I'm not quite sure how to put this - I'm becoming ever so slightly obsessed with Status Quo. I find myself playing them most days*. Don't worry, I've not taken to wearing Quo patches or walking round with my thumbs in my belt loops; not yet, anyway.
My interest in them musically, as I said here, stopped at around 1975 but that doesn't mean I don't want to read Francis Rossi's recent autobiography I Talk Too Much or watch obscure interviews on Youtube they did on Italian TV. I'm as interested in the relationship Rossi had with Rick Parfitt, his on stage partner of 50 years standing, as I am by anything they ever recorded. Weird, isn't it?
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How can anyone with a pulse not find this clip from 1970 (courtesy of Granada telly) absolutely riveting? It was the single that came to define their sound. Which is ironic as they never even wrote it. For a record that only made No.12 in the hit parade it stuck around in the charts for 17 weeks. I know, that's longer than this current lockdown. Normal service will be resumed I can assure you; I just don't know when.
Status Quo - Down the Dustpipe (1970)
I often thought that had Francis and Rick wanted to ditch the boogie, they could've made a living as a Comedy double-act. A bit like Cannon and Ball - with added cocaine and booze
ReplyDeleteThey struck me as being like a married couple who had grown to put up with each other's habits - good and bad.
DeleteWill we see you in double denim, though, John?!
ReplyDeleteI fear not; that would be exceeding my, ahem, quota.
DeleteI've been playing them a bit as well, mostly the same period that you are, but I'll make a case for their records from the turn of the 80s where they were a bit more poppy, but still interesting. I really like What You're Proposing and some other singles from that time.
ReplyDeleteIt went downhill very very quickly not long after that mind.
Hello H! Long time no see! When punk came along in '77 I outgrew the Quo; I had bigger fish to fry - admittedly these fish only knew the same amount of chords, but the times they were a changing. And then, when I was in my 30s, I started listening to this same clutch of albums I've talked about recently. But, again, I let go of them and moved onto - I don't know - trip-hop, ambient or somesuch. So this must be the dreaded third wave!
DeleteThere's no hope for me.
Yup, I have been a bit quiet. Still been reading and lurking, but things have been busy and haven't had as much time to comment. Will try to change that. Hope things are well with you and yours.
Delete(That last sentence should be read in David Coverdales's voice)
Francis Rossi must still feel as if he's lost a limb. They truly were a double-act.
ReplyDelete