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Post by snakelady on May 16, 2019 8:47:33 GMT
Talking about Over And Done in the other thread let to me checking the list, how we rank the singers and songwriters in Quo. I merely included the albums till the split though, as afterwards, we were down to just Rick and Francis as singers, with Francis singing the vast majority. Don't forget though that generally speaking Francis sings the largest percentage anyway and Alan the fewest. Still, if his voice were that popular more songs could've made the list - but they didn't. I'll add the songwriters from '86 on later.
The list from (2) includes
43 songs from 16 albums up till and including Back To Back. From In The Army Now to Bula Quo it's a relation of 32 songs from 14 albums we like. Plus 16 tunes from three live or acoustic albums afterwards.
Out of the 43 songs the main singer was Rossi on 34 Parfitt on 8 Lancaster on 1
Concerning the songwriting the picture is much more varied as most songs have been co-written. I'll put in the correct writers where known despite other names in the credits, so e.g. John Coghlan is not included in the list.
Outside writers 5 Young 24 Rossi 28 Parfitt 14 Lancaster 4 Bown 4 Frost 2
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per
Wild Horse
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Post by per on May 16, 2019 18:26:35 GMT
Wow! This was really interesting figures to read! Quite expected that Francis (and Bob) would get the most votes, but the big differences between Rick and Alan was quite a shock. I would have thought that Alans contribution would get much more votes, both as a singer and as a writer! Which four songs written or co-written by Alan got votes? I would easily find at least ten among my all time favourites!
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mortified
Administrator
This is no' gettin' the bairn a shirt
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Post by mortified on May 17, 2019 6:34:06 GMT
I'm not sure I'm surprised by these figures if I'm honest. Francis was always the most prolific writer and has always sung a large percentage of Quo songs, past or present. Any poll would probably reflect that. I wonder what the figures would show if we ignored the poll results and simply took the albums at face value; included all tracks. Probably very similar. I might have a look later. It'll bring out the statistician in me
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Post by snakelady on May 17, 2019 7:50:45 GMT
I might add similar statistics for the most unpopular songs. I'd expect Francis to lead there as well, simply because of the sheer number of songs he's written. The relations between them in that case should be more telling though.
But here are the statistics for the singers/songwriters from '86 on.
Out of the 32 songs in total the main singer is Francis 24 Rick 7 Rhino 1
Interestingly for the rest of the 80s and the 90s, which by most is considered Quo's worst output results are very different when we look at songwriting. To show that I've divided songwriting credits in two halfs - up till UTI and from HT on. For the first part they're shared as follows Outside writers (most prominently John David and Pip Williams) 7 Rossi 7 Frost 5 Parfitt 5 Bown 3 Edwards 4 Rich 2
Especially on the 80s albums the band had to very much rely on outside writers for success. We knew these albums were mostly relatively poor, but now we know why they weren't perceived as Quo sounding either. I'd say that's what cocaine and alcohol abuse did to the band ..
From HT on Outside writers (S.St.Paul and W.Morris mainly) 5 Young 5 Rossi 9 Parfitt 2 Bown 3 Edwards 4 Letley 1
If we'd leave out Bula Quo it would predominantly be Rossi/Young again, same as before 86. Which is maybe the reason why we perceive them as much more Quo-ish again.
For me the results confirm what I've always suspected. That the popularity of Quo albums mainly depends on whether Francis delivers - or not. And they show, that the line-ups from 86 on have been much more of a band effort than previously. Or than the management would make us believe ..
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mortified
Administrator
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Post by mortified on May 17, 2019 8:06:37 GMT
I might add similar statistics for the most unpopular songs. I'd expect Francis to lead there as well, simply because of the sheer number of songs he's written. There is a strange irony in the fact that for many - probably myself included - Francis could well have come up with both the very best and the very worst that the band have recorded. But, like you say, he is by far the most productive so even that makes sense. Or alternatively.... He has the final word on the songs submitted by all of the others and that makes him appear more productive
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Post by snakelady on May 18, 2019 7:39:03 GMT
I might add similar statistics for the most unpopular songs. I'd expect Francis to lead there as well, simply because of the sheer number of songs he's written. There is a strange irony in the fact that for many - probably myself included - Francis could well have come up with both the very best and the very worst that the band have recorded. But, like you say, he is by far the most productive so even that makes sense. Or alternatively.... He has the final word on the songs submitted by all of the others and that makes him appear more productive Rhino obviously is quite productive too - and to a degree it reflects in the rankings. Maybe if more songs of his would be included on albums he'd be even higher up, but that's all speculation. IMO it took him a long time to get the music that is expected from Quo by the fans - rock and melodic - and at times he has tried too hard to meet that expectation (Bad News). Still, he brings an additional refreshing angle into the band music. Going by the results the songwriting combination Rossi/Edwards(/Bown) is rather popular with us these days and not just Rossi/Young. Rick on the other hand always came up with less material and additionally took it rather leisurely for longer periods of time. I doubt there was even more that could have been rejected.
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