Hello! (album)

Hello! is the sixth studio album by the British rock band Status Quo. Released in September 1973, it was the first of four Quo albums to top the UK Albums Chart. It was also the first Quo album on which drummer John Coghlan was credited with songwriting.

Hello!
Studio album by
Status Quo
Released28 September 1973
Recorded1973
StudioI.B.C. Studios, Portland Place, London
Length39:08
LabelVertigo (UK)
A&M (USA)
ProducerStatus Quo
Status Quo chronology
Piledriver
(1972)		 Hello!
(1973)		 Quo
(1974)
Singles from Hello!
  1. "Caroline"
    Released: 1973

Keyboard player Andy Bown and saxophonist Stewart Blandamer both played on "Forty Five Hundred Times". This was Bown's first appearance on a Status Quo album; he guested on several subsequent releases, and became a permanent member of the line-up a few years later.

Background

1973 started for Status Quo with the belated chart success, in January, of the 1972 releases on their new label Vertigo, leading to their first top ten entry on the album charts and a long-awaited return to the top ten of the singles chart. As a result, Status Quo's previous record company Pye decided to release a single from their 1971 album Dog of Two Head. The single, Francis Rossi and Bob Young's "Mean Girl", reached No. 20 upon its release. It was backed by the Rossi/Parfitt composition "Everything", taken from the band's 1970 album Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon.

In August 1973 the only single from the new album, Rossi and Young's "Caroline", was released, reaching No. 5. It was the group's first single to reach the UK top five. Its B-side was a non-album track titled "Joanne", written by Alan Lancaster and Rick Parfitt.

Hello! was released in September that year, and became the most successful album the band had ever released. Initial copies of the record on vinyl came with a large black and white poster of the group. Of the eight tracks on the album, only six of them were new. "Caroline" had already been heard by the public as a single release, while "Softer Ride" had served as the B-side to the band's "Paper Plane" single from their previous album Piledriver.

No other singles were issued from the album, although a live version of "Roll Over Lay Down" appeared on a three-track EP released in May 1975, which reached No. 9 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 2 on the Australian Singles Chart, making it the band's only top-ten hit Down Under.

This was the band's first album to feature the band's name written in the now-familiar font used on most subsequent album covers.

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

In a retrospective review, AllMusic criticized the over-simplicity of many of the songs and overindulgence of some, while praising the energy. They concluded that the album manages to be effective and enjoyable in spite of its flaws, concluding, "Clearly the product of a band at their commercial and creative peak, Hello! wears its strengths and weaknesses well: not particularly flashy or intelligent, but without exception confident, comfortable and fun."[1]

Track listing
Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
1."Roll Over Lay Down"Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt, Alan Lancaster, John Coghlan Bob YoungRossi5:42
2."Claudie"Francis Rossi, Bob YoungRossi4:05
3."A Reason For Living"Parfitt, RossiParfitt3:45
4."Blue Eyed Lady"Lancaster, ParfittRossi, Lancaster3:53
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
5."Caroline"Rossi, YoungRossi4:16
6."Softer Ride"Lancaster, ParfittRossi4:02
7."And It's Better Now"Rossi, YoungRossi3:20
8."Forty Five Hundred Times"Parfitt, RossiParfitt9:50

2005 reissue bonus track
  1. "Joanne" (Parfitt, Lancaster) — 4:06 (originally the B-side of "Caroline").

2015 reissue multi fodigi deluxe edition cd2
  1. "Joanne" (Parfitt, Lancaster) — 4:06 (originally the B-side of "Caroline")
  2. "Caroline" (Rossi, Young) - original demo fast
  3. "Caroline" (Rossi, Young) - original demo slow
  4. "Don't Waste My Time" (Rossi, Young) - live 1973 Reading Festival
  5. "Caroline" (Rossi, Young) - mono
  6. "Caroline" (Rossi, Young) - stereo edit
  7. "Is it Really Me/Gotta Go Home" (Lancaster) - live 1973-04-10 Dublin National Stadium

Personnel
Additional personnel

References
  1. https://www.allmusic.com/album/r50102
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