Essential Status Quo

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Formed in 1962 by Francis Rossi and Alan Lancaster whilst still at school, by 1966 they’d debuted on vinyl as The Spectres. After 3 failed singles, which owed equal as to Merseybeat, Mod R&B and the emerging Psychedelic scene and various line-up changes which included the arrival of drummer John Coghlan, they became Traffic Jam but after yet another poorly received 45, morphed into The Status Quo in the autumn of ‘67. By this time Rick Parfitt had been recruited to their ranks and with him and Rossi they would rack-up no less than 42 UK top 40 albums, including 25 top 10s and 4 number 1’s. Their UK top 40 singles tally of 57 is even more impressive and no less than 41 of those are included here! That haul includes 22 top 10’s and 1 number 1, all going to prove that if at first you don’t succeed, don’t bottle it, instead get stuck in! Their golden period is considered by most to run from 1972, when they signed to records and 1981 when John Coghlan left and the ‘Frantic Four’ as they were affectionally known, were no more. Yet the hits kept coming throughout the 80s and in 1985 they would open proceedings at Live Aid. Relations in the band however weren’t good and Alan Lancaster would not be on board for the album that followed. By contrast, the 90s saw sales of their records begin to diminish, although they still continued to trouble both the UK singles and album charts and remained a hugely popular live draw. Fortunes were mixed during the noughties but again they continued to record and tour but it wouldn’t be until 2012 that their star would begin to rise again. That year saw the release of their first cinematic documentary, Hello Quo plus a full movie adventure in Fiji entitled Bula Quo!, the soundtrack to the latter taking them back into the UK album chart top 10. The following year the classic line-up reformed for the much anticipated Frantic Four tour