[Politics] Let the exorcism begin

Sometimes the answer to all questions isn't 42 but 46.

I suppose a lot of us let out a collective sigh of relief on Saturday when the results of Pennsylvania came in.

It's true that the USA need healing now, and I think Joe Biden is capable of making empathy and compassion front and center of his presidency.

However, the US also need an exorcism because they are still haunted by demons, and although Trump was their most obvious manifestation, he was far from the only one and their roots go back years, at the very least back to the fateful meeting at which the Republican Party decided, way back in 2009, to block Barack Obama as much as possible. Trump's presidency was the result of this stance, but just like Brexit in the UK, the conservative movement basically opened the bottle unleashing the genie, with the thought they could somehow keep it under control and use it to their advantage. It doesn't work like that. If you flirt with disaster, don't be surprised if you find yourself married with it soon.

The GOP really have a lot to explain, because they allowed a figure like DT to be successful and to undermine virtually all the values they, as a party, initially stood for, degrading the rest of the party to mere props only there to say yes to everything he said (except for the few rank-breakers of The Lincoln Project and a few outspoken critics like Mitt Romney). This is not how democracy works.

Thankfully, the result of the election caused Trump to finally show his true face and lay his contempt for the electorate down for all to see. I wasn't surprised in the least (but definitely dismayed) to hear him talk as crassly as this about trying to stop the counting of some votes that just so happened to be against him – it's just the logical result of saying "I will accept the results of the election IF I WIN" way back in 2016. No, this is not how democracy works.

The GOP also have a lot to ask for with their history of allowing science denial dominate their policies – this also proved to be fatal for many US citizens in the face of Covid19, and might prove to be fatal for many people all over the world if we still can't get our shit together with regards to climate change.

Of course, there is also the media side of the coin. Twitter and, to a lesser degree, Facebook considerably stepped up their game compared to 2016 when it comes to flagging misinformation but knowing the danger doesn't eliminate it. Social media remains to be a problematic part of the equation.

What's far less unpredictable than the machinations of social media is the world of conventional media, and I think it's really time that some screws were adjusted there in order to ground the discourse in facts and reality. Here, the problem originates even earlier; we have to go back to the Reagan era and the removal of the fairness principle. Although it's been shown that sometimes representing 'two sides' of a debate can be misleading (again, see my pet topic climate change on the curse of "both-sidesism"), fact-checking and not allowing opinions and facts to be mixed at will would really benefit the political culture. There will always be conspiracy theories and people their "alternative" narrative is the true one - but without a big amplifier like Fox News or (gulp) Breitbart they would get much less traction, just like not having a president claiming the existence of "alternative facts" anymore should be good for the US. (Study: Trump biggest source of Covid-19 misinformation)

I can't write this entry without talking about the electoral college. The electoral college is a disgrace in its current form.

How? Let's illustrate this with a very simplified example.

Take a hypothetical USA that consists of three states. State A has 100 electoral votes, State B and C 60 each. (220 in sum.)

State A gets won by party D with 80% of the votes, State B and C both get won by the party R with 55% each.

This means that the end result will be a victory for party R's candidate with 120-100. How is this in any way representative of the public opinion?

Without the "Winner takes it all" principle, i.e. with a proportional division of electoral votes, the results would be as such:

D: 80 + 27 + 27 = 134

R: 20 + 33 + 33 = 86

In other words, it's about 3:2 (15:10) in terms of actual votes, whereas the electoral college comes out at 5:6 (10:12).

This is simple math. The electoral college, as-is, will continue to skew the result towards the less populated US states. This violates the idea that elections should be equal, since a voter who moves from state A to B or C will suddenly be worth more and vice-versa.

During this election, it eventually proved to be of no big consequence except making the race a bit more nerve-wracking than it needed to be, but it remains a fact that Democratic candidates are under more strain if they want to win due to the way the system is currently laid out.

What do I think about Joe Biden? Well, although I hoped he would win, I was part of the chorus who were afraid he might lose because he was too old and not charismatic enough. I wonder if this was the wrong way of looking at it though. Biden actually has a couple of interesting things going for him. He's achieved more than most of us can dream of (vice president from 2009 to 2016), and he's at an age where he really can't be said to set himself up for life anymore. This means he's basically not suspect to using his office to make life better for himself, i.e. to line his own pockets. He's on a mission; I truly believe it. He even stated as much, saying that he felt the need to challenge Trump and try to get him out of office, not for his own sake but for the greater good of the US. And of course he knows how politics work, gah!

I also have to admit that his policy proposals sound very sound (hah) to me; and in complete contrast to Trump's stubbornness and constant insistence that he knew better than advisors and scientists who've spent their lives devoted to their respective subjects, he's willing to listen to other people and cooperate. The "Biden Plan", after all, incorporates ideas from many of the people who ran against him in the primaries, and even quotes them as such. Refreshing!

But let's not burden the poor old guy with too many expectations; otherwise, many people will quickly be disappointed that Biden didn't suddenly grow a halo and a pair of wings. A lot also depends on whether the Republicans remaining in the system (senators, etc.) are willing to also leave partisanship behind and thereby come across as more human again. I think their credibility in future races now hinges greatly on whether they realize the erroneous ways of Trumpism.

While I will NEVER condone racism, the Democrats must also acknowledge that not every Trump supporter is racist and that some people have voted for him out of understandable concerns. Biden also must address those people. In general, a lot of the political problems of the last two decades are also rooted in the simple polarity of the two-party system, but I have no idea if the US will ever change from that. As it is, there is the danger that they will simply swing back and forth, with every new administration undoing whatever the previous one has done, thereby stalling the country's progress indefinitely.

Back to the exorcism. Trump will not be immune anymore from the point that his term ends. This is important because he's been causing all kind of concern. I'm all in favour of "in dubio pro reo" but apart from the fact that Trump certainly never lived by that motto (see his comments on the Central Park Five - classy)… if he really had nothing to hide, why did he never want to release his tax returns? Why did he try almost everything to stop or hinder Robert S. Mueller's investigations into the collusion with Russian elements? Logic dictates that if somebody were really not guilty, they would fully cooperate in order to transparently make their innocence proven. Is this what Trump did? Far from it. Make of that what you will, but I think we're in for a couple of interesting revelations.

[Politics] Musings on Trump, Biden and climate change

Note: This post strictly represents my thoughts. Other opinions are available. I've included a fair few references but tried to not clog everything up.

~~ Do you remember the Paris Agreement? ~~

I do. I remember being quite anxious and pessimistic that the results of the 2015 climate conference would be non-existent or, at best, wishy-washy. To the great surprise of many people, the countries involved came out of it with something quite a bit more ambitious than predicted. At the same time, the agreement came under fire from various sides. But I'm not sure that's such a bad sign; if you've got criticism from all directions, it might as well mean that you're looking at a pretty fair and balanced compromise.

This is why I think Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the agreement is wrong. I'm not saying he wasn't allowed to do it, and I understand that from his viewpoint, it made sense to do so. There are various problems with that decision though. One can criticize all kinds of aspects of the paper but fact is that Trump was explaining his exit with misconceptions about the nature of the treaty.

