Status Quo has been one of England's finest rock & roll bands for years. As the groups has grown older and matured, Quo has softened its boogie tendencies and settled into a groove as a consistent rock band with a batch of great songs per album. This, the second Quo covers album in four years, is not one of those albums with great songs. Rather, Famous in the Last Century is an obvious cry for help, a musical suicide note if you will. Something is wrong in the Quo camp and the band needs to be rescued! How else can one account for awful renditions of "Old Time Rock and Roll," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Good Golly Miss Molly," "Hound Dog," and "Once Bitten Twice Shy?" (And is it ironic that all but one of those songs are sung by second guitarist Rick Parfitt, whose voice has seen better days?) As for the other covers, Francis Rossi tries to wrap his smooth pipes around some rock classics, but just ends up sounding tired. Though some of the tracks do actually sound great in Quo's hands ("Rock 'n' Me," "Rave On," "Way Down"), this album is an obvious attempt to gain some quick cash. A shame, since its release follows the band's glorious Under the Influence album, perhaps Status Quo's best collection of songs ever.
© Steve Schnee /TiVo