STATUS QUO – If You Can’t Stand The Heat [Reissue]

Fresh off their huge success with Rockin’ All Over The World, Status Quo invited Pip Williams to join as a producer for one more round. If You Can’t Stand The Heat was released in 1978, with more experimentation within their sound.

If you ask the classic four-piece about the album now, you will probably not get the same answer from everyone. Rick Parfitt, who handles the vocals on several tracks, regards If You Can’t Stand The Heat as one of their finest efforts. Alan Lancaster, on the other hand, regards the release as the point where the band lost their direction.

It may be more accurate to conclude something in-between as the actual truth, because If You Can’t Stand The Heat sure has its moments, and they start fresh with “Again And Again,” which also was the single. It’s a very “produced” track, with steamin’ horns and a simple, but effective, chorus.

By this time, current keyboard player, Andy Bown, was well on board. He penned one of the albums highlights, being “Long Legged Linda” – a great track to rock your socks off to, complete with electrifying keyboards and a hungry horn section. He is also credited in writing “Oh! What A Night;” another great track on the album.

The second single, “Accident Prone,” showed yet another side of Status Quo. This was 1978, so the Quo’s had to do something close to disco to keep in line with the trend. Well, maybe not exactly, but “Accident Prone” is actually a song to dance to, and it did fairly well in Europe, but failed to impress the British audience.

If You Can’t Stand The Heat may be regarded among critics as a half interesting album, in-between the monster sellers Rockin’ All Over The World and Whatever You Want. The truth is, however, that the album is a diverse and creative output with several great tracks and not so many fillers as its predecessor.