Status Quo: XS All Areas – The Greatest Hits

Elly Roberts reviews

Status Quo
XS All Areas: The Greatest HitsDistributed by
Universal Music TV

CD:
DVD:
Book:
• Released: Sept 2004
• Rating: 8/10
• Cat. No: 9821111
• Format : 2 CD set

Track listing:

Disc 1:

1. Caroline
2. Down Down
3. Paper Plane
4. Big Fat Mama
5. Roll Over Lay Down
6. Softer Ride
7. Don’t Waste My Time
8. Little Lady
9. Mystery Song
10. Rain
11. Break The Rules
12. Something About You Baby I Like
13. Hold You Back
14. Rockin’ All Over The World
15. Whatever You Want
16. Don’t Drive My Car
17. Again And Again
18. 4500 Times
19. All Stand Up

Disc 2:

1. You’ll Come ‘Round (new track)
2. Thinking Of You (new track)
3. Jam Side Down
4. Creepin’ Up On You
5. Down The Dustpipe
6. Pictures Of Matchstick Men
7. Ice In The Sun
8. In My Chair
9. Gerdundula
10. Wild Side Of Life
11. Rock ‘N’ Roll
12. What You’re Proposin’
13. The Wanderer
14. Livin’ On An Island
15. Marguerita Time
16. In The Army Now
17. When You Walk In The Room
18. Burning Bridges
19. Fun Fun Fun
20. Old Time Rock and Roll
21. Anniversary Waltz Part 1

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Darlings of the chord riffs and big hair, Status Quo just keep on rocking.

As popular as ever on the live circuit, the seminal rockers have a perennialknack of attracting new fans to their huge AOR fan – base. New single You’llCome Round, their best in many years, (peaking at No.14 in the UK chart inSeptember 2004) is a subtle blend of thumping riffs and lead picks – uniquein Quo’s repertoire.

Backing the single, there’s a huge definitive 40-track double CD, XS AllAreas, running over two and a half hours. Considered a three chord boogieband, they’ve come a long way since the psychedelic Pictures Of Matchstick Menin 1968. Up to 2002 they managed to chart a staggering 58 times, and surprisingly,considering their popularity, only had one number one hit – Down Down in1974.

Stateside their biggest success was Matchstick Men at number 12 in 1968.In the early 70’s they dropped the high-harmony pop style in favour of heavymetal boogie as they became predictable and safe. Eventually, this ‘3 chord’method began to wane. Their most recent highest position back in 1990 – TheAnniversary Waltz – reached number 2. On average, Quo have released twosingles per year. By weeks on chart, they are the 13th most successful of alltime – ahead of Stevie Wonder, Rolling Stones, Bee Gees, Beach Boys, The Whoet al.

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No group has accumulated more UK hits or has a wider top 20 chart span, withThe Beatles and Rolling Stones bettering their tally of top 20 albums.

Twenty nine singles make the final cut, along with eleven other takes includingnew material such as Big Fat Mama, Softer Ride, Thinking Of You and agreat 4500 Times. Everyone needs this.

Also coming out is an XS All Areas on DVD with forty rarities, promovideos, and never before released material. Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt havea joint autobiography out as well (above-right).

To catch them live during their 40-date tour, tickets are around £28,and their nearest North West venues are:

• Dec 1 & 2: Llandudno Theatre December (01492 872000)
• Dec 11: Philharmonic Hall Liverpool (0151 709 3789)
• Dec 12: Manchester Apollo (0870 4018000)

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