Party Ain't Over Yet

Personnel: Andrew Bown (vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards); Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt (vocals, guitar); Willem "Wim" Calluy (keyboards).
Recording information: Jacobs Studios, Surrey, England.
The Party Ain't Over Yet was titled to mark the celebrations surrounding Status Quo's 40th anniversary -- and very well-titled it was. The first decade of the new century had so far seen the band vacillate between some genuinely powerful all-new albums, and a pair of covers collections that, apparently, the record company insisted upon. Party falls into the former category, and it does the old firm proud, building upon the dynamism of Heavy Traffic with another album chock-full of drop-dead gorgeous rockers. The title track sets the mood, confident and crunching, and bulldozing any lingering past specters by never allowing the energy to flag. True, the band's now-entrenched fascination with country-rock does raise its head occasionally, but there's also a fine nod in the direction of Quo's roots in the early '70s prog boom, "Nevashooda," while "This Is Me" is as unselfconsciously psychedelic as anything they've done since the days of "Matchstick Men." Possibly the album is not as all-round powerful as Heavy Traffic, but that is only to be expected -- Quo wasn't as good as Hello!, either. But with 40 years under their belt, Quo really should know what they're doing now, and The Party Ain't Over Yet is a promise to savor. ~ Dave Thompson