Unfortunately, three songs in and ‘The Oriental’ almost derails the entire record. The album opens with ‘Blues & Rhythm’ an infectious, feel-good, typically Quo tune that gets things off to a positive start. It would have been the easy option as they already had forty years on the clock (Francis Rossi and original bassist Alan Lancaster formed their first band in 1962). Perhaps surprisingly, Rossi, Parfitt and co didn’t want to just play the hits and be branded a heritage act. The band had never lost its ability to sell concert tickets in the UK, Europe or even further afield, but you had the feeling the crowds were coming to hear the old tunes. Listening to ‘Heavy Traffic’ twenty years on, the album certainly has its moments and marks the beginning of Quo’s resurgence as a recording band. The band readily admitted a rethink was required, and with songwriter Bob Young returning to the fold to help with the tunes, Quo were ready to give it another go. This was one covers album too many for the majority of fans (or possibly not). This string of less than satisfactory albums reached its nadir with ‘Famous In The Last Century’. 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. It wasn’t overly complicated, but they had the songs it was loud, it was sweaty, and that was good enough for me. 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. Admittedly this is based on a hazy memory of a March 1981 show on the ‘Never Too Late tour. I’ll always have a soft spot for Status Quo.

Never too late album by status quo