Backbone - 2nd impressions!

[Deleted]

Get Out of My Head is a decent track - thankfully the rest of the album done just that rather quickly.

[craydarr]

Still love it, played it for the first time in a month coming back from seeing my family last weekend.

I still say it’s a good album for a band at this stage in their career.

[snakelady]

I don't think there's a single bad track on the album, which is quite a feat indeed.

What I do feel though is, that there're too many average tracks on it and not enough really outstanding ones. Yep, my expectations towards this band are that high.

Guess I'm just a little disappointed we didn't get another ISOTFC, including its variety.

[mortified]

Feb 10, 2020 7:25:25 GMT snakelady said:

I don't think there's a single bad track on the album, which is quite a feat indeed.

What I do feel though is, that there're too many average tracks on it and not enough really outstanding ones. Yep, my expectations towards this band are that high.

Guess I'm just a little disappointed we didn't get another ISOTFC, including its variety.

I totally agree. 

I also agree. 

There are no real highlights but by the same token every track I can listen to and enjoy. 

Yep, we do have great (unrealistic?) expectations from this band. Our problem rather than theirs I feel.

[frozenhero]

It's a good album, but somehow it doesn't give me the full Quo fix. I think this is due to the domination of Francis vocals and co-writes. It would've been good to get something written by Rhino (perhaps something heavier á la Bad News) and Andy on their own. Hopefully Richie can tilt the balance a bit next time...

[mortified]

Feb 12, 2020 10:55:21 GMT frozenhero said:

It's a good album, but somehow it doesn't give me the full Quo fix. I think this is due to the domination of Francis vocals and co-writes. It would've been good to get something written by Rhino (perhaps something heavier á la Bad News) and Andy on their own. Hopefully Richie can tilt the balance a bit next time...

I guess we're maybe missing Rick's contributions, limited and even hit and miss as they were sometimes. 

I still think a huge part of his posthumous solo album was good enough for Quo. More than good enough. I can see Francis hearing songs like Lonesome Road or Twinkletoes and going "nah, that's not who we are any more". Although I could be completely off the mark. Maybe he never took them to the band so they never got the opportunity. 

But if we combined half of Backbone with some tracks from Over And Out, we wouldn't be far off a classic Quo album in my view. That heady mixture of rock, pop, hook and melody that is their trademark. 

Hey ho....

[frozenhero]

Yeah, Rick's contributions. I know many of them have their haters but personally, I like them all (except two on TPAOY). If a song like Cut Me Some Slack had a more aggressive vocal, I think I'd like it even more. Francis sounds too laid back!

Also curious... three John David songs across two albums!

[johns]

I thought Rick's contributions were extremely hit and miss from 86 onward and how he didn't get as much flack as Rossi for some of them has always puzzled me. Over & Out carried out that hit and miss track record for me, with more misses than hits. Twinkletoes while musically could fit Quo has some incredibly cringeworthy lyrics. Lonesome Road,Fight For Every Heart Beat and Long Distance Love are about as rocky as it gets (Halloween was already better as a Quo b-side) and could have been Quo tracks. The title track is the best song on the album, with the rest being pretty bad. So based on that I'd keep the way more consistent Backbone in one piece. It ticks all my Quo boxes.

[mortified]

Feb 12, 2020 14:29:23 GMT johns said:

I thought Rick's contributions were extremely hit and miss from 86 onward and how he didn't get as much flack as Rossi for some of them has always puzzled me. Over & Out carried out that hit and miss track record for me, with more misses than hits. Twinkletoes while musically could fit Quo has some incredibly cringeworthy lyrics. Lonesome Road,Fight For Every Heart Beat and Long Distance Love are about as rocky as it gets (Halloween was already better as a Quo b-side) and could have been Quo tracks. The title track is the best song on the album, with the rest being pretty bad. So based on that I'd keep the way more consistent Backbone in one piece. It ticks all my Quo boxes.

Well that's me told   

I actually prefer Over And Out to Backbone. Not by much but it just ticks more boxes for me more often. 

