Status Quo - Don't Stop (1996) [FLAC]

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Track list:

01. Fun Fun Fun (with The Beach Boys) (4:03)
02. When You Walk In The Room (4:07)
03. I Can Hear The Grass Grow (3:24)
04. You Never Can Tell (It Was A Teenage Wedding) (3:51)
05. Get Back (3:23)
06. Safety Dance (3:56)
07. Raining In My Heart (with Brian May) (3:33)
08. Don't Stop (3:39)
09. Sorrow (4:14)
10. Proud Mary (3:31)
11. Lucille (2:58)
12. Johnny And Mary (3:35)
13. Get Out Of Denver (4:09)
14. The Future's So Bright (I Gotta Wear Shades) (3:36)
15. All Around My Hat (with Maddy Prior) (3:56)
16. Tilting At The Mill [bonus] (3:26)
17. Mortified [bonus] (3:22)
18. Temporary Friend [bonus] (4:12)
19. I'll Never Get Over You [bonus] (2:48)

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Presentation by Dave Ling from Classic Rock Magazine, 14 Dec 2005:

As Status Quo rolled into 1995, the group's collective morale was sky-high. The previous 12 months had seen them teaming up with the Manchester United football squad for a British Number One hit - a revised version of 'Burning Bridges' - and once again they'd accepted an invitation to play before English royalty. Along with 300,000 fans, Queen Elizabeth II was on hand to witness the quintet's set at an enormous farewell party to celebrate the withdrawal from Berlin of allied troops of Great Britain, America and France.

It was at the above open-air event that Status Quo spent a little time with The Beach Boys (as co-headliners, on a bill completed by gallic crooner Charles Aznavour). The meeting led to the two groups pooling forces for a new version of the Beach Boys' 1964 standard 'Fun Fun Fun'. On paper, it was an odd pairing. Quo were among the most successful yet critically savaged bands of all time, as thoroughly British as fish and chips or bangers and mash, the Beach Boys with their summer surfboard anthems just about as quintessential American as it was possible to get. Yet for all their differences, there was a mutual respect and admiration.

Still professionally estranged from their vocalist Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys were in a state of flux. Wilson agreed to spend some time with guitarist/vocalist Francis Rossi at his home in the South of England, the rest of Quo - guitarist/vocalist Rick Parfitt, keyboard player Andrew Bown, bassist Rhino Edwards and drummer Jeff Rich - laying down their own contributions at Rossi's Arsis Studios (an abbreviation for A Roof Somewhere In Surrey) before the tapes were sent to America where the Beach Boys added vocals in various studios and hotel rooms while on tour. The recording marked
the first time that Brian Wilson had been featured with the rest of the band on a record in more than 25 years. In late January 1996, the Beach Boys (and the enigmatic Wilson) joined Quo for a gig at London's Brixton Academy. "They even did two weeks promo in Europe with us," later chuckled Rossi. "We became a ten-piece band for a while."

However, Radio 1 refused to play 'Fun Fun Fun', just as it had done with Quo's previous recent singles. 'Fun Fun Fun' still made the No.24 spot in March 1996, but the regrettable situation led to the band challenging Radio 1 in the High Court. Their argument was that a radio station financed by the taxpayer and licence fees, should award airtime to the songs that the public put in the chart, regardless of how trendy an artist may or may not be. Quo lost the case, but considered the action worthwhile for at least raising awareness of the issue. 

The year of 1996 marked the 30th anniversary of Parfitt and Rossi's first meeting at Butlins holiday camp in Minehead. During the interim three decades, Quo had sold more than 110 million records, released 27 albums, enjoyed 49 hit singles and spent more than seven and a half years in the UK's singles charts alone. As if those statistics weren't mind-boggling enough, the band had performed more than 4,000 concerts to an estimated 18 million people (excluding satellite and TV relays), travelling some four million miles, taking over 2,500 flights and spending two-thirds of those 30 years away
from home. It was indeed fortunate that the lads were good at returning their library books!

They decided to commemorate this fact by recording an entire album of cover versions. Their old friend Brian May from Queen accompanied them on a new version of Buddy Holly's 'Raining In My Heart'. Steeleye Span vocalist Maddy Prior also dropped by to add a new twist to 'All Around My Hat', which when released as a single in November 1996 peaked just inside the Top 50. The album was previewed by a rendition of 'When You Walk In The Room', a Jackie De Shannon song from 1963 that was also issued as a single in November 1995, hitting a ceiling of No.34. Its final 45 was Quo's version of 'Don't Stop', a 1977 song originally recorded by Fleetwood Mac, which reached No.35. 

Also contained on 'Don't Stop' (the album) were Quo interpretations of 'I Can Hear The Grass Grow', originally cut by The Move, Chuck Berry's 'You Can Never Tell (It Was A Teenage Wedding)', 'Get Back' by The Beatles, plus Little Richard's 'Lucille'. 'Johnny And Mary' was originally by Robert Palmer, while 'Get Out Of Denver' dated back to 1974 and the estimable pen of Detroit's own Bob Seger. 'Sorrow' is perhaps best known as a 1973 hit for David Bowie, but had actually begun life as a B-side by The McCoys (of Rick Derringer fame). The inclusion of Creedence Clearwater Revival's 'Proud Mary' saw the band renewing their association with John Fogerty, the composer of 'Rocking All Over The World'. The record's
most off-the-wall choices were 'The Safety Dance', a 1982 hit for Canadian oddballs Men Without Hats, and Timbuk 3's 'The Future's So Bright (I Gotta Wear Shades)'.

With his usual commendable honesty, Rossi admitted that he had required some persuasion regarding the project. "I thought it was a bad idea at first because of the stigma of cover tunes," he told an Australian interviewer. "But it was a really enjoyable album to make and turned out to be very successful on our side of the world."

Indeed it did. In February 1996, 'Don't Stop' made Number Two in its very first week of release, remaining on the British chart for an 11-week spell. As usual, the last laugh was on Quo.