There is also the argument used in his favor that the agreement is ineffective. However, there are people whom I would allow this argument, and Trump isn't one of them. He has shown, many times, that he doesn't really have a grip on climate science.

Now couple that with all the environmental rollbacks in his term and the argument becomes nonsensical. If he doesn't really care much about the environment and doesn't "believe in" global warming, why would he (or any other climate change denier) be worried that the agreement doesn't mitigate the damage as much as possible? This is a non-sequitur. If a doctor tells you that you should drink more water, you don't reduce your water intake even further. Yet that is more or less what withdrawing from the climate settlements amounts to, if you're actually convinced the science is right about the issue.

Generally speaking, that's a reason why I would be very careful with people who criticize the Paris agreement; it can often be quite enlightening to research what informs their own standpoint, and what aim they pursue by speaking up about it. Are they fair and unbiased? Although awareness of the carbon problem has thankfully risen in the wake of Greta Thunberg, the shameless attacks on her and the movement led by her have shown that the fossil fuel lobby is still extremely strong and still willing to invest more money into misinformation campaigns than into a more sustainable society.

Getting back to Trump for a minute. I know he gets admiration for his strong-arm style of governing. I should mention that as somebody with two nationalities who's grown up in a country that had to be "cured" of its imperialist fever dreams, I've never really been one for patriotism and national pride; maybe because from my viewpoint, they tend to divide and work against the greater good. So all of Trump's flag-waving and sloganeering means little to me, but I recognize that this is a strong trait in many Americans and he appeals to that.

But beyond that, his politics are also informed by his character. I know some people shun discussing him as a person but look at how quickly he loses his temper; how can this be ignored? Trump and his supporters like to point out that he's not your average Joe politician. That's certainly true but the coin has another side.

I don't profess to have followed his endeavors before his entry into politics but I think, after more than four years of paying attention to him and reading a couple of things about him, I've got a relatively good idea of some of his character traits. Two of them are relevant here: 1) Critics have accused him of projecting his own wrongdoings onto his political adversaries. 2) He thinks of himself first and foremost.

If you add those two together, it's not hard to see where his attitude towards political deals and negotiations comes from. He assumes everyone is as selfish as him, and therefore he thinks everybody wants to take advantage of the United States. The antidote is trying to get the most out of a deal for the US... with a lack of empathy for the other party that also had to give up some of its positions in order to reach an agreement. This changes the established equilibrium normally at play with diplomacy.

I don't like this approach at all. I believe in collaboration and symbiosis - decisions from which all involved can benefit. Trump's strong-arm style has sometimes taken on the shape of extortion tactics (putting the partner under pressure so that they would accept his conditions), with mixed results. Aside from being exactly what Trump has accused others of - being unfair - it's also risky for the general fabric of the world. Why? When you always tell your following that they're being treated unfairly by other countries, it's not going to increase their positive feelings towards others.

But I digress. And although I'm an idealist, I wouldn't necessarily disapprove of Trump's way of politics if he were fighting for what I'd call a noble cause. Maybe that's hypocritical of me but imagine - the same guy, same tactics, but with a definite view towards doing something for the environment? Why not! If he had said "This agreement is no good, we're going to do a better one" and somehow managed to grab, say, the government of China and India by the cojones and forced them to sign something more drastic and binding... I'd be the first in line to applaud him. (Though one of the links at the end shows that there are two sides to this issue, too...)

There are two issues with this thought, though.

1) Political negotiations are a tightrope walk. Frankly, for Trump to suggest that the deals made by the Obama administration are insufficient is a bit insulting to the people involved. I think it's not outlandish to suggest that the Paris agreement was close to the most that could be wrought from the climate conference at that time, as much as I (and many activists) would've liked more concrete results.

2) This whole thing is a global issue. It affects people all over the world. Somebody with the mindset of "America first" is unlikely to become a fighter for a greater good. Or pudding it differently 😉, somebody like Trump would always find a way to complain about an agreement that involves the US cutting down on something. So, getting somebody with his approach as a fighter for environmental policies seems like a long shot.

For far too long, Climate politics has been a game of "who blinks first, loses". The results have been as expected, especially since politicians tend to prioritize short-term developments and like to weigh up economy against ecology. I think that is a fatal flaw in the discourse; I know it's a horrible comparison but it's a bit like taking drugs. You might feel unusually great for a moment but the long-term effects will outweigh that high. The economical costs of not acting against climate change will likely outsize the investments we can make now. The bubble is going to burst sooner or later, but the later it happens, the louder it will burst. Communicating this to the people affected is difficult, I'll admit, but politicians shouldn't try to simplify matters just so that citizens accept a simple narrative. 

There are many moral implications at work here too - just to quote one example, Inuit are already struggling with the reduction of polar ice. It's also no surprise that island states and African countries were main drivers of the 1.5K goal*. But given the Trump admin's track record on human rights in general, I think it's fair to say that they're probably not too troubled.

We're at a fork in the road. Michael E. Mann, one of the leading climate scientists and an outspoken critic of Trump and the Koch brothers' network (in turns, he became a target of aggressive slander and threats), goes as far as saying that a second Trump term will be "game over" for the climate. It is definitely one topic that the two 2020 presidential candidates greatly differ on (not that they agree on many things anyway).

The public climate (excuse the pun) seems to be changing though, so even if he gets re-elected, Trump may face more determined opposition on environmental matters. Even in the economic sectors, some actors have apparently woken up to reality. There is some solace in seeing that the free markets might actually move in the right direction. But I can't help the bitter taste knowing that most of the science was on the table in the 1990s already. And I'm not happy about the shenanigans surrounding the Supreme Court.

What if Trump doesn't get re-elected? One thing's for sure, Joe Biden is setting himself up for failure. If he loses, he'll have failed to take opportunity of a strong political movement. If he wins... well, there's simply no way he's going to execute all the things he's promised, and a lot of people will be very disappointed for one reason or another. But what gives me some hope is his, as well as many of his fellow Democrats', endorsing of science as a leading principle.

Bringing it all back to the Paris agreement. Should the USA rejoin it? In my opinion, yes. We're all dealing with two big crises at the moment, so a new and better climate agreement may not be on the cards for the quick future while Covid-19 (which in itself is like a sped-up climate crisis) takes precedence. Even then, we shouldn't underestimate the symbolic power of such a move. It would set a good example for others to follow, it could give the country a lead on new technologies (in this positive context, I approve of "America first"! 😁)... and yes, it would also have an influence on emissions.

Addendum:

If you've been wondering why there is such a disconnect between what climate scientists predict and demand and what actually gets done by politics, you may get an answer here:

The appallingly bad neoclassical economics of climate change

This peer-reviewed study points out some egregious errors leading to totally misleading conclusions... in a paper on damages by climate change that actually won the Nobel Prize for Economics!

Recommended further reading:

The Heartland Lobby (this is a really great article that delves into the dark underbelly of science denial. Every sentence should be savored. It's really that good.)

Tragedy of the Commons - Wikipedia

The Paris Climate Agreement: Deliverance or Disappointment?

