mrpink1991
New Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 24 
Favourite Quo Album: Changes weekly!
Favourite other bands.: Dire Straits, Level 42, Blackberry Smoke
|
Post by mrpink1991 on Jan 14, 2023 11:49:07 GMT
Remedy was poorly publicised though. Maybe Pip's assertion that the final sound needed more work led to background goings-on that resulted in a rushed release, although you could say it was the preceding singles that suffered that fate initially. After a heady run of Gold and Silver records for the band, Perfect Remedy was the first one to achieve Cardboard. 😂😂😂 that’s a great line! |
|
allyp
Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 569
|
Post by allyp on Jan 16, 2023 20:56:55 GMT
Got this in last few days. A good read so far and refreshing to see a Quo book which doesn’t have it’s head in the 70s or focusing on one era of the band.
|
|
mortified
4500 Timer
Posts: 5,827
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
|
Post by mortified on Feb 4, 2023 7:28:42 GMT
It just popped through my door yesterday. Looks a good read but I'll get into the meat and bones of it over the weekend.
|
|
mrpink1991
New Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 24
Favourite Quo Album: Changes weekly!
Favourite other bands.: Dire Straits, Level 42, Blackberry Smoke
|
Post by mrpink1991 on Feb 15, 2023 23:10:08 GMT
Thanks for the kind words folks! I'm glad people are enjoying it!
|
|
|
|
Post by freewilly on Feb 16, 2023 9:21:03 GMT
Where can I get this book?
|
|
mrpink1991
New Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 24
Favourite Quo Album: Changes weekly!
Favourite other bands.: Dire Straits, Level 42, Blackberry Smoke
|
Post by mrpink1991 on Feb 16, 2023 13:26:52 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by gentlemanjoe on Feb 20, 2023 21:41:37 GMT
You'd have to put a gun to my head to listen anything past Never Too late from 80s.
It was unfiltered drudgery. Would never have seen light if day if Alan had still been in the band.
They'd run out of melodies and ideas just before ITAN. And it didnt comeback til Under the Influence and then Heavy Traffic.
|
|
tqontq
Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 571
|
Post by tqontq on Feb 21, 2023 0:55:21 GMT
You'd have to put a gun to my head to lsiten anything past Never Too late from 80s. It was unfiltered drudgery. Would.never have seen light if day if Alan had still been in the band. They'd run out of melodies and ideas just before ITAN. And it didnt comeback til Under the Influence and then Heavy Traffic. Hard not to agree completely with that. Let's face it their material was shockingly poor for the best part of 2 decades - bar the odd track here and there. If it was recorded under any other artist that did not have the Status Quo legacy to lean on, it would never have seen the light of day. None of it. It's shows the power and strength of a brand in the corporate, consumer world. Were the 'new' Quo irrelevant ? Completely and utterly. Granted they were always strong live, no matter what era, but their recorded output was unbelievably poor, consistently. And there were ZERO redeeming features from Back to Back up to Heavy Traffic - That's nigh on 20 years folks. 20 years of totally under par, B grade country pop music with a bit of rock thrown in every now and then to give the fans some hope that one day, one day, the old Quo sound would come back. Just had to wait for your kids to grow up and become adults - not long then! In the 1980's after EOTR there was no Quo in my book - only a B grade country pop band on record and trying to be Quo live. Confusing. |
|
mortified
4500 Timer
Posts: 5,827
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
|
Post by mortified on Feb 21, 2023 7:19:23 GMT
I'm half way through the book and its very good. Much of the technical and musical terminology is lost on me (and there's quite a lot of it) but it doesn't spoil the enjoyment of reading a new perspective on an era of Quo largely pilloried by an ageing fan base, both then and now. Including myself, although I think I've been less critical in general than some. I always found it more of a rollercoaster than 100% poor. Good followed by half decent followed by what the fvck?   Let's call it inconsistent  But the book does more than just offer a critical or personal view of the music. It goes into the recording techniques, the compositions and the mindset of individual members in so far as they can recall, although archive interviews have also been used. Seriously, I'd recommend reading it no matter what your view of the material. |
|
mortified
4500 Timer
Posts: 5,827
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
|
Post by mortified on Feb 22, 2023 15:43:48 GMT
I've just finished it. I actually learnt a few things and there's one paragraph in it that I don't profess to understand technically, because I don't read music, but I think it probably explains a few things to the uninitiated like me. For example, why I don't like certain types of music or melodies or quite a few Quo songs in the last 3½ decades . It's a quote from Francis (when talking about writing with Bob and then with Bernie) that says:
"We (Bob and I) would never steer away from anything that was coming out of our gobs....when Bob's improvising the vocal melody, he would stick to the pentatonic scale or a blues scale, but me and Bernie liked the sound of the whole major scale - almost nursery rhyme-like, if you will."
That one paragraph, without fully understanding it, may just have nailed why something like Thirsty Work is such a let down for me. But it may also expose the limitations I place on myself when listening to music. Although I always thought I had varied and eclectic tastes.
This is a very technical book as well as being very interesting. The author hears things in tracks that I don't because of his expertise. But when you don't have that expertise and all you are is a listener, it does make you wonder why much of modern recorded music is obviously made so complex, thus seeming to detract from the 'feel' of it.
But excellent. I enjoyed that. Beats an autobiography all day long 👍
|
|
mrpink1991
New Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 24
Favourite Quo Album: Changes weekly!
