A Status Quo tribute to all the influences that have fueled their musical fire over the years, Don't Stop offers up inspirational gems spanning the group's three-decade career. Hear Status Quo's rocking rendition of Little Richard's 1957 hit "Lucille". Check out the sparkling rendition of The Beach Boys' "Fun, Fun, Fun" and the vocal arrangements from none other than The Beach Boys, who contributed to the England-based Quo their trademark vocal parts from studios and hotel rooms while doing concerts in the United States.
Contributing vocal postproduction dubs and shipping them by airmail are examples of the technology available today to Status Quo. And as challenging as any technical work are the processes of doing true renditions or justified reinventions of other artists' material. "We tried as hard as we could to find fifteen tracks that would work well," said Status Quo's Rick Parfitt during a brief Saturday telephone interview from the Los Angeles stop on the band's thirtieth anniversary tour. "Everybody went scuffling away and came back with armloads of vinyl," Parfitt said, adding that Bob Dylan's "Watching The River Flow" was one of many tracks that didn't make it into the final selection.
Songs spiced up by the extra-sharp Phantom Horns include the Beatles' "Get Back" and Bob Seger's "Get Out of Denver". Legendary Queen guitarist Brian May applies his coral style to the Buddy Holly ballad "Raining In My Heart." An accordion makes its way into the picture on an otherwise straight rendition of Chuck Berry's "You Can Never Tell (It Was A Teenage Wedding).
You certainly can never tell with Status Quo. That accordian, daringly wielded by guest Geraint Watkins, blatanly drops in on what is perhaps the most unusual track on the disc - Status Quo's interpretation of "Saftey Dance", best known as the 1983 hit for Canadian band Men Without Hats. "That was thrown into the fray, and we knew we'd at least give it a try," Parfitt said about covering the song. "Once we got it up and running we realized it really worked well as a selection."
"A lot of the tracks have that way-back-when times-of-your-life inspirational feel," Parfitt said, adding that the Status Quo rendition of the Merseys' 1966 hit "Sorrow" stems in part from Parfitt's past fondness for singing the song himself when he was much younger. "This is certainly a covers album, but its a good way to commemorate thirty years," Parfitt said.
Vocal Flavorings and a relentless up-beat guitar riff shake things up on the Creedence Clearwater Revival standard "Proud Mary" and thematic optimism is imortalized on the disc's title track, a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop".
The disc closes quietly yet assertively with the ethnic emotion of Steeleye Span's 1975 hit "All Around My Hat", guest vocalist Maddy Prior giving support alongside Troy Donockley's Uilleann pipes and whistles.
There is an overall lighter sound on Don't Stop than the harder, rock edge Status Quo is known for. Regardless, the passion for music is never-ending with Status Quo. "Music must be played from the heart," Parfitt said. "Play it hard and kick it hard." (Polygram TV)