Why Trump's withdrawal from Paris doesn't matter as much as you think

20 advantages and disadvantages of the Paris Agreement

Pros and Cons of Paris climate agreement (I think this is a bit too simple, but...)

The Two Sides of the Paris Climate Agreement: Dismal Failure or Historic Breakthrough? (this is an excellent write-up that also sheds light on the Kyoto protocol and why a lot of what might already be called "watered down" about the Paris accord was watered down due mainly to - yes - the US' influence)

And generally speaking, if you have doubts on scientific topics, try to peruse sites that are listed on this page by Media Bias/Fact Check. I've only just stumbled across RationalWiki which also seems to be an... interesting source.

* I know this is pedantic, but differences of temperature ΔT are normally given in Kelvin (K), not as degrees Celsius (°C)

Manfred Mann's Earth Band: The Odd Mann Rocking Out

Last December, I've seen Manfred Mann's Earth Band live (not for the first time). The band are also due to release a new album sometime soon (the first since "2006", which was released in 2004, of course!, and the first proper band album since 1996's "Soft Vengeance"), and should be touring with Status Quo if the world has become somewhat normal again by then. I think those are enough reasons to talk about a band with a remarkable longevity, despite always being 'outsiders' to some degree.

Manfred Mann, of course, is just the pseudonym or stage name of Manfred Lubowitz, a keyboard player born in South Africa almost eighty years ago. His interest in jazz music was not particularly appropriate in a society that oppressed people who weren't "white", and that also didn't have much of a music scene to speak of. So Manfred dared to venture to England, and played with various musicians before eventually finding stardom (without searching for it) with a band that was simply called Manfred Mann. Despite the band having his stage name (which he derived from jazz drummer Shelley Manne, and first used when writing as a jazz critic), the keyboardist wasn't the frontman as such. This was so confusing to the public (and still is) that Manfred waited until 2014 to release an album under just his name ("Lone Arranger").

Manfred Mann, the original 1960s group, had two singers – at first Paul Jones, who left to become a solo star (didn't quite work out), then his follow-up Mike D'Abo. Other band members also came and went, including Mike Vickers, Tom McGuinness, Jack Bruce, Henry Lowther and Klaus Voormann. The one constant was drummer Mike Hugg. Now, both incarnations of the group made some really good music, and Manfred Mann stands as likely the only British beat band that could effortlessly switch between blues, pop, R&B and jazz. However, in the eye of the public they were defined by rather banal pop melodies supplied by outside writers ("Do Wah Diddy Diddy", "Pretty Flamingo", "Sha La La", "Ha! Ha! Said the Clown", "My Name Is Jack", "Fox on the Run") that, at times, felt almost immature compared to what the competition was evolving into. The boys also didn't enjoy success as much as you might think: Being chased down the street by screaming girls, as Manfred put it, wasn't nearly as fun as a young man might imagine. The band eventually stopped playing live (according to Manfred, the line-up with Mike D'Abo wasn't great live, although none of the musicians involved was bad – something that Klaus Voormann would agree with in his book), but Manfred then realized that he really liked performing on stage. It was just that the whole band image had pigeonholed him and Mike Hugg, who continued to stick with him.

The two formed a new group that was the complete antithesis to Manfred Mann: First called Emanon (at this point the pop outfit still existed), then Manfred Mann Chapter Three. This was an outfit that broke all the rules and severely confused the still existing fanbase: They recorded only self-penned material mostly written by Mike Hugg, who'd also become the singer (although he hardly had a strong voice), and switched from the drums back to his original instrument, the piano. Manfred himself stuck to electric organ. This was a band with two keyboard players and no lead guitarist! However, they had a horn section to make up for that, and lead sax player Bernie Living essentially did what, in the late-60s jam-friendly times, would normally be done by a guitar player. Still, Chapter Three was a most unusual sounding band – jazz rock with the occasional pop melody, but not linked to the US fusion scene at all and only loosely related to bands like Colosseum. It was really original, experimental and highly interesting music, but essentially too uncommercial to reach a large audience. Chapter Three disbanded before the third album (which is still unreleased in full, although six tracks were included on "Odds & Sods" and "Radio Days Vol. 3") could be released. Manfred was fed up with constantly having financial worries (Chapter Three was a big band, after all, and didn't sell that many albums or tickets), and only recording Mike's songs.

So, as I like to put it, every revolution gets followed by a counter-revolution. The new band should evolve naturally. Manfred Mann, guitarist/singer Mick Rogers, bassist Colin Pattenden and drummer Chris Slade started playing together and worked hard to find a groove and an audience willing to listen. By this time, Manfred had discovered the wonders of the Moog synthesizer (still a very unusual instrument in rock 'n' roll), and so the band could produce a big, powerful sound with just four players. One of the first recordings to showcase Mann's new instrument, besides "So Sorry Please" from the unreleased Chapter Three's third album, was actually Uriah Heep's anthem "July Morning".

The debut album of the new group (then still simply called Manfred Mann) "Stepping Sideways" was cancelled as the band had already evolved to a point where they felt the material wasn't representative of their live sound anymore. Large parts of the album surfaced in 2005 on "Odds & Sods" and show a lighter, poppier side to the band that did betray Manfred's 60s past, as did the first single, Randy Newman's "Living Without You".

By the time the actual debut was released, Chris Slade had come up with the name Manfred Mann's Earth Band, which had a nice "ring" to it (apparently "arm band", "head band" and "elastic band" were also considered!) and also tied in with the growing ecological awareness of the time. The self-titled debut album did show the harder rocking direction in some songs such as "Captain Bobby Stout" (which is still in the live set today), a much heavier re-recording of Bob Dylan's "Please Mrs. Henry" and the dissonant-but-catchy "Prayer", which was actually a re-write of the song "Dealer" from the Mike D'Abo era album "As Is". Here you can see some of Manfred's typical tricks in action: 1. Obscure songs re-arranged in a more accessible fashion, 2. using songs by master writers such as Bob Dylan (preferably, less famous ones), 3. Re-recording and re-writing of material already recorded in an earlier incarnation. All of these traits actually aren't unusual in the jazz scene, but rather uncommon in rock.

In some ways, the debut was not perfect though (and this is also something that would come back to haunt Manfred), since some of the songs were rescued from "Stepping Sideways" (including the wonderfully atmospheric instrumental "Tribute", which actually foreshadows Pink Floyd's later sound), and therefore it wasn't a really coherent recording. Even though the LP wasn't particularly long, Manfred's jazz piano solo in the Dr. John song "Jump Sturdy" was shortened. And the finale is quite disappointing, two sleepy songs sung by Manfred himself… (who was clearly inspired by Dr. John's vocal style on "Gris-Gris", but couldn't pull it off to anywhere near the same effect)

Nonetheless, a beginning was made. And MMEB started to pump out albums at an alarming pace, while playing incredible concerts. "Glorified Magnified" (which introduced the famous band logo) was another rather mixed affair with lots of dissonant and shrill moments ("Our Friend George" is a must-hear!), but also another Dylan cover ("It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"), a re-recording of a Chapter Three song ("One Way Glass"), a much better version of "Ashes to the Wind" (from "Stepping Sideways") and the Leadbelly song "Black Betty", which Manfred had already recorded on "As Is" as "Big Betty" but now became "Look Around" with a new lyric. "Messin'" showed the band's progress with longer and more focused tracks, especially "Buddah" and the spine-chilling "Black and Blue". The title track actually came from the unreleased Chapter Three album! And of course there was another Dylan cover ("Get Your Rocks Off").

