STATUS QUO‘s “Riffs”, the follow up album to the acclaimed ‘Heavy Traffic’, was originally released in 2003 reaching number 44 in the UK album charts. The album featured the band covering some of their favourite classic rock songs such as ‘Born To Be Wild’, ‘Tobacco Road’, ‘Centerfold’ and their own classics like ‘Caroline’, ‘Whatever You Want’ and ‘Rockin’ All Over The World’ into new versions with different arrangements, keyboards, etc.
This ”Riffs [2xCD Deluxe remastered]” not only contains the original Riffs album but now has 3 bonus tracks attached: ‘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.
Additionally we find 2nd disc doing what they do best, playing live in show at the Montreux Jazz Festival performed the following year, 4th July, 2004.
The new versions of ‘Whatever You Want’, ‘Rockin’ All Over The World’ and ‘Caroline’ are indeed new, with added keyboards and slightly different arrangements.
Moving on to the choice of covers for the most part Rossi and co. give the songs a good ‘Quoing’. There’s cool takes on ‘I Fought The Law’ and the classic ‘Born To Be Wild’. 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. But works.
The harmonica-drenched boogie of Canned Heat’s ‘On The Road Again’ rocks.
‘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. There’s a faithful version of ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’ that somewhat surprisingly, suits Quo down to the ground.
The Quo performs Elvis Costello’s ‘Pump It Up’ with rocking results thanks the verve with which they attack the tune.
If you purchased ‘Riffs’ back in the day 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.
Highly Recommended
Tracklist:
01. Caroline (2002 Version) (4:54)
02. I Fought The Law (3:05)
03. Born To Be Wild (4:31)
04. Takin' Care Of Business (5:07)
05. Wild One (3:48)
06. On The Road Again (5:23)
07. Tobacco Road (2:39)
08. Centerfold (3:49)
09. All Day And All Of The Night (2:29)
10. Don't Bring Me Down (3:57)
11. Junior's Wailing (3:29)
12. Pump It Up (3:30)
13. Down The Dustpipe (2002 Version) (2:22)
14. Whatever You Want (2002 Version) (4:32)
15. Rockin' All Over The World (2002 Version) (3:57)
16. You'll Come 'Round (Single Version) (3:25)
17. Lucinda (3:16)
18. Thinking Of You (3:39)
CD 02:
01. Caroline (Live At Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland / 2004) (6:46)
02. Something 'Bout You Baby I Like (Live At Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland / 2004) (2:16)
03. Break The Rules (Live At Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland / 2004) (3:20)
04. Forty-Five Hundred Times (Live At Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland / 2004) (4:58)
05. Rain (Live At Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland / 2004) (4:42)
06. Hold You Back (Live At Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland / 2004) (4:40)
07. Mystery Medley (Live At Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland / 2004) (11:31)
08. Gerdundula (Live At Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland / 2004) (5:49)
09. Roll Over Lay Down (Live At Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland / 2004) (5:59)
10. Down Down (Live At Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland / 2004) (5:44)
11. Whatever You Want (Live At Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland / 2004) (5:02)
12. Rockin' All Over The World (Live At Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland / 2004) (5:32)
13. Encore Medley (Live At Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland / 2004) (6:58)
Status Quo – Riffs [2CD] (2022) Deluxe Edition, MP3+FLAC
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