The Quo are back with their 29th studio album, now almost fifty years old. For those who expect Status Quo to finally break their now cliched guitar riff style will be sadly disappointed but also stupid for expecting them to do so. Sure, 'Quid Pro Quo' sounds like every other Quo album ever but it's actually quite good amongst its familiarity.
This deluxe edition, released exclusively at Tesco, comes with a second CD (dubbed an 'official bootleg' which is surely an oxymoron if ever there was one) but it's CD one that I'll be concentrating on.
Kicking off with 'Two Way Traffic', a speedy and memorable song, and lead single 'Rock n Roll n You' (the best song on the album), the album manages to mix in their typical riffs with some interesting synth and production effects, but the Quo sound is never far away. 'Dust To Gold' is a slower number and one of the more different sounding tracks but, like many of the others, seems to hide Francis Rossi's vocals underneath a mud of music. 'Let's Rock', track number four, cannibalises keys lines from past hits (I like it, I like it / down, down, down) in a track that almost writes itself with a few too many song cliches for my liking. 'Can't See For Looking' is a passable inclusion but 'Better Than That' is, er, better than that with a much better chorus even if, like 'Movin' On' that follows is so within the formula I'm such there must be a mathematician somewhere composing the ideal Quo track.
'Leave A Little Light On' is a little different and, like many of the inclusions, is built around a repetitive but catchy chorus. 'Any Way You Like It' leads into a quick singable tune in 'Frozen Hero' before the pun-title of 'Reality Cheque' continues the theme. 'The Winner', 'It's All About You' and 'My Old Ways' conclude the album without really amazing but being perfectly pleasant to listen to. And just for old times the band conclude the album with last year's 'Hope For Heroes' version of 'In The Army Now' complete with changed lyrics to make the army seem a much rosier occupation.
Overall Rossi and Parfitt have stuck to their typical, cliched style: what else would the fans want? Though you could criticise them for resting on their musical style it's a perfectly servicable album with several highlights and it's a more than happy way of spending almost an hour in the company of the aging rockers.
Just maybe try something a bit off the wall for album #30 please?
5/10
Friday 10 June 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment