|
|
Post by townsvillequo on May 12, 2018 8:34:01 GMT
Albums like Ac, ITAN, TW.
Al was waiting there. He wanted to put time and effort in. Francis could no longer work with Al.
Was crap albums the answer. ( Crap albums IMO) . Hey everyone. Why did Francis choose to do it? Why? Was he reassured by producer the Quo name would be enough to carry the albums through whatever?
Maybe Francis thought do the crap albums and sooner or later better albums would follow. So was Francis biding time maybe.
For most ppl in the World who cares. But for me. I care. Sad because of it. Oh well like everything in life. Move on .
|
|
|
|
Post by Victor on May 12, 2018 9:07:34 GMT
Albums like Ac, ITAN, TW. Al was waiting there. He wanted to put time and effort in. Francis could no longer work with Al. Was crap albums the answer. ( Crap albums IMO) . Hey everyone. Why did Francis choose to do it? Why? Was he reassured by producer the Quo name would be enough to carry the albums through whatever? Maybe Francis thought do the crap albums and sooner or later better albums would follow. So was Francis biding time maybe. For most ppl in the World who cares. But for me. I care. Sad because of it. Oh well like everything in life. Move on . Hiya TVQ, nice to see you, it's been a while  As far as your question goes... all I can say is that IMO, yes he had a choice, one has a choice in by far most situations, and he clearly made his choice. And I care too. |
|
|
|
Post by MrWaistcoat on May 12, 2018 9:18:10 GMT
I don't think he thought Army was a crap album, he was very happy with the light new sound, he felt the old band couldn't have done it as well, and he believed it was the biggest selling studio album they'd ever done. The band made the album the band wanted to make with AC - a genuine band effort imo. Add BTB to the mix....that run of three albums killed off much of the record buying fanbase, and by the time PR came out, they looked finished.
So Francis had no choice then but to go heavier with RTYD. Yes he could have "turned the clock back", but I really think he was very happy with the new band at that time. I think RTYD was an album his heart wasn't in, and he gave us what he wanted with TW....to be dismayed by the reaction.
For the 90's, Francis was musically lost, certain of what he didn't want, uncertain what he could do. So it wasn't just about personality problems...resurrecting the old band would have returned Francis to the "macho" rock world he had grown to feel alien to.
|
|
|
|
Post by Rick Roper on May 15, 2018 10:31:02 GMT
Welcome back TVQ! Good to catch up with many of the nice people from the old messageboard!
I think this is the period in which Francis had become wise to the management rip-off, and wanted to make money back by hook or by crook. I think he had become alienated from the FF-era due to the constant "sue him again!" attitude of the lawyers in the big Quo divorce case... Both he and Rick were financially on their arses, and I think the change in direction was a ploy to milk the perceived marketplace of the late '80s music-buying public. It fell flat on its arse, but I think this whole period (and the not-so-little use of drugs) had a serious effect on Francis' perceptions and mental wellbeing. It's certainly the period in which I saw the change from him being the happy-go-lucky type into being the hard-nosed businessman we see today.
Rick Roper.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 15, 2018 18:15:27 GMT
Hi All, I have said before had the band fleshed out the albums with heavier FF sounding tracks they would have stayed relevant to some fans who ditched them. With the light you capture sales like myself who bought the output no matter what and attracted the newer fans that didn't get the heavier FF.
With the heavy if they had simply say had a 50/50 split on tracks they could have held on to those who walked possibly and other new fans that liked the old FF sound even though they were not around to enjoy it first time around IMPO.... 
Geoff. |
|
|
|
Post by whoaskedyou on May 15, 2018 21:15:33 GMT
I think there was a massive effort to distant themselves from the old heavy rock guard..never took it in at the time but those Army and Dreaming vids..then the black shoes and white socks..to match the poppy rockish stuff they were doing.
Perhaps a case of saying " see they dont all sound the same ". The seventies have gone etc etc and here were are at the tail end of the New Romantics era trying to survive. I think a lot of bands were confused in the late eighties hence AC..some of which i quite like...there was certainly a fantastic range of music to get into in the period 76 to 84..whatever your taste, never has there been such a selection.
I reckon they just wanted to hang on to the show biz side of life..what else beckoned..selling ice creams or panto.
Still most of us sucked it up even if we were not happy with the product entirely and attended gigs which we still got a buzz from.
Maybe we all get a bit morbid on here..i remember still being massively into the band up until Famous in the last whatever.i had become bored with their output at the time of In search of the awful fourth chord.
Anyway it is a fickle old game music ..dug out Quid Pro Quo tonight and thought Leave and Little Light on sounded great..especially Rick's voice.
Best not to think too deeply about these things...just play what you like.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 16, 2018 2:27:20 GMT
ITAN was basically covers and old songs that had been lying around. It was done mainly to get the record company off their backs.
A bit more effort went into AC but the RC still had a say, which led to songs like The Greatest Fighter being chucked completely. Francis was annoyed about the tracklisting, claiming the first half of the album "didn't sound like Quo". He also wanted Cream Of The Crop to be released as a single.
I agree with the RC - it was a weak song, very much like Dreamin' - and went against the good work that was being achieved to make the band appear credible.
Saying that, whoever thought making a video with Griff Rhys Jones was a good idea needs sectioned. There was no clear message about who the band were trying to appeal to - serious music buyers or those that wanted a laugh.
The album could have sold way better had the RC gone all out to push the band to an AOR audience because what in reality was left was kids stuff. And the songs that sounded like Quo were embarrassing.
