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Post by unspokenwords on Oct 10, 2020 19:54:16 GMT
It is strange how many of us purchased these albums out of loyalty, I know I did, but were deeply disappointed, album after album after album, and yet we still bought them hoping for one last gem...alas in my opinion never to be.
Agree with what others have said about Too Close to the Ground. Great song and did show the quality and diversity that could be delivered, shame that almost everything else was a dirge of watered down pap. Don't think it is based on the Andrew Bown track. To my shame I actually bought this Andrew Bown album as well, played it once and consigned it to storage some where, probably warped now! Think some day I will just get rid of all this Quo related crap albums (ie those after Blue for You and Live) etc.,including all that I bought up as far as Heavy Traffic, which was one of their best post 'real Quo' efforts, but after which I really lost the will to be bothered with them and don't rate or even listen to any of this stuff, one listen, skip and that it a far as anything ever got with releases in the last 30+yeras, as it is so mediocre and predictable and the 'Acquostic' strum along awfulness. that in theory could have been good with thought and proper arrangements instead of lazy sing-a-long strumming with no finesse at all. Think of what could have been with proper quality acoustic arrangements and players.
I often wonder why there was no one telling Rossi (&Co) that what he was producing was crap, instead of managers and producers who nodded in compliance. Why did no one tell him the truth that most of the songs were poor, he was not going in the right direction and that for example that he could not reach the notes on later songs like the cover of Jennifer Warne's 'Restless and why oh why did they constantly use male vocals to try and imitate high female voices on many albums which sound like a bag of cats being strangled! (and he does not go well vocally with Hannah Rickard)
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Post by quovadis on Oct 10, 2020 20:41:58 GMT
Totally agree with you unspoken words about aquostic strum a long I hate it with a vengeance I really do but the aquostic sold well as far as I know
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Post by blagult on Oct 10, 2020 20:55:09 GMT
Yeah I get what you are saying having been in the same position. Hoping the next one was the one that rekindled things. But in reality I don’t think it should start out another Rossi Blame culture. He certainly wasn’t the only one to blame. In this thread we are reviewing an album that still involved RP & AL !! We all know it started to go T..ts up in 77. Yes it got worse but the S..t started back in the 70’s. Blame them all as those who went along with the so called crap were profoundly more guilty than the person who believed in the music he was producing !!
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matt
Veteran Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 1,003
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Post by matt on Oct 11, 2020 7:49:16 GMT
Immediately after Back to Back Alan wrote this
And rick wrote this
Seems a bit unfair to lay all the blame at Francis’s feet
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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 Oct 11, 2020 8:07:13 GMT
matt, I think One of a Kind is one of the worst things I've ever heard a Quo band member - past or present - commit to a recording. When the accusation is that the creative juices dried up, this song pretty much proves Alan was as culpable as anyone, if not more so. If Quo had gone in THAT direction, it would have been ten times worse than what ultimately came along for a while. The blame always lands at Francis's feet; some it very much deserved. But a great deal of it us unfair. We've only recently begun to discover that Rick hadn't been contributing for a long time. With songwriting, I can almost understand. That involves a process that won't necessarily come to someone on demand. But in the studio; that borders on the unforgiveable. When Back To Back was recorded, the band were imploding. We didn't know it then but we're all aware of it now. After that, it was just a question of whether or not you liked an album or you didn't. If you didn't, you either bought the next one in hope (which I did) or you gave up (which many others did). I've got a mate who is a massive fan of The Cure. He insists that everything after 1989 is rubbish but he still goes to see them live all over Europe when he can, even now in his mid -50's. But we disagree on these Cure albums. There are several in recent years that I think are brilliant. So it isn't just Quo. You pays your money, you takes your choice
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matt
Veteran Rocker Rollin'
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Post by matt on Oct 11, 2020 8:37:08 GMT
mortified Yes. I do think Francis has by far the best gift for melody. He writes some absolute clunkers. But he’s been writing for 50 years so that’s to be expected. Take Win or Lose. A great song by Lew Lewis , probably spoiled by the recording on back to back. A lot of it is in arrangement and production
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Post by Quoincidence on Oct 11, 2020 17:29:09 GMT
3 songs were left off of the album and remain unreleased... 4 if you want to include Ricks vocal take for TCTTG
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matt
Veteran Rocker Rollin'
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Post by matt on Oct 11, 2020 17:45:18 GMT
Which are the 3 songs?
