Blue For You `76
Released in March 1976, Status Quo's ninth album was, depending upon how one viewed the last six years of relentless boogie, either the last of the band's "classic" LPs or the first step toward absolute household name-dom that the group has enjoyed ever since. In fact, of course, it was both. At its best - the punchy (and almost presciently punkish) "Is There a Better Way," the sleazy barroom vibe of the title track, and the six-minute closer, "Mystery Song" - Blue for You married vintage Quo with a progressive eye that boded well for at least another few albums' worth of quality quo-tations. Elsewhere, however, "Rolling Home," "That's a Fact," and "Rain" suggested a paint-by-numbers approach that hadn't simply isolated all the ingredients that brought the band its mass appeal, it then boiled them down to the lowest common denominator as well. The arrival, a little more than a year later, of "Rockin' All Over the World" would unequivocally prove which option they preferred. But Blue for You proves that at least they had a choice.

If You Can't Stand The Heat `78
After the turn toward a more accessible sound that Rockin' All Over the World supposed, the British band returned to its hard rock approach on its next work. If You Can't Stand the Heat isn't so hard and heavy as Quo or Blue for You, but it incorporates subjects - the electric guitars filling everywhere again, the groovy boogie spirit - that recover the rocking essence they seem to have lost only one year before. One of the best examples is the infectious "Again and Again," the first single from the record, but also the sweaty "Gonna Teach You to Love Me" and the danceable "Long Legged Linda," borrowed from keyboardist Andy Bown's previous solo album. Status Quo keeps on worrying here about a clean production that enriches the different textures within the songs. The job is endorsed to Pip Williams for the second time, after the successful results in Rockin' All Over the World. Parallel to the groovy approach, the band also tries to experiment with its sound, without giving its roots up. Surprises are specially relevant in "Accident Prone" - filled with disco synths, and one of the most singular and effective songs in the record - or in the gospel choirs found in "Oh! What a Night!" Accurate and precise performances in the rest of the album, in which also stand out the catchy "Stones" and "Let Me Fly" and the gorgeous ballad "Someone Show Me Home," made of the 12th record by Status Quo one of their most unfairly underrated efforts from their discography from the second half of the '70s.



Tracklist:

Blue For You (1976)

01. Is There A Better Way (03:26)
02. Mad about the boy (03:31)
03. ring of a change (04:14)
04. blue for you (04:04)
05. rain (04:32)
06. rolling home (03:02)
07. that´s a fact (04:17)
08. ease your mind (03:12)
09. mystery song (06:31)

If You Can't Stand The Heat (1978)

10. again and again (03:38)
11. I´m giving up my worrying (03:01)
12. gonna teach you to love me (03:09)
13. someone show me home (03:51)
14. long legged linda (03:27)
15. oh! what a night (03:43)
16. accident prone (05:03)
17. stones (03:55)
18. let my fly (04:21)
19. like a good girl (03:27)