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Post by frozenhero on Jan 15, 2021 20:54:57 GMT
Never knew Noel had a mustache!
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Post by dennis on Jan 15, 2021 21:10:25 GMT
Yeah... thank god! They were off elsewhere being REALLY macho. John Coghlan and his Partners In Crime were very macho Never knew John and Lionel Richie collaborated Jarvis Cocker, having JC's back At first glance I thought the band might be Tight Fit
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Post by frozenhero on Jan 15, 2021 21:12:59 GMT
Must have been a confusing period...Poppy albums with 80s productions and photo shoots like this for promotion and PR purposes... Then, on stage, double denim Rick rocking away and waistcoat Rossi soloing away on rock songs. Status Bi-Quolar Possibly the best Quo comment I've ever seen! Utterly brilliant. Very witty indeed To be fair though, this was a relatively smooth transition. You can hear the beginnings of it on earlier albums. Back to Back was already very poppy. Alan's contributions changed nothing about that. They all tried to remain relevant in a changing scene. A lot of 60s and 70s rockers struggled with 80s sounds. Listen to Clapton's mid-80s albums and the Phil Collins factor; thoroughly confused. (Those songs came across better live, even if Clapton actually had Greg Phillinganes play the dreaded DX7 on stage!). ZZ Top managed to ride the wave but with the downside that the rhythm section was replaced by studio trickery and that they have had to use backing tracks live ever since. We all like to think that Quo can survive on the strength of their fanbase alone but I think the non-show of Perfect Remedy shows what happens when the promo / general public attention isn't there. Grilled by the rock press at the time about suits and jeans,Francis responded by saying "we were doing this in the early 70's" which was true. But he denied there was any image change. It's quite an astonishing image change as far as most fans are concerned. The inner sleeve shot in the army album sleeve isn't much better - such a radical image change from live aid just 12 months earlier There were two problems at hand for Francis with this...(It was Francis, it wasn't anyone else) 1. Quo's image of jeans and t shirts, every day blokes, was as much of an attraction and as big a part of their success along with the music. You can't shake that off. Not even gradually. If you make that a big selling point of your brand, there's no turning back. He got it horribly wrong. Then again, management should have stepped in but, we all know the story there... 2. So he wanted to reinvent the band and do little strum along pop tunes and country songs...That's fine. No problem. Genuinely, it's every artist's right to grow, evolve and write what they feel and I love the Army album (except Speechless) and I like Ain't Complaining quite a bit. One issue though...Francis' songwriting contribution in those two albums are minimal. In The Army Now is a cover, Invitation was written 9 years previously, Don't Mind If I Do is apparently Rhino's song, Save Me was written years previously, Burning Bridges is knicked I'm at a loss as to what he was hoping to achieve by this "reinvention" apart from stroking his own ego... They were never going to continuously re-invent themselves like U2. They were never do a blues/rock to pop/rock transition in the style of Fleetwood Mac. They most certainly weren't going to be like The Eagles or ABBA. So, what was he hoping for? Pack out arenas up and down the country and continent with Tommy's in Love? Address Book? Magic? They were going to change the band for the better? So we now have the frontman of Status Quo, not wanting to be in Status Quo, not wanting to write Status Quo type music, wanting to do country and strum along pop music instead, who also wants In The Army Now recorded, in an 80s sound style and production, whilst wanting everyone to dress like Spandau Ballet but, will wear jeans and t shirts for live gigs, play louder than before and play nothing but heavy/hard/loud rock music and is one of two reasons why David Walker arrives Whether he meant to or not, he fucked it up, fucked the band up and managed to alienate a lot of people (fans) who paid for his lifestyle As Rick said, "We weren't real anymore" I ain't having a pop at Francis here at all. I'm just speaking facts. He was so adamant that Alan was wrong, the band were wrong and he was right but, when it came down to it, by his own admission, he didn't know what to do. From a certain angle, you're right, but having said that - for a band that could've been done and dusted, having six Top 40 hits in a space of three years isn't bad at all. And if we're going to criticize the band for the fact that ITAN, Rollin' Home and Red Sky were covers, then we'll also have to discredit WSOL, RAOTW and SBYBIL. Finding a good song to cover and making a hit arrangement is a skill too. They found a new, younger audience with those songs. The question is if those became converted to long-time fans especially considering that ITAN wasn't representative of the band's output & live show. Some were, I guess, but in a way it resembles the 60s (Francis himself said this) - people who bought POMM didn't necessarily buy all the follow-up singles and albums. Hence the lack of success for PR, which had no big hit. The likes of Tommy and Address Book were never released as singles so I'd assume Francis himself knew their appeal was limited. What I don't get is whether he expected the fans to like those songs. He must have realized that they would've fit better on a solo album. Then again, Andy and Rhino wrote Going Down for the First Time, so.... Maybe the non-release of Flying Debris also dampened Francis' ability to write a lot of material for a while, sort of like the same thing that happened after his disappointment about Thirsty Work.
