Album review: STATUS QUO – Don’t Stop, Under The Influence, The Party Ain’t Over Yet…

Status Quo - The Party Ain't Over Yet...

Edsel [Release date 20.01.17]

These three Quo re-issues are given more poignancy now by the passing of Rick Parfitt whose ill health is bookended by the original albums. A year after the covers album he had quadruple by-pass heart surgery whilst in 2006 he was treated for throat cancer.

1996′s Don’t Stop was unusual in that it is an album of covers including a collaboration with The Beach Boys (‘Fun Fun Fun’) and Brian May (‘Raining In My Heart’) There’s even a version of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Don’t Stop’.

At the time, Quo were having a spat with BBC Radio 1 complaining that they were not playlisted, a case they subsequently lost. 1996 was also the band’s 30th anniversary: Rossi and Parfitt had met in 1966 at the Butlins holiday camp in Minehead. This reissue – also available in 2005 – has four bonus tracks in the shape of ‘B-sides’ of singles from the album. ***1/2

The band’s next album, 1999′s Under The Influence, demonstrates that the band were no longer defined by their hit singles. It’s a solid offering, and continues to recycle their no-nonsense heads-down boogie producing such gems as ‘Round And Round’ and ‘Keep ‘Em Coming’ When the band change the pace – as on ‘Shine On’ – they really are quite impressive. This is a reissue of the 2011 version with four bonuses including a re-recording of ‘Pictures Of Matchstick Men’. ****

Fast forward to 2005 and the album title The Party Ain’t Over Yet… might suggest a watershed moment for the band a decade or so ago when their 40th anniversary beckoned. The blueprint is intact but the songs are frankly a bit average. Although Bob Young had already resumed his role as chief writing collaborator, Rick Parfitt’s ‘This Is Me’ gains greater significance and is a poignant way to close this set.

At the time there was a bonus disc released in Australia which is included here (and with a 10 minute live medley recorded in Liverpool). ***

With the caveat that these albums have been available previously, Edsel do their usual excellent re-packaging job although there are no new liner notes. There’s another chance for new devotees to discover a later version of the band who – in the face of changing musical taste – maintained both their fanbase, and their consistency.

Review by David Randall

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