Some time ago, probably several years by this point, John Medd and I were having a back and forth on the subject of guitar solos in rock. The exact context of the discussion has, like so many things as dotage encroaches, slipped my mind, though John, being still a mere slip of a lad, might be able to remind me. Anyhoo, my foggy memory is just clear enough to recall that during the course of our conversation I alluded to a particular formative guitar solo to which I remained inordinately, perhaps even irrationally, fond and that I would share full details in due course. Well John, the day has finally arrived!
The one-two Alan Lancaster/Rick Parfitt segue of Backwater and Just Take Me are, for me, the most exciting nine minutes in the storied history of Status Quo. The songs opened the band's third Vertigo LP, 'Quo', in 1974 and the guitar solo in question commences at 3.07, running for just 40 seconds. If I was hearing it for the first time in the cold light of 2025, there's every chance that the fairly primitive solo would slip by virtually unnoticed, but half a century ago, as a wide eyed 15 year old, I found it, and indeed both songs, utterly thrilling.
2 comments:
When I saw them live as I did a few times at the beginning of the 1980s it was John Coughlan's drum solos we appreciated more, mainly because it was the ideal time to go to the bar and/or bogs
Ernie: The Frantic Four played in Ipswich mere days after my family had moved into town in 1975, too soon for me to have forged any gig-buddy friendships so I didn't go - apparently Backwater & Just Take Me were played early in the set. Online resources reveal no specific mention of a drum solo having taken place that night, but I've no doubt it happened. There was a lot of it about in those days.
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