"Solar Fire" became the apex of early MMEB. Considering the circumstances, it wasn't inevitable. The success of the standalone single "Joybringer" (based on "Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity" from Gustav Holst's "Planets" suite) had led to the wish to adapt the entire cosmic (or astrological, if you wish) piece, but the band didn't get the permission to do so. Still, "Solar Fire" remained "cosmic" and includes such spectacular tracks as the hard rocking "In the Beginning, Darkness" (with Mick's voice sounding uncannily like Jack Bruce), the spherical 7/4 title track and the epic medley "Saturn, Lord of the Ring/Mercury, the Winged Messenger". True to form, the first half was actually another track from Chapter Three's unreleased third album, then titled "Fish"! And the band's tradition of covering Dylan songs (which, of course, had already yielded the 60s band hits such as "If You Gotta Go, Go Now", "Just Like a Woman" and "Mighty Quinn") also reached a total triumph in the form of "Father of Day, Father of Night" – a massive epic with lots of dramatic moments, introduced with a spectacular "sound cluster" destroying the soft choir intro, led by a solemn Mellotron melody, fueled by Mick Rogers' flaming guitar work (and also showing possibly his best vocal ever) and topped off by an emotional Moog solo. You just can't beat it!

"The Good Earth" is an album I never warmed up to. Although essentially cut from the same cloth as "Solar Fire", it always seemed to lack good material to my ears. Gary Wright's title track is one of the better songs, the crazy instrumental "Sky High" is entertaining but unfortunately without much hooks. "I'll Be Gone" is rather boring and "Launching Place" might just be the worst thing the line-up ever recorded; worst of all, it drags on for six minutes! In the end, only "Earth Hymn" (based on a Vivaldi motif) satisfies me, and the fact that it appears twice seems to underline that the band were struggling. Even the publicity surrounding the LP gimmick (if you registered within a certain time, you had the claim to one square foot of land somewhere in Wales) didn't help the album's success, although it turned out to have interesting consequences, as the area of land bought by the band is still in a very natural condition today. With hindsight, they could've also titled the album "Protect the Earth"!

MMEB were, essentially, a niche within a niche. They played hard rock with a Minimoog, progressive rock with a commercial edge – and in those early years, they stayed more or less within their own bubble. That doesn't mean they didn't socialize: They went on tours with Deep Purple and Uriah Heep, and a fledgling Rush opened for them. I'm not sure Rush ever acknowledged the influence of MMEB, but if you listen to "Nightingales & Bombers" you can hear it: The title track's intro sounds like "Xanadu"'s opening, and the odd meter in the same song foreshadows the immortal "Tom Sawyer" – as does the keyboard/guitar duel from "Time Is Right" (which is another song with a very complex structure). The album also includes the beautiful and haunting "Visionary Mountains" (which was a first hint at the coming direction) and an eternal classic in the form of "Spirits in the Night" from Bruce Springsteen's debut album. At the time Springsteen was being touted as the new Dylan, so trying the "Father of Day" formula on one of his songs made sense, and Mick turned in a fantastic wah-wah solo. Otherwise, the album was chock full of instrumentals – some great like the eerie "Countdown", some less interesting like "Crossfade", and "As Above So Below" actually turns out to be the middle section of MMEB's live arrangement of "Mighty Quinn". On the whole it's a very, very dark album, claustrophobic and discomforting in places (it also comes through in lyrics like "Fat Nelly was killed with a butcher's knife"). And apparently, this was also a reflection of the state MMEB were in.

In a way, the Earth Band of 1975 resembled Chapter Three in late 1970. Mick Rogers wanted to do other things (apparently he was among the vocalists who auditioned for Peter Gabriel's vacant place in Genesis, but Steve Hackett obviously didn't want another guitarist in the band), and the last two albums were evidently not commercial enough to garner any success. MMEB were stuck. Mick's departure could've been a fatal blow for the band, but in fact his two replacements (Chris Thompson on vocals and Dave Flett on guitar) gave the outfit a new direction and spark. Chris was an incredible vocalist and also a capable guitar player, which allowed more possibilities. And the material, this time, was only top-notch: "The Roaring Silence" turned out to be a masterpiece of sorts, effortlessly fusing the different facets of MMEB together to a majestic whole. Thompson's vocal pathos, often underpinned by a "heavenly" Mellotron sound-bed, helped to elevate the material into new spheres. One of the songs, Springsteen's "Blinded by the Light" had already been rehearsed with Mick still in the band, but only in 1976 did the band manage to cut their version. The track rocketed up the charts, and suddenly, MMEB were a name in the US again. Although, as with all of Manfred's singles, you really need to hear the album version to appreciate the full beauty of the song. Other highlights include the total-freak-out 7/4 instrumental "Waiter, There's a Yawn in My Ear" (once again recorded live), the stirring "The Road to Babylon" (with Thompson's voice stabbing right into your soul), a Moog solo in "This Side of Paradise" that always gives me a lump in the throat, and the beautiful closing ballad "Questions" based on a Franz Schubert "Impromptu". (I made an attempt to cover that song, but it's just a pale shadow…) Chris also sang a new version of "Spirits in the Night", which eventually did become a hit, but doesn't really showcase Thompson's "X-factor" – you'll have to listen to live recordings to hear what the guy could do with the song.

Curiously, 1978's "WATCH" did not repeat the chart success of "The Roaring Silence" even though the material was just as strong: In fact, the album established itself over the years as THE eternal fan favourite and is widely accepted as the best album of the Thompson-fronted outfit, if not of the entire Earth Band catalog. There simply isn't a weak song, although it takes time to unfold. "Circles" is a beautiful mini-drama, the sandwich medley "Drowning on Dry Land/Fish Soup" (starting as a ballad, then morphing into a prog instrumental) packs a lot of excitement into six minutes, and Chris' voice on the coda is goosebump-inducing. Same goes for "Chicago Institute", a rocking but spooky track with astounding guitar solos, chilling chord sequences and clever vocal arrangements. "California" is a beautiful but sad acoustic-led ballad with Chris putting a lot of heart into the words (even if he apparently didn't like the song!), a guitar duel in the middle and Manfred turning in a tear-inducing Moog solo at the end. The second side contains three songs that are a must at any MMEB concert (and two were actually recorded live): The hard-rocking "Davy's on the Road Again" with a showcase synth solo, the no less dramatic and intense "Martha's Madman" and the reworked version of "Mighty Quinn" with a mind-blowing midsection. An edited (and less exciting) version was released on the tenth anniversary of the 1968 single and achieved moderate success.