Thirsty Work was what Francis thought fans wanted at the time. RTYD didn't get the band anywhere singles wise and I think that irked him, so he looked at the charts to see what was selling. Though he doesn't have the voice for big ballad numbers like I Would Do Anything For Love, Bed Of Roses, etc.
|
|
|
|
Post by Mrs Flittersnoop on May 16, 2018 14:44:15 GMT
Hi All, I have said before had the band fleshed out the albums with heavier FF sounding tracks they would have stayed relevant to some fans who ditched them. With the light you capture sales like myself who bought the output no matter what and attracted the newer fans that didn't get the heavier FF.
With the heavy if they had simply say had a 50/50 split on tracks they could have held on to those who walked possibly and other new fans that liked the old FF sound even though they were not around to enjoy it first time around IMPO....
Geoff. Geoff you might have something there ... I always regarded Quo albums as a mix of peepy pop songs and corking rockers and it was the corking rockers (generally) that I liked. There was a run of albums discussed here where there was nothing of that sort, and sadly the band seem to have a bit of a tin ear for pop too (POMM was a happy fluke IMO), at least where competing at the highest levels is concerned. They had drive. They had harmonies. They did not have anything remotely like a New Romantic sound or image. They ended up selling themselves in the 90s and early 00s as a band playing old time rock n roll ... talk about going backwards. Only with Heavy Traffic did they start putting a bit of ooomph back into the albums, and that had pretty much burnt out (IMO, though I like some of the songs) by the time QPQ came around. |
|
|
|
Post by The Lord Flasheart on May 16, 2018 15:13:52 GMT
Francis still likes RTYD though it had to many covers on it for his liking. Originally David Walker wanted it to be the first covers album but Francis brought in tracks like Zombie and they made into a kind of hybrid. It reached number 10 that gave the band room to make a full blown new album in TW but they made the error in trying to follow the "Wet Wet Wet" pop trend which was a mistake.
If they had gone down the Britpop route with a more heavier sounding album they may have got somewhere. However, as TW failed that gave David Walker the ammuniton for Don't Stop.
|
|
|
|
Post by paradiseflats on May 16, 2018 15:58:50 GMT
Francis still likes RTYD though it had to many covers on it for his liking. Originally David Walker wanted it to be the first covers album but Francis brought in tracks like Zombie and they made into a kind of hybrid. It reached number 10 that gave the band room to make a full blown new album in TW but they made the error in trying to follow the "Wet Wet Wet" pop trend which was a mistake. If they had gone down the Britpop route with a more heavier sounding album they may have got somewhere. However, as TW failed that gave David Walker the ammuniton for Don't Stop. Britpop route ? Really. Thirsty work was recorded before Britpop. Only just mind. The truth is as the recordings of the last 20 plus years have shown. They aren’t capable of writing a great album. It gets closer to 40 years since the last great album. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 16, 2018 16:53:24 GMT
Hi All, Mrs Flittersnoop To be honest I was looking forward to a follow up album after QPQ instead of the Aquostic albums (Which I quite like  ) seems to me at least that whoever decided not to record new material dropped a bollock big time.
I have said in other posts that the reunion gigs should have triggered at least an FF-EP of new material, even a new material album that could have been sold with a CQ new material album it was a no brainer. You could of even have titled the album's as:- Quo West Old Men/Two Sides Of A Coin/ BOGOF/241/The 2Q's/Double Trouble/2Quo Or Not 2Quo/Here We Quo Again
Queue the micky taking...... 
Geoff. |
|
|
|
Post by fretbuzzzzz on May 18, 2018 18:39:39 GMT
How the band, in any shape or form, resurfaced is something close to a miracle considering Rossi's mindset at the time.
He told us some porky pies at Milton Keynes as he had pretty much ruled out in his mind, even at that time, of him working together with the band again bar any short term commitments. He wanted out completely as couldn't stand being in the band any longer.
He was very much in his tequila and coke phase which possibly could have enhanced any feelings of self pity which wouldn't have helped matters.
He didn't really know what to do next but decided to call Bernie F. They pitched the idea of doing an album together to the Record company and they agreed to an advance.
You would have thought that would have been the catalyst for them to crack on with being creative and in their element away from the confines of Quo. Alas not, as Francis in particular spent much of the studio time having a line and talking on the line. Sometimes business calls but mainly calls to dealers to arrange collection of gram packets. Quite a logistical procedure in terms of getting the money from the bank and setting off to get the gear. Ultimately he said they spent about an hour a day actually making music. A couple singles came out of it that Francis liked but the Record company lost interest in terms of an album release.
With Rick's solo album suffering a similar fate, though perhaps a more credible effort, it was no surprise that if they stood any chance of getting solo stuff released then they would have to resurrect Quo for at least one more album.
As it turned out they did seem genuinely positive about the new line up. A point to prove springs to mind ...in their minds. Certainly seemed fired up. Rhino and Jeff were told to watch the footage from the end of road at Milton Keynes and then told to ignore what they had just watched as apparently Francis and Rick dismissed it as a below par concert.
Once they had the Army single selling truck loads that was their incentive to keep going. Francis has slagged the AC album since. I heard somewhere that the band went off doing other stuff before the album had been finished and left Pip W to carry on with it in the studio.
RTYD was produced by Francis. Think they set up as a band in Bray studios and at Arsis more like they used to in the old days. Francis even said at the time that he wondered how they ever moved away from recording in that way. He really liked his 'All we really wanna do' on the album. I took that as meaning more albums would follow in a similar vein. Then we had TW didn't we? An album Francis believed in and a bit upset that Quo fans generally didn't. Land of confusion?
|
|
As far as your question goes... all I can say is that IMO, yes he had a choice, one has a choice in by far most situations, and he clearly made his choice. And I care too. 
) seems to me at least that whoever decided not to record new material dropped a bollock big time. 
