mortified
4500 Timer
Posts: 5,861
Favourite Quo Album: Hello!
Favourite other bands.: Talking Heads, Rolling Stones, Sheryl Crow, Gary Numan, Alabama 3, ZZ Top, Paul van Dyk, Jeff Beck, Bowie, Gerry Rafferty, Band of Skulls, UFO, S.A.H.B
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Post by mortified on Oct 18, 2023 5:30:41 GMT
I read the article yesterday. Nothing particularly controversial, notwithstanding they were all functioning on memory recall when interviewed. Pretty sure I'm not 100% accurate with anything 50 years on. Some nice pics, although I think I've seen most of them. I had to chuckle at Andy Bown's sweeping character assassination of your typical 70's Quo fan as he is now; " the type of person that wears only denim, has quite a lot of tattoos and doesn't wash" To be fair, he was being grilled on being " the guy that ruined Status Quo". I think I might have bitten back as well. But the interviewer was Dave Ling after all. He's always going to go down that road.
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Post by Mrs Flittersnoop on Oct 18, 2023 13:31:14 GMT
Thank you 4th. I wasn't too sure as a lot of it is cut and paste from old press, which is well done but I was a music paper addict and had read most of it before. Being able to read the Andy interview in details was interesting though. I know he was there at the Reunion, like, but so were we in the audience, I could see Alan was having a hard time but mysteriously he was also playing Alan music most of the time. Unless someone was hiding behind the curtain, and i don't think so.
I don't think it's controversial about carrying Rick, it was obvious. He wasn't the Rick that he once was. Even so, since he left, I have missed him much more than I thought I ever would. (This is not a downer on Richie.)
The whole thing about them arguing what sort of music to play would be funny it if wasn't so sad. The balls to the wall Quo has on it Fine Fine Fine, not everyone's favourite (but one of mine), Break the Rules, which is straight country, and Lonely Man, which is a heartfelt ballad.
Mild mannered Mr Andy can certainly stand up for himself
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mortified
4500 Timer
Posts: 5,861
Favourite Quo Album: Hello!
Favourite other bands.: Talking Heads, Rolling Stones, Sheryl Crow, Gary Numan, Alabama 3, ZZ Top, Paul van Dyk, Jeff Beck, Bowie, Gerry Rafferty, Band of Skulls, UFO, S.A.H.B
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Post by mortified on Oct 18, 2023 13:45:12 GMT
Mrs Flittersnoop, I 100% agree. I think Piledriver, Hello! and Quo are all a fine balance of rock, country and lighter songs. Not an easy thing to achieve in only 8 tracks. Being able to please pretty much every Quo fan at that time with these albums was no mean feat. And they certainly never, ever got the credit for that amount of variety. It's when that balance tips in favour of one particular style that things can go astray. Very few albums are all shade and little light. Maybe Heavy Traffic and Quid Pro Quo could claim to come close. And some are too much light. Thirsty Work springs immediately to mind. Maybe having to focus on only 8 or 10 songs to stick on a vinyl album and the odd B-side raised the bar, concentrated the mind and increased the quality. The advent of the CD, especially from the 90's onwards, changed all that. Most albums since then, not just Quo's, have been far too long. Artists were having to come up with 13 to 16 songs. In Thirsty Work's case and including B-sides, they had 23! Francis, being as prolific as he was, provided the majority. So it became extremely unbalanced.
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Post by railroad007 on Oct 18, 2023 14:14:10 GMT
Great Article of the Frantic Four approaching their peak (and Quo's 1972-76 Peak) I've always loved Hello! But personally speaking (maybe it was just 'the way' back then) the production could have been more 'In your Face' (As in 'Piledriver' terms) it's always sounded somewhat 'suppressed' to me in places, perhaps I've never played it loud enough then...The actual Songs are magical still 50 years later I think it's the only album where I love every note from start to finish. Agree with you about the sound. I reserve it for the car so it can go stupidly loud. At volume, it sounds incredible I think OTL has the best sound Search the planet for a Ferguson turntable stereo system with the bass boost feature. Only with this is the full power of Hello revealed.
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Post by frozenhero on Oct 19, 2023 18:25:18 GMT
A lot recycled from the delux edition liner notes, but these are new quotes I like... Andy: "There's a fuck of a lot of notes in that song." Rossi: "There are also two saxophones on that song but you can't fucking hear them." Andy saying that he played on 4500x is also new. And of course he's not very nice to the hardcore fan. But well, I wouldn't argue with him! I do remember hearing drums and bass, more or less where I'd expect them to be You certainly wouldn't know it from the official releases I've heard. Can't hear the bass on them. But perhaps this is a fault of Paxo's remixing. I probably need to search for the raw done-on-the-night mixes that Dark mentioned. I'm a musician of 20 years and it my ears, musically, it wasn't "all over the place" and once Francis said John kept slowing the songs down, people hopped on it and there are posts on here and on YT of people saying the songs were too slow. Utter bullshit. John slowed down on some songs on the first tour, but you'd really need to be listening to hear it and it was hardly noticeable to 95% of those who were there. I don't think I was all that actively reading all the posts at the time, but when I heard the reunion version of Down Down, it was blatantly obvious that the song was too fast for John. The question remains why they even played it, since it hadn't been on the 1976 live album... But as you said, it's different when you're there. Maybe. I think I have Francis' critical ear, even at a gig. It's not always pretty, because you want to enjoy things but can't help picking out things.
