A bit late.....
Now then, I've always enjoyed the Rockin' album. I always thought it was their first "Grown up" album. I actually preferred it to their Blue For You album (which is a cracking album). Yes, it was let down with piss poor production leading to a tinny weak sound so I always had to "beef it up" as much as I could adding extra bass usually much to the detriment of clarity, and to be honest I never thought the vocals were that clear to start with either. Yes, it was a very poor mix.
I won't even go through the original record here but I thought the songs were a good solid 8/10 with a terrible 4/10 for sound engineering.
But after picking up the 2015 re-issue it hasn't just been reinvigorated it has been rediscovered, a rebirth. A new album. Now to be honest, I haven't listened to disc 1 at all, I was just too excited to even think about playing it. All I wanted to do was get my grubby mitts on disc 2 and listen to the proposed magic John Eden had conjured up. We'd heard about this effort for years, it was almost mythical. No, it WAS mythical. This wasn't quite the holy grail in Quo terms (that would be a complete filming of the Glasgow Apollo gigs), but it was close. It was the Golden Fleece and John Eden was the new Jason. Anyway, I digress.
I pressed play and waited for the gentle intro of Hard Time and see how it had changed. What? "1,2,3,4. 1,2,3,4." That's Hold You Back! Wait a damn minute; they've changed the running order! How dare they!
Hold on, this is genius. Seriously. This is how it should have opened. Brilliant. And how did it sound? Fan-fucking-tastic, that's how. Clear and heavy. The guitars sounded well, like guitars and not like some muffled mush. The drums sounded like they were taught and not a wet sponge. Oh yeah, there was BASS. Real BASS.
I know a lot people have a strong dislike for Baby Boy but I've always had a soft spot for it. It has reminded me of the 70's more than any other song for some reason. It has a very strong 70's vibe to it without it being rocky, glam or punk. This new mix really does bring out extra dynamics in the track.
I won't go into each track but will mention some best bits for me. Hell, It could end up being all tracks. No, I must resist. We'll see. Again we have a "1,2,3,4. 1,2,3,4." But this time it's Rocker's Rollin'. Now this really has transformed in my ears. This is really the rock song it should have been all those years ago. This is now up with anything off Piledriver, Hello, Quo and On the Level. In this guise, this could, no, this should have been a UK single.
Who Am I? This one got me in a quandary. I really loved the original. Really loved it. I love slow bluesy chuggers. The intro was great but now they've changed it. For the better? No. But strangely not any worse. And the power this song now has is immense. Amazing. It gets better. I love the ending. Can the album improve any more so?
John Eden, I love you.
I'm not looking at the track order, this is fun. What's next? No idea. Come on surprise me.
Hehehe, old faithful. Yeah, the title track itself. I thought they may have saved this until the end. So what can we say about this new mix of Rockin' All Over….? Well, they can't really touch this one can they? Can they? Well, not really. But the intro, that piano (and bass) sounds richer, then the rhythm guitar kicks in and "woah.., that's heavier" This continues the general theme throughout the rest of the track. We get five instead of normal four "And I like it…." chorus repeats at the end and we manage to get a fifth
"singing in the rain" guitar repeat before it finally fades out.
**Radio stations take note** This is the version you should be playing if you have to play this bloody track!
* One thing that did occur to me is that I always thought that this track was originally recorded at a certain speed and then sped up slightly in production. There's something in Francis' vocals that sounds just not right and I was hoping that when they added a bit more meat to the sound, they may have just slowed it down a little. I have a version of this track at 97.5% of the speed we know it at and it sounds great. When you then play the normal version everything sounds just a little too quick. *
I have to acknowledge that Dirty Water has been improved by this remix. There's a lot more power in those drums, I've never been I've been a big fan of this track. Nice and clear though. Again, Can't Give You More to me is one of the weaker tracks on the album. I'm not saying this and Dirty Water are duffers but they seem to have something missing. Having said, it's still been improved enormously from the remix.
Oh boy, Let's Ride. Yes indeed. What a gem. I almost forgot how bloody good this track was. Now, it's amazing. What guitar sounds. What a solo. How clear Alan's vocals are. A great little funky rock song. It's a shame it's only 3 minutes long. I could listen to a 8 minute version easily.
Not too many tracks remaining, so what's next? For You. Ah, Rick in his element with a ballad. A very pleasant semi-acoustic number that has improved on this album. Not much to the power, but that isn't the point with this one is it? It's all about the clarity, it's lucidness.
Another AL track, Too far Gone. Not much has changed to be honest, but it sounds richer, fuller, more depth and you can fell the bass now. Nice.
HOLY SHIT! That sounds
AWESOME. No, seriously: You Don't Own Me. Love the intro. LOVE THE INTRO.
JOHN EDEN, I WANT YOUR BABIES. What was a great track is now absolutely freaking STUNNING. I really do love this track. This is my favourite track on the album. I'm glad they didn't put this on earlier as everything else would have been a downer. I also love how they bring Alan's voice really forward in the mix in "that bit". You'll know when you hear it. And the ending is great too. My stand out track.
Ah, I see, they've plonked what was the first track at the end now. Hard Time. Well, for me it's going to be a hard time following up the previous track with anything. Having said that…. WOW! How clear is that? I never heard the saxophone(s) in the track before. Yeah, it's there, I know, I've checked. But I've never noticed. God knows what I thought they were? Now I know I can't even hazard a guess. I don't even mind the synth in the intro. A bloody good solid track to finish the album.
The demos? I always love the demos. It's great to see (or hear) how a track has progressed (and sometimes for the worse). This is a nice inclusion. Dirty Water… Whatever. I have to say that the demo of Baby Boy is probably better than the original album version. A bloody great big bass drum and a Spanish-esque guitar sound. Even Francis' voice sounds better. What a demo. A very raw (but great) version of Hard Time and a very naked version of Hold You Back shows how much these track progressed to the album versions.
I would give this remixed & remastered album
a solid 9/10. Different than some of the "classics" but not necessarily the poorer.
Oh bugger, I've done every song haven't I. Sod it.
So John Eden, you are a bloody genius. Thank you for bringing a dead album back to life. I appreciate it very much.
I can remember slightly earlier Quo songs as we always had the radio on when I was young and my old man was a huge rock fan, but Rockin' All Over The World was probably the first Quo song that really stuck in my head (I was 6 at the time).
A friend of mine texted me after the remix was released and stated;
"Pip Williams needs taking outside and f****ng with a yard brush." I agree, he robbed us of a classic album that came to us 38 years too late. But better late than never.