Post by PsychedeliCon on Sept 23, 2022 8:39:07 GMT
Long time no... see?
It has been a while since my last visit to this forum, and though I don't often post on any forums anymore, I hold up hope that I can stick to my plan to be a bit more active here from now on while this Status Quo renaissance I am experiencing lasts.
Old friends, I have made my way back to the Quo throughout the last few months, and it all really started when I resumed my job after taking an involuntary break from it that coincidentally coincided with a certain global event besung by John Coghlan's Quo in a dedicated lockdown single. And perhaps this might even be where the seeds were sown for the aforementioned SQ renaissance the fruits of which I now reap.
After my old blutooth radio had been stolen, I bought a new one for work - and decided to do what I had done in the past as well: transfer most of my music database onto a smartphone so I could play various bands at work. I was previously infatuated with the underground stoner rock scene, especially that of europe - had gotten into all the subgenres, found all the best bands, identified the countries spawning the best music-that-nobody-knows (of?).
And because nobody cared to ask while I was typing this, I shall reveal that its Greece, Austria, and Norway. There must be something in the water in Athens especially.
Some of you might remember that I also used to host an underground rock radio show on German internet radio station "Radio Home of Rock" - but with the resumption of my job, I was now rendered unable to continue that endeavour really, and so as I found myself in lesser and lesser need to discover new music, I took more time to go back to music I already had. And due to this, my work music selection included not only a vast majority of underground bands I had gotten to know and love over my tenure at RHOR, but also many of the classic bands I grew up with or discovered since. From Eloy to Status Quo, Uriah Heep to After All, The Sweet to Black Sabbath - any bands that were actually genuine and music that wasn't made with american commercialisation in mind was welcome.
And so for the first time in years I found myself looking at the Status Quo albums in my database. And several old favorites sprang to mind immediately:
"Piledriver", "On The Level", "[...] Greasy Spoon", some songs off "If you can't stand the heat", "Dog of two Head", and more.
Even some far more recent albums like "Quid pro Quo" and "In search of the fourth chord" - great albums in their own right.
I even actually enjoy some of the songs of the otherwise often slacked off "Bula Quo". I genuinely believe that "Run And Hide (The Gun Song)", "Go Go Go" and "All That Money" are pretty good all things considered. "Run and Hide" especially is probably the best example of Rhino singing where I actually like his vocals.
But not only Classic Rock made it on there. I actually also included 3 songs off their 1st wave psychedelia debut album: "Black Veils of Melancholy" (which I always thought that while it is essentially a ripoff of "Matchstick Men", is actually the better song!), "Technicolour Dreams", and "When my Mind is Not Live", both of which I consider to be great songs as well, and definitely adore.
And these 3 songs are what really brought me back in the end. I realised that I hadn't listened to any of their psychedelic music outside those 3 songs in ages (since childhood really). I wasn't familiar with those albums at all. I remembered "Ice in the Sun", "Green Tambourine" and "Spicks and Specks", as well as "Mr Mind Detector"... but that was about it. And if I am not mistaken, 2 of these are covers.
After a few months with this limited Status Quo selection I had, and with songs occasionally playing at work whenever I had it set to play random out of all the music on that device (which is over 1000 songs total), my curiosity peaked and I decided to add "Spare Parts" and the whole of "Picturesque Matchstickable Messages From The Status Quo" to my smartphone. Didn't take me long to remember why I never enjoyed "Spare Parts"... but the debut album is a different matter entirely.
Elizabeth Dreams, Sunny Cellophane Skies, Paradise Flat and the already previously mentioned songs were very enjoyable and I found myself listening to Status Quo not only at work anymore, but also on my almost daily walks. Soon I needed more.
I looked at the list with the usual suspects - "Piledriver", "On The Level", "Whatever You Want", "Hello!" ... something was missing from all of these, despite all of them being great albums. I rediscovered the already quite familiar "Quo" album with its strange and unique artwork, as well as the "Blue for You" album that I hadn't listened to since my childhood. And while "Backwater"/"Just Take Me" and "Drifting Away" as well as "Lonely Man" and "Slow Train" are always bangers, what really caught me off guard was "Blue for You".
What a magnificent album. I have the deluxe edition which includes "You Lost The Love", "Wild Side of Life", and "All Through the Night"... and with those tunes added the whole record just becomes absolutely brilliant. Starts off familiar enough with "Is There a Better Way" - a mid tier Alan Lancaster song that mostly comes to life when performed on stage as opposed to being listened to on record. But then the album quickly gains speed with "Mad About the Boy", culminating in the first crescendo of "Ring of a Change", an absolutely brilliant song with like 4 different intros. "Blue for You" then takes things down a notch, before going on a slow rise again through the trio of "Rain", "Rolling Home", and the groovy "That's a Fact" - another favourite of mine now. And if thats not enough, after a brief intermission in the form of "Ease Your Mind" you are met with the album's original conclusion, but even in this form essentially its climax: "Mystery Song". And this version is probably my favourite Status Quo song overall now.
