STATUS QUO – Hello! [Reissue]

After Piledriver caught everyone’s attention in the spring of 1973, it was only a matter of time before the bubble burst big time … and with 1973’s Hello! it most certainly did.

The second album in the row of Status Quo’s golden era saw the light of day in September 1973, about a month after the first single “Caroline” reached number 5 in the UK charts. As with Piledriver, Hello! contains numerous Quo classics.

“Caroline” has already mentioned, and to this day Status Quo uses this masterpiece as a blistering opening to every show. In addition, you never feel “Status Quoed” until you have been served the greatness of “Roll Over Lay Down” and “Forty-Five Hundred Times” when seeing them live.

In comparison to Piledriver, the remaining songs not mentioned above are really good as well. “Claudie,” for instance, is a fine piece of work in the art of making interesting mid-tempo songs. “Softer Ride” is a bluesy stand-out with great guitar riffs.

You also have “A Reason Of Living,” a song penned by Rossi and Parfitt, yet sung by Rick Parfitt. He also handles piano on this track, an instrument seldom heard on the early 70’s albums of Status Quo. The bonus “Joanne” is a great number also, being Alan Lancaster’s song, which was originally featured on the B-side of the “Caroline” 7-inch single in August 1973.

Hello! is most fans favorite Quo-album, and it went straight to number one in the UK after it’s release. To this day, it is the most treasured Quo-release, earning them many high accolades. In particular, in October 2003 Classic Rock released a special Quo edition of their magazine. A Quo’s “50 Best Ever Songs” were included, and seven out of the eight songs on the original release of this album were found on that list.