Status Quo album-by-album thread (50 Years of Quo)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by JulesRules, Jul 25, 2017.

  1. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    So should we move on to "Down the Dustpipe" and Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon then?
     
  2. Johns44

    Johns44 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yateley, UK
    I'd give it another day or 2 before moving on. You never know more Spare Parts might surface.
     
  3. Almost Simon

    Almost Simon Forum Resident

    Not sure I have this one, unless Johns44 did me a copy, will have to check.
     
  4. Almost Simon

    Almost Simon Forum Resident

    Ma Kelly I shall dig out for a play ready for when it appears.
     
  5. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    I can either do it now or in 2 weeks...
     
  6. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    1970: Ma Kelly’s Greasy Spoon
    [​IMG]


    1970: Down the Dustpipe, Ma Kelly’s Greasy Spoon and In My Chair

    1. Spinning Wheel Blues (Rossi/ Young) 3:21 L

    2. Daughter (Lancaster) 3:01 L

    3. Everything (Parfitt/Rossi) 2:39

    4. Shy Fly (Rossi/Young) 3:49

    5. (April) Spring, Summer and Wednesdays (Rossi/Young) 4:12 L

    6. Junior's Wailing (Kieran Raymond White/Martin John Pugh) 3:33 L

    7. Lakky Lady (Rossi/Parfitt) 3:14

    8. Need Your Love (Rossi/Young) 4:46 (L)

    9. Lazy Poker Blues (Peter Green/Clifford G. Adams) 3:37

    10. Is It Really Me/Gotta Go Home (Lancaster) 9:34 L

    Bonus Tracks 1998:

    11. In My Chair [Alternate Mix] 3:30

    12. Gerdundula [Alternate Mix] 4:03

    13. Down the Dustpipe [Alternate Mix] 2:06

    14. Junior’s Wailing [Alternate Mix] 3:31

    Bonus Tracks 2003:

    10. Is it Really Me 0:30/Gotta Go Home 5:54 [Early Rough Mix] 6:24

    11. Daughter [Early Working Mix for Poss. Guitar] 2:57

    Single Tracks

    12. Down the Dustpipe [A-Side] (Carl Groszmann) 2:06 L

    13. In My Chair [A-Side] (Rossi/Young) 3:19 L

    14. Gerdundula [B-Side] (Manston/James) 3:23 L

    BBC Session 9 (1970)

    15. Down the Dustpipe 1:49

    16. Junior's Wailing 3:01

    17. Spinning Wheel Blues 2:17

    BBC Session 10 (1970)

    18. Need Your Love 2:29

    1979 Pye Promo Flexidisc

    19. In My Chair 1:37

    Bob Young – Harmonica on “Spinning Wheel Blues” and “Down the Dustpipe”

    Status Quo had enough. Not of music or the biz’, but of trying to sound like something they just were not made for. The psychedelic flavour of “Pictures of Matchstick Men” had been a studio accident – a fortunate one, no doubt, but Quo were not really part of that scene. They were more interested in rock music and attempts to make some cash out of the psychedelia or melodramatic pop crazes couldn’t be successful in the long run. And while image may be secondary, the band was also not happy about having to dress up all colourful and frilly. So they made the pretty drastic choice to completely do away with the crazy clothes and go onstage in jeans instead. And what about the music? Basic, stripped down, guitar-based riff rock but retaining that melodic pop edge – the latter ingredient is, IMO, the critical element that gave Status Quo such a long-lasting career because their songs weren’t all aggressive and heavy, there was still a catchiness which broadened their mass appeal. “Down the Dustpipe” wasn’t written by the band, but it has many of the hallmarks of future Quo classics: shuffle rhythm, blues-based chord changes, infectious rhythm and a catchy (even poppy) melody. Bob Young appeared on blues harp once again, a role he’d reprise on the next LP…

    So Ma Kelly’s Greasy Spoon is the first album with the “Quo sound”. One of the two covers, “Junior’s Wailing” would become a live staple – though note how different Alan Lancaster’s vocal sounds to the live versions (e.g. 1973)! He hadn’t found that gruff tone yet. “Is It Really Me/Gotta Go Home” on the other hand didn't stay in the live setlists for too long, but was remarkable for being stretched out to lengths of over 20 minutes. If Status Quo ever truly sounded “psychedelic” or like a band from outer space, it’s gotta be in those endless guitar solos by Francis Rossi. The instrumental part of “Gotta Go Home” actually survived as part of the later epic “Forty-Five Hundred Times”, as you can hear on the Live! album.