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gerh
Grizzled Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 2,948
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 Jan 15, 2021 21:23:22 GMT
There's one STAND-OUT difference [granted, among a good many] between Quo and Rush [even allowing for the God-awful 80s 'look']... Rush were NEVER shit.
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Post by Gaz on Jan 15, 2021 21:25:12 GMT
Certainly competes with fans walking round in End if the road Satin Jackets 😂 The Bomber jackets? They are and were cool tbf. I don't own a Quo one but, do own a few others. Must have been a confusing period...Poppy albums with 80s productions and photo shoots like this for promotion and PR purposes... Then, on stage, double denim Rick rocking away and waistcoat Rossi soloing away on rock songs. Status Bi-Quolar Status Bi-Quola 😂..that’s gotta equal dennis other name for PLF, Sans Franscisquo😂 Back to Status Bi-Quola, imagine Rick rocking away hard as ever, up on stage with that new lineup, then upon turning around with the mental image of macho Alan in leather jacket with one leg on the drum riser still embedded in his mind, he gets to see Rhino in puffy shouldered shirt spinning around like a ballerina then doing the chicken dance!😱😂
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Post by Gaz on Jan 15, 2021 21:30:09 GMT
To be honest and with my hand on heart..I wouldnt have dreamed of saying all the stuff I've said over the last few years about Quo 30 odd years back. wolfie... what’s the matter with you? You actually used 4 capital letters in your post!
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Post by frozenhero on Jan 15, 2021 21:34:46 GMT
There's one STAND-OUT difference [granted, among a good many] between Quo and Rush [even allowing for the God-awful 80s 'look']... Rush were NEVER shit. I would concur with the caveat that Second Nature, Prime Mover, Tai Shan and High Water are not up to the standard I normally expect from the band, and a lot of Power Windows also has too much tinkly and squeaky synths for rockers. Rush are actually a prime example of how a band even without throwing any band members out can still be viewed by some of its fans as being totally useless after a certain cut-off point. Believe it or not, there is a noticeable component of people who do NOT acknowledge anything they released after Signals. (That said, the cut-off point does correlate with a change of personnel, notably producer Terry Brown, who was dropped after 1982. The band went on to use Peter Henderson, Peter Collins and Rupert Hine over the next few years. There's a point to be made that no matter how comfortable Quo might have felt with Pip, they probably should've experimented more in that regard if they really wanted to make it in the US. But that's another topic.) Status Bi-Quola 😂..that’s gotta equal dennis other name for PLF, Sans Franscisquo😂 Parfitt, Lancaster, Foghlan?
