Reviews roundup – Status Quo vs. Status Quo vs. Spike vs. Kenny Wayne Shepherd

Reviews roundup – Status Quo vs. Status Quo vs. Spike vs. Kenny Wayne Shepherd

STATUS QUO
Aquostic (Stripped Bare)
Fourth Chord

No-one, I repeat no-one needs to see Status Quo stripped bare, which makes the cover rather unsettling.  But, here they are, hot on the heels of the Frantic Four’s Final Fling (see below), with an acoustic album,  Now, no-one can accuse them of jumping on a bandwagon.  After all, that bandwagon passed through town in the nineties.  But Quo fans will certainly find it interesting.

Across two dozen tracks, the Quo go all the way back to ‘Pictures Of Matchstick Men’, before spending most of their time in the seventies with a whopping five tracks from “Hello” getting a revisit.  It’s the new Quo here, and it’s lucky for them they’ve got Andrew (nee Andy) Bown on hand, as he adds guitars, mandolin and harmonica to his usual piano.  And they’ve wheeled in a string section, as well as Geraint Watkins on accordion and Martin Ditcham on percussion to flesh out the arrangements.

Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, as you would expect on a project of this nature.  Some of the earlier songs do benefit from a new sheen, such as ‘All The Reasons’ (“Piledriver”) and ‘Reason For Living’ and ‘And It’s Better Now’ (both from “Hello”), but some fail, as it does on the Greatest Song Ever Recorded, ‘Again And Again’.  However, there is a little something for all Quo fans, who will be delighted to know it’s out on CD, double gatefold vinyl, box set and download.

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STATUS QUO
The Frantic Four’s Final Fling
Commercial Marketing

Meanwhile, back in electric boogieland, the Frantic Four’s Final Fling came and went, with a CD recorded on the last night of the tour at the O2 Dublin 2014.  And it was pretty much business as usual, as anyone who bought the previous reunion CD will attest.

Francis Rossi says that the band played much better than they did first time around, and he’s right, but music like this is just as much about the emotion, as it is the playing.  The songlist barely differed from the first tour, but with the rhythm section hitting thinks just that wee bit harder, it’s certainly worth it for fans of the Quo.

As well as the CD, it’s out on double vinyl, DVD and Blu-ray, with the latter having, as a bonus feature, a documentary made entitled ‘The Final Fling?’.  Musically, it’s not essential, but emotionally, quite probably.

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SPIKE
100% Frankie Miller
Livewire/Cargo

A source of some disquiet, this sees Quireboys vocalist Spike putting together a tribute album to the legendary Frankie Miller, featuring “lost treasures and previously hidden gems”.  Thing is, according to some of the people who contributed to it, it was never meant to be billed as a Spike album.  Rather, the name Frankie Miller was to take top billing.  And you really don’t want to piss off the likes of Rolling Stone, Ronnie Wood, Andy Fraser (Free), Simon Kirke (Free and Bad Company), Ian Hunter and others.

Even Bonnie Tyler might be handy with her fists.  Away from that, though, the songs are all very good, as you would expect from the pen of Mr Miller.   Of course, with Spike handling all the lead vocals, it was always going to sound a bit like a Quireboys album, and with the other members popping up as well, it does have that flavour.  The best songs, however, are really good indeed.  The highlights include ‘Brooklyn Bridge’, ‘Intensive Care’ and the one duet, with the aforementioned Ms Tyler, ‘Fortune’.  In fact, a few more duets would have lifted this to a higher level.

For readers of the small print, there are some backing vocals from Mrs Loud (from the nineties), as well as Cherry Lee Mewis, along with cameos from Luke Morley and Pat McManus.  It’s good, but it could have been better.

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KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD BAND
Palace Of The King
Provogue

Hey, an honest to goodness CD single! You don’t see them much anymore and, actually, having had a look wound that their internet, it may just be a promo to plug the upcoming tour.  Yes, the band are playing half a dozen UK shows to promote the current “Goin’ Home” tour, which will be why this dropped through the letterbox.

The album is a good one, and this blast through an old Freddie King classic was one of the highlights, pitting the band against the Rebirth Brass Band.

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You can catch them on the following dates;

SHEFFIELD PLUG Saturday 25th October Tickets: £22 / Box Office: 0114 241 3040 Book Online: www.thegigcartel.com 14-16 Matilda St, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 4QD www.the-plug.com

GATESHEAD SAGE Sunday 26th October Tickets: £25 / Box Office: 0191 443 4661 Book Online: www.thegigcartel.com St Mary’s Square, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 2JR www.sagegateshead.com

CRAWLEY HAWTH Monday 27th October Tickets: £25 / Box Office: 01293 553636 Book Online: www.thegigcartel.com
Hawth Ave, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 6YZ www.hawth.co.uk

MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2 Thursday 30th October Tickets: £22 / Box Office: 0161 832 1111 Book Online: www.thegigcartel.com Moss Lane East, Moss Side, Manchester M14 4PX www.manchesteracademy.net

EDINBURGH QUEEN’S HALL Friday 31st October Tickets: £22 / Box Office: 0131 668 2019 Book Online: www.thegigcartel.com 85-89 Clerk St, Edinburgh, EH8 9JG www.thequeenshall.net

LEAMINGTON SPA ASSEMBLY Saturday 1st November Tickets: £22 / Box Office:  0844 854 1358 Book Online: www.thegigcartel.com Spencer St, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV31 3NF www.leamingtonassembly.com