"Blue for You" was a banger, and I enjoyed "Quo". I revisited "Spare Parts" to see if there were any songs worth keeping around, as opposed to tossing out the entire thing again in its totality. And as it turns out, a bunch of songs are actually quite nice. "Mr. Mind Detector" - the only one I had remembered from my childhood listens, is a very unique Quo song and definitely deserves to be heard. But I also discovered other songs that were to my liking: "Little Miss Nothing", "Nothing At All", "Do You Live in Fire" (from the bonus tracks), and "Velvet Curtains".
Surprised by finding reasonably good songs on what I still believe is probably the band's worst album, curiosity killed the cat and the cat was "Marguerita Times" and the songs entailing it. At around the same time I also went and saw Status Quo play in Germersheim this year. But back to the story: if "Spare Parts" had something good to discover, what about their other worst album? This is where "1+9+8+2" makes its entrance, and a weird entrance it is for sure. After looking up "Marguerita Times" on Youtube and being amused by Lancaster's absence from some of its TV-show performances (And the look of disgust on his face in the TV-show performance he actually appeared in), Youtube recommended me a song called "Jealousy". Promptly I clicked, and I don't think I was really prepared for what graced my ears.
Filled with cheesy 80s ambience and with guitars that didn't even sound like guitars at all, yet incredibly catchy riffs and lyrics, "Jealousy" instantly caught my attention.
Initially put off by the guitar sounds (that lets be honest, barely do qualify as guitar sounds), I listened to the whole thing. Not really processing what I had just listened to, I listened again. And again. What on earth is this?
A bloody good song it is, innit?
What album is it on?
1+9+8+2?
But isn't that the Quo's joint worst album?
I needed to listen to that.
And as it turns out, there are actually a number of songs on that album that I really enjoy. Having the deluxe edition again, my version includes "Calling the Shots", which I already knew but had (and still have) no idea from where.
"She Don't Fool Me", "Young Pretender", the aforementioned "Jealousy", "Resurrection", "Doesn't Matter", "Calling the Shots" and "I Should Have Known" are all solid songs and form a very enjoyable listening experience all things considered. If you get rid of songs like "I want the world to know", "Big man", and "I love rock and roll"... which are all exceptionally bad, you are left with something not really worse than a mid tier Status Quo album. Not Great. Not Terrible. 3.6 Roentgen. (bonus points if you get the reference).
"She Don't Fool Me" and "Young Pretender" form a solid start to the album, better than some of the material on the immediate prior and following records. "Jealousy" is incredibly catchy and I can't help but bob along to it. "I love Rock and Roll" and "Resurrection" form a weird duo of songs where they sing about enjoying "Rock and Roll", and then you have stuff like "Dear John" thats definitely mid tier or above for Status Quo songs. "I Should Have Known" sounds like it could be straight off the "Backbone" album - percieve that opinion as you will. I personally quite enjoy "Backbone". Some of its songs are some of the best material the band has released since the late 70s.
"1982" does some very interesting things not found on any other Quo album. In some ways it is probably the most experimental album since "Dog of two Head". Lancaster's contributions to it are abysmal, but overall there is certainly appreciation and enjoyment to be had. I never really found the 80s and 90s (but the 80s especially) appealing all that much, but now my curiosity is sparked. Albums like "Under the Influence" and "Thirsty Work" ... do they deserve another listen? Is "Don't Stop" (supposedly their 3rd worst album) really as terrible as they say? What about "Perfect Remedy"? Maybe they really are as bad as I remember - or at least as unappealing to my preferences. Or maybe they are some new favourites in waiting.
I don't know.
I just know that my interest in Status Quo is finally sparked again. I am back, and I have a whole lot of albums to rediscover and form new opinions on. And I hope to share my thoughts with you, if I so remember to. The only album from this era that I am really well familiar with and already kind of like is "In The Army Now"
If you have given 1982 just one or two listens a long time ago, I implore you to go back to it. Maybe it really is terrible and I am an outlier. Or maybe you'll find that all the experimentation going on there is actually quite interesting. Form your own opinion. I was shocked to enjoy that album. I had only bad memories of it, and mostly heard bad stuff about it. I'll throw out the songs I don't like but keep the rest in my database for regular listens. And I think if you do the same, it could become part of your regular roster as well.
Cheers.