Internal issues led to the band breaking up and reforming with a new line-up; only Chris Thompson and Pat King (who'd already replaced Colin Pattenden after "The Roaring Silence") remained, new additions were the inimitable Steve Waller on guitar and vocals and Geoff Britton on drums. And in an unusual move, Manfred decided to share production duties for "Angel Station" with Anthony Moore of Slapp Happy, himself a keen sonic experimentator and musician in his own right. Moore's touch helped to give "Angel Station" its mysterious atmosphere. The new sound worked especially well on the nervous six-minute "Don't Kill It Carol" (the fourth MMEB opener in a row with cello!), which featured a talkbox, piano, Moog and guitar solos and a hugely catchy chorus, and its side B counterpart "Angels at My Gate", a masterpiece in sonic layering that again shows Waller's talkbox abilities. "Hollywood Town" was originally a folk song by the relatively obscure singer/songwriter Harriet Schock, but got updated with a dramatic arrangement. True to his jazz roots, Manfred wrote a new song over the exact same changes and used more or less the same backing track for the corresponding "You Are - I Am". Amazingly, both songs work well and include stunning Moog solos! The short but captivating "'Belle' of the Earth" shows that Manfred's claim not being a good composer is totally incorrect. Another Dylan song, "You Angel You", sounds playful, and gave the band another hit. I'm less fond of the sugary "Waiting for the Rain" and the misguided attempt at a closer "Resurrection" (sung by Manfred himself).

If "Angel Station" showed that the Earth Band could get good results from developing a more polished studio sound, "Chance" proved that it could also backfire. There is nothing wrong with the performances on the album, but there are two issues: One is that Chris Thompson had tried to break away and is therefore only featured on the first three songs. Not that there's anything wrong with Peter Marsh, Dyane Birch or Willy Finlayson, and both Steve Waller and Manfred himself had already sung bits on previous albums, but at times, it feels more like "The Manfred Mann Project" as opposed to a band. Secondly, the songs just aren't as good. At least not on side 2. Side 1, on the other hand, boasts the exuberant "Lies (Through the 80s)", one of the band's best social anthems (written by Denny Newman), the dark "On the Run" (actually a re-working of "The Heat is On", which would be a hit for ex-ABBA lady Agnetha a few years later, and which is anything but "dark"!) and an eternal classic in form of Springsteen's "For You". Again, Mann's strength is making a song much more focused and extruding hooks that barely existed in the original, and Chris' vocal just seals the deal. Another remarkable track is the jolly instrumental "Fritz the Blank".

After a few singles and the longest pause between MMEB albums so far, "Somewhere in Afrika" marked the last true high point in the band's career. The album dealt mostly with Manfred's place of origin and railed against South Africa's apartheid policy by fusing the Earth Band's rock power with authentic Zulu and Xhosa chants. Untrue to form, the most striking melodic motifs (the various instances of "Brothers and Sisters of Africa") actually were written by Manfred himself. True to form, they were derived from the band's re-working of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song"! Chris Thompson actually only appears on four songs, but nonetheless remained MMEB's live frontman, as can be heard on "Budapest Live". Sadly, the live album is way too short, badly sequenced, heavily edited and over-produced ("Spirits in the Night" probably isn't a live recording at all), but still essential listening (especially with the three bonus tracks that appeared on the 1998 reissue). A full double album with uncut recordings is long overdue.

"Criminal Tango" marked the return of Mick Rogers, but ironically, it did not mark a return to the prog roots, although Mick's guitar does shine on some tracks. The artist was listed as "Manfred Mann's Earth Band with Chris Thompson". Chris' vocal role was much larger than on the previous two records, while Mick only gets to sing "Rescue" and some additional vocal parts (as he already did on the cool non-LP single "Runner", which was one of two tracks added to the US release of "…Afrika"). Some of the songs are rather good, but watered down by the synthetic sound. Even Manfred, normally very well endowed with good taste, chooses some unfortunate synth sounds. The lack of direction is evident in the closer "Crossfire", an interesting but confused sounding instrumental. A version with vocals later slipped out on the 40th Anniversary Box Set and shows that turning the song into an instrumental was a mistake. The band also fell flat on its face when trying to cover The Beatles for the first and to date only time. Although Manfred has to be commended for choosing the relatively unknown (but excellent) "Hey Bulldog", the overproduced cover lacks everything that made the original so great. There are some highlights though – "Killer on the Loose" was once again supplied by Denny Newman and harkens back to the best MMEB material as it combines a chilling topic with a dazzling instrumental section. And the aggressive "You Got Me Right Through the Heart" features Chris at his vocal best and a fantastic guitar solo.

"Masque" marked the end of an era. Chris had left the band and Manfred returned to the theme of "The Planets" with a few Holst adaptations, but there are also some unexpected synthetic jazz excursions featuring Maggie Ryder's voice. Denny Newman performed vocals on his "Telegram to Monica". Drums were officially still credited to John Lingwood, but the album's main fault is the lack of proper drumming – a lot of it sounds programmed, giving the LP a very cold atmosphere. My personal highlight is the cover of Cream's "We're Going Wrong", which is at least as good as the original (and Mick Rogers tackles Jack Bruce's vocal melody with total ease). Playing the classics live with a female vocalist in Chris Thompson's place was not an option though, and so the Earth Band officially disbanded. Manfred tried to continue in a pop vein for a while (some tracks later appeared on "Odds & Sods") but then took a different turn.

Covering Michael Murphey's "Geronimo's Cadillac" (not the Modern Talking abomination!!) set Manfred on a path that eventually led to his solo project "Plains Music". This mostly consisted of music by Native American tribes arranged in a timeless, sometimes lightly jazzy manner. The two-part "Sikelele" celebrated the end of Apartheid in South Africa. This track, as well as "Medicine Song", had vocals by soul singer Noel McCalla, who would then front the new Earth Band that started playing live in the early 90s. The new band was drastically different from the old one, although Mick Rogers and bassist Steve Kinch remained. But the repertoire included a lot of new, yet unrecorded songs. Some of them eventually saw a studio version on the album "Soft Vengeance", although the result was a bit of an overproduced "bastard", with Chris Thompson replacing some of Noel's vocals late in the process. It was also perhaps a bit too safe and AOR-sounding with a lot of commercial songs and not nearly enough Mick Rogers guitar and live power, but it also included some of Manfred's most beautiful keyboard solos and some great tracks, e.g. the Dylan cover "Shelter from the Storm", the slow-burning opener "Pleasure and Pain", the dramatic "Complete History of Sexual Jealousy" (which was also a working title of the album, unsurprisingly given the main theme of the lyrics), the mournful instrumental "Adults Only" or the rocky "Miss You".

The tour, which featured both Chris (already deteriorating) and Noel on lead vocals, was captured on the live album "Mann Alive", which is longer than "Budapest" but still suffers from edits and messed up setlist (the LP reissue corrects the order, at least). Manfred then started working on the album that was eventually released in 2004 but called "2006"! It was credited to "Manfred Mann '06 with Manfred Mann's Earth Band", because Manfred felt that some of the material wasn't in the style that fans expected from the Earth Band. While it contains some good tracks like the instrumentals "Happenstance" and "Black Eyes" (a well-known Russian song) or an unexpected twist on The Coasters' "Down in Mexico", it remains my least favourite Mann album. Some of the Russian or Gregorian sounding choir stuff in the second half does not appeal to me at all, "Independent Woman" (based on a melody by Tchaikovsky) is a total disaster, not to speak of the awfully fuzzy mix. Even some of the better tracks get ruined by things like the unnecessary German rap in "Demons & Dragons" or the horrid drum programming in "Mars" (another Holst adaptation). Chris Thompson's reappearance also isn't so great because his voice was now clearly shot.

