Clipping details
(from scrapbook 2, page 11)

Clipping text

SINGLES OF THE WEEK

STATUS QUO: Mystery Song (Phonogram): The heaviest, most sublime single currently on offer. Quo are the only 60s rock veterans whose new songs are finer than their oldies. You might say that's because the old new stuff was distinctly low grade, but that would be churlish. The fact is that no other 60s rockers are putting out music as powerful or majestic.

If you can't get off on the Quo, you really are too pooped to pop. A trip to the adrenalin bank is obligatory after every album. One hearing of this single is enough to put your overdraft into gallons.

What Quo don't offer is easier to say than what exactly it is they do. No profound lyrics, no solo pyrotechnics, no epic multi-instrumental arrangements, no everlasting melodies.

Quo have just taken the basic rock 'n' ingredients - guitars and drums - and come up with some of the most refreshing, stirring sounds since electricity was invented.

One reason their boogie has the edge over rival products is the voice of Francis Rossi - light, high-pitched, whining, the perfect counterpoint to those churning riffs, and the exact opposite of that wheezing gruffness that American heavies favour.

The main reason for their success is rather more mysterious. It's as though the sheer momentum of their attack lifts them into the stratosphere. That monster heap of heavy metal thunders along the runway and suddenly achieves lift-off. Built like a tank, it soars like Concorde.

This doesn't happen with every Quo song. Obvious examples of when it did are "Blue Eyed Lady" from the "Quo" album, "Down Down" (naturally), and now "Mystery Song."

Quiet, delicate, shimmering chords open the song, with a fragile little vocal. A rhythm guitar emerges from the mix with power implied rather than stated. Then, the whole band hit the rhythm with massive force. The only comparable moment on record was when Cream surged into the riff from "Toad" on "Wheels Of Fire." Believe me, this is praise indeed.

After that, "Mystery Song" just keeps on building, piling on the pace. The first steamroller in orbit.

There's no way you can resist buying a set of Levis, standing around in butch poses, and testing the glue on your wig.