Clipping details
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| Title: | HIGH GLOSS |
| Notes: | Review of the "1+9+8+2" album |
| Year: | 1982 |
| Country: | UK |
| Publication: | |
| Author: | Chas de Whalley |
HIGH GLOSS
STATUS QUO
'1982'
(Vertigo 6302 189)
A STATUS Quo album that will surprise people? Sounds like a contradiction in terms, doesn't it? We've got so used to the denim destroyers and their honest-to-goodness boogie beat it would cause a shock akin to Maggie Thatcher joining the SDP were Quo to change the formula that has seen them top the rock tree for the last 10 years. But Francis Rossi did say it was on the cards and, sure enough, this '1982' album does mark the first step in a new direction.
It also marks their twentieth anniversary and the departure of original drummer John Coghlan in favour of ex-new waver Pete Kircher. So now is probably as good a time as any for Messrs Rossi, Parfitt and Lancaster to take stock of themselves and decide how much of the old Quo style they'll take with them through the next 20 years.
They've kept the beat - which will come as a relief to dyed-in-the-denim Status Quo fans, who'll discover that Pete Kircher's right foot stomps just as hard as Coghlan's did. And they've kept the songs too. Those old favourite 12 bar chords still blend into that curious brand of Heavy Country Rock that has been Quo's trademark all these years. Check out any of 'Dear John', 'I Should Have Known', 'Resurrection' or half a dozen others and you'll hear the same old drinkalong, rockalong, singalong, strummalong Quo you know and love.
So what actually is new?
Well, the sound and the production, that's what. 1982 presents a new high-gloss, high-tech, high-flying Status Quo. 'Big Man' (the album closer and a possible sign of things to come) is the obvious example. With its pomp rock sound of exploding drums, laser guitars and vocals that starburst across the stereo like confetti bombs it wouldn't sound out of place on a Blue Oyster Cult collection, and the formula is repeated throughout the 11 tracks here.
They produced it themselves (albeit at Queen's sumptuous Swiss studios in Montreux) so they have only themselves to blame if their fans shy away from the new polished metal sound in favour of the grit and grime of yesteryear. But I don't think they will because this album is strong enough to open up a whole new market for Status Quo.
After all, I like it... and I've never been able to say that about a Quo album before.
CHAS DE WHALLEY
Image caption: STATUS QUO: high-tech, high-flying... but the beat goes on