When Quo released Rollin' Home and then Red Sky

I always thought the Red Sky riff was stolen from Phil Lynott's track Nineteen, and just altered slightly.






But yes I really liked Rollin' home and Red Sky.

If you compare the Nineteen riff to Red Sky, it's easy to imagine it was Rick's little nod to his mate Phil Lynott.

They did write a few songs together after all.

Nineteen was released the year before Red Sky was recorded.

These were two John David songs and I think I'm right in saying this was the first time he'd come to the table. First I'd noticed anyway. Quite a proportion of his songs, which were recorded by Quo, did turn out to be singles. There's never really been any explanation for that. Maybe there isn't one. But it may explain the Dave Edmunds connection. 

My immediate impression at the time was a ZZ Top comparison when I first heard Red Sky but, in retrospect, as nino says, there's not really that much similarity other than it was probably closer to ZZ Top than the Quo I'd known before it! 

Incidentally, was Red Sky the first time they'd used the crossed guitars logo? They used a different logo with Rollin' Home. Maybe trying them both out. Because, let's face it, this was the start of the marketing of the band as the Rossi/Parfitt show. Notwithstanding the fact it pretty much always had been. The marketing people were just taking advantage of it now. 

So could it be just be coincidence that the Red Sky opening riff sounds very simular to Lynott's song Nineteen?

Nineteen came out late 85, and Rick probably heard it as he was working on songs with Phil in 85. Rick is on Phil's songs My father's son, and Kill.

It just seems like it's so plausible to imagine Rick used and modified slightly the tempo from Nineteen.

Incidentally a bit of useless information perhaps but the song Nineteen Phil wrote for his band Grand Slam, which was the band he formed in 84 after the break up of Thin Lizzy.

It's possible even though John David wrote the lyrics that Rick used the riff he heard on Nineteen.

Or I could be totally barking up the wrong tree. 🤔👀

Phil and Rick here:

I was delighted. The singles looked great and sounded Quo. I liked the b sides. Main reason for my delight wasnt the music it was the news of a tour. Army was my first, I'd been gutted to miss eotr

I also thought the album looked great. After that I felt that the bands image took a really bad hammering

Lonely is my fave track from those singles

Loved Rollin' home and especially Red Sky...bought the album blindly...a mistake I never made again. Couldn't believe the album was the way it was compared to the two singles.

I remember army more than these two. It was my first quo single.