Manfred Mann's Earth Band continued to play live, including songs that never appeared on studio albums, but it seems that the recording days were finally over. In 2008, Jimmy Copley's drumming gave the band an extra edge that they hadn't had for years, but Noel McCalla eventually left in 2011 to be replaced first by Pete Cox and then permanently by Robert Hart. Manfred explained that he was working on a solo album, to be called "Rational Anthems". A single called "(Lick Your) Boots" was already released in 2011, but then withdrawn for legal reasons… The album finally came as "Lone Arranger" in 2014. It's clearly a solo album (with contributions from various musicians, including some MMEB members past and present) because the style is much more electronic and modern than MMEB's sound, and Manfred didn't shy away from covering some really well known songs such as "All Right Now", "We Will Rock You", "Light My Fire", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "Nothing Compares 2 U" or "Get It On", but doing them in very unusual ways. The album also contained three songs by other artists that had sampled Manfred's work, which now in turns was reworked by Manfred again. "One Hand in the Air" is a heavily shortened version of Kanye West's (!) "So Appalled", which contained a sample of "You Are - I Am". "One Way Stand-Up" featured Manfred playing keyboards over The Prodigy's "Stand Up", which was based on Chapter Three's "One Way Glass". He did the same with The Disco Boys' headache-inducing version of "For You", although he thankfully shortened it a bit. The album isn't always successful, but surprising and interesting.

The only thing to keep fans of the Earth Band happy besides live gigs  are various archive releases. Sadly, a lot of classic era stuff got destroyed in a fire at the end of the 80s, but the "Bootleg Archives" (Vol. 1-5 & 6-10), "Odds & Sods" and "Radio Days" plus a few DVDs do plug some holes in the discography, and continue to prove what a great live band MMEB were in almost all its incarnations.

In 2020 though, it's looking very likely that we'll finally see the release of a new, proper Earth Band album! According to Robert Hart (who just released a solo album too), it was recorded over the last four years. I had the chance to talk to Robert at the gig and asked him whether Jimmy Copley, who sadly died of leukaemia in 2017 (John Lingwood came back to fill his place in 2016), would still be on some of the recordings. He said no. I suppose this means that the recordings made before 2017 won't see the light of day anytime soon, but this is to be expected with Manfred's perfectionist tendencies (there are still tracks from the "Soft Vengeance" and "2006" sessions that have not been released). Nonetheless, I'm very much looking forward to what the guys bring forth. Robert also said there are "some Bruce Springsteen covers". I just hope the sound quality (drums especially) will be better than on "2006" and that there's no drum programming!

Tears for Fears gear up for a big year

Being a fan of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith isn't always the most satisfying thing because this band did not just once consider naming themselves "History of Headaches" before settling with the name of Tears for Fears, but they have caused their fans the odd headache through the years too. Although this particular German fan was happy enough over finally getting to see his favourite band live last year to forget about the promise of a new album and a box set around his favourite TFF album "The Seeds of Love", it's still a sore point for many TFF fans that there has been so little new music by the band since 2004's "Everybody Loves a Happy Ending" (ignoring Curt's solo albums, which aren't distributed well anyway).

The main source of happiness for deprived Tears fans had been two excellent box sets celebrating the first two albums, curated by Paul Sinclair (editor of the wonderful site www.superdeluxeedition.com ) and Steve Hammonds. The good news for those who missed out first time around - they are being repressed! This is still a limited print run, so if you're considering, don't consider too long (it seems that they've actually sold out again, before release date?!). I might examine the good and bad (well… less good) sides of them in separate blog posts, but for the quick data (images courtesy of superdeluxeedition.com):

"The Hurting (30th Anniversary Edition)" was originally released in 2013. It contains 3 CDs and one DVD. The "normal" 2 CD deluxe edition, which is still available, consists of the first two discs.

CD 1: The original 1983 album, remastered by Peter Mew. (It's not clear at this point whether this CD is exactly identical to the original one, which had a short defect/dropout in "Ideas as Opiates" - supposedly a different master was compiled for future releases, such as the Blu-Ray Audio)

CD 2: B-sides & remixes

CD 3: Live recordings & radio sessions

DVD: "In My Mind's Eye" - Live at Hammersmith Odeon

"Songs from the Big Chair (30th Anniversary Edition)" was originally released in 2014. It contains 4 CDs and 2 DVDs. There is also a single CD remaster (simply disc 1) and a 2 CD deluxe edition, which consists of the first two discs. The latter shouldn't be confused with the 2006 deluxe edition, which features different mastering and a different selection of bonus material (which has however been superseded by the box set).

CD 1: The original 1985 album remastered by Andrew Walter, plus all the bonus tracks that appeared on the limited cassette edition and a further three b-sides

CD 2: "Edited Songs from the Big Chair" - mostly single edits, but also some rarer versions and the 7 minute interview with Curt & Roland from the "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" double pack 7" single

CD 3: "Remixed Songs from the Big Chair" - virtually all the contemporary 12" mixes, some of which are quite rare otherwise. Also includes an alternate mix of the 1986 US Re-Recording of "Mothers Talk" that had previously appeared on the 2006 deluxe edition (see above)

CD 4: "Unreleased Songs from the Big Chair" - a radio session, live excerpts from the Massey Hall concert and a few early demos/work-in-progress mixes (a first for TFF!)

DVD 1: The album in hi-res stereo as well as the new Steven Wilson stereo and 5.1 mix (the contents of this disc were also available as a Blu-Ray Audio disc, which is however not going to be repressed)

DVD 2: "Scenes from the Big Chair" - the 1985 documentary featuring video clips, live footage, interviews and other stuff from the tour, plus all video clips and an interview with producer Chris Hughes from 2005

Other things to celebrate 2020's 35th anniversary of "...Big Chair" include a vinyl picture disc and a "keepsake booklet" by Paul Sinclair, who was an invaluable part of the box sets' genesis (as co-compiler, interviewer and writer of liner notes).

But there's more! Roland Orzabal announced that the new album of material, of which we only got to know "I Love You But I'm Lost" and "Stay" through the fairly underwhelming "Rule the World" compilation, should be released soon. Sadly, he spoke of releasing things "track-by-track", which to my mind does sooooo not fit to TFF as an album band, but we'll see. "The Tipping Point", which has long since been known as a possible album title will be the first single to come out in April!

He also talked of working on new material (I suppose he means really new) and then going out on tour again next year (clearly, no concerts in 2020, which has turned out to be a good idea), though we'll see what becomes of that. Possibly, it was decided that the electronic sound of "The Tipping Point" was not good for playing live (the fact that "I Love You But I'm Lost" and "Stay" never got a live airing points to this interpretation), and the new material will be more road-compatible? This is all just conjecture but after just a handful of tracks since 2005, it looks like we'll finally get some new material by His Orzabalness (Curt has released solo albums now and then, although they've been flying under the radar). I would certainly be happy to get something more oriented towards "real instruments" because, to be honest, I haven't been so impressed by their recent attempts at modern electronica and I always felt Roland's a really underrated guitar player. That said, expecting anything along the lines of "Seeds" or "Raoul and the Kings of Spain" is probably unrealistic, given that Curt wasn't too involved with the former and had nothing to do with the latter (except playing two tracks off it live).

