During the first decade of what was to become a very long career, Status Quo barely put a foot wrong. Between the release of 1968’s ‘Picturesque Matchstickable Messages’ and 1972’s ‘Piledriver’, the band slowly transitioned from being an “of their time” psych act, into a rock band experimenting with garage and blues based sounds, eventually hitting upon the heads down, no nonsense boogie rock sound that would become their forte. Between 1973’s ‘Hello’ and 1977’s ‘Rockin’ All Over The World’, that sound would see the Quo shifting millions of albums and eventually becoming known the world over. The following decade saw line-up changes and a concession to 80s sounds diluting the band’s power – and, ultimately the quality of their output – but fans were still guaranteed some enjoyable (sometimes even excellent) tunes along the way.

The release of ‘Perfect Remedy’ in 1989 represented a career low, and began a musical slump from which it seemed Quo would never recover. The low points of the next two decades saw Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt and friends trotting out covers albums that appeared to market them as a cheap party act – or, worse still, the rock equivalent of Black Lace. Although Status Quo remained a solid draw on the live circuit, there can’t have been many of the older fans who loved material like ‘Mystery Song’, ‘Forty Five Hundred Times’ and ‘Over & Done’ who genuinely thought that recording versions of ‘When You Walk In The Room’ and ‘All Around My Hat’ represented the best use of the band’s time and talents? Even some the self-penned material from the late 90s lacked the band’s previous musical teeth.

With in mind, the idea of a collection of rarities from the Status Quo archives recorded in the 90s and 00’s, on paper, really doesn’t inspire. The 90s spawned a glut of average material from Frame and Rick, and the fact that they’ve dug up a bunch of long unavailable tunes from that period immediately suggests “barrel scrapings”. However, ‘Driving To Glory’ – a fourteen track dig into the vaults – is nowhere near as grim as it could’ve been. In fact, for the bigger Quo fan, the cobbled together selection actually shares an enjoyable listen, featuring, in some cases, songs that are better than some of those which adorned the albums from those leaner years.

‘Analyse Time’ – a number recorded in 1999 and originally issued as a b-side on the ‘Twenty Wild Horses’ CD single – opens with a sharp edged riff that almost seems to want to hark back to the new wave sounds of the early 80s. A couple of bars in, Quo revert to type, and the bulk of the number shares a speed driven boogie that sounds like Status Quo by numbers. This isn’t actually a bad thing; the spiky riff captures Parfitt and Rossi in great form, pushing forth with a repetitious chord pattern that creates a great back drop for a great vocal, and there’s a lovely harmonic guitar part creeping in at the death. This is easily on a par with the handful of decent tracks on that year’s ‘Under The Influence’ and a cut above everything that graced the following year’s ‘Famous In The Last Century’. Likewise, this collection’s title cut – recorded around the same time and previously only available on the ‘Benzin in Blut’ soundtrack – has a lot of spirit, with the main riff taking a Quo staple and injecting it with more of an aggressive tone. This shows how the veteran band hadn’t entirely slid into a world of easy listening rock, and that becomes even clearer with Parfitt choosing to share a surprisingly shouty vocal against a muted, chopping riff. It’s certainly one of his most enthused studio performances since the mid 70s. A decision to change the mood for more of a melodic chorus creates a superb balance, and a further shift into a slightly heavier, classic Quo riff adorned with a world of whoahs presents a great middle eight with an obvious nod to the ‘Whatever You Want Era’. This is a superb cut; the fact that it didn’t see the light of day on a “proper” Qui release around the turn of of the millennium shows some very poor judgement on behalf of the band, their management and/or their label.

Another “reject” from 1999, ‘Fighting With The Pack’ fares less well. The poster child for Quo on autopilot, it opens with an impressive melody where Francis and Rick share a huge twin lead riff, but quickly descends into something that sounds like a rehash of ‘The Wanderer’. Even with a slightly better chorus, the number relies too much on recycled elements from the late 70s early 80s period, and its only when the chugging melody briefly breaks into more of a boogie to allow for a reasonably sharp solo that this becomes interesting. Even then, fans will have several dozen “go to” Quo tracks that do this sort of thing better. You don’t even have to look to hard within this compilation before you find something that fits the bill. ‘You Let Me Down’ is a case in point. Stepping away from a quickly assembled boogie, this slightly hazy waltz blends one of Rossi’s gentler vocals with a melody that’s almost timeless. Sounding like a homage to a deep cut from the ‘Piledriver’ and ‘Quo’ days, this first saw release on the first UK edition of ‘Riffs’, but was excised from the 3CD reissue. It found a new home on the 3CD edition of ‘Heavy Traffic’ instead, but certainly feels most at home here.

