I know this post is a bit late, but hey, better late than never. Anyway, what I came on here to talk about is the above album- Hello by Status Quo. Released on the 28th September 1973, it recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, and as far as I’m aware , it received very little coverage apart from a cover piece in Classic Rock magazine. In my humble opinion it is Status Quo’s greatest album, and one that had a massive impact on me the first time I heard it. You could say it changed my life.
I was 12 years old in 1973 and already obsessed with music. I already owned three Beatles albums, Sgt Pepper and the recently released Blue and Red compilations, and I’d been buying singles for over a year, and was well into Glam Rock, Slade, 10cc etc. I was mainly into singles, while my brother four years older was into albums, especially the heavier variety, Led Zep, Sabbath, Floyd etc , which didn’t interest me at all at that age( they would years later).
One evening towards the end of the year, he asked me to listen to a song from a new album he’d bought. I said ok, but I don’t like you’re stuff. He said try it, and I did. The song was Caroline and I was blown away. I played the whole album, couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and apart from my Beatles albums, it is probably the most played album in my life. It is joyous, 39 minutes of pure pop, rock and roll, glorious riffs and great musicianship from Francis, Rick and Alan, all just 24 years old, whist John was a bit older at 27.
Let’s look at why I think this is such a classic album.
Side One
Track 1: Roll Over Lay Down- What an opener, a stone cold classic it hits you like a runaway train. The build up to the ending is superb and so powerful.
Track 2: Claudie- A wonderful song, that could almost be a country song. The song I used to play along to with my cheap plastic guitar in front of my bedroom mirror.
Track 3: A Reason For Living- The first Rick vocal, it always felt religious to me talking about owning up to my Maker and saying prayers. A great song though.
Track4: Blue Eyed Lady- What a classic riff to open a song with. A powerful song, the first of two Lancaster/Parfitt numbers.
Side Two
Track 1: Caroline- Listen to it as if for the first time. Nothing more to say!
Track 2: Softer Ride-” I ain’t gonna work, I ain’t gonna work no more.” What a lovely sentiment, and another great record. Don’t be fooled by the quiet opening.
Track 3: And It’s Better Now- “Got to have something to sing about, everyone must have a song”. I love this song. The guitar and bass middle bit is just wonderful.
Track 4: Forty Five Hundred Times- Quo’s Magnum Opus? Most Quo fans think so, but I’m not sure. Their longest record at just under 10 minutes, it is certainly a classic. The first time I heard it live at Cardiff Castle in July 1976 will stay with me forever. There is a great version on the 1977 Live album at nearly 17 minutes long.
So there we have it . A classic album by a band that took over my life for the next 6-7 years. My interest was already waning by the late 70s, but when John Coghlan left in 1981that was it.
I had no interest when the band reformed in 1986(did anyone), but I still continue to play those 70s albums to this day.
So do yourself a favour. Put Hello on, crank up the volume, and enjoy 39 minutes of pure joyous music. You won’t regret it.
Ps. Could someone post a couple of videos for me for Roll Over Lay Down, and Caroline.
Cheers Alan
Never could stand Quo myself. My brother and father loved them. In fact, my dad took him to see them, his first ever gig (he would have been 13). I was jealous and, fifty years on, I still haven’t got over it.
Here’s Caroline
Thanks for posting. They were my first gig as well, March 76 at Cardiff Capitol Theatre. It was so loud, I couldn’t believe it. Had ringing in my ears for days after.
Roll Over Lay Down
I used to seriously enjoy ver Quo, Alan – but this wasn’t my favourite album. I always preferred the brown Quo album. I gather the true aficionados think it’s a bit too heavy – too many Alan Lancaster songs – but I think that’s why I liked it. Also, I think I’ve heard Caroline too often – these days I prefer Softer Ride! For context, I’ve been playing first-call substitute bass player in a Status Quo tribute band for a year or two – everybody shouts for Caroline, but Softer Ride and Blue-eyed Lady sort the sheep from the goats!
