Status Quo - Perfect Remedy (1989) [FLAC] {2006 reissue, bonus tracks}

Track listing: 

01. Little Dreamer (4:05)
02. Not At All (2:53)
03. Heart On Hold (3:37)
04. Perfect Remedy (4:38)
05. Address Book (3:38)
06. The Power Of Rock (6:03)
07. The Way I Am (3:36)
08. Tommy's In Love (3:01)
09. Man Overboard (4:31)
10. Going Down For The First Time (4:01)
11. Throw Her A Line (3:34)
12. 1000 Years (3:31)
13. Gone Thru The Slips [bonus track] (3:41)
14. Rotten To The Bone  [bonus track] (3:41)
15. Doing It All For You [bonus track] (4:14)
16. Dirty Water (live) [bonus track] (4:02)
17. The Power Of Rock (edited version)  [bonus track] (4:44)
18. The Anniversary Waltz (7" version) [bonus track] (5:32)

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Dave Ling from "Classic Rock" magazine wrote:


The release of the 'Perfect Remedy' album in 1989 coincided with the news that Status Quo's total worldwide sales had topped the mark of 100 million units - pretty impressive for a group that had begun life 27 years earlier with the modest goal of becoming "Peckham's answer to Kenny Ball & The Jazzmen."

Although Status Quo had tasted the pitfalls of recording in exotic locations - sections of the 'Back To Back' album had to be re-recorded after an all-too-enjoyable stay at AIR Studios on the beautiful Caribbean island of Montserrat in 1983 - nobody was adverse to the suggestion of trying once again. Between January and March of 1989, Quo left behind the harsh English winter climate and headed for Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas resort of Nassau, a famous facility founded in 1977 by Island Records boss Chris Blackwell, and favoured by the likes AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Eric Clapton, Wings, Emerson Lake & Palmer and The Rolling Stones among others. In between swimming with dolphins, scuba diving and reclining beneath palm trees, they focussed their attention on the job in hand. Once again Status Quo elected to retain the services of Pip Williams, the producer who'd handled their 'Rocking All Over The Word', 'If You Can't Stand The Heat...' and 'Whatever You Want' albums and helmed their releases since the band's 1985 reunion. Williams was also involved with guitarist/vocalist Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt in the creative process behind the album's best loved anthem, 'The Power Of Rock', and again with Parfitt on 'Man Overboard'. But the fact that around 90% of the album was safely captured on tape in Nassau had plenty to do with the band's improved sense of discipline. "I stopped drinking, stopped doing everything else and paid more attention than with the last album," Francis Rossi told Geoff Parkyn of the Quotations magazine. "I woke up every day at 7.20 AM, showered and took the bike out for a bit of exercise. I then woke up Jeff [Rich, drummer] at 8.20 AM, had a cup of tea and went down the hill for breakfast, made a few phone calls, went out on the bike for around 15 miles and ended up at the beach across the road for a quick ten minutes in the water. Then I had maybe half an hour in the sun and went into the studio to work. We started at ten o'clock - that was unheard of a couple of years ago."

Putting in five days a week and maintaining a regular routine ensured that the creative process ran far more smoothly than expected. Indeed, most of the material was in a ready-to-mix state following the band's three months on the island, even including a couple of tracks with finished lead vocals and guitar solos. Final additions to the music were added at Comfort's Palace Studio in Surrey.

"Rather than spending too long on one track, we worked in a slightly different way," Rossi confided to Parkyn. "Whether it was a guitar overdub or whatever, we'd get the sound we wanted and then moved on - even if it didn't work. It's very easy to get fed up with the tracks, and that didn't happen too much this time. Normally if you work on something for too long, you're really pissed off with it when it comes to mixing."

In keeping with the band's previous release, 1988's 'Ain't Complaining', all the members of Quo were encouraged to contribute material. Rossi and writing partner Bernie Frost supplied opening track 'Little Dreamer', 'Address Book', 'Throw Her A Line', 'Tommy's In Love', '1,000 Years' and the slumber-paced blues-rock of 'Not At All'. Besides coming up with the sleeve concept of two guitars crossed in front of a jukebox, keyboard player Andrew Bown and cohort P. Palmer delivered 'Heart On Hold'. Bassist John 'Rhino' Edwards, drummer Jeff Rich and future Quo producer Mike Paxman combined to chip in with 'The Way I Am', Edwards and Bown also collaborating on 'Going Down For The First Time'.

Speaking before the album's release date of 27th November 1989, Rossi was stoked up about its prospects. "I'm pleased with it - I like it," he commented. "I've a feeling it'll be successful, but if it's not then [at least] I tried and took part. It still feels and sounds to me like it should do, whereas 'Ain't Complaining' didn't."

However, many Quo fans felt the band had ventured too far off course. While they could accept one country-rock song in the vein of 'Address Book', 'Tommy's In Love', 'Going Down For The First Time' or '1,000 Years', it was adjudged as overkill to include them all. On the plus side, 'The Power Of Rock', Perfect Remedy' and 'Little Dreamer' were all added to Quo's live repertoire, featuring in a concert video called 'Rocking All Over The Years' that was filmed at the N.E.C. in Birmingham during 1989's festive period and released the following October.

Giving his own perspective, Rick Parfitt acknowledged: "The album had some good songs, but on reflection there was a lack of direction. Maybe it was recorded wrongly and there weren't the rough edges that our fans like."

Whatever the reason, 'Perfect Remedy' didn't sell anywhere near as well as 'Ain't Complaining' or 'In The Army Now', only reaching No.49 in its two-week chart stay. The band's 16th studio release nevertheless allowed them to notch up another hit single, 'Not At All' and its non-album flipside of 'Gone Through The Slips' peaking at No.50 in October. Shockingly, a second 45 called 'Little Dreamer' actually failed to make the British chart when issued in November, so a remixed version of 'The Power Of Rock' was scratched as a follow-up and materialised as a B-side for the following year's 'The Anniversary Waltz Part One' single instead.