If you're reading from America and aren't sure who Status Quo are, they're basically the UK's version of Cheap Trick; all-round, solid Rock for your dad to enjoy. Their most well known tracks are probably "Whatever You Want", "Sweet Caroline", "Rockin' All Over The World" and "Down Down" and, unfortunately, they're not exactly the best tracks to showcase the talent of the band. They're fairly basic Rock songs that rely on simplistic chord progressions and lyrics that sound like the songwriters took an early lunch before recording them. In other words, they're boring.
HOWEVER, despite generally conjuring images of Greatest Hits albums and appearances on The One Show when I think of them, Status Quo are also a band with a collection of great deep cuts and filler tracks that piss all over their signature songs, many of which belong on this album from 1976.
Blue For You opens with "Is There A Better Way", a firm Hard Rock album opener that wouldn't sound out of place on a Blue Oyster Cult album. Hell, maybe that's where they came up with the idea for the album's name but in all seriousness, despite not containing the frills and technical talents of finger-blistering solos and the like, it's a solid tune that keeps you engaged from start to finish. The album is full of these kind of tracks, even going a few steps further with faster tempo tracks like "Rolling Home", "Ring Of A Change" and one of the album's popular singles, "Mystery Song".
There are also slower Rock tracks that sound more like the Quo everyone knows such as "That's A Fact" and lead single "Rain". These provide a welcome break from the better tracks and help add some more variety to the album. Sadly, the album's title track is a bit poor unless you get a rock-on for Bluesy numbers (probably the more likely reason behind the album's name rather than the earlier comment) but considering the majority of songs on the album are belters, I can forgive a misleading title track.
If you like your Rock to actually Rock, I recommend Blue For You. You'll probably find it tame if you're accustomed to modern Rock bands with more energy and louder mixes but if you compare the music on this album to other songs from the same year, you'll find this album can hold its own. Also, whilst I'd normally just discuss the basic album as it was released, this time I'm recommending the 2005 reissue for containing B-sides and a single edit of "Mystery Song"...mostly because that seems to be the only version you can get now that isn't extortionately priced but also because it's worth it. Below is a tracklisting for that version, along with my personal favourites off the album.
1. Is There A Better Way
2. Mad About The Boy
3. Ring Of A Change
4. Blue For You
5. Rain
6. Rolling Home
7. That's A Fact
8. Ease Your Mind
9. Mystery Song (Album Version)
10. You Lost The Love
11. Mystery Song (Single Version)
12. Wild Side Of Life
13. All Through The Night
14. Wild Side Of Life (Demo Version)
ALBUM RATING - 8/10
RIP Rick Parfitt. You may not have been Jimi Hendrix or even Tony Iommi but you made Status Quo Status Quo and you will be missed. After Christmas is done with, I'll seek out more Quo albums to get stuck into.
Oh yeah, Merry Christmas! Next week, I'll be back with the last blog post of 2016!
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