Status Quo - Whatever You Want (1979) [FLAC] {2005 reissue, bonus tracks}

Track listing:

01. Whatever You Want (4:03)
02. Shady Lady (3:02)
03. Who Asked You (3:59)
04. Your Smiling Face (4:23)
05. Living On An Island (4:50)
06. Come Rock With Me (3:17)
07. Rockin' On (3:24)
08. Runaway (4:38)
09. High Flyer (3:51)
10. Breaking Away (6:41)
11. Hard Ride [bonus track] (3:36)
12. Bad Company [bonus track] (4:29)
13. Another Game In Town [bonus track] (2:20)
14. Shady Lady (demo) [bonus track] (2:51)
15. Rearrange (demo) [bonus track] (3:07)
16. Living On An Island (single version) [bonus track] (3:54)

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Presentation by Garry Fielding (from the CD sleeve):

The recording sessions for Status Quo's "Whatever You Want" album began in December 1978 at Hilversum Studios in Holland. It was the third of the band's albums to be produced by Pip Williams. The final album mixes were completed in London in March 1979 and Rick Parfitt gave a progress report in a magazine interview: "We've picked up on the criticisms from fans that our last two albums were over-produced and the new album has a more raw sound and live feel". The original title for the album was to have been "As It Happens" but Dr. Feelgood had released an album with this title in the summer.
A massive UK tour was booked for May and June but due to a dispute with the record company the release of the album was delayed until the October. An 'Authorised Biography' of the band written by John Shearlow was published to coincide with the tour and in the meantime Pye Records issued a 'best of' compilation of the band's material from their time with the label. In September it was announced in the music press that the new album, now given the title "Whatever You Want", was to be released on the 12th October - with the title song to be issued as a single four weeks before.

The "Whatever You Want" single was released on the 14th September. The single even received a good review
from NME music magazine and was given a good plugging by the BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel. The B-side was the non-LP "Hard Ride" and the first hundred thousand copies came in a picture cover. It climbed to the Number Four position in the UK charts and spent nine weeks in the Top 40. The single also made the charts throughout Europe, reaching No. 4 in Belgium, No. 5 in Holland and Number 12 in Germany.

Following the success of the single, the album entered the UK chart on the 20th October and reached the Number three position. It was a return to form for the band and gave them a fresh sound while keeping the style that they had made their own. When the final mixes for the album were being completed produced Pip Williams was heard to quip "there's life in the old dogs yet".

Original copies of the album came with a lyric inner bag and a merchandise leaflet. The album spent three months in the chart.

The band surprised critics ("all their songs sound the same") when "Living On An Island" was chosen as the follow-up single to "Whatever You Want". The single was released on the 16th November with "Runaway", also from the album, as the B-side - with the first 10,000 being available in a picture sleeve. It reached the No. 16 position in the UK charts and showed that Quo could achieve success with a soft acoustic song. The single even became a favourite on the middle of the road BBC Radio 2 station and had a chart run of ten weeks.

In June 1980 the band signed a contract with the American Riva label and a remixed version of the "Whatever You Want"   album   was   released   for  the American market, in the August, with the title "Now Hear This" (RIVA RVL 7402). "Living On An Island" was also issued as a single in America but did not chart.