    “In My Chair” was the first release without keyboard player Roy Lynes and showed that Quo could also sound laid back and hypnotic – the latter attribute also fits the b-side “Gerdundula”, a very unusual sounding song later re-recorded for the next album.

    “In My Chair” was also performed at the BBC but not included on the reissue.


    Doing Their Thing – Live at Granada TV 1970

    1. ►Roadhouse Blues

    2. ►Down the Dustpipe

    3. ►Spinning Wheel Blues

    4. ►Is It Really Me/Gotta Go Home

    Still with Roy Lynes


    Beat-Club Session 1970

    1. ►(April) Spring, Summer and Wednesdays

    2. ►Spinning Wheel Blues

    3. ►Is It Really Me/Gotta Go Home

    One of the first “Frantic Four” live recordings
     
  7. oxenholme

    oxenholme Senile member

    Location:
    Knoydart
    The alternate mixes of Down The Dustpipe and In My Chair on the 1998 CD are wonderful. And I just love that "in my pickup truck yeah"!!!!
     
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  8. Almost Simon

    Almost Simon Forum Resident

    Ma Kelly gets a full play tomorrow then i'll come back and comment.

    Only comment i'll make right now is how wonderful a tune (April) Spring, Summer and Wednesdays is. Contender for my alltime fave Quo song.

    What is it about and why is April in brackets? Any reason or just a good tune and I shouldn't worry myself which such trivial questions. ;)
     
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  9. vudicus

    vudicus Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Now it gets really interesting!!

    Love this album. Lots of great Boogie and Rock 'n' Roll.

    "Daughter" still has a strong psych vibe but it's a lot harder edged and is a superb cross over track.
    "Shy Fly" is an awesome fast paced Rock 'n' Roll song.

    "April, Spring, Summer and Wednesdays" is one of my favourite Quo tracks of all time, such a great groove on that one.
    For those that don't know, Groove Armada sampled it for their track "Purple Haze"...



    I'm not overly fond of "Anything" and "Is it Really Me?", but otherwise this is a really strong album.
     
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  10. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    The Quo find their sound and record a superb album. Here's a rarely seen and recently rediscovered Top of the Pops clip that was thought lost for decades:



    How cool do they sound and look?!

    From here onwards Quo could do little wrong for a few years. This is where the classic years get going. The only mis-step on this album is Everything, a track that sounds like a weak one from the previous era.

    Favourite tracks are April Spring Summer and Wednesdays, Shy Fly and Need Your Love. There's some heavy almost Sabbath like riffing going on in Need Your Love.

    A couple of hit singles with Down The Dustpipe and the sublime In My Chair seemed to give Quo confidence in their new style and it was upwards and onwards from here. A magnificent record and a fine place for anyone unfamiliar with the Quo to start, though there's better to come.

    I have this one on the original blue Pye label vinyl. A great pressing with a raw and powerful sound.
     
    Last edited: Aug 9, 2017
  11. John Fell

    John Fell Forum Survivor

    Location:
    Undisclosed
    Great album. My favorites appear to be the same ones that you like and I would add Junior's Wailing along with the singles In My Chair and Down The Dustpipe.
     
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  12. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    All great. In My Chair is one of my favourite Quo songs of all. Isn't that clip brilliant? I was very pleased when it was found a couple of years ago. Black Sabbath's Top of the Pops appearance of Paranoid was found too, in the same pristine quality. That's on YouTube too but I won't post a link here as we're talking the magnificent Status Quo.
     
  13. Laineycrusoe

    Laineycrusoe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tyne and Wear, UK
    This isn't necessarily a reply to the above comment, but it does link in with it. I've been checking out a few Status Quo songs on Youtube and I found a video that plays a stereo version of Ice in the Sun...but it's not the fake stereo version that's on the deluxe edition, but rather it sounds like a full stereo mix of the song in the same vein as the other stereo mixes on the deluxe edition:

    Does anyone here know where this came from? Is this one of those DES mixes or something? The lead vocals are quite buried, but the phasing is completely absent like on the other stereo mixes.
     
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  14. John54

    John54 Senior Member

    Location:
    Burlington, ON
    That Ma Kelly cover anticipates the Smiths a bit, doesn't it?

    This was one LP I thought about buying many times, and never did. If it is the big change of direction I believe it is, then I probably made the right decision.

    I had never even heard of Spare Parts until this millennium.
     
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  15. Digital Morphine

    Digital Morphine Forum Resident

    Location:
    Here
    'April, Spring, Summer & Wednesdays' is one of my favourites, that version from the Beat Club is fantastic....such a cool vibe.
     
