Album review : FRANCIS ROSSI – The Way We Were Volume 1

EAR Music [Release date: 02.05.25]

Francis Rossi – artist as purist making new music from abandoned recordings, not seen as commercial enough to pursue further at the time, or side tracked onto Quo’s then latest album.

Rossi : “Collected on this album are demo recordings that I really like, or even that I now think are better than the recorded versions that people know already . . . I hope that the fans like them as much as I do.”

All of them were written by Rossi and Bob Young, songwriter extraordinaire.

Truth is, these recordings hold value precisely because they are unique, unbranded by a record label, and have never been released in this form. One listen to ‘Electric Arena’, ‘Tongue Tied’ and ‘Pennsylvania Blues Tonight’ and the spark that was, in some degree, snuffed out by a more commercial version, will illuminate Rossi’s vision.

All three appeared on Quo’s In Search Of The Fourth Chord, an album that opened in 2007 to mixed reviews. These new/old versions strip away the unnecessary baggage that seemed to afflict the music back then, exposing three tantalising melodies and a trio of sinuous hooks. You begin to understand Rossi’s enthusiasm.

‘Gotta Get Up And Go’, ‘If You Believe’ and ‘Faded Memory’ confirm that Rossi’s studio team have breathed new life into this older material. They sound like completely new songs, fresh, sparkling, spontaneous.

The album closes with five previously unreleased tracks, still in demo form.

‘Why I’m Walking’ and ‘Strike Like Lightning’ are the picks, if only because of their immediacy.

And they are all powerful, elegant rock songs, framed within a barebones production and minimalist arrangements.

That’s the nature of The Way We Were, Volume 1. ***1/2

Review by Brian McGowan

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Power Plays w/c 1 December 2025

We feature all the artists selected in this sequence in 2025.

Featured Albums w/c 1 December 2025

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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