And the news we've all been waiting for (although there's still no official announcement) - the third box set, the long-awaited "The Seeds of Love", should definitely be out in 2020! While "Big Chair" was one year early, this will be one year late, although "Seeds" was released late in 1989 and the tour took place in 1990...

Having a bit of an idea of what will be on the set, I think it's an absolute "must" for any self-respecting TFF fan!

In the meantime, you may want to check out the forum I've built up a while ago: http://tearsforfears.boards.net

Status Quo - You gotta have "Backbone"

Status Quo stands for consistency, continuity. Yet all that was at stake in several periods of the eponymous band's career. The 1990s were such a time. Francis Rossi, by then clearly the leader of the band, was disappointed with the performance of the last Quo album "Thirsty Work" (1994). To be clear, it was not a flop like 1989's "Perfect Remedy" had been, and it contained three hit singles, but they weren't big hits like most of Quo's singles up until 1988's "Burning Bridges" had been. To add insult to injury, BBC Radio 1 was adamant about not playing the newest Quo single irrespective of its chart position, because they decided Quo had eventually become too old to be still relevant. Nobody likes to be put in a backwater (pun intended), and Quo took the matter to court. They lost and while it brought them some publicity, arguably it wasn't positive publicity.

Francis Rossi had also finally done his first solo project called "King of the Doghouse", however he didn't write any new songs for it - most of the material was written by Tony Macananey (who'd also co-written some of the "Thirsty Work" era stuff). Rossi's confidence as a writer was shaken. This meant that the door was finally open for a project that manager and clever money-maker David Walker had already tried to force upon the band in the early 90s - a covers album. It made sense; two of Quo's biggest hits (John Fogerty's "Rockin' All Over the World" and the Bolland brothers' "In the Army Now") had been cover versions, and no concert in the classic era would've been complete without The Doors' "Roadhouse Blues" and Steamhammer's "Junior's Wailing". Quo's last Top Ten hit and the first "Walker project" was the party medley of rock 'n' roll classics known as "The Anniversary Waltz".

Additionally, 1996 would mark the 30th anniversary of the first recordings as The Spectres (as we've seen before, Quo tend to be very flexible with anniversaries!), so there was a concept to hang the whole thing on. All of this gave the band more exposure than before (TV spots etc.), and led to "Don't Stop - The 30th Anniversary Album" (adorned with the band's most cheap looking album cover ever) being a Number One in Britain. Fans weren't happy, especially not with the strangely sterile production that might have been down to Pip Williams, but could just as well have been a result of the band going through the motions despite some guest stars such as Maddy Prior (of Steeleye Span), Queen's Brian May (himself an outspoken Quo fan) and none other than The Beach Boys. But the band was still great live and starting to work on new ideas. Only now, Universal weren't interested. Absurdly, Quo were now in demand again, but only as a "covers" act. One can only imagine how this must have damaged the band's self-confidence.

It also speaks for the label's incompetence and short-sightedness to not follow up a hugely successful album like this with one of new material, which could've brought the band a lot of new fans at a critical point. Instead, Quo broke away for a short time, making the rather good "Under the Influence" at the smaller Eagle label, but obviously now the budget wasn't there to properly advertise it despite David Walker again throwing a lot of ideas at the band. Ignoring the group's own preference, he forced them to use a pub sign with Francis and Rick as the cover (it has since been reissued with the band's preferred cover), but even the pub tour didn't make the album a big seller, although "The Way It Goes" was another minor hit single.

Eventually Quo caved in and did what was expected of them. The concept this time would be music from the "last century", i.e. the 20th century. How clever. And when the band wanted to do a deal for a new self-penned record, they couldn't get it unless they OK'd to do another album of cover versions... The ridiculous result remains that Status Quo must be one of the few bands to release three cover albums in a timespan of less than a decade.

On the other hand, "Riffs" from 2003 failed to repeat the success of the first two cover albums, and by this time Quo had found their groove again, although it curiously had come about by less than positive circumstances. David Walker suddenly died of a heart attack (and even though this was a shock to the band, they were also somewhat relieved at not having to go down every marketing route anymore). Rick Parfitt also had heart issues, but after his bypass operation things seemed fine again (although Rossi would later complain that he simply looked at this as some mechanical overhaul and didn't change his lifestyle accordingly, something that would come back to haunt him). Jeff Rich fell out with the band because he wanted to do more of his drum classes (which affected his friendship with John "Rhino" Edwards for a while, but eventually they thankfully reconciled), and Bernie Frost "disappeared" as Rossi put it. Thankfully, the classic Rossi/Young writing partnership (and friendship) had returned, and the new drummer Matt Letley gave the band a feel closer to the classic era. There was a lot of positivity surrounding the release of 2002's "Heavy Traffic" and the album remains a fan favourite.

Through the following years, Status Quo enjoyed a period of relative peace, still playing good live shows and making albums more or less on their own terms (thanks also to the formation of their own record label, Fourth Chord Records). 2005's "The Party Ain't Over Yet" and 2007's "In Search of the Fourth Chord" (which is a far more diverse and interesting record than one might expect) weren't big sellers, but reissues of the classic material and live DVDs kept the band afloat. 2011's harder rocking "Quid Pro Quo" even returned the band to relatively high chart territory, and the documentation "Hello Quo!" also attracted a lot of interest.

"Hello Quo!" performed no mean feat by bringing the classic four-piece line-up back together, something that had seemed impossible for many years. The 2013 reunion shows were a huge success with the loyal British fanbase, but that same fanbase was less than pleased when the "regular" band unleashed the new project "Bula Quo!" – a film about organ trafficking on the Fiji islands that earned mixed and negative reviews (making an action film that's also family-friendly is nigh on impossible), although the soundtrack was pretty interesting and contained some very recognizable Quo trademarks alongside more unusual sounds. The negative reaction to the poppy first single, "Bula Bula Quo (Kua Ni Lega)", was likely the reason for the sudden end of the band's official messageboard, leaving a bitter taste in many fan's mouths. Around this time, Matt Letley left the band, and some fans still claim the main reason was the band's more and more static setlist – his replacement, Leon Cave, did not feel like an improvement on his first gigs (but he got better since then!).

Bad blood also arose over the Frantic Four activities. Rossi was right that the 2013 gigs had been under-rehearsed, so it seemed logical to repeat the exercise in 2014. Unfortunately, people slipped back into old habits and old conflicts started breaking up again. One of the reasons had been that Rossi already declared that this would be "it", while Parfitt, who realized he enjoyed playing with Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan much more than he thought, really wanted to continue. And again, the warmly received (and this time musically better) FF gigs were followed up with something that a lot of fans criticized as a publicity stunt – "Aquostic"!

