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Post by snakelady on Sept 13, 2019 6:12:32 GMT
OK, the new album is still very new, so this is just about your first impressions. Where would you rank Backbone amongst Quo's albums ?
You don't have to come up with a complete ranking of all 33 studio albums, just those you find relevant for comparison.
I've read a few times now that it was the next best thing to NTL, but that comparison does nothing for me. I find NTL weak, same as nearly all 80s albums with maybe the exception of AC. But that's an album that's different and can't be compared to any other Quo album.
The standout album (although among a string of very good albums) from the last 20 years is ISOTFC for me, so that's what it has to stand up against. That contains 4 absolutely brilliant tracks - Pennsylvania Blues Tonight, Electric Arena, My Little Heartbreaker and Tongue Tied - among the best that partnership has ever written and impressive in their diversity, but it equally contains four skip tracks - Gravy Train, Figure Of Eight, Bad News and One By One.
At first I thought BB doesn't have a track I'd put into the brilliant category, but I'm starting to think there's two candidates at least - Liberty Lane and Face The Music - and others might not be too far off e.g. Better Take Care. And so far no skip track has emerged either.
From habit I'd probably put ISOTFC first, but closely followed by BB and certainly miles ahead of JS, NTL, 1982 .. and again TW. Clearly better for me than IYCSTH too or SP or POMM. I'm not able to compare it to the rest of the 70s albums yet. I know every single note, everything from these, grew up with these albums and I got into the band through them. That does count for something. I remember though, I was disappointed with Dog, Quo or BFY when hearing them for the first time - which I wasn't this time. Still these album contain some of my all time favourite tunes - and not just by Quo - and BB is still a long way from that, has to be .. So no, no comparison with the 70s albums possible.
So a top 10 Quo album for me at the moment, I suppose. Whether it'll stand the test of time and go up in the ranking or whether it'll become uninteresting and sink lower remains to be seen.
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Post by craydarr on Sept 13, 2019 6:31:21 GMT
Probably a top 10 from me at present but I can’t slot anything around it as these things for me change depending on my mood. I do love the album and a lot of that is down to the overall quality, as you have said no skip tracks.
As I have also said Liberty Lane is very quickly becoming my favourite Quo single.
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Post by viking55 on Sept 13, 2019 8:20:08 GMT
Only time will tell for me. Just starting to live with it really. It would probably lie around 7-8 for me at mo but it’s still fresh. Could slide or go higher. Loads of Quo albums have done that for me. I remember when JS came out and I loved it. Now it’s way down the order years later.
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Post by I Ain't Complaining on Sept 13, 2019 13:00:15 GMT
Very hard to tell at the moment, as you say, only first impressions.
I too find it hard to compare later Quo stuff to the 'classic' period, although I can compare it to the period after Andrew joined (1977).
I think it stands up to anything after OTL except WYW and the remixed RAOTW. And yes, except for the fact that it doesn't contain anything as good as Rain or Mystery Song, I do think that it stacks up against the rest of Blue for You (which I think is the weakest of the classic FF albums).
The difference that I'm finding at the moment between BB and my other favourite post '85 albums (RTYD, HT, ISOTFC and QPQ) is that (a part from maybe Crazy Crazy which is a bonus track) I don't have any skip tracks, and I'm not sure that I will! I don't think there are any 10 out of 10 outstanding tracks on the album, but I think it is very strong and nothing is weaker than a 7. So it could turn out to be one of those rare albums for me where I love the album as a whole more than any of the individual songs.
Definitely top 3 post '85 albums at the moment with HT and QPQ.
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col
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Post by col on Sept 15, 2019 19:11:50 GMT
Far too early to say.
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mortified
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Post by mortified on Sept 16, 2019 4:55:51 GMT
Yeah, time is a factor here. It is too early to tell. But I guess I could place it in terms of first impressions; on how it's impacted on me when compared to other Quo albums I've listened to the first couple of times. So with that in mind, it's not top ten. Not yet. It's nowhere near anything from Dog to Never Too Late with the exception of If You Can't Stand The Heat so that takes 11 albums right out of the picture at the stroke of a pen. However, once we move forward in time, it starts to find it's place. Gets it's feet under the table I'd put at least three ahead of it from '82 onwards so we're looking at around half way in terms of all of the 33 studio albums they bang on about in the marketing blurb. It's almost impossible to use any sort of rationale for individual taste but I've done me best
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Post by snakelady on Sept 16, 2019 7:00:01 GMT
That's why I wrote 'first impressions' . We all know it takes time for us to see whether we continue to return to it, still love it - or whether the enthusiasm wanes rather quickly. It'll certainly take 10 years at least to find out if it has stood the test of time. I promise, if this mb is still around then (which I seriously doubt ..) to repeat the question. We can then compare our thoughts from now and then. So, to have something to compare it to, you now have to put down your thoughts about it first ..
