Album review: STATUS QUO – Perfect Remedy

UMC [Release date 06.03.20]

Albums nineteen, twenty and twenty one. How many bands can say that? Each one now reissued, and expanded to within an inch of its life. With added liner notes and pics.

“Perfect Remedy” (1989), “Rock Till You Drop” (1991) and “Thirsty Work (1994) all charted worldwide, and all supplied a handful of best selling singles.

The band’s continued (and almost unprecedented) success begins with the notion that the pop/boogie blueprint is indelibly tattooed on Francis Rossi’s soul. He’s not reinventing the wheel on any of these albums. But his songwriting bends and shapes the blueprint, putting fresh spins on old ideas. Those ideas hold hands with Bob Young’s memorable hooks and melodies, and Bernie Frost’s everyman lyrics. The traditional building blocks that every good song needs are there in abundance.

Despite its occasional slack, and the odd track fraying at the seams, Perfect Remedy is still tightly knotted where it counts. That said, it’s probably the least Quo of these three albums – the band’s stylistic compass seemed to point in a country rock direction once too often, even for hardcore fans.

Two bonus CDs here. The first is armed with an avalanche of bonus tracks. Outtakes, special edits, live versions, 12” versions. A veritable cornucopia of Quo arcana. Special mentions : ‘The Anniversary Waltz’ (Spanish promo version), and ‘Fighting For Love’, an early version of ‘Power Of Love’. They don’t come any more esoteric than that.

The second is a full length recording of the band’s “Live At The SEC” gig, in 1989. ***1/2

Review by Brian McGowan

For Tracklists, see : https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/deluxe-status-quo-albums/

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)