I do love the Quo album, I think it’s a great follow-up to Hello and released just eight months later. What I was trying to convey in my post, was that this was the album that propelled them to a different level. It was their first number one record as well.
Fair point.
‘Quo’ was always my favourite too. Although ‘Piledriver’ is a close second. I loved the honky tonk vibe of the former and the sheer wondrous boogie dumbness of the latter. I liked ‘Hello’ too mind. Only not quite so much.
Also, I agree with the OP in that it was all downhill after Coghlan left; the post-Coghlan/Lancaster band which has been using the name ever since was a poor facsimile of the real band. I saw them supporting Queen at Knebworth in 1986 – it was like watching an old friend being given a good kicking.
All downhill after this (sorry about the weird-looking guy at the start)
I bought this single when it was first released, I was 9 years old. I thought it was fantastic then and still do. I’m ashamed to say that when I was in my teens and into Bowie and Roxy Music, I was too embarrassed to tell my friends that I had a Quo single in my collection, for fear of being ridiculed. I also liked the follow up single, Ice In The Sun, which I found out recently was co-written by Marty Wilde.
I was given a Status Quo compilation one Christmas (after I already had 12 Gold Bars). It was from Hallmark and had this picture of the band:
Rossi and Lancaster look about 12, everyone had short(er) hair, and there was this stranger looming over from the back row (Roy Lynes). The music was about as far removed from the late 70s Quo as I could imagine – a typical well-meaning relative present. I hated it at first for what it wasn’t, but gradually began to love its acid-tinged pop. I still think tracks as those mentioned above and ‘When My Mind Is Not Live’, ‘Green Tambourine’ and ‘Black Veils of Melancholy’ have a certain charm about them.
I saw the early Status Quo performing Pictures Of Matchstick Men at the Pop Prom at the Royal Albert Hall in July 1969. Also on the bill were The Who (in their full pomp) and Chuck Berry. This concert happened on the same day as the Stones in Hyde Park. I still think I made the right decision.
You did!
I’d have plumped for Hyde Park, just to see all those ‘edgy’ wannabe Mick’nKeefophiles shit themselves when King Crimson fired up the mellotron.
As per noisecandy, There is a lot of love, but there was also a huge amount of snideness and sneering about ver ‘Quo, what with fans having an imaginary guitar ‘Quo-out’ on dance floors, the double-denim style, and the ‘three chords only’ knocking, viz the Alberto’s:
Personally, I think the sneering is on them, as the organ riff on this track is very un-Quo of the time. Anything that annoys up-themselves ‘cool people’ is alright by me. I saw them in 1977 and the collection of grebs, civilians, and very very straight-looking teens with short hair and Tesco’s jean jackets their mum had embroidered the band logo onto the back of filled the Brighton Conference Centre, and the collective rocking out showed how broad their appeal and style was.
Personally ,I thought Albertos’ pisstaking always had an affectionate side to it. Great stuff!
I think I’ve still got that EP somewhere. IIRC (I haven’t bothered to look) it had a song about Jim Callaghan on it where they mainly shouted “Jim Callaghan” and one about the Dutch that you wouldn’t get away with nowadays but they would probably say was ironic.
I have that EP, it’s A Close Shave by John Dowie. He was also on A Factory Sample which featured Joy Division and The Durruti Column.
I have that single too. But I think it’s a weak parody, and besides, “Snuff Rock” (which I also still have) was miles better with on-point parodies. Given the Alberto’s got Lou Reed right on “Disprin”, maybe they just thought Quo were so trivial they could, er, “knock one out”? Clearly there was more to the Frantic Four.
My reply to this seems to have disappeared as well…
Anyway, thanks a lot for reminding me, I had completely forgotten about John Dowie. I’m listening to it now on you tube and it still makes me laugh.
The Dutch are fair game. Fkin clog wearing bastards. And that red cheese they make is awful.