Although, admittedly, I'm not what you'd call a lyric man. Mr P could be a bit cheesy at times with his writing 

[johns]

Feb 12, 2020 15:00:40 GMT mortified said:

Feb 12, 2020 14:29:23 GMT johns said:

I thought Rick's contributions were extremely hit and miss from 86 onward and how he didn't get as much flack as Rossi for some of them has always puzzled me. Over & Out carried out that hit and miss track record for me, with more misses than hits. Twinkletoes while musically could fit Quo has some incredibly cringeworthy lyrics. Lonesome Road,Fight For Every Heart Beat and Long Distance Love are about as rocky as it gets (Halloween was already better as a Quo b-side) and could have been Quo tracks. The title track is the best song on the album, with the rest being pretty bad. So based on that I'd keep the way more consistent Backbone in one piece. It ticks all my Quo boxes.

Well that's me told   

I actually prefer Over And Out to Backbone. Not by much but it just ticks more boxes for me more often. 

Although, admittedly, I'm not what you'd call a lyric man. Mr P could be a bit cheesy at times with his writing 

Consider yourself well and truly told off  . 

One of the few times I've disagreed a little bit with you Mr Morty. That's the united Scotland gone now..lol

All good fun

[I Ain't Complaining]

Feb 12, 2020 11:33:15 GMT mortified said:

Feb 12, 2020 10:55:21 GMT frozenhero said:

It's a good album, but somehow it doesn't give me the full Quo fix. I think this is due to the domination of Francis vocals and co-writes. It would've been good to get something written by Rhino (perhaps something heavier á la Bad News) and Andy on their own. Hopefully Richie can tilt the balance a bit next time...

I guess we're maybe missing Rick's contributions, limited and even hit and miss as they were sometimes. 

I still think a huge part of his posthumous solo album was good enough for Quo. More than good enough. I can see Francis hearing songs like Lonesome Road or Twinkletoes and going "nah, that's not who we are any more". Although I could be completely off the mark. Maybe he never took them to the band so they never got the opportunity. 

But if we combined half of Backbone with some tracks from Over And Out, we wouldn't be far off a classic Quo album in my view. That heady mixture of rock, pop, hook and melody that is their trademark. 

Hey ho....

The 6 songs Rick wrote with Joe Webb for his album were all new songs. Then there were 2 of his old songs and 2 John David songs. So they weren't around to put forward to a Quo album, as far as I know.

[frozenhero]

Feb 13, 2020 17:43:45 GMT I Ain't Complaining said:

Feb 12, 2020 11:33:15 GMT mortified said:

I guess we're maybe missing Rick's contributions, limited and even hit and miss as they were sometimes. 

I still think a huge part of his posthumous solo album was good enough for Quo. More than good enough. I can see Francis hearing songs like Lonesome Road or Twinkletoes and going "nah, that's not who we are any more". Although I could be completely off the mark. Maybe he never took them to the band so they never got the opportunity. 

But if we combined half of Backbone with some tracks from Over And Out, we wouldn't be far off a classic Quo album in my view. That heady mixture of rock, pop, hook and melody that is their trademark. 

Hey ho....

The 6 songs Rick wrote with Joe Webb for his album were all new songs. Then there were 2 of his old songs and 2 John David songs. So they weren't around to put forward to a Quo album, as far as I know.

Makes you wonder if he did put anything forward for Quo that has not been released or recorded. The famous pre-Heavy Traffic interview mentions songs he wrote with Pip and others, none of which appeared on HT...

[mortified]

Mar 3, 2020 19:37:24 GMT frozenhero said:

Feb 13, 2020 17:43:45 GMT I Ain't Complaining said:

The 6 songs Rick wrote with Joe Webb for his album were all new songs. Then there were 2 of his old songs and 2 John David songs. So they weren't around to put forward to a Quo album, as far as I know.

Makes you wonder if he did put anything forward for Quo that has not been released or recorded. The famous pre-Heavy Traffic interview mentions songs he wrote with Pip and others, none of which appeared on HT...

I remember Rick bemoaning in one of the FTMO interviews that he put material forward but none of it was accepted. I can't recall for which album though. Probably Heavy Traffic because he was only co-credited with Creepin'.. on that. 

Does make you wonder....

[snakelady]

Mar 4, 2020 5:24:58 GMT mortified said:

Mar 3, 2020 19:37:24 GMT frozenhero said:

Makes you wonder if he did put anything forward for Quo that has not been released or recorded. The famous pre-Heavy Traffic interview mentions songs he wrote with Pip and others, none of which appeared on HT...

