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Post by roadhouse on Feb 21, 2024 19:37:15 GMT
Okay if you we're a Quo fan in 1984 you will remember the disappoint that Quo announced that they would no longer be touring, hence their last tour was entitled End of the road.
In interviews with the band at the time in 84 I remember they agreed to fullfill their recording contract and continue making albums, which I remember thinking I took some comfort from rather than Quo split altogether.
So to see them doing Live Aid wasn't such a shock or surprise as we knew it was a one off charity gig, but by then a year on from the last End of the road gig there was no sign of a new album on the horizon.
As a fan at that time I wasn't too concerned yet as it had only been a year or just under after that last gig, but the reports coming back that the band are not getting on, did cause concern.
My point to all this, is personally at the time I struggled to see how a band that we're very much a live band, how we're they going to survive not touring new albums. I assumed they wouldn't sell anywhere near as well, and I wondered if Quo would do tv show appearances like Top of the pops, otherwise I could see their popularity dwindle down to nothing.
But then just 2 years after the End of the road a new album came out In the army now, and on the back cover it said in bold letters QUOS BACK.
But I was confused by the QUOS BACK idea, as from the fans perspective they didn't go anywhere, we we're anxiously waiting for a new album anyway, so why shout from the roof tops QUOS BACK?
Okay Alan and Pete had parted ship, and we had new musicians Rhino and Jeff much to the dismay of a huge amount of fans at the time, but we quickly warmed to this situation.
But heres the thing that is most confusing, Quo had announced they would be touring again and tour In the army now album.
But I assumed that the reason the band were not getting on in 84/85 was due to living in each others pockets from touring, but they made the decision to stop touring, and you would presume to heal any rifts.
So in hindsight was it really the touring that killed the relationship between Francis and Alan or was there something running more deeply sour that we will never know about.
I know Alan living in Australia had a baring on not being able to work together very easily, but the band knew about these difficulties when they agreed to just make studio albums, so it wasn't apparent Francis wasn't getting on with Alan then.
So it seems if you try to unravel everything, there still seems to be more questions than answers. So many things didn't pan out the way we thought it would as fans.
To be told no more touring, then all of a sudden more touring and an album.
I'm wondering or have been for many years now, how many fans did Quo lose forever and stopped being fans due to apparently being lied to on so many counts.
In hindsight all they needed was a couple of years off, a break from each other, and maybe we could have seen the albums we were expecting from with Alan still in the band by 86/87, and who knows maybe even invite Coghlan back, we can only imagine how great that could have been now.
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Post by dennis on Feb 21, 2024 19:44:30 GMT
I think they lost fans due to releasing increasingly bland shite & sounding less & less like Quo - even live, after Alan & Pete were ousted
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Post by roadhouse on Feb 21, 2024 19:48:15 GMT
I think they lost fans due to releasing increasingly bland shite & sounding less & less like Quo - even live, after Alan & Pete were ousted Yeah but that took a few albums before we realised the original fans have gone in their droves. I think the lack of success by Perfect Remedy highlights this. I am assuming thousands had already said sod this I'm off due to the lies by 86. I remember feeling cheated, like I would have rather had more albums with Alan than the touring with only half of Quo left by then.
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viza
Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 412
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Post by viza on Feb 21, 2024 20:16:47 GMT
I think Alan and Francis did get along pretty well on tour, especially on stage. It was the direction of the band and everything else that was a problem. The touring was problematic in other respects and they needed a break from that.
I think the talk about recording new albums was just talk to calm the record company. I don't think that any member of the band knew what to do at the time and they probably all thought it was over. They tried to record some demos after EOTR but that led nowhere.
Don't even think that Rossi thought there was a band any more but when he was asked to fulfill the contract and didn't want to work with Alan any more he had to do something.
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Post by dennis on Feb 21, 2024 20:25:30 GMT
I think they lost fans due to releasing increasingly bland shite & sounding less & less like Quo - even live, after Alan & Pete were ousted Yeah but that took a few albums before we realised the original fans have gone in their droves. I think the lack of success by Perfect Remedy highlights this. I am assuming thousands had already said sod this I'm off due to the lies by 86. I remember feeling cheated, like I would have rather had more albums with Alan than the touring with only half of Quo left by then. I thought rumours of friction within the band were common knowledge - I remember it being discussed amongst the group of us who went to see them back in '79, which was my first gig. As for the albums, there was a noticeable change after Live! & a complete drop off after John was jettisoned - it was hard to believe that 1982 & Back To Back were actually Quo albums. No wonder that the EOTR set didn't include any material post 1980!
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Post by Quoincidence on Feb 21, 2024 20:32:15 GMT
I think it was a case of Francis, Rick, and Alan drifting apart from one another and certain people in Quo's camp whispering in people's ears.
