Status Quo - Riffs 2CD Deluxe (Album Review)

In 2003 fresh from the success of ‘Heavy Traffic’, which found a rejuvenated Quo recovering somewhat from a run of uninspired releases, things were seemingly on an upward curve. So, what do they do? They release another covers album…honestly guys, really? There’s been a trend in recent years, which isn’t particularly welcome, of bands rerecording their own songs or putting out cover albums of their “favourite” songs (usually the same “favourite” songs of every other band on the planet). The Quo did both on one album!

Spinning the original fifteen-track incarnation of ‘Riffs’ was actually far less painful than I’d imagined it might be. In all honesty, new versions of ‘Whatever You Want’, ‘Rockin’ All Over The World’ and especially ‘Caroline’ seem vaguely pointless, while ‘Junior’s Wailing’ fairs a little better. ‘Caroline’ is especially unfortunate, the Quo policy of adding keys to everything, and smoothing out all the rough edges, makes for a pretty painful listen.

Moving on to the choice of covers we find a pretty mixed bag. For the most part, Rossi and co give the songs a good Quoing (apologies to the spell checker).  A workman-like version of ‘I Fought The Law’ fails to hit the spot before the guys try on ‘Born To Be Wild’ for size which works much better despite it being a song we've all heard a million times. Andy Bown has a ball adding the necessary amount of swirling organ to the Steppenwolf classic. Is that my foot tapping? A faithful rendition (with added harmonica) of the BTO classic ‘Takin’ Care Of Business’ keeps things rolling along nicely. Next up, ‘Wild One’, the old rock n’ roll tune popularized by Iggy Pop, seems a very strange choice. The Quo version sounds more like Iggy with a dash of Billy Idol than Quo. Luckily, Quo are soon back on safe ground for the harmonica-drenched boogie of Canned Heat’s ‘On The Road Again’, which would have been a little better if they’d had the strength of their convictions and jammed it out.

‘Tobacco Road’ is gone in a flash, which is fine by me as the David Lee Roth version is definitive to my ears for which I make no apologies. A sprightly run-through of J. Geils ‘Centerfold’ is great fun though. ‘All Day and All Of The Night’ is fine for what it is, but it’s a terribly overplayed song. Far better is a faithful version of ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’ that somewhat surprisingly, suits Quo down to the ground (no pun intended).  The Quo do blot their copybook a little with a version of Elvis Costello’s ‘Pump It Up’ that is slightly redeemed by the verve with which they attack the tune. Overall ‘Riffs’ is probably far better than it has any right to be and It had a few nice moments that made me smile and my foot tap. Would I play 'Riffs' again when I could listen to the original tracks? Probably not.

This new 2 Disc deluxe release features three bonus tracks on disc one released as singles to promote the ‘XS – Greatest Hits’ set. ‘You’ll Come Round’ and ‘Thinking Of You’ (complete with bagpipe guitars) + single B-Side ‘Lucinda’ that is heads down, old-school Quo and probably too good to be languishing as a B-Side.

If you purchased ‘Riffs’ back in the day you probably have a copy with a bonus DVD, so you’ll want to keep that one, but this new deluxe edition should be a worthy addition to the collection. This time out the second disc is a CD with a further smattering of B-sides and a lengthy (6.46) live, unreleased alternate version of ‘Caroline’. The majority of disc two is a live show from the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 4th, 2004, where the Quo plough through classics such as ‘Rain’, ‘Roll Over, Lay Down’ and ‘Down Down’ and, in typical Quo style, throw in a medley (or two) to remind us how good a live band they are/were.

‘Riffs’ is released on September 30th alongside the deluxe ‘Heavy Traffic’.

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