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jsupposin
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Post by jsupposin on Sept 16, 2019 7:52:24 GMT
At this moment 1970-1983 Only better than IYCSTH and BTB , then post 86 I only consider HT better than Backbone and maybe ISOTFC....lets see in some months
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Isaac Ryan
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Post by Isaac Ryan on Sept 26, 2019 7:25:28 GMT
Not in among the big 7 (DO2H through to and including Live) but nestles in there behind WYW with the various others.
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mortified
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Post by mortified on Sept 26, 2019 11:15:41 GMT
I think the general consensus is that it is unlikely that Quo will ever be able to match their artistic peak which (OK, let's say for me) was 1971 to 1976. 5 years of absolute paradise on earth But Backbone is a good album; a very good album. And, like col says, better than he is entitled to expect given their respective ages and his. To compare an album released in 2019 to one from, say, 1972 is probably like comparing apples with oranges. They're simply different. But I don't think it's unreasonable to draw comparisons with any they've come up with since 2000 or so. Although even that's nearly 20 years ago. But in that company, it certainly holds it's own.
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Post by liberty on Sept 26, 2019 17:08:50 GMT
One of the best efforts from the band since Rhino joined.Just as good as ISOTFC. A bit better than HT. Status Quo in the 70:s were another band,they just happened to have the same name as todays band.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2019 19:22:12 GMT
Really enjoying the album still, as good as anything since NTL.
I’ve enjoyed most albums from UTI onwards and as mortified has already said BB stands up to any of these.
I have to say even though only Francis remains they have come up with a very good album.
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Post by I Ain't Complaining on Sept 27, 2019 11:01:01 GMT
I have to say even though only Francis remains they have come up with a very good album. And Francis had a hand in writing 9 of the 11 songs, and produced the album, which I think says a lot. And we know he felt he had a point to prove this time.
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Post by johns on Sept 27, 2019 12:49:32 GMT
Too early for me to rank it properly as new Quo albums tend to get a big thumbs up from me. However given its been 3 weeks now I'd say it's better than 1982, B2B (which wouldn't be difficult), Heat, ITAN, PR, AC (which I love), TW (again I love this album)..in fact most post 86 output (which as most people now I like a great deal). Not sure where it sits with the 4 classic albums of the 70's.
So I guess what I am saying is that I rank it pretty highly for now.
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mortified
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Post by mortified on Sept 28, 2019 7:03:30 GMT
I'm not sure how easy it would be for me to rank all of Quo's albums in strict order of preference. I've never actually tried. I sort of know those that I find unquestionably brilliant and those that I don't really like (not that many if I'm honest) and everything else in between just merges into the very good. Incidentally, I was in Fopp in Edinburgh yesterday, just having a browse, and they've got various versions of Backbone in stock including the pic-disc and the box set with the live album and the t-shirt. Wasn't sure I'd see these in a shop. Although not sure why.
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frozenhero
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Post by frozenhero on Oct 21, 2019 13:49:16 GMT
Hard, but how about this? I rate everything in my digital library (which is not complete)...
Backbone currently ranks thus in comparison to other Quo albums:
Below BFY, Piledriver, WYW and... Over and Out! (ø 4,25 stars)
Roughly the same as Hello!, ISOTFC, OTL and RTYD (ø 4 stars)
Above AC, BQ, IYCSTH, JS, QPQ, Quo, RAOTW (ø 3,75 stars)
And way above all the rest (1982, Aquostic II, NTL; Aquostic; BTB and TPAOY)
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mortified
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Post by mortified on Oct 22, 2019 4:46:07 GMT
Hard, but how about this? I rate everything in my digital library (which is not complete)... Backbone currently ranks thus in comparison to other Quo albums: Below BFY, Piledriver, WYW and... Over and Out! (ø 4,25 stars) Roughly the same as Hello!, ISOTFC, OTL and RTYD (ø 4 stars) Above AC, BQ, IYCSTH, JS, QPQ, Quo, RAOTW (ø 3,75 stars) And way above all the rest (1982, Aquostic II, NTL; Aquostic; BTB and TPAOY) Actually, I never thought of doing that. Rating the albums I mean. iTunes gives me that option but I've never completed it. I might try that and see what happens. Just as an exercise in futility
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Post by craydarr on Oct 24, 2019 11:08:26 GMT
I would rate it above 70s albums like Quo, WYW and IYCSTH.
