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 12, 2021 13:13:16 GMT
Yet another attempt from me to bring some order to the mess of a few certain Quo albums that aren't seen as very "Quoish". This one in particular has been a problem for me. A few good songs, some really bad ones and some in between that are so-so First off, a little rant about Restless. The song is originally called I'm Restless, by Jennifer Warnes, off the album Shot Through The Heart (1979). The song is mediocre in Quo's version and dull in the original. I must say that Warnes has written a lot better songs than this. Which only makes Quo's version even worse. Francis simply doesn't have the voice for this song. He sounds out of tune half the time and the rest he just mumbles through the lyrics. Why this song was recorded, and worst of all: was released as a single, is beyond me. If I had been in charge of putting Thirsty Work together in 1994 I would have left this song on the cutting room floor.
Rant over.
What to do with this album? I know some of you won't even consider this a Quo album. But my ethos forbids me to think like this. As long as a band plays under a certain moniker I am bound to see this as an output by the same band. Same goes for Yes' 90125 album, which is even further from THEIR sound than Thirsty Work is from Blue For You. In comparison, Thirsty Work is more Quo than Psycho Circus is a Kiss album or Ram It Down is a Judas Priest album. I could go on with examples, but I think you get my point.
I will start by culling the ones not worthy of being on the album. Restless is first. Next are Ciao-Ciao, Sail Away, Back On My Feet and Lover Of The Human Race. That's 5 songs not needed at all. Why I take these off the album is because they are boring and repetitive. The last one is even outdated for its time.
What I like about Thirsty Work is Quo's total disregard of what happened around this time in music. Grunge may have been a good thing to get rid of the hair metal excesses, but in my world it wasn't so much of a cleanser as it was a killer. Quo went through this either by living in a bubble or just ignoring it. I remember reading an interview with Francis around the time saying that he liked Nirvana and was sad to see Kurt Cobain die so young.
Well, now we have 11 songs left. I will add one to get an even 12, and that song is Down To You, which has a great intro. If they only kept this rocking going on throughout the song it would have been fantastic. Let's see what we can do. I will rearrange the order and explain why I keep these songs in:
1. Goin' Nowhere - One of the best songs from this album and a good opener. I didn't know the album would be worse than this 2. Soft In The Head - Would have made a great single 3. Queenie - Of course they leave the rocker to Rick 4. Sherri Don't Fail Me Now! - One of the few poppy songs I really like
5. I Didn't Mean It - fits better a bit in on the album 6. Like It Or Not - A little rougher mix and this could have been wonderful 7. Down To You - As explained above 8. Point Of No Return - One of the mehs, but not bad 9. Confidence - Not bad 10. Rude Awakening Time - Easily the best song on the album, is this something left over from the "Heat" sessions?
11. Tango - Surprisingly good 12. Sorry - Although Demis Roussos' version from 1980 beats this easily this is a good version
What do you think? Am I out of order or have I reinvented the album? What would be your version?
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Post by freewilly on Sept 12, 2021 14:05:20 GMT
Pretty much spot on imo.
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Post by Quoincidence on Sept 12, 2021 14:20:53 GMT
3. Queenie - Of course they leave the rocker to Rick
Tbh, Rick didn't even originally sing this early on in the albums cycle. Francis did. A case of Rick being lazy and having no involvement with the album whatsoever. Just like him turning down the option to sing Sherri - however, I doubt his voice would've suited that track
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2021 15:29:29 GMT
Shockingly bad. Quo's worst ever album by a country mile. Essentially a Rossi/Frost album so diabetes inducingly sugary and twee. The only songs with any redeeming features are those written by Andy. No wonder Rick regarded this as an embarrassment.
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Post by granny on Sept 12, 2021 16:14:27 GMT
I like the John David song Didn't Mean It and Going Nowhere is quite good. Tango is an interesting experiment. I never listen to the rest.
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matt
Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 984
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Post by matt on Sept 12, 2021 16:17:43 GMT
As bad as it is it’s not as bad as don’t stop.
I liked it when it came out but I would have liked anything then. I loved She Knew Too Much as well
But as my tastes have matured I think most of this is a load of tosh.
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Post by railroad007 on Sept 12, 2021 18:14:56 GMT
Shockingly bad. Quo's worst ever album by a country mile. Essentially a Rossi/Frost album so diabetes inducingly sugary and twee. The only songs with any redeeming features are those written by Andy. No wonder Rick regarded this as an embarrassment. I thought that Francis had definitely tweed himself with this effort.
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Post by railroad007 on Sept 12, 2021 18:16:09 GMT
Played this one and took Tony Blackburn's advice.
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Post by Victor on Sept 12, 2021 18:28:25 GMT
Matt's line above about Don't Stop is correct for me, that one IS worse.
Besides that, for me, this album is the strangest one they made. And I don't even mind it so much...but of course this has little to do with what Quo was supposed to sound like. There's some real crap on it but yet I do like some songs quite a bit as well. It sounds mostly like a Rossi-Frost based album. I don't rate it, it's just too strange of an album for me. The songs that i'd take off would be Restless, Queenie which I feel sounds like an unseccesful attempt to sound like past Quo. The tracks that I like are Going Nowhere, Like it or not, Soft in the head, Back on my feet and Down to you. towards Point of no return, Sherri don't fail me now, Rude awakening time, Sorry, Tango and Ciao-Ciao I feel a bit indifferent, can listen to them but that's it.
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Post by quovadis on Sept 12, 2021 18:30:58 GMT
I prefer tw to backbone any day backbone imo lacks balls 🦆
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Post by Victor on Sept 12, 2021 18:50:42 GMT
I prefer tw to backbone any day backbone imo lacks balls 🦆 Ummm...ok...and thirsty work has balls ?
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Post by quovadis on Sept 12, 2021 19:41:07 GMT
More balls than bb allin my opinion some gud songs on tw not many very few on BB again imo
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Post by freewilly on Sept 12, 2021 19:59:36 GMT
3. Queenie - Of course they leave the rocker to Rick
Tbh, Rick didn't even originally sing this early on in the albums cycle. Francis did. A case of Rick being lazy and having no involvement with the album whatsoever. Just like him turning down the option to sing Sherri - however, I doubt his voice would've suited that track One of Rick's better times to be lazy imo. At least no blame can be put on him for this. It's not that it's bad per say, it's just odd! Very odd! It seems every good track on there has to be followed up by something awful! Francis was the main songwriter and producer so this one is on him. Just like him rescuing RTYD is on him In terms of Sherri, I think it's a good pop song and any voice would suit it. Rick in his "pop" voice would have killed it
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Post by MrWaistcoat on Sept 12, 2021 20:06:13 GMT
Agree with the OP that Rude Awakening time is the best song. But even that is ruined by the awful backing vocals
Think we all agree there's too many songs.That said LOTHR is a good song and for me is a highlight. Pleased Sail Away has been removed...
Down To You is a flawed song that's based on a good idea. When that's the best thing we have to bring in, well, the album is basically beyond saving
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quodec
Veteran Rocker Rollin'
Twelve bar blues is now alright.
Posts: 1,194
Favourite Quo Album: Blue For You
Favourite other bands.: early AC/DC, Angel City, Blackfoot, Rose Tattoo, Slade
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Post by quodec on Sept 12, 2021 20:36:40 GMT
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but if Rick found the album an embarrassment, why didn't he bring a couple of songs to the table then, beef it up a bit? We all know how capable Rossi and Frost were of producing tepid, treacly product, so he should have added some 'rock' balance to the musical equation. Three years since RTYD and what did Rick bring to the table in '94, nada, nothing!! Not good enough!
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