Cherry Red [Release date : 03.07.26]

Status Quo’s past, present and future promise seemed to be crammed in to 3 short years, 1970-72.

In their early years, for what turned out to be one of the UK’s most durable bands, finding a hit single meant finding the right bandwagon.

They’d had hit singles in the late sixties with ‘Pictures Of Matchstick Men’ and ‘Ice In The Sun’, less so with ‘Black Veils Of Melancholy’.

These psychedelic pop/rock stylings, adopted from the USA’s west coast rock bands, were quickly consigned to the past.

A significant transformation was called for and that’s what we got.

The granular texture of 1970 album, Ma Kelly’s Greasy Spoon was the polar opposite of the slick psychedelic pop of those earlier releases.

This 5 CD set begins with that breakthrough album, creating a patchwork sound that mixes boogie, rock, blues and pop. Not forgetting the sartorial switch from Swinging Sixties’ fashion to blue jeans and white tees. Streetwise style to match the music.

CD1 : Ma Kelly’s Greasy Spoon and Dog Of Two Head
CD2 : Everything (Argentinian version of the Ma Kelly album…honest)
CD3 : A&B sides, demos and outtakes
CD4 : Alt Mixes
CD5 : Live & In Session : BBC Sessions ‘70-’72; Beat Club Sessions ‘70; and Live at Granada TV Studios, Manchester.

The standouts on ‘Ma Kelly’s Greasy Spoon’ are the band’s boogie shuffle treatment of ‘Junior’s Wailing’. It’s a million miles away from Steamhammer’s rolling thunder original. While surprisingly, the recording of Pete Green/ Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Lazy Poker Blues’ is an enjoyable facsimile of the original.

The hit singles of the time, ‘Down The Dustpipe’ and ‘In My Chair’, don’t appear on Ma Kelly’s Greasy Spoon. Singles and albums were seldom released concurrently back then.
Like other great Quo songs of the time, ‘Gerdundula’ and ‘Tune To The Music’, they appear on CD3.

Dog of Two Head, originally released in 1971 sits cheek by jowel with Ma Kelly on CD1.

The new Quo were beginning to attract the attention of the cognoscenti.
Allmusic: “Dog of Two Head includes one of the most brilliant compositions of the band, the stunning “Railroad.” At times though the music website seemed a bit short sighted, “never again were they going to sound as innovative and inventive as they sound here”.

CDs 3 and 4 almost speak for themselves. More than 30 out takes, off cuts, previously unreleased etc … ie the usual suspects, lined up for inspection by Quo completists.

1970’s Live And In Session (CD5) performances on the BBC, created a strong sense of anticipation. Here was a band clearly undergoing a transformation.

Two years later, their live gig in Manchester, at the Granada TV Studios, was an iconic event, sealing their transition from faux psychedelia into what became their signature “heads down, no-nonsense boogie”.

They had arrived.
Followed by 20 Top Ten Studio albums, 57 Top Forty singles, and 118 million records sold worldwide.

Dave Ling’s liner notes fill in the blanks. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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DAEDRIC Sand Tiger (FiXT)
PARKER BARROW Nothin’ Left To Save (indie)

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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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