Favourite other bands.: Dire Straits, Level 42, Blackberry Smoke
|
Post by mrpink1991 on Feb 23, 2023 12:34:44 GMT
I've just finished it. I actually learnt a few things and there's one paragraph in it that I don't profess to understand technically, because I don't read music, but I think it probably explains a few things to the uninitiated like me. For example, why I don't like certain types of music or melodies or quite a few Quo songs in the last 3½ decades . It's a quote from Francis (when talking about writing with Bob and then with Bernie) that says: " We (Bob and I) would never steer away from anything that was coming out of our gobs....when Bob's improvising the vocal melody, he would stick to the pentatonic scale or a blues scale, but me and Bernie liked the sound of the whole major scale - almost nursery rhyme-like, if you will." That one paragraph, without fully understanding it, may just have nailed why something like Thirsty Work is such a let down for me. But it may also expose the limitations I place on myself when listening to music. Although I always thought I had varied and eclectic tastes. This is a very technical book as well as being very interesting. The author hears things in tracks that I don't because of his expertise. But when you don't have that expertise and all you are is a listener, it does make you wonder why much of modern recorded music is obviously made so complex, thus seeming to detract from the 'feel' of it. But excellent. I enjoyed that. Beats an autobiography all day long 👍 You’re too kind. Thanks for the help! |
|
|
|
Post by MrWaistcoat on Jan 22, 2024 13:25:13 GMT
My copy arrived a few days ago and I couldn't put it down. The book is a treasure trove for Quo anoraks. Almost every page told me something I didn't know. Anybody interested enough in Quo to be reading this won't regret buying it. Loved the Quo humour bit about calling Phil Collins Joan  What surprised me was the money. We all knew Rick was useless, but Francis said in so many interviews that he'd kept all this money as otherwise "people would say what a c*** I was". Didn't know he'd remortgaged his house. My (wrong) perception was that they had good money through hits from 86-91, and good money from ticket sales.
Like others have said, I was surprised about the second keyboard player. I wonder what Andy thought of that?
Rhino sounds so honest. "It took me 15 years to fit in" is something I would say is bang on, but you'd feel mean saying it yourself. Was surprised at how outspoken he was about "the loving game". I actually like that one, probably because Quo lyrics usually just wash over me. I think that one is old Quo style writing but with the modern production Rick wanted for Recorded Delivery and Army.
I was also surprised at Pete's comments that Francis told him backstage in 75 that "you are better than our drummer". Not a very nice thing to do really...
The other thing that surprised me was about the coke use while jeff was in the band. Quo were trying to clean up the image, and I remember a "you won't believe it folks" tabloid story about sex and drugs being a thing of the past. Jeff has been blamed so much for the band speeding up like it did.
One for the money. "We thought that was what people wanted". Really??!
Also hadn't realised Alan was making plans to move his family back to England to make SQ2 work out with Rick. For all the flak thrown at Francis for carrying on without him, it was only precisely the same as Alan would have done to him
|
|
Dark
Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 334
Favourite Quo Album: Quo
Favourite other bands.: Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Huey Lewis,
|
Post by Dark on Jan 23, 2024 0:15:26 GMT
Also hadn't realised Alan was making plans to move his family back to England to make SQ2 work out with Rick. For all the flak thrown at Francis for carrying on without him, it was only precisely the same as Alan would have done to him
Not quite the same, SQ2 only came about because Francis wouldn't do Quo anymore. |
|
mrpink1991
New Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 24
Favourite Quo Album: Changes weekly!
Favourite other bands.: Dire Straits, Level 42, Blackberry Smoke
|
Post by mrpink1991 on Feb 1, 2024 13:45:41 GMT
My copy arrived a few days ago and I couldn't put it down. The book is a treasure trove for Quo anoraks. Almost every page told me something I didn't know. Anybody interested enough in Quo to be reading this won't regret buying it. Loved the Quo humour bit about calling Phil Collins Joan What surprised me was the money. We all knew Rick was useless, but Francis said in so many interviews that he'd kept all this money as otherwise "people would say what a c*** I was". Didn't know he'd remortgaged his house. My (wrong) perception was that they had good money through hits from 86-91, and good money from ticket sales.
Like others have said, I was surprised about the second keyboard player. I wonder what Andy thought of that?
Rhino sounds so honest. "It took me 15 years to fit in" is something I would say is bang on, but you'd feel mean saying it yourself. Was surprised at how outspoken he was about "the loving game". I actually like that one, probably because Quo lyrics usually just wash over me. I think that one is old Quo style writing but with the modern production Rick wanted for Recorded Delivery and Army.
I was also surprised at Pete's comments that Francis told him backstage in 75 that "you are better than our drummer". Not a very nice thing to do really...
The other thing that surprised me was about the coke use while jeff was in the band. Quo were trying to clean up the image, and I remember a "you won't believe it folks" tabloid story about sex and drugs being a thing of the past. Jeff has been blamed so much for the band speeding up like it did.
One for the money. "We thought that was what people wanted". Really??!
Also hadn't realised Alan was making plans to move his family back to England to make SQ2 work out with Rick. For all the flak thrown at Francis for carrying on without him, it was only precisely the same as Alan would have done to him
Thanks so much for the kinds words! Glad you enjoyed it!
|
|
