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Post by Victor on Sept 1, 2020 7:55:18 GMT
Looking forward to the opinions and discussions again.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2020 8:55:03 GMT
The songs with Andy involved in the writing were good, the massive number of Rossi/Frost numbers were bland beyond belief. Rick's lack of involvement and lack of interest in the album were so obvious.
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mortified
4500 Timer
Posts: 5,842
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 Sept 1, 2020 9:12:39 GMT
Can of worms time? For me, almost (not quite) the poorest album they ever made. I can't make my mind up whether it was the material itself or just the arrangement and production of that material. More likely the latter I think. But the absence of any composition from Rick, strangely, sticks out like a sore thumb now, although it didn't at the time. The balance isn't there. The album, once again, has quite an AOR feel all the way through. And AOR to me simply means bland. It's not until Shine On turns up on Under The Influence that you realise how much Quo needed Rick's contribution to break up the increasingly lightweight feel to the band's music. There are highlights of course; there are on every Quo album, even those I'm not mad on. Goin' Nowhere kicks things off nicely. Pretty much downhill from there though. Soft In The Head and Rude Awakening Time (reminiscent of a speeded up Fleetwood Mac's One Sunny Day) are the other two that I still play now and again. But the album also contains possibly the worst three tracks they ever committed to vinyl in Restless, Sorry and Tango. And the 4th worst, Beautiful, is with the extra tracks on the singles. So not a golden period of creativity I remember "Q" magazine gave it a 3 out of 5 at the time, which more or less sums it up. That rag was so far up it's own ar$e, it was the blind albino mole equivalent of a music mag. It suggested a return to form. It was evident from that point that it knew the square root of fvck all about Quo's music and fine form. Whatever I gave Back To Back (can't remember), this gets one star more out of 10.
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Post by sqcollector on Sept 1, 2020 10:16:51 GMT
I think that if this album was produced like Rock Til You Drop was, even with the same tracklisting, it could have been better. Or, at least, be regarded as better by Quo fans. I don't dislike it; as in, to me, all Quo albums have their own place, but it is very poppy, yes. Mostly because of the sound. Songs like I Didn't Mean It, Like It Or Not, Rude Awakening Time, Ciao-Ciao, Back On My Feet, with the sound of RTYD, could have been more appreciated, I think, and could have raised the album a bit more. On the other hand, songs like Sorry and Tango are what they are, because of the composition alone, I would say.
Not part of the album itself, but Down To You is great. Again, could have sounded rockier if produced with RTYD's sound.
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Post by paradiseflats on Sept 1, 2020 10:47:29 GMT
My mam taught me, if you haven’t anything good to say. Say nothing. So I will not contribute this month.
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Post by 4th Chord on Sept 1, 2020 12:19:33 GMT
Cannot really say how I feel about this album for fear of being banned by a mod.
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Post by dennis on Sept 1, 2020 13:16:38 GMT
Was the album title a clue as to how the band viewed their efforts? As in, the album could have had the subtitle: this album will drive you to drink!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2020 14:15:13 GMT
Cannot really say how I feel about this album for fear of being banned by a mod. I'm sure you'd be welcomed with open arms and cupcakes over on Teacups'n'Milkjugs. You may have to pack your Lederhosen though...
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gav
Veteran Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 2,150
Favourite Quo Album: On The Level
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Post by gav on Sept 1, 2020 15:04:51 GMT
The song titles should have given us some pretty massive clues: Goin' Nowhere - indeed I Didn't Mean It - don't do it then Confidence - over confidence Point Of No Return - yeah, you've taken this too far already Sail Away - please do Like It Or Not - the latter Soft In The Head - speak for yourselves Queenie - yeah, her an' all Lover Of The Human Race - the feeling isn't mutual Sherri Don't Fail Me Now - make better albums then Rude Awakening Time - sure was Back On My Feet - but you stepped on a dog turd Restless - an understatement, i had to see a shrink after this Ciao-Ciao - most definitely Tango - yes, i'm having a lovely holiday in Italy, without this album Sorry - apology not accepted
Survival - no, i want to end it all She Knew Too Much - probably more than you, to be fair Tossin' And Turnin' - plenty tossing here, and this is turnin' my stomach Down To You - no, down to YOU Beautiful - erm, just no And I Do - i don't Democracy - hardly
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Post by 4th Chord on Sept 1, 2020 16:29:23 GMT
So this album ‘inspired’ the pub tour didn’t it?