  16. Almost Simon

    Almost Simon Forum Resident

    Listening now to the album. Superb. The only criticism I have is the sound of the lead vocals on some tracks. Not clear on how to describe but they sound a bit too far removed from the song. Perhaps easier to say they sound more live vocally on the later albums which sounds better. Definitely not live on Ma Kelly, sounds too much like they're overdubbed. Not the best production. Perhaps they're too high in the mix, more buried on later albums. Trying to describe but probably failing miserably.

    Sounds like a lot of criticism but this is a great album. Daughter is great, not sure about the keyboard break, guitar would've been better. ASSW is a total gem. Love that song so much.

    And things improve from here on in with Quo.
     
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  17. Almost Simon

    Almost Simon Forum Resident

    Also feel the organ sound isn't good, piano sounds great but organ takes their sound back to the past. Its an album breaking free of their 60's work and onto better things but they're not quite there just yet
     
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  18. Johns44

    Johns44 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yateley, UK
    I wouldn't have let your ears suffer...lol
     
  19. Johns44

    Johns44 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yateley, UK
    Now Ma Kelly's, heres were Quo really started to get into gear. Apart from Everything, there isn't a bad track on here and April, Spring Summer and Wednesdays is a classic song that really should be out there for the whole world to appreciate. Add in the additional tracks from the re-issue and it becomes one of those cruelly ignored classics. How Quo have never gotten the same recognition as other bands of their generation is beyond me. They had the ear for making great singles and the albums were classic slices of rock n boogie. I did think of commenting track on track but I'd be on hear forever. In summary....awesome stuff
     
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  20. Ma Kelly

    Ma Kelly Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    Ha I missed the Spare Parts update after all my trumpeting of the album's charms!

    Well for me it's great. The sound is much fuller than the debut, perhaps overproduced in places, but the songs are really strong. When they go for the psych stuff it actually sounds authentic, unlike the debut, though of course this being 1969 they're still missing the boat. A couple of the tracks like Antique Angelique, Poor Old Man, When I Awake, Little Miss Nothing are just really killer pop songs. Of course their later stuff was just as poppy in a way, but this album really shows them as an adept pop band as opposed to a rock band, one that was able to produce more 'sophisticated' songs than their reputation suggests. My only complaint is a couple of overwrought ballads bog it down in places.
     
  21. Ma Kelly

    Ma Kelly Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    Ma Kelly's. What an ugly brute of an album. Love the bum notes (that last note of Everything...yikes), the wrong guitar strings played by 'accident' (can't explain, but check the breakdown during Need Your Love) and the squeaky bass-drum pedal. Spare Parts Part 2 this ain't. My one, ok, two complaints are the placement of Everything too near the start of the album, that disrupts the flow, and Parfitt's guitar being too low in the mix meaning the album's not as beefy as later ones. Ok, I'll allow myself a third complaint - Gotta Go Home ends about 10 minutes too soon!

    Think I read somewhere that (April) Spring, Summer and Weds is Spud's favourite song. Good choice. I remember around 91/92 when I was a nerdy teenage Quo fan, my grunge-obsessed older brother would take the piss out of me for Quo being so uncool but he nevertheless loved that song. Wouldn't admit it, but he did.
     
  22. PJayBe

    PJayBe Forum Resident

    This is where I come in with The Quo. A really good album, shows them finding their "rock" feet and beginning to sound the band I know and love.
     
  23. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    You were right. Grunge was abysmal!
     
  24. Johns44

    Johns44 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yateley, UK
    So while we wait for either more on Ma Kelly's or move onto the Dog album, I thought I'd ponder as to why Quo are never given the same respect as other bands from that late 60's/early 70's era. Is it because they were such a great singles band and that was frowned upon by those "album" only rock fans? Bearing in mind Quo's albums from Ma Kelly's to Blue For You can all be considered excellent to classic.
    Why didn't the US embrace Quo after they changed from a psych band to a rock band? Was it too rough sounding for rock radio or were the band just not pushed enough by their record label(s).
    I could probably go on but for now those are the minor ponderings of a Quo fan.
     
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  25. Aghast of Ithaca

    Aghast of Ithaca Forum Resident

    Location:
    Angleterre
    You should have told him that Need Your Love and Someone's Learning are both classic proto-grunge songs. It's the heaviness of the riffs, but also Lancaster's bass shadowing Rossi's string bends to give a sludgy, grungy feel. You can hear a fair bit of that on Nirvana's Bleach.
     
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