Quo were in the studio on September 18th, 1984, down in Woldingham, Surrey, to mix both the video footage and overdub the audio for the Milton Keynes concert, ready for its release.
They were also discussing the state of things in general, and Alan had brought up the misappropriation of the band's income. He brought this up as he was going through a divorce at the time and had to present details of his income, which is when he became aware of these anomalies.
This is when Quo parted ways with Quarry Management.
Things all went south at a really, really bad time.
Rick had not long lost his daughter Heidi, and he had his divorce with Marietta to deal with. Alan was in Australia and would only come back to the UK if it was something he needed to be present for and not just a one-off TV appearance. As far as I know, he was also adamant that the band should go over to Australia to record the next album, but I see his reasoning for that. Francis was a massive coke addict at this point, so I don't think he'll have been all too bothered about anything but where his next line was coming from.
We all know a certain person will have been in Rick's and Francis' ears, persuading them to ditch Alan with him bringing to light all this information about the band's income.
We also know that they had issues with Alan as early as the 1970s and that they were planning to form a new supergroup without him before everything sorted itself out again.
I've been told recently that during the Hanover concert on April 24th, 1984, both Francis and Alan got into an argument on stage and that they were both immensely pissed off with one another.
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Post by railroad007 on Feb 21, 2024 20:37:50 GMT
"We will be a band as normal RRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHTTTTTTTTT"
So, recording an album with 2 new blokes and then one of the new blokes leaves and another new bloke joins and then he goes and another new bloke joins, then, a temporary new bloke who is the son of the longest lasting new blokes, he is there because one of the old blokes is not well but the other old bloke doesn't see the point of stopping. Then, the 2 original old blokes join the other old blokes to do a tour with the new blokes, old new blokes or newer new blokes not invited.
This takes 30 odd years until
"We will be a band as normal............................
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Post by iamcomplaining88 on Feb 21, 2024 20:55:42 GMT
I remember an interview that Rossi gave to British Forces Radio in 1986, in which he was asked why Quo were going back on tour and he said "honestly, it's for the money, I can't lie!"
I would tend to believe him about that because both he and Rick had huge drug habits at that time, and also they were threatened by the record company, that they'd be sued if they didn't record another album.
When they went out on the In The Army Now tour, most of the denim hordes had already jumped ship, I'd say 80-85% of the audience at shows I attended were just average everyday short haired people, whereas most of the audience pre End Of The Road tour, were made up of Hard Rock & Heavy Metal fans, ah they were the good old days.
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Post by camerst on Feb 21, 2024 20:59:02 GMT
Quos journey is a crazy one,highest highs to lowest lows,a true rock n roll story should really be a film about it. To think just before EOTR tour they had just shifted over 250 ,000 copies of Maguerita Time. Unanswered questions I am not sure,by 84 Francis just couldn’t work with Alan anymore,different personalities.
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gerh
Grizzled Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 2,983
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 Feb 21, 2024 21:07:10 GMT
I think it was a case of Francis, Rick, and Alan drifting apart from one another and certain people in Quo's camp whispering in people's ears. Quo were in the studio on September 18th, 1984, down in Woldingham, Surrey, to mix both the video footage and overdub the audio for the Milton Keynes concert, ready for its release. They were also discussing the state of things in general, and Alan had brought up the misappropriation of the band's income. He brought this up as he was going through a divorce at the time and had to present details of his income, which is when he became aware of these anomalies. This is when Quo parted ways with Quarry Management. Things all went south at a really, really bad time. Rick had not long lost his daughter Heidi, and he had his divorce with Marietta to deal with. Alan was in Australia and would only come back to the UK if it was something he needed to be present for and not just a one-off TV appearance. As far as I know, he was also adamant that the band should go over to Australia to record the next album, but I see his reasoning for that. Francis was a massive coke addict at this point, so I don't think he'll have been all too bothered about anything but where his next line was coming from. We all know a certain person will have been in Rick's and Francis' ears, persuading them to ditch Alan with him, bringing to light all this information about the band's income. We also know that they had issues with Alan as early as the 1970s and that they were planning to form a new supergroup without him before everything sorted itself out again. I've been told recently that during the Hanover concert on April 24th, 1984, both Francis and Alan got into an argument on stage and that they were both immensely pissed off with one another. Hey Luke - being honest here - have you ever thought about writing a book [however long &/or short it may be] about the demise of Quo? [I'm talking about from when the cracks started to appear - even IF that's soon after they 'broke' in a big way, as you've said above, "as early as the 1970s"] I don't know about anybody else on this board, but I don't actually know all that much about the shenanigans and crap that did go on over the years [apart from what's in the few 'official-ish' books] - maybe not being near the band's home ground had something to do with that, and maybe it's just as well too that I didn't know 'cos, for a while, I adored them and too much extra knowledge probably would have halted that far earlier [than Live-Aid]!! 👍
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Post by markquo on Feb 22, 2024 22:26:03 GMT
I’ve always thought the way that Pete was dumped was a bit out of order,especially after appearing at Live Aid and working with Rossi/Frost . Cheers
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Post by dennis on Feb 22, 2024 22:45:27 GMT
I remember an interview that Rossi gave to British Forces Radio in 1986, in which he was asked why Quo were going back on tour and he said "honestly, it's for the money, I can't lie!" I would tend to believe him about that because both he and Rick had huge drug habits at that time, and also they were threatened by the record company, that they'd be sued if they didn't record another album. When they went out on the In The Army Now tour, most of the denim hordes had already jumped ship, I'd say 80-85% of the audience at shows I attended were just average everyday short haired people, whereas most of the audience pre End Of The Road tour, were made up of Hard Rock & Heavy Metal fans, ah they were the good old days. tbh, I think a fair few on the EOTR tour were doing a bit of a "one last time", having not bothered on recent tours. I made the mistake of seeing them once more on the In The Army tour & never went back.