80’s albums like B2B, Army, Remedy, 1982 and JS
Upper Middle or lower top in the album rankings for me
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Post by snakelady on Oct 24, 2019 12:42:11 GMT
I would rate it above 70s albums like Quo, WYW and IYCSTH. 80’s albums like B2B, Army, Remedy, 1982 and JS Upper Middle or lower top in the album rankings for me If you'd replace WYW with BFY I'd agree with this - and I'd add a few more actually (like NTL e.g.)
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Post by craydarr on Oct 24, 2019 12:44:48 GMT
I would rate it above 70s albums like Quo, WYW and IYCSTH. 80’s albums like B2B, Army, Remedy, 1982 and JS Upper Middle or lower top in the album rankings for me If you'd replace WYW with BFY I'd agree with this - and I'd add a few more actually (like NTL e.g.) BFY is far superior to WYW in my book and I am partial to NTL. 🙂
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Post by I Ain't Complaining on Oct 24, 2019 22:42:43 GMT
If you'd replace WYW with BFY I'd agree with this - and I'd add a few more actually (like NTL e.g.) BFY is far superior to WYW in my book and I am partial to NTL. 🙂 Where as I on the other hand love WYW and rate BFY as the weakest of the classic albums. Opinions opinions.
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Post by craydarr on Oct 25, 2019 5:47:51 GMT
BFY is far superior to WYW in my book and I am partial to NTL. 🙂 Where as I on the other hand love WYW and rate BFY as the weakest of the classic albums. Opinions opinions. Good thing is we’re all different 👍
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mortified
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Post by mortified on Oct 25, 2019 7:35:56 GMT
I would rate it above 70s albums like Quo, WYW and IYCSTH. 80’s albums like B2B, Army, Remedy, 1982 and JS Upper Middle or lower top in the album rankings for me I'm not 100% sure I'd rate it above any 70's albums. Maybe If You Can't Stand The Heat. Maybe. I'd have it above all 80's albums from 1+9+8+2 onwards. And better than most of the 90's output; Rock 'til You Drop and possibly (not completely sure) Under The Influence being the exceptions. However, since the turn of the millennium I'd only have it above Famous In The Last Century. In fact, if we discount the covers or Aquostic albums (i.e. only new material included), it falls further down any hypothetical list. For me that is. Obviously. I haven't worked it out (but I will ) but I suspect we're talking sort of middling across the decades. Which is good enough at this stage of their career. And mine
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Post by I Ain't Complaining on Oct 25, 2019 12:26:02 GMT
In my opinion Backbone has a few weaknesses as a Quo album which means I can never class it as a great album. Nothing on it is long! Intros, solos, outros, the songs themselves. And I think the rhythm guitar is buried a bit in the mix (which Rick seemed to fight Francis on). I think there are some really good songs, some really good riffs and hooks, and I really like the album. But if I'd have produced the album, I would have done things slightly differently to make those 11 (or 13) songs to my liking (and possibly other Quo fans). But as they say, you can't please all of the people all of the time!
I definitely prefer the album over IYCSTH, 1982, and Back to Back. Possibly put it level with JS and NTL at the moment. Better than ITAN, AC, PR, TW, TPAOY and ISOTFC. And probably level with RTYD, UTI, HT and QPQ. So better or up there with everything since the classic albums and possibly even BFY (as I mentioned earlier).
I'm still listening to it regularly, still enjoying it, and still don't feel the need to skip anything except Crazy Crazy from time to time. Really good album, just wish some of the songs and their components weren't so short.
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frozenhero
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Post by frozenhero on Oct 25, 2019 19:56:25 GMT
BFY is far superior to WYW in my book and I am partial to NTL. 🙂 Where as I on the other hand love WYW and rate BFY as the weakest of the classic albums. Opinions opinions. And I happen to love both albums almost equally... BFY especially has a special place in my heart and there are times I'd pick it as my favourite Quo album.
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