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earMUSIC [Release date : 30.1.26]
Francis Rossi’s fifth solo album, The Accidental, sees him reconnecting with the bricks and mortar foundation that underpinned Quo’s music over the years.
It’s a recording studio free-for-all eventually shaped by a longing for simple, direct answers. In short, a valiant attempt by Rossi and friends to capture yet more lightning in a bottle.
To get the chemistry right, you need musicians who will spark off each other. Take a bow, songwriter Bob Young, guitarist’s guitarist Hiran Ilangantilike (a friend from way back), bassist John ‘Rhino’ Edwards, drummer Leon Cave, with Amy Smith adding backing vocals and Andy Brook sharing the producer’s baton with Rossi.
It’s not without humour. ‘Going Home’s plink plonk piano opening signals a song with a humorous tone, while Dead Of Night’s brass intro previews a barroom singalong style (take a deep breath and try singing along to those rapidfire rhymes).
But it’s the energetic ‘Go Man Go’s springloaded guitars and thumping beat – basic stuff with a catchy tune, that confirms the album’s view that simplest works best. Even when politely interrupted by a classical choir in the middle section.
Reinforcing this mindset, ‘Be My Love’ and ‘Something In The Air’ stick to the same basic idea of pairing vintage sounds with sturdy melodies on a pair of down to earth dramas, while ‘Home Ground’, a bluesy, rootsy rocker, cuts across personal history, past and present. It’s clearly what Rossi aimed for on Accidental.
Then he ups the ante.
Reminiscent of the experimental side of US sixties pop, ‘Push Come To Shove’ is a real breakthrough track, stretching the boundaries, sprinkled with a few magic, music hall moments.
It’s a perfect match for the Quo-esque ‘Picture Perfect’. A driving, rhythmically rhyming pop song. Similarly with a scattering of instrumental moments dropped into the mix.
Lightning indeed. ***1/2
Review by Brian McGowan
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Power Plays w/c 2 March 2026
DODGY – It’s Not The End (Flip Flop Records)
THE SKBs – Hour Glass (indie)
LAKE – Boy On A Mission (indie)
KING FALCON Holding Out (indie)
HOKKA Heart Said No (Nuclear Blast Records)
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EDDIE AND THE WOLVES See Me Fall (indie)
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