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(from scrapbook 3, page 17)

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Status Quo 12, Art nil

STATUS QUO
12 Gold Bars

Vertigo)

THERE'S no doubt that Status Quo are the Liverpool FC of rock'n'roll. They keep it simple and direct, are totally unadventurous, and have been extremely successful over an extraordinary period of time.

And if the majority of their output, the many album makeweights. have something of the plodding consistency of a Roger Hunt or Tommy Smith about them, occasionally they've pulled a Kenny Dalglish/ Terry McDermott scorcher out of the bag.

They're instinctive primitives - Quo are the band who made The equals sound sophisticated in the late '60s - and as they've proved again and again, Messrs Rossi, Parfitt, Lancaster, Coghlan and (honorary member) Young suffer from no delusions. That's why their songs remain pub jukebox staples and why they survived the '70s so gracefully when all about them went earnestly silly.

Also. unlike so many boogie-cum-HM outfits, Quo have never been smutty; they've maintained the deranged dignity of a Tommy Cooper without once resorting to Benny Hill-type cheap laughs.

If anyone tells me they've never liked anything by Status Quo then not only are they fibbing, but they obviously don't understand the essentially stupid appeal of this recreational activity we call rock'n'roll. 'Down, Down', for instance, the butt of so many jokes, is still monumentally sustained riffing of a rare quality. Who could resist such inanity?

'12 Gold Bars'? Well, eight golden goals certainly: 'Down, Down', 'Caroline', 'Again And Again', 'Mystery Song', 'Roll Over, Lay Down', 'Rain', 'Wild Side Of Life' and 'Whatever You Want'. There are also three mishits ('Paper Plane', 'Breaking The Rules'

sic), and 'Rockin' All Over The World', too thin a cover of a throat-clenching John Fogerty original) and one effort disallowed for being miles offside ('Living On An Island').

Anyway, for the minor chord declension in the last verse of 'Whatever You Want' - a touch of genius with a galvanising effect out of all proportion to its vinyl time- Status Quo deserve to be stuffed right up there with the greats (J Lennon, B Holly, Bernard Edwards and Nile Rogers, etc - not enough of them, whoever they are)...

Monty Smith