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!

I’ll always have a soft spot for Status Quo. Admittedly this is based on a hazy memory of a March 1981 show on the ‘Never Too Late tour. In those days, the Quo were a British institution as the classic line-up of Rossi, Parfitt, Lancaster and Coghlan were revered by fans and could be relied upon for no-nonsense hard rock of the highest order. It wasn’t overly complicated, but they had the songs; it was loud, it was sweaty, and that was good enough for me. Unfortunately, my love of all things Quo was brief as post ’82 Quo were a mere shadow of their former selves and had a string of pretty terrible records to prove it.