Just Supposin' [Remastered] - Status Quo

...fired out of the ocean just as a man is diving into it. Quite clever I thought. It was recorded in Dublin and released in 1980 on Vertigo, and reissued on CD with a bonus track A B Blues.

The first track and original single What You're Proposing is classic Quo three-chord boogie, it remains one of their best-remembered tunes to this day. What the lady is proposing sure sounds very nice too. Run To Mummy is a good, driving, number and ...
...anchors an album that was just starting to veer into pop territory.

Wild Ones and Coming And Going are not quite up to the standard of the earlier tunes but still sound effective - whilst perhaps seen as a singles act rather than album artists like Purple or Rainbow, they could still put decent enough songs on their records and Name Of The Game is a good example of that, with its oblique reference to Bob Marley's "I Shot The ... more

Having read the autobiography XS All Areas not too long ago, it tempted me to have another listen to this. Quo are never going to be spoken about in the same manner as Zeppelin or Sabbath (or even Free for that matter) but you gotta hand it to them, 40 years in the biz and still going, and it's fair to say they brought out some bloody good albums between 1974 and 1980 before bassist Alan Lancaster and drummer John Coughlin both left the band and Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt lost it big-time in a blizzard of coke and booze.

This is the one with the cover where a nuclear missile is fired out of the ocean just as a man is diving into it. Quite clever I thought. It was recorded in Dublin and released in 1980 on Vertigo, and reissued on CD with a bonus track A B Blues.

The first track and original single What You're Proposing is classic Quo three-chord boogie, it remains one of their best-remembered tunes to this day. What the lady is proposing sure sounds very nice too. Run To Mummy is a good, driving, number and Don't Drive My Car, one of the better SQ album tracks with an extended ending featuring nice keyboard work completes a fine three-song opening to this LP. Oh oh ah ah, stay where you are.

Lies carries on in similar fashion before a really good heavy number Over The Edge, written by Alan Lancaster and played with booming heavy bass anchors an album that was just starting to veer into pop territory.

Wild Ones and Coming And Going are not quite up to the standard of the earlier tunes but still sound effective - whilst perhaps seen as a singles act rather than album artists like Purple or Rainbow, they could still put decent enough songs on their records and Name Of The Game is a good example of that, with its oblique reference to Bob Marley's "I Shot The Sheriff" and meandering keyboard finish.

Ending the original album was Rock And Roll, a ballady track that was released as a single about 2 years afterwards for some reason, and it points the way for the softer chart-friendly material they would knock out once the new line-up was sorted out. The extra track is essentialy a studio jam no more, no less.

No frills, no fuss, no jaw-dropping musicianship, just good old fashioned boogie. I like this album, it's not quite as good as Blue For You or Hello, both of which saw Quo at their peak equally as a band and as an act, but Just Supposin' does the job no problem. Those of you only young enough to remember Quo from cabaret like appearing on Coronation Street or Children In Need must remember that they were once actually one of our biggest selling acts. Simple music of its kind it may be yes, but played very well indeed.

 

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