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Post by railroad007 on Apr 15, 2024 7:53:03 GMT
Bit of an hypothetical question really, but assuming the Live Aid Line up carried on to record the next album in 85/86 as articles of the band suggested was going to happen. Would it be have been simular to the In the army album? Or more a continuation of Back to back? I remember seeing Lancaster being interviewed about recording with Quo after the EOTR tour is over, as the band promised to continue to make albums as a band as normal, even Rossi announced that during an EOTR gig, and Lancaster said we really want to get back in the studio and work on the technical side, which suggests he was still on board at that stage. Never quite knew what he was referring to as work on the technical side. Did he mean he was hoping for a more rocky less poppy Quo? Perhaps a return to the gutsey Quo we knew them for, instead of trying to cling onto throw away pop songs. Who knows what he meant now. If thats the case songs like In the army now, Dreaming, In your eyes, probably would never have happened under the Live Aid line up. Thoughts? Difficult one, BTB wasn't great but it showed they needed to regroup. INTAN is liked by many on here but I played it once, I liked the singles but the rest sounded exactly like what it actually is, a contractural obligation to avoid being sued by the record company. I still find it hard to believe that FR didn't know they owed Phonogram and album or two. This 'product' would not have seen the light of day if AL was still in the band. |
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Post by roadhouse on Apr 15, 2024 21:20:35 GMT
The demo, One Of A Kind, gave an indication of where Alan's writing was heading. And, let's be honest, it's pretty dreadful. As Hilly said at the State of Quo gig on Saturday; Alan was a nice bloke but he didn't half write some kach  Made me chuckle that did. I just think the band members had run out of ideas and inspiration. Things needed freshened up. In the past, it all gelled despite the differences of musical preferences. By the time the 80's was in full swing, those differences and the fragmentation of the writing led to below par releases from 1+9+8+2 onwards. My songs are better than your songs sort of thing. Back To Back turned out pretty grim and the Rossi/Frost solo material wasn't exactly boom boom shake the room stuff. Rick's was marginally better, but not by much. I personally thought In The Army Now was a big improvement on Back To Back, although it was downhill for a while after that. Studio work and the technical side? Not sure what Alan will have meant by that. But if the suggestion is that any album recorded by Quo in 1986 by the Live Aid line up would have had a harder edge to it, I very much doubt that would have been the case. I actually like One of a kind, it's way too good to be buried as a demo. I think it deserves an official release. |
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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 Apr 16, 2024 5:24:50 GMT
The demo, One Of A Kind, gave an indication of where Alan's writing was heading. And, let's be honest, it's pretty dreadful. As Hilly said at the State of Quo gig on Saturday; Alan was a nice bloke but he didn't half write some kach Made me chuckle that did. I just think the band members had run out of ideas and inspiration. Things needed freshened up. In the past, it all gelled despite the differences of musical preferences. By the time the 80's was in full swing, those differences and the fragmentation of the writing led to below par releases from 1+9+8+2 onwards. My songs are better than your songs sort of thing. Back To Back turned out pretty grim and the Rossi/Frost solo material wasn't exactly boom boom shake the room stuff. Rick's was marginally better, but not by much. I personally thought In The Army Now was a big improvement on Back To Back, although it was downhill for a while after that. Studio work and the technical side? Not sure what Alan will have meant by that. But if the suggestion is that any album recorded by Quo in 1986 by the Live Aid line up would have had a harder edge to it, I very much doubt that would have been the case. I actually like One of a kind, it's way too good to be buried as a demo. I think it deserves an official release. You're mad. Please seek help I actually think it's just about the worst thing the band has ever recorded. Even just as a demo. You're right though; it was too good to be buried. Should have been incinerated But it's all about personal taste I guess 👍 |
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Post by Quoincidence on Apr 16, 2024 23:22:54 GMT
I actually like One of a kind, it's way too good to be buried as a demo. I think it deserves an official release. You're mad. Please seek help I actually think it's just about the worst thing the band has ever recorded. Even just as a demo. You're right though; it was too good to be buried. Should have been incinerated But it's all about personal taste I guess 👍 good thing it isn't Quo then |
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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 Apr 17, 2024 6:01:10 GMT
You're mad. Please seek help I actually think it's just about the worst thing the band has ever recorded. Even just as a demo. You're right though; it was too good to be buried. Should have been incinerated But it's all about personal taste I guess 👍 good thing it isn't Quo then Just Alan, was it? And a few mates? Whoever it was should have been kicked out of the band  |
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Post by roadhouse on Apr 17, 2024 12:30:34 GMT
Don't quote me but wasn't One of a kind a recording done by Alan's band The Bombers?