It was better than a Quo musical or a best-of with new duets (two ideas that had also been doing the rumour mill before "Aquostic" was officially announced), but it was also a mixed bag. Opinions on whether the Bryan Adams shots of Rossi and Parfitt posing naked, only wearing an acoustic guitar each (thus illustrating the concept "stripped bare", as per the album's subtitle), were good photographic art or tasteless, were mixed, and the same goes for the music. A lot of the songs were stripped down to the "bare bones" (to quote Adams' own acoustic project), but more in a compositional than in an arrangement sense. A lot of additional musicians (mainly Geraint Watkins on accordion plus a string section) made some songs sound more overcrowded than understated, while a lot of the lead breaks were missing.

The live presentation was a big success because the arrangements sounded better live and because the fans were delighted (as had been the case with the FF reunions) at hearing so many unusual song choices. Still, it was touted as a one-off, and Parfitt said that he preferred playing electrically. All of this was nullified in 2016 when "Aquostic II - That's a Fact!" (originally intended to be called "One More for the Road") was released and the band announced the retirement of the electric guitars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls7grV8gA7w (can't embed, sorry)

Looking back, the explanation that Quo needed to slow down and sit down to protect their health was probably mainly about Rick, but Rick wasn't having any of it. After several health scares, his heart attack in Turkey had damaged him to a point where he really needed to take time out. He went to work on his solo album but Quo were stuck with a "Last Night of the Electrics" tour they couldn't or wouldn't cancel, so they had to get a stand-in. Rhino's son Freddie Edwards had played the role a few times, but eventually the band settled with youngster Richie Malone. A dyed-in-the-wool Parfitt fan, Malone had learned guitar from The Rhythm Machine himself. It turned out to be more problematic to replace Rick's stage presence and voice than his guitar playing. Rick's vocals were divided up between Andy Bown and John "Rhino" Edwards, neither being the singer that Rick was, although they gave their best. Rick announced that he wouldn't return to the band, because he was "a rocker".

A lot of fans were dismayed - how could this still be Status Quo? Nonetheless, Rossi felt reinvigorated by the two new guys, who would clearly not cut him slack like Rick had done in the last few years (and at the same time didn't question his authority), and with Francis now the only founder member, he had to deliver. Already on this 2016 tour, a solo jam piece appeared in front of "Down Down" that would eventually turn into the title track of a new Quo album, although at the time things were looking extremely grim. On Christmas Eve 2016, Rick Parfitt died of an infection that he had caught during a shoulder operation after a fall. It's a bitter turn of events that it wasn't his heart that eventually killed him, although his body had clearly been weakened by the heart problems and one can only speculate whether he had lived longer, had he given up cigarettes and alcohol earlier in his life.

Status Quo soldiered on – a gig at the heavy metal festival in Wacken showed that the band could still do it, and the planned Aquostic tour was turned into an electric one (sadly the German dates, which should've remained "acoustic", were cancelled because Rossi had a cold). Rick's solo album "Over and Out" was released posthumously to much acclaim, and Rossi released the countryish duet album "We Talk Too Much" with Hannah Rickard, tying in nicely with his autobiography "I Talk Too Much".

Shortly afterwards, the news was suddenly out – there would be a new Status Quo album! And while the band had proven their quality live, would they really be capable of delivering a satisfying studio record?

There was one sticky point that Rossi revealed in his book: Parfitt's contributions to the last few Quo albums had not been as big as one would assume. With hindsight, it explains why some of the songs on those albums, although they're technically well played and often have good riffs and ideas, don't really capture the "Quo feeling" of two guitars played at once. Either, Rick's parts were added at a late stage (too late to interact with the other musicians), or he wasn't even on the songs – since Rossi, Rhino and Andy Bown are all capable of playing guitar, it's probably fair to say that clearly not all rhythm guitar was actually played by the rhythm guitarist.

Essentially, fans needn't have worried. "Backbone" turned out to be a concise, consistent and focused record with a lot of Quo trademarks intact and actually more at the front than on the sometimes too "modern" sounding predecessors.

Rossi's realization that Quo's music should breathe more led to a sound that's far less compressed than a lot of current music, and "Backbone" is just a joy to listen to because it's become quite rare to buy a rock album in a digital format (CD or download) that doesn't sound like the end of the world because of the ubiquitious loudness war. It's got punch and depth, and there's no need to turn it down. In fact, you can turn it up to enjoy the full dynamics of the grooves, something that all too often gets forgotten about... but if everything is "loud", there's nothing to mark a rhythm anymore!

The shortness (typical LP length, slightly more on the deluxe) is another point worth talking about. I've got a theory – if you're a band with a rather narrow stylistic spectrum, try to aim for shorter albums. In general, I find the length of an LP pretty ideal for the human attention span, but this is especially true for riff-based rock music. There's just no point in extending it over sixty or seventy minutes, even if a lot of bands started doing that in the CD era. Of course, keeping yourself as brief as possible has its pitfalls: You might end up throwing away good ideas and including the wrong songs. And strangely, what works for one band does not necessarily work for another: Both "Piledriver" by Quo (1972) and "inFinite" by Deep Purple (2017) are around forty minutes long and end with a cover of The Doors' "Roadhouse Blues". In one case, it worked, in the other it didn't. And this despite Ian Gillan actually singing the proper words! Although I'm not sure how many Quo fans back in the day realized that Alan Lancaster was singing a lot of wrong lyrics (that are also printed on the LP), even on the reunion tours 2013/2014…

Quo also return to something they (i.e. Rossi) had vowed to never do again - covers! However, this time it's a really inspired choice. John David had provided a lot of mostly good songs for Quo over the years – starting with 1986's "Red Sky" and "Rollin' Home", across 1988's "Cross That Bridge", 1994's "I Didn't Mean It" up to 2005's "The Party Ain't Over Yet", "All That Counts is Love" and "Kick Me When I'm Down". Rick Parfitt had used two of his compositions for his solo album, "Long Distance Love" and "Everybody Knows How to Fly".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk7teaashW0 (can't embed, sorry)

"Better Take Care" is brilliant both musically as well as lyrically. The lyrics are well worth paying attention to. Sadly, Quo's reputation as music for shaking body parts and having a good time has obscured some good political statements such as the Cold War era comments in "Never Too Late" or "Can't Be Done". One can only hope that this poetic call to action against climate change and environmental pollution has some effect. The topic must be on the band's collective minds as "Running Out of Time" tackles the same issues, although musically less successfully.

Richie Malone, who has already proven that he could sing if you allowed him to, contributes two songs (one is only on the deluxe edition), of which he sings one. "Get Out of My Head" shows that he can channel some of the same atmospheres that Rick could conjure up in songs like "Big Fat Mama", "End of the Line" or "All That Money".

Given that it's Rick's harder-edged and more muscular writing that I personally miss the most on "Backbone", which is still a fine record, I hope Richie gets more chances to add songs like this to the Quo canon. That said, if "Backbone" turns out to be the last album released under the Status Quo name, it would still be a good send-off.

But having seen this line-up in concert a few weeks after the CD release, I can tell you… Quo are not done yet!

And now let's sing it all together: "Cause you gotta have…"