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(from scrapbook 2, page 69)

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RATINGS: ***** CLASSIC
**** BUY
*** BORROW
** HEAR
* IGNORE

STATUS QUO 'Ain't Complaining' (Vertigo VERH 58/CD)*

STATUS QUO are one of the few bands in the country whose very name polarises opinion. It's a grimly appropriate handle, conjuring up vistas of complacency, an idealistic nether region where all progress is mercilessly stopped in its tracks.

For Quo are the acceptable Top Of The Pops face of manicured, deloused, pub bred rock 'n' roll. They're ambassadors of a genre that is not so much tamed as emotionally anaemic.

All this is far from obvious to the ordinary ear and it is only when they're set next to something like Megadeth, something real, something emotively tangible, that Quo's inherent paucity of feeling or ideas comes to the surface.

For while Mustaine's music manages to convey an intensity, however perverse, the imaginary world in which Quo find a home contains no such emotional presence. 'Ain't Complaining', with its handy Andy Capp ideas and bruising, matey camaraderie is as bereft of scope as their earlier 'In The Army Now'.

There's a vulgar naivety about Quo (imagine naivety after so long) that reminds me of Supertramp. It's the same bloody-minded attitude that no doubt fuels Dire Straits. A self-confidence that means that, no matter what, the Quo will have another, equally vapid LP on our shelves this time next year.

I always thought the name was an apt one.

SAM KING