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Post by sqcollector on Oct 11, 2020 17:48:06 GMT
3 songs were left off of the album and remain unreleased... 4 if you want to include Ricks vocal take for TCTTG There's enough known unreleased material for Universal to release on its own 2-CD (or even 3-CD) compilation. So, when can that see the light of day? ahah
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Post by Quoincidence on Oct 11, 2020 17:59:13 GMT
If I told you, I'd have to kill you
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Post by Quoincidence on Oct 11, 2020 18:21:06 GMT
3 songs were left off of the album and remain unreleased... 4 if you want to include Ricks vocal take for TCTTG There's enough known unreleased material for Universal to release on its own 2-CD (or even 3-CD) compilation. So, when can that see the light of day? ahah A good 4 Disc set, actually, similar to the Rockers Rollin' Boxset, but with entirely unreleased material and not single edits / etc
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2020 19:28:55 GMT
matt , I think One of a Kind is one of the worst things I've ever heard a Quo band member - past or present - commit to a recording. When the accusation is that the creative juices dried up, this song pretty much proves Alan was as culpable as anyone, if not more so. If Quo had gone in THAT direction, it would have been ten times worse than what ultimately came along for a while. The blame always lands at Francis's feet; some it very much deserved. But a great deal of it us unfair. We've only recently begun to discover that Rick hadn't been contributing for a long time. With songwriting, I can almost understand. That involves a process that won't necessarily come to someone on demand. But in the studio; that borders on the unforgiveable. When Back To Back was recorded, the band were imploding. We didn't know it then but we're all aware of it now. After that, it was just a question of whether or not you liked an album or you didn't. If you didn't, you either bought the next one in hope (which I did) or you gave up (which many others did). I've got a mate who is a massive fan of The Cure. He insists that everything after 1989 is rubbish but he still goes to see them live all over Europe when he can, even now in his mid -50's. But we disagree on these Cure albums. There are several in recent years that I think are brilliant. So it isn't just Quo. You pays your money, you takes your choice You have to remember Rick was still deep in grief over Heidi's death, he hadn't come to terms with it and was blotting it out by drinking vast quantities of alcohol. Needless to say his marriage to the wonderful Marietta was under immense strain and all this being lived out in the public eye, so I think Rick's non-appearance at some recording sessions is very forgiveable. What was unprofessional was the flouncing and tantrums of AL during the sessions for the album. You either grit your teeth and get on with the job or you leave the band in a dignified manner. You don't leave the keyboardist suddenly having to record your parts.
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Post by sqcollector on Oct 11, 2020 23:52:47 GMT
A good 4 Disc set, actually, similar to the Rockers Rollin' Boxset, but with entirely unreleased material and not single edits / etc That's the kind of product I've been waiting for! This needs to happen!
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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 Oct 12, 2020 5:51:31 GMT
That's a fair point about Rick, @bluehighway. I agree totally about during this period. I was thinking more about recent years; Quid Pro Quo etc. but I didn't make that clear. Particularly in a thread about Back To Back! I was just trying to make a general point about Francis always taking the flack when everyone else wasn't exactly blameless.
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roquer
Rocker Rollin'
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Post by roquer on Oct 12, 2020 16:37:41 GMT
3 songs were left off of the album and remain unreleased... 4 if you want to include Ricks vocal take for TCTTG I assume those 3 songs + Rick's version were discover AFTER the release of the Back to Back deluxe. Am I right? Sometimes I dream about the "possible" new box-set. I hope all is unreleased, not like the Rockers Rollin' box or, for example, the Kiss Box Set, which were dissapoiting (to my taste at least), very few unreleased things. Back to the topic, of the four videoclips from the album, the only one that I really like (and I still don't know why! Maybe the answer was I was 1 year old when I first heard it) was GDTT, the other three was "meh...". The first time I heard the album in it's entirely was on the second CD reissue, when Never Too Late and Back to Back were on the same CD, and I always remember playing that CD because of the NTL album, sometimes I skipped the songs from BTB, sometimes I heard the album but never played that CD because I wanted to hear the album. Also I was surprised to know the GDTT version was different in the album than in the videoclip, never liked the version from the album (yes, before know it was a demo, I always thought "This is a strange sounding song") I'm surprised because of "the love" of TCTTG in this forum, ALWAYS skipped that song, and maybe I heard that song in it's entirely two-three times in my whole life. Never liked it (well, I never liked the balads TBH)
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