Status Quo: Bula Quo!

Roll camera, lay down.

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Following in the footsteps of The Beatles and, erm, Spice Girls, this summer sees Quo’s main players starring as themselves in a knockabout big-screen yarn.

Yet while it remains to be seen whether Francis Rossi or Rick Parfitt possess hitherto untapped top-notch thespian talents, the accompanying soundtrack album finds them in their richest form for years.

Arguably, the need for songs to drive the plot of the movie (a light-hearted action thriller involving gun-runners and other shady types, set in Fiji) has brought renewed focus to their writing – the pounding Run And Hide and dirty boogie of Never Leave A Friend Behind wouldn’t have sounded out of place on the band’s high-watermark early 70s albums, while the opening song Looking Out For Caroline is an even more pointed nod to the past.

A second disc of re-recorded and live versions of some old favourites fleshes the project out nicely, the shuffling, sun-kissed makeover of Living On An Island (it had to be, really) especially pleasing. Pack the bronzer and squeeze yourself into those cut-off denims.

Terry Staunton was a senior editor at NME for ten years before joined the founding editorial team of Uncut. Now freelance, specialising in music, film and television, his work has appeared in Classic Rock, The Times, Vox, Jack, Record Collector, Creem, The Village Voice, Hot Press, Sour Mash, Get Rhythm, Uncut DVD, When Saturday Comes, DVD World, Radio Times and on the website Music365.

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