I have heard some of The Bombers material and it sounds simular to that. Or was it The party boys? I'm not sure what came first.
Either way some of that stuff was more like Marguerita Time than Backwater. Bit strange really as it was Quo's softer side which drove the wedge between Alan and Francis, or so we are supposed to believe. Alan had no time for Marguerita, lol see what I did there 😊
But in hindsight it does seem like Alan was being hypocritical because his post 1985 output was quite poppy in places, and nothing like the Frantic Four stuff he was supposedly craving for.
That said I quite like One of a kind, ok dated now, but I think there was a place for tracks like that, and I think Quo as in the Live Aid Line up could have knocked them into shape.
Lets face it a heavy percentage of Quo's post Blue for you period has been pop tunes, so tracks like Marguerita Time wasn't a shock or surprise to me at all, so I doubt it wasn't to Alan really.
Parts of me think there we're cracks appearing between the band due to Cocaine usage. Something Alan or John didn't take part in, so personality disorder had started to take place which cracked the band literally in half, but all of them put a brave smile on it, some braver than others, but in 1982 that patience ran out for John, and Alan wasn't far behind him.
OK not all as simple as that, but that's in a nut shell how I see it all now.
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gav
Veteran Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 2,152
Favourite Quo Album: On The Level
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Post by gav on Apr 17, 2024 21:01:30 GMT
Yep, Alan started writing all those "big choruses" i guess in an attempt to fall into line with Quo's more poppy direction. I'm not sure it's how he would have wanted it, and i guess that was a source of frustration - that he was going against his more natural songwriting sensibilities, which needed the simultaneous input of the rest of the guys. He was kind of out on a limb, doing it on his own or with mates not in Quo. He must have felt ostracised, but then it was him who decided to move down under.
But... the songs... One Of A Kind could easily have been done by Quo. It seemed hot on the heels of Ol' Rag Blues and very much in that middle-of-the-road style. I like it too though.
Little mini-anthems, i think of Alan's songs in his latter Quo years. Choruses you might hear on the footie terraces. Big Man, I Love Rock and Roll, I Want The World To Know, One Of A Kind, etc. All big choruses.
But he was outdone by the Rossi/Young & Rossi/Frost partnerships. In the end he couldn't compete quality or numbers wise, which is a shame because his earlier songs were an integral part of Quo - he just seemed to end up trying a bit too hard to fit in. It was always him that talked about Quo being a live, performance kind of band - the song had to fit the performance. They lost that i think. Maybe that was his biggest regret?
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Post by quoboy76 on Apr 19, 2024 11:05:16 GMT
Don't quote me but wasn't One of a kind a recording done by Alan's band The Bombers? I have heard some of The Bombers material and it sounds simular to that. Or was it The party boys? I'm not sure what came first. Either way some of that stuff was more like Marguerita Time than Backwater. Bit strange really as it was Quo's softer side which drove the wedge between Alan and Francis, or so we are supposed to believe. Alan had no time for Marguerita, lol see what I did there 😊 But in hindsight it does seem like Alan was being hypocritical because his post 1985 output was quite poppy in places, and nothing like the Frantic Four stuff he was supposedly craving for. That said I quite like One of a kind, ok dated now, but I think there was a place for tracks like that, and I think Quo as in the Live Aid Line up could have knocked them into shape. Lets face it a heavy percentage of Quo's post Blue for you period has been pop tunes, so tracks like Marguerita Time wasn't a shock or surprise to me at all, so I doubt it wasn't to Alan really. Parts of me think there we're cracks appearing between the band due to Cocaine usage. Something Alan or John didn't take part in, so personality disorder had started to take place which cracked the band literally in half, but all of them put a brave smile on it, some braver than others, but in 1982 that patience ran out for John, and Alan wasn't far behind him. OK not all as simple as that, but that's in a nut shell how I see it all now. Not according to Rossi in his autobiography, he says Alan was very much into it |
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Made me chuckle that did. 
