Remixed Fortunes

Rock veterans' live set gets a makeover – and now even their frontman has come 'round to it.

- Michael Heatley

Status Quo
Live!

While other 70s UK behemoths set their sights on the States, Status Quo - the ultimate 'people's band' - were happy to tread home turf, occasionally straying over national borders to rock and conquer.

Their visit to Glasgow's Apollo in October 1976 was extended to three gigs; the result was a fashionable 'double live vinyl', but the release never had leader Francis Rossi's seal of approval - until now. All three nights have been refurbished and re-presented, in the manner of the Thin Lizzy Live And Dangerous set released a couple of years ago.

Some of the multi-track tapes had been misfiled, one amusingly as by Peters & Lee, but their rediscovery has given fans the chance to compare and contrast. The set doesn't vary, and detractors might ask what the difference is - but Rossi thought then and still thinks today that, while the atmosphere of the first night was important to capture, the playing on the last night was superior. True or not, you can now decide for yourself.

The obligatory historical sleevenote by Quo-favoured journo Dave Ling is accompanied by another from Andy Gamble, whose sonic expertise has indeed teased the most out of the 49-year-old source material. Rossi believed for a long time that the album represented the entirety of night one - his and fellow guitarist Rick Parfitt's favourite due to the fervent crowd. Now RC can exclusively reveal that, while the opening 27 October 1976 show indeed yielded a majority of songs (eight), five cuts came from night two including mood-setting show openers Junior's Wailing and Backwater. Two further selections, early classic In My Chair and recent hit single Rain, came from night three, the band performance Rossi felt was the overall best.