Customer Reviews

On the Level

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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Why these guys never made it big in the U.S., I'll never know...This album is proof positive that the Quo can rock as hard as anybody you care to name. Down Down, Little Lady, and their blistering cover of Chuck Berry's Bye Bye Johnny will melt your speakers!! Nice sonic upgrade from what I am sure were not the greatest tapes to begin with...This is the last of the "raw power" Quo discs; after a muddy live album they brought in outside producers and tried to smooth off the edges in a bid to be accepted into (U.S.?) more mainstream markets...I highly recommend this CD as well as Blue For You, Hello, Quo, and Piledriver if you want more of this...For a more detailed account of this group, see my blog at ulice.blogspot.com.....

G2 the G

With ON THE LEVEL, Status Quo's fourth great CD in a row, it becomes even more shocking that these guys couldn't crack the U.S. market. It's hard to see why, especially since songs such as "Down, Down" and "Nightride" have a sound that would have been huge in this country if there hadn't been a glut of such bands here. The band members' belief that the young Australian tourist jailed in Indonesia since last spring on drug-smuggling charges was unjustly convicted makes this CD an essential purchase for both your ears AND your conscience.

Like lots of other folks, I've never quite understood how American radio and the buying public didn't get caught up in the mid-1970s wave of British hard rock bands like Status Quo. Zeppelin just swallowed the full bandwidth ? These guy were too British for American tastes ? Beats me, but the fact of the matter is while these guys were massive stars in the UK, they couldn't even get arrested in the States.

Self-produced, 1975's "On the Level" debuted at the top of the UK charts, capturing the band at the peak of their commercial run. Commercially this was also prime Status Quo - a good thing if you were a fan, probably less impressive if you missed their head banging appeal. And that was at least some of the beauty behind Status Quo, These guys made no pretense of being sophisticated musicians trying to expand musical boundaries and expose fans to new ideas and concepts. Exemplified by the likes of 'Little Lady', 'Nightride', and ''Down Down (their biggest hit), the messages here were pretty much your standard rock and roll lexicon of booze, partying, and women (typically in one combination). Yeah, King Crimson and Yes fans were probably appalled by the band's successes, but you've got to admit these guys could recycle a Chuck Berry riff like nobody else and yes - there are times when we all want to just party and relax a bit. This is a great soundtrack to crank up after a hard day and have a couple of cold ones ... And yes, It is an album I still play on a regular basis.

- Admittedly 'Little Lady' was little more than a recycled Chuck Berry tune, but few bands could turn in a track like this with as much energy and enthusiasm. Berry would have approved, even if he would have wanted songwriting royalties. Excellent boogie track and it got the album off to a roaring start. rating: *** stars
- 'Most of the Time' started out as a surprisingly sensitive acoustic ballad (it sounded like Rossi was recorded live), before abruptly morphing into a squalling blues-rock number. I'm not normally a big fan of the genre and this wasn't one of the album highlights for me, but still this one was actually pretty good. rating: *** stars
- Kicked along by a bouncy melody and singsong chorus that climbs in your head and won't leave 'I Saw the Light' was one of the album's more commercial tracks. It was a prime slice of Quo with a fairly uncomplicated structure (I suspect any good garage band could master it in a day or two), but cute lyrics. rating: *** stars
- One of two Alan Lancaster compositions, 'Over and Done' was even more pop-oriented with some wonderful jangle rock guitars and a cool hyperactive lead guitar solo. Hard to believe this one wasn't tapped as a single. rating: **** stars
- Moving back towards bar-band rock, kicked along by Lancaster's pounding bass line, 'Nightride' had a slinky rhythm that was incideously catchy. Simply another classic Quo tune that go lost as a 'B' side. rating: **** stars
- Previously released as the album's lead-in single (in an edited format), 'Down Down' has always been kind of a puzzle to me. Original entitled 'Get Down' it was their biggest UK single,. The song's always struck me as an okay blues-rocker, but as least to my ears, not particularly original, or commercial. I'd label it a good arena rocker and not much more than that. Lancaster's ''Over and Done'' and 'Broken Man' both made a bigger impression on me. YouTube has a clip of the band playing the song on BBC's Top of the Pops:[...] rating: ***
- Lancaster's always struck me as the band's secret weapon. Not only was he an excellent bassist; had a likeable gruff voice, and consistently wrote some of the band's strongest material - witness 'Broken Man' which gets my nod as the best performance on he album. rating: **** stars
- Folks tend to overlook the fact Quo could write highly commercial pop-rock that was easily as good as anything Sweet, or the competition was pushing out there. Anyone doubting that comment only needs to check out the infectious 'What To Do'. Another one that left you wondering why it wasn't tapped as a single. rating: **** stars
- The album's lone disappointment, 'Where I Am' sounded like the band was trying to morph themselves into an acoustic folk group. Dull and forgettable. rating: ** stars
- Chuck Berry covers are usually pretty lame affairs - what's the point of trying to out-do the original ? Mind you their cover of 'Bye Bye Johnny' wasn't about to make you forget the original, but as an also-ran version it wasn't half bad showing they knew where their roots came from. rating: *** stars
- It wasn't shown of the track listing, but the album ended with a short segment featuring a drunk audience singing along with the band (not sure what they were singing to ...). rating: * star

