Track Listing

1. A Mess Of Blues
2. Ol' Rag Blues
3. Can't Be Done
4. Too Close To The Ground
5. No Contract
6. Win Or Lose
7. Marguerita Time
8. Your Kind Of Love
9. Stay The Night
10. Going Down Town Tonight
11. The Wanderer (Bonus Track)
12. Going Down Town Tonight (Single Version) (Bonus Track)
13. I Wonder Why (Bonus Track)
14. Ol'rag Blues (Extended Version) (Bonus Track)
15. A Mess Of Blues (Extended Version) (Bonus Track)
16. Cadillac Ranch (Lp Out-Take) (Bonus Track)
17. Ol'rag Blues (Bonus Track)
18. The Wanderer (Sharon The Nag Mix) (Bonus Track)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26053 in Music
• Released on: 2006-01-30
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks
• Dimensions: .22 pounds
• Running time: 65 minutes

Customer Reviews

Their pivotal 1983 album
If albums were judged on their hit single yield, "Back To Back" would be one of Quo's best. There were four in all and the first two, ahead of the album's release, gave no hint of what was to follow. Alan Lancaster's "Ol' Rag Blues" and the cover of an Elvis hit, "A Mess Of The Blues", were standard Quo without being remarkable. As a whole however "Back To Back" panders more to the plastic pop of the era and suffers from a lightweight production.

It's most remembered for the dreaded twee country pop song, "Marguerita Time", a huge hit and three minutes that has nothing in common with what made Quo popular. The final hit, "Going Down Town Tonight" is a fast, keyboard-dominated number that was almost as perplexing to long-time fans.

There are some good moments, such as "Stay The Night", but it's difficult to redeem an album that's had the guts ripped from the sound. "Win Or Lose" was a particular disappointment. Though a Francis Rossi song, it had been recorded a few years earlier by the endearingly crude r&b band, Lew Lewis Reformer. Their rollicking version made me wonder why Quo hadn't already recorded it, but the version here is almost casually weak.

The original album is, at just over half an hour, their shortest and the bonus material almost doubles the running time of this reissue. Most of these tracks are merely alternative versions however, including Lancaster's lead vocal of "Ol' Rag Blues". He apparently wanted to sing his own song but as the public weren't used to hearing him tackle singles, Francis Rossi's vocal was preferred. There are just three different songs: "I Wonder Why" is as bad as anything on the album; "Cadillac Ranch" is rousing, though not as passionate as Bruce Springsteen's original; and there are two versions of Quo's pointless 1984 hit cover of Dion's "The Wanderer".

This would be Lancaster's last album. The change in direction seems to have contributed to his decision to drift away, though moving to Australia without persuading the others to follow may have been more significant. "Back To Back" therefore marks the end of one era and the beginning of another. Though most subsequent albums are better than this, Quo's more pop-oriented era hasn't gone down as well with long-term fans.

The last album before the decline!
'Back To Back' turned out to be the closing chapter for Status Quo in more ways than one.

It was the last album that they would ever make with bassist Alan Lancaster and, sadly, it also turned out to be the last very good album that they would make for a long time.

With the exception of three songs ('Win Or Lose', 'Going Down Town Tonight' and the dreaded 'Marguerita Time') 'Back To Back' is surprisingly underrated as an album, with some top class songs on it.

The first single from the album, 'Ol Rag Blues' is a class tune, which turned out to be another top 10 hit. The follow up, 'A Mess Of Blues' also charted well, getting to number 15 (despite being an old Elvis Presley song, it is still very good done Quo style)

Other good songs include 'Stay The Night', 'No Contract', It Can't Be Done' and 'Too Close To The Ground' (A very good bluesy ballad)

Listening to the bonus tracks, I was quite surprised by just how good they were. 'I Wonder Why', whilst not being a classic by any means, is still far better than the likes of 'Going Down Town Tonight', a weak song and a poor choice for a single (although it still charted well, at No 20) And their verion of Bruce Springsteen's 'Cadillac Ranch' would have been a much better choice than 'Win Or Lose', for me the weakest song on the album.

That just leaves 'Marguerita Time!' To be fair, the song isn't bad at all, its just that it wasn't right for Quo, in my view - at least, not as a single. Nevertheless, it proved to be a smash hit, reaching number 3, and proved to be the best selling single from the album by far.

In retrospect, its almost a shame that 'Marguerita Time' proved to be such a hit. Whilst that is a terrible thing to say about a Quo song, it summarily set the tone for the next 15-20 years in terms of their music, churning out weak albums and songs that weren't worthy of their awesome talent.