In light of the soap opera starring cabaret act they became, it's difficult to convey to those not around at the time that Status Quo were a serious concern throughout the seventies, a reliable brand name that most heavy rockers would proudly wear on their denim and leathers next to the Black Sabbath and Deep Purple badges. For heavy rockers they were; from some very British psychedelic roots, Status Quo locked into a trademark heads down, no bullshit twelve bar blues format early and they've only rarely strayed off the path from that day to this.And in that, 'Down Down' is virtually interchangeable with any of their earlier genre singles; 'Paper Plane', 'Caroline', 'Mean Girl' - it's no better and no worse than any of them and all represent what Quo always did best at their best. That is, provide a ramrod straight backbone and angry bee drone of guitar noise that, what it lacks in subtlety, makes up for by bludgeoning repetition. With zero emotional involvement and no musical gimmicks there's literally nothing to be done with 'Down Down' other than shake your head in time with it. Whether those shakes are a fierce headbanging up and down or a dismissively slow side to side depends on your politics - 'Down Down' is workaday rock that's not going to convert anybody into a mean metal mutha, but it's approximately a squillion times removed and a squillion times better than 'Burning Bridges' or 'The Anniversary Waltz'. And thank Christ for that eh?
No comments:
Post a Comment