As mentioned above, 'Down Down' was released as a single in advance of the album, providing the band with their first UK # 1 chart entry, though the US release vanished without a trace.

UK release:
- 1974's 'Down Down' b/w 'Nightride' (Vertigo catalog number 6059 114)

US release:
- 1975's 'Down Down' b/w 'Nightride' (Capitol catalog number 4039)

Certainly one of their most consistent and enjoyable allbums, it hit the top of the UK charts, but did nothing in the States. By the way, the cover art showing the band poising in an Ames room was quite intriguing - what's an Ames room you ask ? [...]

"On the Level" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Little Lady (Richard Parfitt) - 3:05
2.) Most of the Time (Frances Rossi - Bob Young) - 3:21
3.) I Saw the Light (Frances Rossi - Bob Young) - 3:55
4.) Over and Done (Alan Lancaster) - 3:55
5.) Nightride (Frances Rossi - Bob Young) - 3:52

(side 2)
1.) Down Down (Frances Rossi - Bob Young) - 5:24
2.) Broken Man (Alan Lancaster) - 4:13
3.) What To Do (Frances Rossi - Bob Young) - 3:15
4.) Where I Am (Richard Parfitt) - 3:10
5.) Bye Bye Johnny (Chuck Berry) - 4:35

Quo make a classic hard rockin' cd here. It's boogie rock and has several hit singles too including the number one hit single. "down down" one of the best type of boogie rock ever written anywhere. It's up there with 'slowride' by foghat for sure. I think quo released nothing but great discs from 1970-82. and they had 13 releases not counting 2 live ones during that period! 83-99 was decent enough but this was still the great era of quo. though in the 00's they made some great cd's for sure! the band started in 66 and became quo in 68. Their first 2 discs were psych pop but they managed to have some classic hits during that period songs like 'pictures of matchstick men' , "ice in the sun' , 'down the dustpipe' and 'in my chair' so that early 1968-70 period is worth collecting, but this is flat out the bands best release imo.

Status Quo's 2009 performance at Glastonbury served as a powerful reminder of just what a great hard rocking band this used to be, and indeed, when the right material is chosen, still can be. Their set, heavily sprinkled with early material inspired me to buy On The Level to update the vinyl version I enjoyed years ago.
From Rick's opening power riff of Little Lady, through Francis' gut wrenching Most of the Time the album starts strongly. It features their first number one British single and one of the best examples of what became the definitive Quo sound in Down Down. On the Level, like its predecessor Quo, features several powerful contributions from the sometimes underrated original bass player Alan Lancaster; perhaps the best example being Broken Man. The album features mainly original material but Chuck Berry's Bye Bye Johnny fits in seamlessly as does their live cover of the Doors' Roadhouse Blues which features as a bonus track on the new cd version.
Status Quo are legends in their native Great Britain where they continue to tour and record regularly. They also are popular throughout much of Europe and Australia. While their recent material (Post 1984) has sometimes disappointed; any fan of hard rocking Chuck Berry/Creedence Clearwater Revival influenced rock would surely eenjoy On The Level or any other 1970s Status Quo album.
John Niven

This is a fantastic album.Got so many good songs on it.One of my favorite Status Quo songs of all here is on it called Broken Man,love that tune.
Little Lady,Most Of The Time,I Saw The Light,Nightride,Down Down,and What To Do are also great songs.I think its amongst their best.They were on a roll at the time producing great albums,ive been a fan of theirs since the 70's.

These guys deserve more praise than I can ever give. This album rocks from beginning to end and barely lets you catch your breath. If you're looking for sappy ballads or navel gazing songs, go somewhere else.

If you don't know who these guys are, buy this album and prepare to be surprised.

Status Quo continue to rock the world with another really great CD. I know the music has the same sound & beat but it is one to die for, as they said in one of their songs. We're ROCKERS ROLLIN.