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(from scrapbook 2, page 53)

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STATUS QUO
'Ain't Complaining'
(Vertigo VERH58)
KKK

AGAIN AND AGAIN they come back to haunt me, just when will this band give up? Never... and why should they? Quo must be laughing all the way to the bank. On the on hand they've got the pop press and media in general laughing at them and poking fun at the archaic 'Heavy Metal' band, whilst on the other the Metal mags like us dismiss 'em as nowt more than pop crap and has-beens. Meanwhile the band are selling tons of albums and making another million or so quid.

After subjecting myself to the 'Ain't Complaining' single and a pile of abuse from Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt back in March, I really felt that Quo had come up to a point where they were just carrying on to see just how much more money they could earn by flogging a dead horse in the form of their usual helpings of twelve bar boogie. The new album was bound to be a pile of toss...

Originally titled 'The Fighter', but now named after Quo's millionth Top 20 hit, this new record is very, very surprising. I was shocked. It opens with that title track, with it's modern, bouncy beat and a chorus catchy enough to have all the old dears down at the local bingo hall rollin' in the aisles. Skiffle lives in the Eighties! But then things change. The second cut is a ditty called 'Everytime I Think Of You', a track written by bassist John Edwards and drummer Jeff Rich - the 'new' boys on the block. My God! Derek Oliver will be creaming in his pants when he hears this! Believe it or not the cut is a massive dose of AOR wimphem, keyboards aplenty and as far removed from the traditional Quo sound as possible.

And things don't stop there either! What follows is, quite frankly, astounding. 'One For The Money' is a slice of dance rock on a par with the kind of stuff displayed on former April Wine man Myles Goodwyn's recent LP, 'Another Shipwreck' features layers of keyboards over a soothing tune, 'Don't Mind If Do' intros with a slightly tasteful Marino-style guitar stab (!), while 'I Know You're Leaving' is a slice of pure American slushy balladry on a par with the Bee Gees meeting Foreigner. I kid you not!

With such a diverse and rather good first side, Quo then have to go and spoil things with a bunch of songs that move back into the dodgy twelve bar territory, with the exception of a couple of moments.

Yup, 'Cross That Bridge', 'Cream Of The Crop', 'Burning Bridges' and 'Magic' are all variations on that ol' Quo sound and damn boring they are to boot. But hey, at least the old men in boys' clothes are moving in a much healthier direction than of old thanks to the increasing involvement of Edwards and Rich in the songwriting.

It's Rich who had a hand in writing what is possibly the album's best track, and perhaps Quo's most Metallic statement for a long time, namely 'The Loving Game'. It's kinda on a par with Cheap Trick in sound, the vocals sounding like a cross between Robert Plant and Robin Zander at times. Oh, and we mustn't forget the arty new single 'Who Gets The Love?' either. I'm sure you've heard it - very tasteful and as unlike a Quo single as it can be.

Parfitt, Rossi and Co will never go back to the glory days of relentless headbanging and the unforgettable sound of 'Quo Live' but, give them their dues, they're no longer playing the same old riffs over and over and over again. By crikey, I think they've matured!   DAVE REYNOLDS