I worked alongside someone from the Netherlands for a while. He was odd and a bit, erm, direct to put it mildly.
I should post more often but I’m not sure that I could keep up the standard.
Have you tried beetroot juice?
I haven’t but now you’ve mentioned it. It’s got lots of benefits, there’s 11 of them, or 9, or 6, or 5. And that’s just the first few search results. It’s probably 9 because that’s what Holland & Barrett say and they are all qualified medical professionals.
Anyway, there’ll be no keeping me down now.
The Dutch are wonderfully direct people. A former colleague often greeted me with two air kisses, a hug, and would then say – “I see you have gained more weight”.
I saw Yer Quo in 73 at Leeds Town Hall, they played there twice that year so I’m not sure which one it was. A friend worked in a record shop and his boss had received a letter giving him (plus one) entry to the Town Hall to meet the band. He didn’t want to go so passed it on to my chum who invited me.
We duly turned up and showed the letter after some umming and ahing we were let in and taken to the dressing room, where we met the Quo, I recall fish and chips in paper on the table and Players No 6 and lashings of denim.
Enjoyed the concert and bought Piledriver and never really gave them another thought.
Grebo dancing to the sound of the Quo. Oh yes. Never mind any resurrection shuffle, the Quo made you MOVE. ‘Hello’ was always their best album for me – I even learnt how to play the intro to Softer Ride. Top stuff.
Status Quo was the first band I loved, and when I was given 12 Gold Bars for Christmas on cassette I played it constantly. I bought or got given cassettes of the albums the 12 Gold Bars songs were from – Hello, Blue for You, On The Level, etc, but it was Quo Live that was, and still is my favourite expression of their sound. And I think it’s the Alan Lancaster element that makes it rock from Junior’s Wailing onwards – quite different from the boogie sound they are characterized for.
I listened to Hello this morning. The first track , ‘Roll Over Lay Down’, is still musically a great song – so dynamic and rhythmic a machine – that all 4 had a part in its composition comes through on listening. I still enjoy the timbre of Francis Rossi’s voice, and his jig-like lead guitar style is deft and joyous. Nothing else on the album comes close for me – even Caroline, with Rossi’s voice in smooth resonant harmony with the bassline. Certainly not the Rick Parfitt songs – apart from Living on an Island (which is beautifully sad), I don’t think there is a single Parfitt vocal that I like at all. His rhythm guitar playing may be technically proficient and core to the sound of the band, but I find him lumpen – the mugging, lascivious Robin Askwith of the band, with John Coghlan as Bill Wyman (older, complicit and playing along without much active presence).
I stopped listening to Quo in the early 80s – they were unfashionable. Though I have listened to them on and off over the years, the fact that their lyrics are rubbish just doesn’t give them any depth at all.
Funnily enough, a few days ago a Quo track came up on random play that I was not familiar with at all. ‘Drifting Away’ from the Quo album. A Lancaster track, it flies along with a driving bassline, and none of the Parfitt chugga chugga chugga. It was a delight to come at them fresh. I’d be happy with a playlist of Quo songs with just Rossi and Lancaster vocals.
Alan Lancaster was their secret weapon, IMHO
Interesting you mention ‘jig-like lead guitar style’ as I recall in one of the solos Rossi played part of the Irish Washerwoman’s Jig.
That’ll be Roadhouse Blues:
That is feckin’ glorious!
Lot of young women in the audience that night (yeah, right)
The Quo album is up there with Piledriver, Hello and Live that I play most often. Parfitt and Lancaster have most of the writing credits, and like you say it does have a different feel to it. The Live album from 1977 is in my view exceptional. You feel knackered at the end of side four, as if you’d been at the actual gig. It is very rarely mentioned in the list’s of best live albums, but for me it is right up there with the best.
Yep – one of the definitive “double live” albums.
