Album review : STATUS QUO – Driving To Glory

Cherry Red [Release date : 06.12.24]

You’ve really got to hand it to whoever guides Status Quo through the pop and rock music jungle.

Brilliantly marketed, with ads that hit all the right notes in the right places, Quo’s latest release, Driving To Glory looks like another winner. And just before Christmas too. What a stroke of luck.

Yes, the band’s considerable core fanbase will buy it anyway. But once word gets around, and a stocking or two needs filled, it’s easy to see it climbing the charts.

The basic logistics: Driving… brings together many of the band’s rare tracks from the late 1990s and early 2000s for the first time.

Supervised by the material’s original producer, Mike Paxman, tech wizard, Mike Pietrini has remastered all 14 tracks.

It certainly proves that the half life of a quality Quo recording is impossible to calculate… Some of these songs have been unavailable for over 20 years. And still…

Understandably, ‘Driving To Glory’, a 1999 co-write between Rick Parfitt and Rhino Edwards leads the album and gives it its title.

Parfitt’s singing and playing here is at his fiercest and most undiluted, and surprisingly on the chorus, at his most melodic. Perhaps an attempt to navigate out of the “epic pop” cul de sac in which they found themselves in the late nineties.

A pounding, stripped back, ‘Analyse Time’ and the ornately arranged ‘Obstruction Day’, are again from 1999, both appearing as back up tracks on the ‘Twenty Wild Horses’ single.

Apart from their un Quo like titles, they seem like an English band’s attempt to emulate Tom Petty’s merge of rock and roots. A path never followed. Too many commercial risks.

The highlights elsewhere are a full length version of the fabulously titled ‘Famous In The Last Century’, and there’s a new version of ‘Whatever You Want’, a ‘98 version of ‘Don’t Waste My Time’ and a cover of ELO’s eminently danceable ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’.

Stocking filler tracks for a stocking filler album? ***

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 2 March 2025.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast on 4 March 2025

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen live or listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 24 March 2025

HARRI LARKIN Too Close To The Sun (Robot Distro)
SANDNESS Not Your Dog (Rockshots Records)
DOCTOR BLACK Drag Me Down (indie)
COHEED AND CAMBRIA Goodbye Sunshine (Virgin Music Group)
LEONI JANE KENNEDY Closer (indie)
SMALL TOWN POLITICS Red Lights (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 24 March 2025

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

Our occasional Newsletter signposts latest additions to the website(s). We also include a selection of recent top albums, based on GRTR! reviewer ratings. The newsletter is sent out a few times a year.

If you’d like to register to receive this occasional mailing please complete the form:

If using a smartphone/tablet please tap here or re-orientate your device

(Note that this registration is separate from site registration which allows you to leave comments and receive daily emails about new content. If you wish to register for this – in addition or separately – please click or tap here – for more information – the form is at the foot of each page. Please read our privacy policy when opting-in to receive emails.