Status Quo
Piledriver

STATUS QUO: PILEDRIVER

The first work I will review is one of the few that marked my youth. At just fifteen, shy and awkward, my musical knowledge went no further than the Sanremo Festival. But something was beginning to boil inside me, and alongside my fragilities and insecurities came a desire for rebellion. Rock was the natural consequence of this desire for change translated into music.

The first to give me input in this sense were none other than Status Quo, who were certainly not innovators of style nor artists endowed with great virtuosity, yet when they said they could play hard on their instruments, they certainly knew how to do it and at the time, few bands could keep up with them in terms of energy. Over time, I would discover other significant and certainly more technically valid bands, but in the meantime, their precise rhythm and shuffle boogie were already part of my DNA.

For those who know little or nothing about them, Status Quo was a London-based group formed in 1962 as a school band and is still active today. In 1966, they managed to record a handful of singles under the name Spectres, two or three of which would be worth rediscovering today. They later changed their name to Status Quo and released their first two albums of psychedelic pop between '68 and '69. Although the two records were interesting, great success did not come, but one of their songs, "Pictures of Matchstick Men", caught the public's and industry's attention. These two records were followed by two valid rock/blues albums in '70 and '71, but even these didn't sell much. For worldwide success, the Quo would have to wait until 1979, the year "Whatever You Want" was released.

"Piledriver," their fifth LP, was released in 1972 and is the cornerstone of my youthful anger. Desperately sought at that time for months and months in record stores, even the cover reveals that the work is a manifesto of what rock should mean. In three adjectives: direct, rhythmic, pure. By pure, I mean made with enthusiasm and passion. A hard and wild rock to be played upside down...

I grew up with Status Quo, with these four guys who, even when they reached success, always remained simple and true to themselves without ever getting a big head. And this remains true even today after so many, many years. Even today, they take the stage with the same grit and passion as back then, and the recent live DVD "Just Doing it" is tangible proof of this. It's true critics never really loved them, defining their music as too simple and repetitive (the usual three chords...) but they always followed their path, indifferent to the criticism, without ever betraying their sound and rock 'n' roll roots. And they couldn't care less about the critics. A great, immense lesson. From the first day when, from an old, dusty tape recorder at a friend's house, one of their live notes hit my ears, I knew they would enter my heart forcefully. I had another friend who had all their VHS tapes, and when I saw them for the first time, I was spellbound. Firstly by the video of "Paper Plane" (which is also the single from this album), where their wild energy reaches its peak. As Wikipedia notes, it's "just under three minutes of pure hard rock punctuated by the driving rhythm section of Coghlan and Lancaster and the robust guitars of Rossi and Parfitt, expressing a direct and unpretentious rock, full of anger and no compromises."

And so I bought a Telecaster myself and considered them my new idols. I watched Rick, and my barre became more and more precise (with the pinky included...) I watched Francis and, without realizing it, began to mimic him. I had never heard before (and there are still few today) a band that knew how to intertwine the riffs and sounds of two guitars with such precision and sense of rhythm. As mentioned, their live shows thrilled me. Live, they gave their all, up to the last drop of sweat; the Quo appeared on stage like boys next door in jeans and a t-shirt. They didn't want to draw attention with eccentric looks or prima donna behavior, they wanted their music to speak for itself. And even if not endowed with exquisite technique (important, sure, but not indispensable), I was enchanted to watch Rick play hard next to his amplifier and listen to the solos of the talented Rossi, who, in my opinion, remains one of the most underrated guitarists in rock history.

But "Piledriver," we were saying. The Quo's fifth album encapsulates all the energy of the pure hard rock of the era. Self-produced amidst a thousand difficulties, it doesn’t even sound particularly clear or overly refined in its arrangements, but it certainly communicates. The opening track "Don't Waste My Time" already gets under your skin, especially with Rossi's catchy solo phrases, while Parfitt maintains the blues/boogie rhythm with consistency and precision. "Oh Baby" follows at a dizzying pace in a suffering vocal lament counterpointed by the solid and frenzied hard rock of the two guitars with Coghlan's drum always gritty and precise. For Coghlan, the same goes as for Rossi. He is simply one of the best drummers in rock. Hear it to believe it. It’s followed by the slow "A Year", an introspective reflection on time passing that culminates with another excellent solo by Rossi, then the excellent blues "Unspoken Words" sung by Parfitt with a melancholy, subdued voice. The B-side opens with the powerful hard rock of "Big Fat Mama" that moves fast, rhythmic, and rough just enough. And here, be warned, because the Quo prove to have a certain technique too. I'm sure many later rock bands, even famous ones, were also somewhat inspired by them. The LP closes with "Roadhouse Blues", a cover of the Doors' track that surely isn't as beautiful as the original, but in terms of rhythmic charge and grit, it is, in my opinion, superior to Morrison & Co.'s version.

I also understand those who may grimace reading this review, claiming their music is flat and banal. But for someone like me, who has always widely favored substance over form, Status Quo represented and still are today an unspoiled oasis in the vast rock universe.

To be played at full volume.