I happened to watch a TOTP re-run recently with the subtitling on my TV left on and ‘What You’re Proposing’ was on it – I knew it from hearing it often at the time (a toe-tapping beat, a catchy tune), but with the lyrics visible I realised that it was barely a song – it was literally drivel (or snivel – as one of the repeated lines ‘what you’re proposin’ / and runny nosin’, runny nosin’, runny nosin’…’). It’s just pointless rhymes.
…and your point is?
😀 I was adding to Salwarpe’s observation: ‘Though I have listened to them on and off over the years, the fact that their lyrics are rubbish just doesn’t give them any depth at all.’
Not sure lyrical profundity was really what they were about…
…having said that – “colours nailed to the mast” time – I’d rather listen to Don’t Think It Matters than Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, any day of the week.
(I’ll get my coat…)
Lyrical *sense* would have been enough!
For avoidance of doubt: are you referring to Dylan or Quo? 🙃
I was impressed to discover that in 2013 the Quo had made a full length action comedy, Bula Quo, filled on location in Fiji. They have a refreshing distance to their fame as rock stars.
In their pre Vertigo years they were just weak psychedelia pop, and would have sunk without trace. They had the benefit of their last two albums with Pye (“Greasy Spoon” & “Two Heads”) to start their transformation into a hard rock band. I was cursed with a multitude of music snobs at school, who venerated Gong, Camel, Yes and even occasionally Led Zep, but sneered at “3 Chord Quo”. Charlatans, all of them.
For my money Quo’s purple patch started with Vertigo and lasted maybe 9 years from “Piledriver” in 1972 until around 1977 with “Rockin All Over The World” when they bought in producers like Pip Williams and Roger Glover, went more radio friendly and largely lost the edge that many of their rock fans valued the most.
After that, they started dialing it in, did way too much coke, fell out with each other with just Rossi and Parfitt remaining. I saw them live sometime around 2011 in Oxford, and there were moments during “Don’t Waste My Time” and “Roll Over” where I thought the roof might come off but also too many parts where I couldn’t tell whether Rossi was laughing with the crowd or at them.
Back in the day in my mates records shop, we were listening to the Heebeegeebees album, when a punter asked, is this the new one by Status Quo…. true story.
That’s fantastic!
Yes, it’s a good one. Softer Ride and Blue Eyed Lady being the standouts. One of my memories of lockdown was watching bootleg footage on YouTube of the Frantic Four tour of 2013 and playing along with Rossi to Blue Eyed Lady over and over. Well, the chords anyway. The solo at the end was a bit shonky at my end. I must give that another go.
A track that rarely gets a mention is ‘Slow Train’. It seems it’s never played live, mainly because of its length and the various time changes. I find that odd, Rossi is more than capable as a player to handle it.
I saw them live twice in the ‘90’s. They were the party band then. Lots of inflatable guitars and silly wigs amongst the audience, mainly there for In The Army Now and Burning Bridges and the rest of that stuff. They were OK I suppose. But I can’t complain – I knew what they had become by then.
You are right about Slow Train. I saw Quo live four times between 76 and 79, and it was never played. Staying on a railway theme, another great song is Railroad off the Dog of Two Head album.
12 Gold Bars was one of the first albums I owned on tape, and played it so much it started to go transparent.
Age and experience confirms it’s the Frantic Four (and maybe Five with Andy Bown) that is the best line-up – I came late (Something Bout You Baby I Like was the first I remember hearing), but it was just before the “Cabaret days” which started around late 83 with Marguerita Time and Alan Lancaster “taking up a teaching post in Australia”.
Always thought Rossi and Parfitt would’ve made a great comedy double act.
The Hello Quo doc from 2012 is a great watch and has great moments of self-deprecation in the interviews
12 Gold Bars was a wonderful compilation. It sold by the bucketload, and got to number 3 on the charts. What a great cover too. As for Rossi being a comedian, I went to see him in November on his Tunes and Chat tour. A wonderful evening up close in a small theatre. He was on top form. In between the acoustic songs, which were perfectly played, he had the audience in stitches with his stories of his life in music. A genuinely funny man, who in another life could well have been a stand up comic.
