lucinda were all part of the XS All Areas compilation package so not sure what they might be included on in the future, if anything. A deluxe and remastered Heavy Traffic (if we were to ever get one) would probably include You Let Me Down and The Madness, both of which are superb. Possibly also the demo I Cried which ultimately became the title track. Because singles, in Quo terms, have almost become redundant there have been much fewer of those 'extra' tracks we used to get. I found it interesting that the remaster of Under The Influence didn't include Driving to Glory, Obstruction Day or Analyse Time but did include the Night at the Proms version of Twenty Wild Horses. I think Mike Paxman said they were from different sessions or something. So they might always be omitted. Be a shame that. There would certainly be interesting options for those albums - I sent all kinds of ideas to Steve Hammonds, and Quoincidence has done so too. As an example, FITLC could be greatly expanded with the rest of the NOTP tracks and those b-sides & re-recordings that were not allowed to be included on the UTI reissue. Likewise, Heavy Traffic has enough b-sides, demos and live tracks already issued in some form or other to fill up a 2nd disc. The problem is that, according to what Steve told me, these albums are not part of the same catalogue as the previous albums, although they are all under Universal's umbrella. This is something internal I never quite understood...
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mortified
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Post by mortified on May 29, 2019 13:23:13 GMT
The whole record company thing I've never really understood. Vertigo and Phonogram I got. After that, when 80's corporate multi-national conglomerates joined up then bought up everything but put it out 'under licence' as something else, I was lost
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Post by snakelady on May 31, 2019 7:22:59 GMT
The whole record company thing I've never really understood. Vertigo and Phonogram I got. After that, when 80's corporate multi-national conglomerates joined up then bought up everything but put it out 'under licence' as something else, I was lost To simplify it - I think it has to do with the fact that the whole business has become too professional. Meaning once the companies had been led and managed by guys who came from the music side of the business and cared about music and artists. And then the economy guys took over who know neither and merely care about. So most of them only care about what makes them the most money and won't appreciate musical gems they've got stored in their vaults - or won't even know they even have them. It's a much younger managing generation too with a different personal musical background - many won't know or care about older acts - and only cater for the young generation. Musical knowledge seems to have been lost in favour of economic knowledge. Money is easily made with streaming, so companies have lost interest in physical releases and artists are back to 0.x% income, the way it was in the 60s. That's my take on the whole dire affair at least, I could be completely wrong though ..
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Post by snakelady on Jun 2, 2019 6:30:58 GMT
Looks like everybody who wanted to vote has done so ..
So I move this poll to the past cups and set up the next one.
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