I remember Rick bemoaning in one of the FTMO interviews that he put material forward but none of it was accepted. I can't recall for which album though. Probably Heavy Traffic because he was only co-credited with Creepin'.. on that. 

Does make you wonder....

Well, he got his songs on the Party album then and a lot less from Francis .. 
So I'm quite glad Rick's contributions were limited on HT. (.. I'm aware you love TPAOY   )

Fourth Chord got it right then -both of Rick's tunes added to the album and its variety. 

[mortified]

On the subject of Backbone, the new FTMO has an interesting quote in it from Richie, which I picked up on. 

When asked about the arrangement of his material, he said …."nor do I think Francis wanted to have long intros/outros..."

I think this is something that is particularly obvious about the album. That the songs are relatively short and snappy and principally vocal prominent. That familiar Quo guitar sound is in there but it tends to provide a backdrop to the material and is never let loose at any stage. 

After all these months, this quote tells me that is why I like the album but also why I think it lacks that extra something; that little spark. 

[craydarr]

Mar 6, 2020 8:28:03 GMT mortified said:

On the subject of Backbone, the new FTMO has an interesting quote in it from Richie, which I picked up on. 

When asked about the arrangement of his material, he said …."nor do I think Francis wanted to have long intros/outros..."

I think this is something that is particularly obvious about the album. That the songs are relatively short and snappy and principally vocal prominent. That familiar Quo guitar sound is in there but it tends to provide a backdrop to the material and is never let loose at any stage. 

After all these months, this quote tells me that is why I like the album but also why I think it lacks that extra something; that little spark. 

Do you not think that’s a “time” thing as these days it’s not as common to have long intros / outros as it used to be.
Also, maybe it’s another instance of Fran wanting to distance himself from what the band have done in the past and just do things differently.

[mortified]

Mar 6, 2020 8:46:25 GMT craydarr said:

Mar 6, 2020 8:28:03 GMT mortified said:

On the subject of Backbone, the new FTMO has an interesting quote in it from Richie, which I picked up on. 

When asked about the arrangement of his material, he said …."nor do I think Francis wanted to have long intros/outros..."

I think this is something that is particularly obvious about the album. That the songs are relatively short and snappy and principally vocal prominent. That familiar Quo guitar sound is in there but it tends to provide a backdrop to the material and is never let loose at any stage. 

After all these months, this quote tells me that is why I like the album but also why I think it lacks that extra something; that little spark. 

Do you not think that’s a “time” thing as these days it’s not as common to have long intros / outros as it used to be.
Also, maybe it’s another instance of Fran wanting to distance himself from what the band have done in the past and just do things differently.

I think that's precisely what it is. The long intros and outros have become a thing of the past. Just the way things are. And I also don't think Francis was ever keen on them. Maybe briefly in the early 70's because it was the thing to do; longer musical interludes all over the place. Very hip, maaan 

Personally, I like that variety. Quo have always been first class - bordering on genius - at a hook and a melody. So they've always recorded brilliant, shorter rock songs. And although those 'epic' album closers have been gone for decades (the last one was probably Coming And Going which SHOULD have closed the album), they have tended to keep the slightly longer intros here and there. 

I just miss them is all. People will argue what Quo's strengths are. Some will say it's definitely the catchy melodies and others will say it was always the thundering, heavier chords thumping along with great guitar solos. For me, it's somewhere in the middle. Focus entirely on the one and you lose something.  

But it's just a personal observation. 

[sutekh]

I think Mortified makes a lot of very valid points in the above post. My observation of Backbone is that it doesn't really stand out from much of the rather bland and safe sounds of today's mainstream music. I don't think there's a single track on Backbone that showcases the ingredients of Quo at their best. RTYD and HT albums contained some of the old dynamic elements ie longer intros, outros and solos.

I described it as one dimensional elsewhere and stand by that. Some of the songs are very irritating as well for various reasons !

[frozenhero]

Mar 6, 2020 12:53:04 GMT mortified said:

Mar 6, 2020 8:46:25 GMT craydarr said:

Do you not think that’s a “time” thing as these days it’s not as common to have long intros / outros as it used to be.
Also, maybe it’s another instance of Fran wanting to distance himself from what the band have done in the past and just do things differently.