Rossi was in the Kemp bros spoof documentary at Christmas and was hilarious.
Thanks for reminding me. I saw it advertised before Christmas but forgot all about it. Will look forward to watching it.
The Rhino years. No headstock, no Quo.
Fresh from playing on Dexy’s Don’t Stand Me Down, Rhino took his place to the left of Francis in 1985, and has now been there longer than Alan Lancaster stood there
Longer, maybe – but still not quite right.
I suppose he’ll do – for the cabaret stuff, not the ‘70s songs…
In the words of the mighty yorkio – no headstock, no Quo!
Absolutely!
The Frantic Four Ride Again (or they did)
No disrespect to Rhino, he’s probably a very nice bloke. To me he just never looked right in Quo Mk 2. He seemed as out of place as Francis Rossi in the Dooleys.
He plays too much.
And he uses the wrong bass for the job.
@fitterstoke
You’re absolutely right on both counts. Far too muso.
E’s a geezer, tho’ so that fits. As a total non fan of Quo, I had a great banter with him, when the Rhino band were supporting King King. Anyone who, on asking to be told to fuck off if he doesn’t want to answer my question, does just that, with a grin, then engages in conversation. (I was asking about whether the Alan Bown of the Alan Bown Set had anything to do with the sometime Quo keyboard player.) Cutting a long story short, no, but he appreciated the asking, being a fan of the old mod band.
Yoiks! I just assumed it was the same Alan Bown!
Well, y’ live ‘n’ learn…
except the Quo keyboard plonker is called Andy
Admittedly the surname is not a common one, suggesting there might be some familial connection. I always thought it a misprint, and should’ve been Brown. But there can’t be that many misprints got through the proof-readers since the late 70s.
Of course, my comment demonstrates that misprints are still a thing…er…
My mum’s maiden name (for all the hackers out there). I’m quite proud there were no ‘R’s in her family. Apart from her uncle, he was a wrong ‘un – sent to Australia, of course.
Those with fond memories of the Quo may want to look away now. It’s a shit business…
This is hardly news – they were shilling for the Australian Coles brand when Rick Parfitt was alive.
Might not be news – but it’s still a grim watch. Surely Rossi can’t be that desperate for cash-money…
In my opinion he is an entertainer, rather than an artist, with the view that, if it brings in money, what’s the problem?
Damning with faint praise, Sal?
Mind you, these days ver Quo are more London Palladium than Glasgow Apollo…so maybe you have a point.
Nothing wrong with being an entertainer.
They started at Butlins. I don’t think they ever had ambitions for high art.
Fair comment.
I fell in love with T. Rex and all things glam until I heard Piledriver, which opened my pathway into heavier and alternative music, and also coincided with glam becoming crap. My love for Quo lasted until Rocking all over the world, although l did see them live quite a few times after that. Piledriver is my favourite but to be followed in a short length of time by the Hello and Quo albums, plus the Best of with the black and white cover, was heaven indeed.
Went to both Frantic Four Proper Quo Reunion concerts in 2013 and 2014 and they were a joy to behold. Took me back to the Free Trade Hall in 1973. Set list primarily the Quo Live album plus a few favourites (including Railroad with original harmonica player Rob Young) and Alan Lancaster’s playing and singing demonstrating just what Pantomime Quo had lacked, despite suffering from what later emerged to be MS. Hearing “Is there anybody out there wants to rock?” as the Hello branded curtain fell away at the start was unforgettable. (No Gerdundula though…)
I missed those shows – I envy you.
Same here, I would have loved to have seen them. After posting this thread last week I’ve been on a bit of a 70s Quo binge, finishing off last night with the full Frantic Four concert on YouTube. Great sound, great atmosphere just like the old days.