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Post by frozenhero on Jul 16, 2024 9:08:02 GMT
The thing about 1982 to keep in mind, though, is that as far as I understand all the songs were written while John was still in the band. Or am I wrong?
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tqontq
Rocker Rollin'
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Post by tqontq on Jul 16, 2024 11:54:22 GMT
Compositions and royalties are a funny thing. Writers seem to get very possessive. Someone will come up with an idea - OK, more than just an idea - and bring it to the band but then I get the impression everyone contributes after that. Whether it's with the odd observation or just being involved in playing the song. Unless you're a solo singer/songwriter, you're never doing it all on your own. That sound is as important to Quo's music as anything else. And Rick, for all his faults and lack of writing contributions, was essential to it. I think this is or was the main reason there was so much friction that was going on between Francis and Alan, was down to Francis's writing clashed with how Alan percieved how Quo should continue. A bit like Alan was trying to be the bands quality control. So many songs slipped through this net of Alan's quality control, but it didn't slip through without arguments and friction which infected the whole band. It might have even been part of the reason Coghlan was so down in the dumps. But the lid blew off this pressure cooker in the end, and Francis found it impossible to write and record anything new with Alan in the band, hence why the only way Francis was going to continue with Quo was to not have Alan part of it. Possibility a coincidence, but to me Rick's song writing seemed lackluster after Coghlan left. Perhaps he lost interest the fact that magic circle as he used to call it was broken, but certainly by then the coke had well and truely kicked in. In hindsight its a wonder the band carried on so long after the Rockin all over the world album, by band I mean Rossi/Coghlan/Lancaster/Parfitt, mainly because I felt the music had changed so much overnight it seemed from Blue for you to RAOTW, and a lot of that was down to a more tame song writting approach. And I think the seeds to tension and arguments we're sown all wrapped up in that one album RAOTW, and things we're never the same again. Of course live you would never notice these things. They we're still the mighty Quo, but the true fans knew something was a miss. Of course there has been moments of brilliance over the last 40 odd years on record, but much harder to dig out. Great analysis there, in simplest terms. Whilst we dig deep with this band, that pretty much sums up how things went quite succinctly. Excellent post. |
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col
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Post by col on Jul 17, 2024 8:20:56 GMT
I think Alan moving to Australia didn't help.
This was nearly 50 years ago, technology was nowhere near what it is today and, despite the 'phone and fax, the interchange of ideas would have been practically impossible.
Nowadays, bands record albums whilst sitting in different continents without any issue, back then, impossible.
Even when Quo did the Beach Boys thing in the '90's, they were sending data files to each other.
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mortified
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Post by mortified on Jul 17, 2024 10:07:21 GMT
I don't think there's any doubt - well, not in my mind - that Alan moving to Australia was the catalyst for many of the problems that began to surface not long after. I wouldn't even begin to suggest that he shouldn't have gone, because that would be nonsense, but the impact it would have had on the music and on promotional activity would have been quite substantial. It was just one of those things he felt he had to do and there is no blame attached to it; for anything. I'd say his writing suffered if I'm honest. After 1980's Over The Edge, I personally thought he came up with absolutely nothing worthwhile (sorry, Mountain Lady fans  ). But he wasn't alone. Rick and Francis had their moments of, erm artistic downturn. But Francis in particular was more productive so was able to come up with both good and bad simply by virtue of volume. By this time, royalties seemed to be designated to those directly involved with the compositions as opposed to being shared around. |
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roadhouse
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Post by roadhouse on Jul 17, 2024 18:43:44 GMT
I don't think there's any doubt - well, not in my mind - that Alan moving to Australia was the catalyst for many of the problems that began to surface not long after. I wouldn't even begin to suggest that he shouldn't have gone, because that would be nonsense, but the impact it would have had on the music and on promotional activity would have been quite substantial. It was just one of those things he felt he had to do and there is no blame attached to it; for anything. I'd say his writing suffered if I'm honest. After 1980's Over The Edge, I personally thought he came up with absolutely nothing worthwhile (sorry, Mountain Lady fans ). But he wasn't alone. Rick and Francis had their moments of, erm artistic downturn. But Francis in particular was more productive so was able to come up with both good and bad simply by virtue of volume. By this time, royalties seemed to be designated to those directly involved with the compositions as opposed to being shared around. I agree with all of that. Over the edge was the last classic tune from Alan, even though I do love Mountain lady. I always felt Alan not being on the video of Rockin all over the world was signs of major cracks appearing. Why make a video without one of the main members? |
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Post by MrWaistcoat on Jul 30, 2024 14:58:30 GMT
Just a thought, but Francis may have liked the distance of Alan being on the other side of the world. It may have helped the band limp on longer
I can't imagine anyone was happy during the BTB sessions. They surely must have known it was poor compared to their past
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Post by Quoincidence on Jul 30, 2024 15:07:51 GMT
Just a thought, but Francis may have liked the distance of Alan being on the other side of the world. It may have helped the band limp on longer I can't imagine anyone was happy during the BTB sessions. They surely must have known it was poor compared to their past They (Francis) wasn't happy with the output from the AIR Studios sessions for the album, which is why they ended up at The Factory Studios in London to rework / dub what they had. From memory, the original plan was to scrap what they had and completely re-record everything, but due to time constraints and pressure from the label to deliver the album, they couldn't. |
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roadhouse
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Post by roadhouse on Jul 30, 2024 18:55:02 GMT
If anything I think the rut set in between Alan and Francis due to moving to Australia. Mainly because it caused problems when trying to record and be constructive with an ever increasingly absent Lancaster.
I think Francis started getting frustrated by Alans absence not his presence. We must remember they knew each other from a very young age, so it was a shame the friendship became fractured in this way. But Alan would just jet off to Australia on a whim and a prayer, not caring about the implications for the band, hence why he was missing for so many things like the Rockin all over the world video always stands out in my memory, right at the moment the band especially Francis wanted the band to go up another notch. So naturally an absent Alan made Francis hate that, and he might have thought its because Alan didn't like the new direction, so didn't care about swanning off to Australia randomly. Pure speculation from me but very plausible now in hindsight.
Management should have had the balls to approach Alan and ask him are you fully committed to this band or what? But then it might have meant a much earlier exit for him. Or it might have healed the rut between Francis and Alan before it got too deep, who knows. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
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). But he wasn't alone. Rick and Francis had their moments of, erm artistic downturn. But Francis in particular was more productive so was able to come up with both good and bad simply by virtue of volume. 