I think that's precisely what it is. The long intros and outros have become a thing of the past. Just the way things are. And I also don't think Francis was ever keen on them. Maybe briefly in the early 70's because it was the thing to do; longer musical interludes all over the place. Very hip, maaan 

Personally, I like that variety. Quo have always been first class - bordering on genius - at a hook and a melody. So they've always recorded brilliant, shorter rock songs. And although those 'epic' album closers have been gone for decades (the last one was probably Coming And Going which SHOULD have closed the album), they have tended to keep the slightly longer intros here and there. 

I just miss them is all. People will argue what Quo's strengths are. Some will say it's definitely the catchy melodies and others will say it was always the thundering, heavier chords thumping along with great guitar solos. For me, it's somewhere in the middle. Focus entirely on the one and you lose something.  

But it's just a personal observation. 

While they're not closers, what about The Power of Rock and Bad News? I think those are "epic" songs with some dynamics and long instrumental bits.

I'm not sure about the whole time thing. Yes, with streaming people tend to get bored quickly. On the other hand, Marillion's last album is very meandering and was their biggest success in many years! 

[mortified]

Don't get me wrong, lengthier musical interludes have been on Quo albums all the way through. That's really the point I was trying to make; that they're more or less non existent on Backbone and, although this latest release is a much better album in my view, it compares with Thirsty Work in that respect. 

Take Beginning of the End, for example. There is more variety in that one track than in the whole of Backbone. 

I'm not expressing myself very well. I'm not looking for those 'epic' tracks that drove along for 6 or 7 minutes, changing tempo every so often (although that would be nice  ). I appreciate those days are long gone. I just think that apart from maybe those lovely breaks in Falling Off The World which take me back to halcyon days, it's mostly a bit one dimensional (great expression that and fits nicely sutekh  )

And, again, it's an observation on the band's direction rather than a criticism. 

[craydarr]

Mar 11, 2020 5:57:30 GMT mortified said:

Don't get me wrong, lengthier musical interludes have been on Quo albums all the way through. That's really the point I was trying to make; that they're more or less non existent on Backbone and, although this latest release is a much better album in my view, it compares with Thirsty Work in that respect. 

Take Beginning of the End, for example. There is more variety in that one track than in the whole of Backbone. 

I'm not expressing myself very well. I'm not looking for those 'epic' tracks that drove along for 6 or 7 minutes, changing tempo every so often (although that would be nice  ). I appreciate those days are long gone. I just think that apart from maybe those lovely breaks in Falling Off The World which take me back to halcyon days, it's mostly a bit one dimensional (great expression that and fits nicely sutekh  )

And, again, it's an observation on the band's direction rather than a criticism. 

Stop moaning 😁

[johns]

Working from home, got spotify for company and thought in between my own playlists I'd play albums in full, so it was the turn of Backbone. Hadn't played it for about 3 weeks. Since its release I've always loved the album and listening to it today I've found no reason to change my mind on it. One of Quo's strongest albums in a long time and not really a bad track on it.

[mortified]

Apr 1, 2020 9:33:44 GMT johns said:

Working from home, got spotify for company and thought in between my own playlists I'd play albums in full, so it was the turn of Backbone. Hadn't played it for about 3 weeks. Since its release I've always loved the album and listening to it today I've found no reason to change my mind on it. One of Quo's strongest albums in a long time and not really a bad track on it.

I've been told to stop moaning so you'll get nothing from me 

[Isaac Ryan]

Stated playing it again after a small lay off, still loving it. 

[johns]

Apr 1, 2020 12:23:40 GMT mortified said:

Apr 1, 2020 9:33:44 GMT johns said:

Working from home, got spotify for company and thought in between my own playlists I'd play albums in full, so it was the turn of Backbone. Hadn't played it for about 3 weeks. Since its release I've always loved the album and listening to it today I've found no reason to change my mind on it. One of Quo's strongest albums in a long time and not really a bad track on it.

I've been told to stop moaning so you'll get nothing from me 

Ah you moan all you want Mort. Your opinions are always valid and well stated (well most of the time..lol)