In another change of mood ‘Obstruction Day’ teases with some big sounding AOR influences during its opening bars – almost like a throwback to those ‘In The Army Now’ era b-sides that were originally intended for a Parfitt solo album. There are other elements here that veer from the more typical Quo blueprint too: namely, a massive, bluesy harmonica – the kind rarely heard since the early 70s – and a rattling piano courtesy of Andy Bown. The latter is far too low in the mix, unfortunately, but strain your ears just enough and you’ll find the work of a man who’s added a lot of colour to Quo since the 70s, and whom occasionally feels very important here. There’s also some genuine enjoyment to be found when Rossi and Parfitt trade solos. Overall, this stately sounding, unassuming blues rock number represents another strong “offcut”. Since it originally appeared on the b-side of ‘Twenty Wild Horses’ in 1999, it would’ve made a great addition to the expanded reissue of ‘Under The Influence’ (instead of an average cover of ‘Sea Cruise’ sounding too much like “wedding band Quo”). Along with the other 1999 outtakes and leftovers, it really helps ‘Driving To Glory’ feel like a more than worthy collection filler. For the Quo completist, a full length version of ‘Famous In The Last Century’ (a number cut down to create an intro for the same-named LP) is actually a pleasant addition here, since it adds an extra verse making it feel more like a tune in its own right. Where this really benefits, though, is during the last round of chorus vocals, since Bown rises from beneath the guitars to flesh out everythingwith more of those organ swirls that were heard during the intro and then underused.

For those who hanker after a no-nonsense, full pelt Quo churning out rocket fuelled Chuck Berry riffs, ‘Lucinda’ (a Parfitt/Rhino Edwards number from the early noughties) could easily pass for a ‘Hello’ or ‘On The Level’ out-take, given that everything sounds like it stems from those cocaine fuelled days. It’s only really a poor vocal that lets the side down here. Parfitt does his best to convey something that suits the hurricane delivery, but his voice wobbles and slurs, as if taken from a demo take. It’s certainly not enough to spoil the track, however – the sharp rhythm guitar work is superb, and a careening lead break also tries its best to remind everyone that the spirit of “old Quo” could still be summoned. Despite the claim that ‘Driving To Glory’ is comprised of rare tracks and b-sides, this will actually be familiar to a slightly broader audience, as it was later rescued from b-side hell and included on the excellent 3CD version of ‘Riffs’, issued in 2022. The same applies to that track’s original a-side, the stand alone single ‘You’ll Come Around’. A mid tempo rocker that shares a great vocal from Rossi and a pleasing melody, it could have been great, but with a casual indifference applied throughout, it never rises beyond MOR fare, typical of so much late 90s Quo. It plays better as part of ‘Driving To Glory’ than it has anywhere else, but it’s still among this collection’s least interesting cuts. ‘Money Don’t Matter’, meanwhile, shares a reasonable melody and reasonable harmonies, but by sailing too close to “pop Quo” without doing anything quirky, it ends up being one of those tracks that never feels fully committed, but it’s better than ‘Thinking of You’. This phoned in number opens with the kind of jig that made ‘Burning Bridges’ catchy (but doesn’t manage to capture any of that spark) before dropping into something that could’ve had the working title of ‘Whatever You Want #127’. It’s likeable enough if you’re tolerant of Quo working by numbers, but that’s sort of all it manages to be.

‘The Madness’ (a ‘Heavy Traffic’ era b-side) offers a workmanlike boogie rocker that Rossi tries his best to sell with enthusiasm, but some high toned chorus vocals and a lack of hook shows this up for the reject it ultimately was…and still is. Compared to this compilation’s better tracks, it really doesn’t stand out as being anything worth a cursory listen, but it manages to be better than a misjudged trudge through ELO’s ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’, a tune which, without Jeff Lynne’s enthusiasm and falsetto backing, never feels like any more than a middling rocker. Luckily, re-recorded versions of ‘Whatever You Want’ and ‘Don’t Waste My Time’ (both dating from 1998 and issued on a CD single in Germany only) offer a pleasing – if only slight – variation on a couple of far more familiar tunes. It’s initially strange hearing ‘Whatever You Want’ augmented by a loud, very 80s snare drum throughout, but everything works fine, and the lads are all in good voice, and although ‘Don’t Waste My Time’ doesn’t have the oomph of its ‘Piledriver’ predecessor, a really sloppy lead break and a reasonable amount of energy on display throughout bring a lot of entertainment value.

It’s unlikely that ‘Driving To Glory’ will attract the more casual listener, but then again, later Status Quo albums like ‘Heavy Traffic’ (2002) and ‘Quid Pro Quo’ (2011) didn’t really reach too far beyond the more committed fan base either, despite being something of a return to form. What this collection ultimately does, however, is remind people that there was still life in the Quo camp post-’In The Army Now’, and even their weakest creative period unleashed a few gems. The fact that the best tracks here are now available to be rediscovered (whether via the hardcore fan as a physical purchase, or checked out more casually via the streamers) is something to celebrate. Even with a few duff tracks, for the bigger Quo head, ‘Driving To Glory’ will sit very nicely alongside the band’s ‘Official Archive Series’ of live discs – very nicely, indeed.

Buy the CD here.

December 2024