Status Quo - Quid Pro Quo
by Kevin Wierzbicki
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American audiences tend to know very little about this long-running British band; the only time Status Quo made any real noise in the States was more than forty years ago upon release of their very first single, the psychedelic "Pictures of Matchstick Men." The band may be stuck with the one-hit-wonder label in the former colonies but in their homeland they've had an amazing 62 charting singles, 22 of which have reached the Top 10. So fans in England and throughout Europe will definitely have a different take on this album than Americans will; an odd situation considering everyone will be hearing the same thing. By all rights Yanks should love Quid Pro Quo where songs like "Dust to Gold" rock along in the vein of a Who/Stones mash-up and "Two Way Traffic" plays rock'n'roll bumper cars with your involuntary reflexes, making it impossible not to sing and bop along as the song navigates manic city streets at a high speed. Status Quo has their own set of pop sensibilities but that doesn't mean they don't acknowledge occasionally where they came from; "Let's Rock" with its barrage of rhythm guitar clearly pays homage to the Chuck Berry sound and his similarly named "Let it Rock" while "Better Than That" and the extremely catchy "Any Way You Like It" rival the best of Dave Edmunds' or Rockpile's Anglophilic take on rockabilly. Some will hear an AC/DC influence in "Reality Cheque" but really the song owes more to the blues and guys like Muddy Waters. And speaking of owing---quid pro quo translated from the Latin means "something in return" and now, in response to this solid and generous fifteen song offering, would be a perfect time for American audiences to once again show Status Quo some love like they did for "Pictures of Matchstick Men" in 1968.
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Status Quo - Quid Pro Quo
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