Track Listing

1. Backwater
2. Just Take Me
3. Break The Rules
4. Drifting Away
5. Don't Think It Matters
6. Fine Fine Fine
7. Lonely Man
8. Slow Train
9. Lonely Night

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7716 in Music
• Released on: 2005-01-31
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .24 pounds
• Running time: 41 minutes

Customer Reviews

Awesome early Quo
This album was originally released in the early 70's 2 or 3 albums into their heavier denim era. It often seems to get over looked in favour of the more popular Hello or Piledriver albums but in my opinion, this is the best of all of their early albums.

It starts off with the unmistakable Backwater. Sung by bassist Alan Lancaster, this is a fantastic blues rock song with a great story line and driving rhythm. It has the trademark 12 bar riffage, but played with a real passion that was certainly missing during their 80's stuff. The mix into Just Take Me sees drummer John Coghlan at his absolute best.

Muso's quite rightly discuss the values of John Bonham, Cozy Powell and Ian Paice but guys, Coghlan is right up there with them. Just listen to the way he mixes power with feel on Just Take Me and the way he leads the time changes during Slow Train, not to mention the great drum solo...the most underated rock drummer from that era!!

Break the rules is an absolute classic, again blues rock at its best with Rossi in story telling mode. After the brilliant Drifting Away, which again sees Lancaster at the mic, Don't Think It Matters, Fine Fine Fine and Lonely man are great album tracks leading into the afore mentioned Slow Train.

It really bugs me when lazy writers churn out the "3 chords" stereotype thing, because Slow Train is a classic piece of 70's rock...great riffs, time changes, story telling, jigs, drum solo's, heavy rock, the works. You just have to turn the damn stereo up, batter your eardrums up some more and nod ya head, because this is rock music at its best!!

The addition of Lonely night on this re-mastered version is a welcome treat, nice finisher.

This is the classic Quo line up of Rossi, Parfitt, Lancaster and Coghlan at their peak. In this early era, Rossi and Parfitt used a much heavier guitar style, and put together some very original and complicated guitar pieces. There was a real magic when they concentrated on their playing, leaving Lancaster to the vocals, backed up by Coghlans thunderous drumming that was only really present on this album.

So, do yourself a favour, buy this cd, turn it up and I promise you...if you have any rock n roll blood in you, it will blow you away. Fantastic!!!

A rip-roaring juggernaut of an album!
Status Quo continued their inexorable rise to superstardom with 'Quo' - quite simply an amazing record!

Continuing the trend of their previous releases 'Piledriver' and 'Hello', 'Quo' absolutely rocks, with every song right out of the top drawer.

From the opening of 'Backwater' to the closing number - bonus track 'Lonely Night' - Quo just put the pedal to the metal and don't let up for the whole album.

Surprisingly, only one single was ever released from the album ('Break The Rules', charting at No 8) I say surprisingly simply because of the excellent quality of the songs on offer, and now it seems quite strange that they didn't release at least one more single - 'Backwater', 'Drifting Away' or 'Don't Think It Matters' would have fit the bill quite nicely, in my view.

A top class album and an absolute must have in any collection!

Quo's purple patch
This is from the period where Status Quo were 'aving it' as Liam Gallagher would say. Along with 'On The Level', this is pretty much flawless no nonsense rock. You have to admire the simplicity of the sound and its effectiveness. Despite the basic song structure there are some moments of great musicianship. Quo were a very 'tight' band in the studio at this time able to knock out an album a year, probably only spending a month in the studio. Not sure who plays the solo on 'just take me' either Rossi or Parfitt but this reveals a higher level of guitar skills than is usually associated with the Quo. Like early AC/DC, the formula works and it is standard blues/rock pub fayre. The Quo sound doesn't take long to start sounding a bit tired, but it is rather harsh that NEVER do you see Status Quo albums in the classic albums lists when they clearly made at least 3. That's a lot more than can be said for a good many bands...