Live!

by Status Quo

Overview

Recorded, with perfect timing, just as Status Quo hit their live peak, 1977's double Live! album is, contrarily, a timeless reminder of just how much power and excitement was bound up in the band through the mid-'70s -- and on, in fact, into the early '80s. It would be several years before Status Quo turned into the faintly embarrassing cabaret singalong that scarred the latter years of their career, a fact that Live! broadcasts via a picture-perfect snapshot of the last calm before that particular storm. Touring to support 1976's Blue for You (U.S. title Status Quo) album, the band is still reaching back to the dawn of the decade for material. "Junior's Wailing" and "In My Chair" both date back to the tentative days of 1970, as the band prepared to slide from psych to boogie without knowing whether there was even an audience for such a shock. The fact that there was, of course, would be celebrated with some of the most visceral singles of the decade. "Roll Over Lay Down," "Rain," "Don't Waste My Time," and, most impressively, "Caroline" all slough off well-loved 45s, to be transformed into veritable showstoppers, while the LP epics "Forty-Five Hundred Times" and "Roadhouse Blues" receive marathon workouts that all but defy gravity. The mid-'70s were a golden age for double live albums, and from Frampton Comes Alive! to Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous, the era is littered with what now rank as classics. Live! effortlessly takes its place alongside those most hallowed of halcyon howlers, and no matter what else Status Quo might have become in later years, this is what they sounded like before that happened. Priceless. ~ Dave Thompson

Product Details

Release Date:	04/19/2005
Label:	Mercury
UPC:	0602498259726

Tracks

1. Junior's Wailing
2. Roll Over Lay Down
3. Backwater / Just Take Me
4. Big Fat Mama
5. Don't Waste My Time
6. Is There a Better Way
7. In My Chair
8. Roadhouse Blues
9. Caroline / Bye Bye Johnny
10. Little Lady / Most of the Time
11. Rain
12. Forty-Five Hundred Times

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Status Quo   Primary Artist
Bob Young   Harmonica
Francis Rossi   Guitar,Vocals
Rob Young   Harmonica
John Coghlan   Drums
Rick Parfitt   Guitar,Vocals,Keyboards
Andy Bown   Keyboards
Alan Lancaster   Bass,Guitar,Vocals

Technical Credits

Chuck Berry   Composer
Jackie Lynton   Introduction
Francis Rossi   Composer
John Thompson   Monitor Engineer
Robby Krieger   Composer
Ray Manzarek   Composer
Status Quo   Producer
Jim Morrison   Composer
Steve Lillywhite   Engineer
Kieran Raymond White   Composer
Martin John Pugh   Composer
Richard Parfitt   Composer
Jack Wood   Sleeve Coordinator
Robert Young   Composer,Composer
Robert Ellis   Photography
Andrew Clayden   Graphic Design
Rob Young   Composer
Alan Lancaster   Composer
John Densmore   Composer
Damon Lyon-Shaw   Mixing,Production Assistant
Mike Fink   Liner Notes
John Coghlan   Composer
Rick Parfitt   Composer
Terry O'Neill   Photography