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Post by dennis on Sept 1, 2020 16:47:16 GMT
So this album ‘inspired’ the pub tour didn’t it? Where else could they go with the dregs?
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photo4life
New Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 40
Favourite Quo Album: Blue For You
Favourite other bands.: Rush, Queen, Thin Lizzy, Genesis, Blue Öyster Cult
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Post by photo4life on Sept 1, 2020 17:00:59 GMT
This is the album where Quo became Que?
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Post by cammythemortonfan on Sept 1, 2020 19:43:37 GMT
In the 90s this was to Rock Til You Drop what the Party Ain’t Over Yet was to Heavy Traffic.
It wasn’t just the different sound compared to its predecessor ( RTYD has a superb guitar sound) but the songs just aren’t there for me.
I really like Goin’ Nowhere, I Didn’t Mean It.
And I like Soft in the Head and Rude Awakening Time.
Sherri is my guilty pleasure from this album.
Francis murdered Restless.
And Rick wasn’t writing .
I was so disappointed with this album .
In an era where guitars were coming back , Quo somehow managed to go in the opposite direction.
Their live shows were great which makes it even more of a mystery how they ended up with an album like Thirsty Work.
I think Francis didn’t know what way to turn . Rock Til You Drop although doing well, didn’t sell as well as they expected, with the singles faltering in the charts .
Radio were starting to shut them down no matter what they tried .
Thankfully better was to follow five years later with Under the Influence.
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matt
Veteran Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 1,003
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Post by matt on Sept 1, 2020 20:20:51 GMT
Difficult to review this objectively as it’s release coincided with the height of my being a fan of the band.
I drove to Manchester HMV to a signing aged just 18 to meet them for the first time on the week of release. My main memory being that I was very nervous and Rossi was a bit of a prick in person.
The good. I loved 4 tracks. I didn’t mean it. Soft in the head, RAT and Goin nowhere. I also quiet liked She knew too much.
And I convinced myself through playing and playing that the rest were ok/good
However it’s pretty clear with a mature head on my shoulders that this is the sound of the barrel being scraped so hard your fingers bleed
It’s woeful. A complete turd.
To think that this was released the same year as Definitely Maybe, an album that had the swagger and sound of Quo in parts just makes me realise how much in their own bizarre little bubble in Rossi’s loft they were recording this.
Who exactly did they think would like this music? How would you even describe it. What is the genre?
Tango? It’s like looking at a croissant with a pencil stuck in it. It makes so sense. The middle 8 is embarrassing. I remember taking over it in the car to distract people from how bad it was.
Sail away? How can they have heard that intro in the studio and not laughed.
Sherri? Sorry? Queenie? Ye gods what an affront.
And the b sides were no better. Apart from maybe Down to you
The best word to describe it is weird. The overall sound is bright but the guitars are not there. I used to play this back to back with Never too late to compare the sound and wonder where it had all gone wrong. Especially after they had released RTYD previously.
All in all a bewildering curio. In the same way that finding a dog shit in your cornflakes is. You wonder how it happened. And hope it never does again
It’s failure was it’s legacy that led to the risible and worse Dont Stop which represented the nadir, being dropped by a major label and making Under the influence - an album that has the feel of five blokes recording an album in their spare time in a garage on the cheap.
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Post by Quoincidence on Sept 1, 2020 20:48:52 GMT
Not much to say about this. I like a handful of tracks; Goin' Nowhere, Soft In The Head, Rude Awakening, Didn't Mean It, Ciao Ciao, Queenie, Sherri and Sorry (Prefer D. Roussos version tbh).
Rossi really shouldn't get a massive amount of blame for how this turned out. Rick just couldn't be arsed and wasnt writing songs, which isn't any good when a band you're in are contracted for x amount of albums.
No wonder they had to go down the cover albums route after this album.
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