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Post by dennis on Oct 19, 2023 19:12:58 GMT
I didn't think JC did too bad with Down Down:
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Post by 4th Chord on Oct 19, 2023 19:21:58 GMT
I didn't think JC did too bad with Down Down: Nicely paced, heavy, what's not to like?
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Post by freewilly on Oct 19, 2023 22:14:20 GMT
A lot recycled from the delux edition liner notes, but these are new quotes I like... Andy: "There's a fuck of a lot of notes in that song." Rossi: "There are also two saxophones on that song but you can't fucking hear them." Andy saying that he played on 4500x is also new. And of course he's not very nice to the hardcore fan. But well, I wouldn't argue with him! I do remember hearing drums and bass, more or less where I'd expect them to be You certainly wouldn't know it from the official releases I've heard. Can't hear the bass on them. But perhaps this is a fault of Paxo's remixing. I probably need to search for the raw done-on-the-night mixes that Dark mentioned. I'm a musician of 20 years and it my ears, musically, it wasn't "all over the place" and once Francis said John kept slowing the songs down, people hopped on it and there are posts on here and on YT of people saying the songs were too slow. Utter bullshit. John slowed down on some songs on the first tour, but you'd really need to be listening to hear it and it was hardly noticeable to 95% of those who were there. I don't think I was all that actively reading all the posts at the time, but when I heard the reunion version of Down Down, it was blatantly obvious that the song was too fast for John. The question remains why they even played it, since it hadn't been on the 1976 live album... But as you said, it's different when you're there. Maybe. I think I have Francis' critical ear, even at a gig. It's not always pretty, because you want to enjoy things but can't help picking out things. I agree about Down Down. That was obvious in 2013. By the last few gigs in 2014, it was fine. I do remember Francis very clearly saying, "Go on Spud" once or twice, particularly in Caroline where John was on fire and Francis being into it and people saying it was Francis trying to speed John up. That's one example of what I meant
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gerh
Grizzled Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 2,965
Favourite Quo Album: 'Hello' [and 'Quo Live']
Favourite other bands.: Zappa, Kansas, Rush, Deep Purple, Yes, Richard Thompson, Horslips, Rory Gallagher, Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest etc etc. [ANYONE but Kiss!]
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Post by gerh on Oct 19, 2023 22:55:40 GMT
I didn't think JC did too bad with Down Down: I don’t give 2 sh*ts what anyone says, it only sounds right when JCs playing it! 😉
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Post by dennis on Oct 20, 2023 14:07:20 GMT
A lot recycled from the delux edition liner notes, but these are new quotes I like... Andy: "There's a fuck of a lot of notes in that song." Rossi: "There are also two saxophones on that song but you can't fucking hear them." Andy saying that he played on 4500x is also new. And of course he's not very nice to the hardcore fan. But well, I wouldn't argue with him! You certainly wouldn't know it from the official releases I've heard. Can't hear the bass on them. But perhaps this is a fault of Paxo's remixing. I probably need to search for the raw done-on-the-night mixes that Dark mentioned. I don't think I was all that actively reading all the posts at the time, but when I heard the reunion version of Down Down, it was blatantly obvious that the song was too fast for John. The question remains why they even played it, since it hadn't been on the 1976 live album... But as you said, it's different when you're there. Maybe. I think I have Francis' critical ear, even at a gig. It's not always pretty, because you want to enjoy things but can't help picking out things. I agree about Down Down. That was obvious in 2013. By the last few gigs in 2014, it was fine. I do remember Francis very clearly saying, "Go on Spud" once or twice, particularly in Caroline where John was on fire and Francis being into it and people saying it was Francis trying to speed John up. That's one example of what I meant JC seemed to cope ok in 2013, imo
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Post by railroad007 on Oct 20, 2023 14:16:38 GMT
There's some amazing hearing about. At live shows my ears can't pick out nuances at that volume, I think that my brain fills in the gaps of where we are in the song. I've never actually stood still at a live show and listened, too busy jumping about.
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Post by railroad007 on Oct 20, 2023 14:17:42 GMT
Going to a Status Quo gig to listen. It even looks silly written down...down.
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mortified
4500 Timer
Posts: 5,861
Favourite Quo Album: Hello!
Favourite other bands.: Talking Heads, Rolling Stones, Sheryl Crow, Gary Numan, Alabama 3, ZZ Top, Paul van Dyk, Jeff Beck, Bowie, Gerry Rafferty, Band of Skulls, UFO, S.A.H.B
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Post by mortified on Oct 20, 2023 14:27:04 GMT
Ooh, that bass line's not quite right and, well, that drum filler is missing. I'm gutted
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Post by frozenhero on Oct 20, 2023 14:53:42 GMT
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Post by frozenhero on Oct 20, 2023 15:01:59 GMT
Ooh, that bass line's not quite right and, well, that drum filler is missing. I'm gutted It depends on whether one thinks the fill is important or not. I think what John did on the original of O Baby is pretty spectacular, so to see him (on DVD) miss that fill several times in a row and eventually doing it is frustrating. For me personally, there really is something missing that should be part of the song. If you don't think it detracts, well, fair enough. And for people like Andy and Rhino, who have played with the band a lot of times and tried to play their parts correctly, it seems natural that they would notice things going wrong more than the average fan. Musicians can be hard critics. Gary Moore heard every wrong note somebody played. Should they swallow their opinions to avoid enraging fans?
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