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Post by Gaz on Jan 15, 2021 21:38:43 GMT
I guess it depends on your age etc. After the end of the road, I considered them to be old men. I know they were in there later 30's or so but in my mind they were comtempoaries of the Stones etc who all started in the 60s. To me they had been going this way for some time. I was into metal. I didn't really think oh theyve changed image wise. As thats how there contempories had gone to. paradise, it’s spelt CONTEMPORARIES!! (sorry, I just channelled my inner Davyno)
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Post by railroad007 on Jan 15, 2021 21:52:06 GMT
There's one STAND-OUT difference [granted, among a good many] between Quo and Rush [even allowing for the God-awful 80s 'look']... Rush were NEVER shit. I saw them at Hammersmith and thought they were, fcuking snowdogs and trees.
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Post by railroad007 on Jan 15, 2021 21:56:05 GMT
The Bomber jackets? They are and were cool tbf. I don't own a Quo one but, do own a few others. Must have been a confusing period...Poppy albums with 80s productions and photo shoots like this for promotion and PR purposes... Then, on stage, double denim Rick rocking away and waistcoat Rossi soloing away on rock songs. Status Bi-Quolar Status Bi-Quola 😂..that’s gotta equal dennis other name for PLF, Sans Franscisquo😂 Back to Status Bi-Quola, imagine Rick rocking away hard as ever, up on stage with that new lineup, then upon turning around with the mental image of macho Alan in leather jacket with one leg on the drum riser still embedded in his mind, he gets to see Rhino in puffy shouldered shirt spinning around like a ballerina then doing the chicken dance!😱😂 He would probably have thought "This is fcuking good gear, Nuff looks like a giant chicken and Spud looks like a bald bloke with a hairband"
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Post by railroad007 on Jan 15, 2021 22:01:39 GMT
Thank God that's not the actual Quo. That's horrible. Yeah... thank god! They were off elsewhere being REALLY macho. John Coghlan and his Partners In Crime were very macho This in fact a flyer from a cheap lookalike agency. Jim Morrison, Lionel Richie, Freddy Mercury, The Bloke from Buggles and Patrick Swayze.
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Post by azza200 on Jan 15, 2021 22:15:03 GMT
The Guy in red could pass off as that singer from Starship - we built this city, his perm matches that guys
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Post by Mrs Flittersnoop on Jan 16, 2021 2:34:15 GMT
Andrew looks like a bog brush.
The whole thing looks slightly skewed as if they had been Photoshopped in from different angles. Could that be the cocaine?
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Post by freewilly on Jan 16, 2021 6:25:21 GMT
Must have been a confusing period...Poppy albums with 80s productions and photo shoots like this for promotion and PR purposes... Then, on stage, double denim Rick rocking away and waistcoat Rossi soloing away on rock songs. Status Bi-Quolar Possibly the best Quo comment I've ever seen! Utterly brilliant. Very witty indeed To be fair though, this was a relatively smooth transition. You can hear the beginnings of it on earlier albums. Back to Back was already very poppy. Alan's contributions changed nothing about that. They all tried to remain relevant in a changing scene. A lot of 60s and 70s rockers struggled with 80s sounds. Listen to Clapton's mid-80s albums and the Phil Collins factor; thoroughly confused. (Those songs came across better live, even if Clapton actually had Greg Phillinganes play the dreaded DX7 on stage!). ZZ Top managed to ride the wave but with the downside that the rhythm section was replaced by studio trickery and that they have had to use backing tracks live ever since. We all like to think that Quo can survive on the strength of their fanbase alone but I think the non-show of Perfect Remedy shows what happens when the promo / general public attention isn't there. There were two problems at hand for Francis with this...(It was Francis, it wasn't anyone else) 1. Quo's image of jeans and t shirts, every day blokes, was as much of an attraction and as big a part of their success along with the music. You can't shake that off. Not even gradually. If you make that a big selling point of your brand, there's no turning back. He got it horribly wrong. Then again, management should have stepped in but, we all know the story there... 