Status Quo in Search

Aquostic II – That’s A Fact! is the follow up to the phenomenally successful album from 2014 Aquostic (Stripped Bare). Aquostic II offers a generous helping of Quo classics that are immediately recognisable, and yet demonstrably re-engineered; including In The Army Now, Hold You Back and Roll Over Lay Down. Also featured are three brand new tracks from the band One For The Road, Is Someone Rocking Your Heart? and One Of Everything. This deluxe edition comes with a bonus CD featuring six tracks recorded at the band’s 2015 Stuttgart Aquostic show including Pictures of Matchstick Men and Whatever You Want.

Bearing in mind that almost anything Status Quo chose to do could only be a vast improvement on their last album, Ain't Complaining, Perfect Remedy was very well titled – and that despite being far from perfect itself. Indeed, "Tommy's in Love" is arguably the worst song the band had ever recorded, while "Not at All" only sprang to attention when it became the band's worst performing 45 since the very early '70s. It's also worth remembering that, while the album does abandon its predecessor's attempt to locate a new band sound, that's only because it thinks it has found one, in the form of producer Pip Williams' slick, country-rock approach. It has a little more in common with some of the band's efforts from the early '80s ("Living on an Island" would have fit nicely in here), but still you can't help wondering what was wrong with the band's own sound? And how long before they get back to it?

Status Quo, the Frantic Four, were one of the tightest, hardest rockin' UK bands of the 1970s. Morphing from psych popticians to denim clad rockers Status Quo debuted their new heavy, bluesy boogie rock with the single "Down the Dustpipe”. and followed it with the full-fledged hard rock album Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon. Status Quo played concerts regularly across England and Europe, slowly building up a strong following. The recordings on this disc are possibly some of the best early live Status Quo recordings, both in audio quality and performance. Tracks 1 to 6 were recorded for broadcast on Swedish Radio on 24th November 1971. Track 7 dates from the previous year and features and extended workout of "Is It Really Me / Gotta Go Home" recorded for German television on 26th September 1970.

All hail the bargain-basement Hallmark label, purveyors of some of the greatest compilations in the early-'70s British rock realm, and pursuing that briefly towards the end of the decade with a great selection of old Status Quo hits. There are absolutely no surprises here. Ruthlessly mining the band's 1968-71 catalog, the Pye label had already released more Quo collections than the band itself had released LPs, and this one just adds its weight to the pile. But, just as Hallmark's late-'60s Kinks collections have since been revealed as an entire generation's first taste of that band's most glorious catalog, so Pictures of Matchstick Men (titled, of course, for the group's first hit) filled the same need among a later brood – and the fact that it came along just as Quo themselves began lapsing into parody gave its release further flavor. At last, a "new" Status Quo record that doesn't sound like the last seventeen!

By spring 1974 and the release of Status Quo's seventh album, the band was already regarded as among the most reliable institutions in British rock, denim-clad purveyors of a rocking, rolling boogie beat that never knew when to quit. And, when "Break the Rules" peeled off the still unreleased LP to give the group its fourth Top 20 hit in little more than a year, it was clear that Quo would be business as usual…

The iconic Status Quo are delighted to announce the release of the first volume of the new ‘Official Archive Series’ brought to you by earMUSIC. ‘Vol. 1 – Live In Amsterdam’ will be released on 11 August 2023, on strictly limited and numbered CD and vinyl editions, as well as on digital formats. As with each forthcoming release in this series, this official and fully endorsed recording features a carefully curated selection of iconic Status Quo performances, including classic hits spanning their extensive catalogue, deep cuts and fan favourites. Each track is a testament to the band’s enduring popularity and musical prowess. The next volume will be released in November and was recorded in London, so keep your eyes open for the following releases!

Status Quo are one of Britain's longest-running bands, staying together for over six decades. During much of that time, the group was only successful in the U.K., where they racked up a string of Top Ten singles over the decades. In America, the Quo were ignored after they abandoned psychedelia for heavy boogie rock in the early '70s. Before that, the band managed to reach number 12 in the U.S. with the psychedelic classic "Pictures of Matchstick Men" (a Top Ten hit in the U.K.). Following that single, the group suffered a lean period for the next few years before the bandmembers decided to refashion themselves as a hard rock boogie band in 1970 with their Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon album. The Quo have basically recycled the same simple boogie on each successive album and single, yet their popularity has never waned in Britain. If anything, their very predictability ensured the group a large following.