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stringybob
Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 333
Favourite Quo Album: Quo
Favourite other bands.: Many and varied
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Post by stringybob on Feb 23, 2024 1:30:45 GMT
I’ve always thought the way that Pete was dumped was a bit out of order,especially after appearing at Live Aid and working with Rossi/Frost . Cheers He was treated like dirt. One minute he was in a hugely successful band that was still contracted to make albums, the next he was out with no explanation and none of the other members had the decency to tell him to his face. No wonder he wants nothing to do with the band nowadays.
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Post by azza200 on Feb 23, 2024 12:11:42 GMT
The drug and Alcohol abuse they all did in the 80's and 70's also played into all the arguments and tension but during the 80's Rick and Francis being on coke 24/7 must of riled Alan up as he didn't touch the stuff did he was only on booze wasn't he? There were clearly burnt out on touring and as others have said in this topic if they had taken a year or 2 out for a long break. History may of been different post Live Aid
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Post by freewilly on Feb 23, 2024 12:48:05 GMT
It's a mix of everything.
Whether they want to admit it or not, they needed the tension. The tension is what makes great music. Every band has it. It's never plain sailing. A creative relationship will always have tensions and be ego driven. But, in the end, it's always the music that comes out on top.
From the outside looking in, Rick was busy playing the rockstar and then had to contend with such a tragic incident that is unimaginable. Alan was disconnected being in Australia and when he was around, he had Rick and Francis constantly out of it and that is going to irk on you, regardless of what the relationship is based on. Francis had/has a giant ego and he doesn't like to be challenged. It's his way or no way. Throw in the cocaine, he's going to think he's even better than he actually is and that is not nice to be around. Add Alan's stubbornness into that, it's no wonder they fell out. Then, you add in management getting into Francis' ear, burnout, JC's mental breakdowns...It was always going to fall apart.
In my opinion, I don't blame Alan or anyone for challenging a musical direction in a band. I don't care who's side you're on, people on here in the same situation would have done the exact same thing. This cobblers about "how can I play this to my family?" in regards MT...If that was the tipping point, Francis really does have the thinnest skin I've ever known.
In regards the reunion, health issues aside, Francis loves control and wants to be in control. I can't imagine how he must have felt when the fans welcomed and reacted Alan and John back. That must have touched a nerve. But That's fine. I heard he got seriously pissed off with Andy, Richie and Rhino drinking on one of the tours. Difference is, he can control that situation. He can't control Rick, Alan and John because they'd stand up to him. Sounds like a putdown but I don't mean it that way. Francis finally got what he always wanted and who can blame him for not wanting to give that up? He didn't want confrontation. He didn't want to be challenged. He didn't want band members being unhealthy. That's fine and understandable. We heard Alan got ratty with a crew member on the last tour, but from his perspective, I've never heard anyone who has met or dealt with Alan, to have said anything negative about him. He was also in a bad state of health, knowing he wasn't going to play with Quo again, it all adds up as to why he may have gotten dickheadish with a crew member
In my honest opinion, I'll always put the majority of the blame on Francis for the downfall of Quo. But Rick and Alan were not innocent in any of it. Alan would get the least blame out of the two and I wouldn't blame JC for any of it and the way they speak about John, they know this.
As for Pete, it was a disgrace how he was treated and Francis knows this.
I don't give any blame whatsoever to Andy, Rhino or Jeff. What are they supposed to do?
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