Artist: STATUS QUO
Album: QUO + BLUE FOR YOU (CD)

Release date: 1974/ 1976
Media type: CD

“QUO” 1974:
Quo is a Vertigo album by Status Quo featuring Francis Rossi, Richard Parfitt, Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan. Like the previous album Hello!, it consisted entirely of songs written or co-written by the group. The only guest musicians featured were Bob Young and Tom Parker, who played harmonica and piano respectively on "Break the Rules". It was the band's seventh studio album.

Despite the band believing the album's opening track, "Backwater", was the most suitable candidate for release as a single, the only track to actually be released as a single was "Break the Rules", in April 1974, and it peaked in the UK at #8.

The album itself was released in May the same year. Its highest position was #2. In retrospect this album is regarded as one of their heaviest, possibly due to the influence of bassist Alan Lancaster, who is credited with co-writing six of the eight tracks.


“BLUE FOR YOU” 1976:
Blue for You is the ninth studio album by English Rock band Status Quo, released in March 1976. Parfitt's "Rain", the first single from the album, reached #7 in the UK charts after its release in February 1976. It's b-side was the non-album track "You Lost the Love", written by Rossi and Young.

The album was released the following month. It entered the British album chart at #1 and stayed there for three weeks, making it one of their most successful long players.

An edited version of Parfitt and Young's "Mystery Song" was the second single from the album and, released in July that year, peaked at #11 a few months later. Parfitt and Lancaster's "Drifting Away", from their 1974 album Quo, served as the single's b-side.

In December that year the band decided to release a cover of "Wild Side of Life", a song made famous by Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys, and written by Arlie Carter and William Warren. It's b-side was a new Rossi/Lancaster composition - "All Through the Night". The single reached #9.

TRACKLIST:

“QUO” 1974
1 Backwater
2 Just Take Me
3 Break The Rules
4 Drifting Away
5 Don't Think It Matters
6 Fine Fine Fine
7 Lonely Man
8 Slow Train

“BLUE FOR YOU” 1976
9 Is There A Better Way
10 Mad About The Boy
11 Ring Of A Change
12 Blue For You
13 Rain
14 Rolling Home
15 That's A Fact
16 Ease Your Mind
17 Mystery Song


LINE-UP:

Francis Rossi - guitar, vocals
Rick Parfitt - guitar, vocals
Alan Lancaster - bass, vocals
John Coghlan - drums