2. So he wanted to reinvent the band and do little strum along pop tunes and country songs...That's fine. No problem. Genuinely, it's every artist's right to grow, evolve and write what they feel and I love the Army album (except Speechless) and I like Ain't Complaining quite a bit. One issue though...Francis' songwriting contribution in those two albums are minimal. In The Army Now is a cover, Invitation was written 9 years previously, Don't Mind If I Do is apparently Rhino's song, Save Me was written years previously, Burning Bridges is knicked I'm at a loss as to what he was hoping to achieve by this "reinvention" apart from stroking his own ego... They were never going to continuously re-invent themselves like U2. They were never do a blues/rock to pop/rock transition in the style of Fleetwood Mac. They most certainly weren't going to be like The Eagles or ABBA. So, what was he hoping for? Pack out arenas up and down the country and continent with Tommy's in Love? Address Book? Magic? They were going to change the band for the better? So we now have the frontman of Status Quo, not wanting to be in Status Quo, not wanting to write Status Quo type music, wanting to do country and strum along pop music instead, who also wants In The Army Now recorded, in an 80s sound style and production, whilst wanting everyone to dress like Spandau Ballet but, will wear jeans and t shirts for live gigs, play louder than before and play nothing but heavy/hard/loud rock music and is one of two reasons why David Walker arrives Whether he meant to or not, he fucked it up, fucked the band up and managed to alienate a lot of people (fans) who paid for his lifestyle As Rick said, "We weren't real anymore" I ain't having a pop at Francis here at all. I'm just speaking facts. He was so adamant that Alan was wrong, the band were wrong and he was right but, when it came down to it, by his own admission, he didn't know what to do. From a certain angle, you're right, but having said that - for a band that could've been done and dusted, having six Top 40 hits in a space of three years isn't bad at all. And if we're going to criticize the band for the fact that ITAN, Rollin' Home and Red Sky were covers, then we'll also have to discredit WSOL, RAOTW and SBYBIL. Finding a good song to cover and making a hit arrangement is a skill too. They found a new, younger audience with those songs. The question is if those became converted to long-time fans especially considering that ITAN wasn't representative of the band's output & live show. Some were, I guess, but in a way it resembles the 60s (Francis himself said this) - people who bought POMM didn't necessarily buy all the follow-up singles and albums. Hence the lack of success for PR, which had no big hit. The likes of Tommy and Address Book were never released as singles so I'd assume Francis himself knew their appeal was limited. What I don't get is whether he expected the fans to like those songs. He must have realized that they would've fit better on a solo album. Then again, Andy and Rhino wrote Going Down for the First Time, so.... Maybe the non-release of Flying Debris also dampened Francis' ability to write a lot of material for a while, sort of like the same thing that happened after his disappointment about Thirsty Work. I'm not criticising the songs because they were covers, I'm saying Francis' contribution, despite saying this, that and the other about musical direction and what he wanted to do, amounted to a cover. He hardly contributed to the first two albums and when he did, Perfect Remedy, it was a disaster. So much so, even his producer begged the label not to release it. I'm also saying that he didn't want to be in a rock band or write rock songs anymore but, the band still were a rock band live and became even louder, allegedly. He wanted to do country music and strum along 3 minute pop songs... But, had them dress up like a group of Yuppies from London and his suggestion was 80s synth(Army)? It's confusing, it's baffling and it's an idea from someone who really hadn't a clue what he wanted Not speculative, it's a fact. 1982 is pure shite, B2B is good in parts. I'm not saying Alan would have fixed it all. No! His wrote Ol Rag Blues and Your Kind Of Loving, which are good tracks but, a lot more needed than two tracks. I'm not saying pop = bad. I like Army and AC.
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Post by wolfman on Jan 16, 2021 6:36:17 GMT
To be honest and with my hand on heart..I wouldnt have dreamed of saying all the stuff I've said over the last few years about Quo 30 odd years back. wolfie... what’s the matter with you? You actually used 4 capital letters in your post! 👀🤔
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