"ROCKIN' ALL OVER THE YEARS" - Status Quo in the year 1975

german cover of the Status Quo single 'Down Down' french cover of the Status Quo single 'Down Down' dutch cover of the Status Quo single 'Down Down' spain cover of the Status Quo single 'Down Down' belgian cover of the Status Quo single 'Down Down' german cover of the Status Quo EP 'Roll over lay down'

concerts, publications, charts, miscellaneous

the year 1975 - the year began with a highlight - the single "Down, Down" became No.1 in England, but was successful in other countries too. And short after the LP "On the Level" went to No.1 too. The first live-recording was released in June "Roll over lay down". Status Quo continued building up their reputation as the live-band, the sound was getting louder and the band was touring around the world. Europe, Australia, USA and first time in Japan. And in Germany the band had such a good reputation that there were 2 german tours in 1975. And Status Quo live shows were broadcasted via media. The shows in Mainz and Munster (both Germany) and in Paris were broadcasted by radio stations and the show in Madrid was filmed by spain television. The Quo appearance at the New Years Eve in London's Olympia was filmed too. All known shows of 1975: ...more
Pictures: german, french, dutch, spain, belgian single-cover "Down Down" - single-cover "Roll over lay down"

Chronological:

  • 02.01.1975: Status Quo with a performance at the "Top of the Pops" with the song "Down, Down". Moderator: Jimmy Savile
  • 10.01.1975: Start of a french tour with 8 concerts.
  • 13.01.1975: the single "Down Down" entered the german single-charts and later climbed up to No.7 and spent a total of 24 weeks in the german charts (2 weeks TOP10).
  • 16.01.1975: "Down Down" was played from disc in "Top of the Pops". Moderator: Noel Edmonds
  • 18.01.1975: while the band toured in France, the single "Down Down" became new No.1 of the UK-single-charts. The one and only No.1 hit single in UK up to day. But also in other countries the single was very successful (Belgium No.1, Netherlands and Switzerland No.2).
  • 15.02.1975: start of the first german tour in Laupheim. Special guests are SNAFU, whose guitarist and vocalist was Mickey Moody. He later worked together with Bob Young and with John Coghlan in the Diesel band.
  • 21.02.1975: release of the album "On the Level". The album was again produced by Status Quo and during the recording in London's IBC studios they played such loud that the neighbours are complaining. Apart from the Chuck Berry Song "Bye bye Johnny" all songs are self-penned.
  • 22.02.1975: the show in the Rheingoldhalle of Mainz/Germany was broadcasted from the south-german radiostation "SWF3" and showed very good the atmosphere at Status Quo shows. The big south-german paper "Süddeutsche Zeitung" wrote in their review of the Munich gig: "The Kongress-Saal was packed. And the audience was already standing upon their chairs, before the first note was played. That wasn't seen in Munich for many years."
  • 07.03.1975: the LP "On the Level" became No.1 of the UK-album-charts and spent a total of 24 weeks in the charts.
  • 08.03.1975: frontcover of the week in the "Sounds" magazine: Alan Lancaster playing tennis in underwear.
  • 14.03.1975: Status Quo's show in Madrid/Spain was filmed by spain television. 1 hour of this show was taped and you get a good impression of Status Quo's live-power. Notable: you can see a fan entering the stage and hitting Bob Young. Video-clips of this performance can be seen on the australian fanclub website of Tony Marles. www.aussiequo.com
  • 15.03.1975: the LP: "On the Level" entered the german album-charts and peaked at No.11 and spent a toal of 28 weeks in the german album-charts.
  • 08.05.1975: kick-off of the UK-tour named "Quo Live!" in Leicester. All in all 12 concerts were played ending in Manchester on the 24th of May.
  • 13.05.1975: release of the EP "Live! Roll over lay down" with 2 live-recordings on the B-Side too - "Junior's Wailing" and "Gerdundula". The 3 songs were recorded live at Quo's show on the 1st of March at the Kursaal Ballroom of Southend. In the beginning they were reluctant to release this EP, because no-one didn't know if it would be a success. But it was time to release a live-recording at all and the EP was a success, eventually peaking up at No.9 of UK-single-charts. It was the first EP since Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour" way back in 1967. The catalogue number of the EP was QUO13 and out of the order. Much later the single "Again and Again" got the catalogue number QUO1 and it's not known if the record company put QUO13 because of the 13th anniversary tour or because of the release date.
  • June 1975: another US-tour but no dates or venues are recorded.
  • 23.06.1975: the EP "Live! Roll over lay down" entered the german charts. The single reached No.15 and spent a total of 14 weeks in the german album-charts.
  • summer 1975: the british candies producer "Smith Crisps" released out of its series "Collect tokens" the flexi-single "Down Down/Break the Rules" (Cat.No. Lyntone3154/3155). It's the first QUO flexi-single, later in 1979 a second flexi-single was released. Notice for collectors: one mispressed copy shows instead of "Break the Rules" a Bay City Rollers song.
  • 04.09.1975: start of the second german tour in 1975 with the show in Munich's "Circus Krone" with a total of 11 concerts. The show in Munster was broadcasted by a german radio station.
  • 23.09.1975: first japanese tour with the kick-off in Tokyo, Sun Plaza Hall. 5 shows were played in Japan.
  • 02.10.1975: kick-off of the australian tour in Sydney. The tour included 10 concerts. Status Quo was very big in Australia at the time. The album "On the Level" was awarded with double gold and almost achieved triple gold.
  • October/November 1975: PYE released another Status Quo compilation album. Out of their series "Golden Hour" the LP "Golden Hour presents Status Quo - Down the dustpipe" was released with songs of the PYE period 1968 - 1971. Such high was the reputation in UK, that the compilation album went into the charts and climbed up to No.20 and stayed 7 weeks in the charts.
  • 08.12.1975: start of 4 french shows. The concert on the 11th of December in Paris was broadcasted by french radio.
  • 23.12.1975: Status Quo with a performance at "Top of the Pops" with the song "Down, Down". Moderator: Dave Lee Travis and Jimmy Savile
  • 31.12.1975: the year ended in true Status Quo style - with Status Quo performing at the "Great British Music Festival" in London's "Olympia Theatre" and started the New Year with the traditonal "Auld Lang Syne" - another very successful year 1976 .......... (this show was filmed and bits were broadcasted in TV)
  • Andy Bown released another solo-single: Supersonic / Feeling better (GMS 9039)
  • around the year 1975 the dutch fanclub "DIDAM" was founded.
  • in 1975 Status Quo appeared in german televison with the song "Down Down" at Ilja Richter's "Disco '75" and in dutch "Pop Shjop".

    UK discography 1975:

  • Single: Roll over lay down (Rossi/Parfitt/Lancaster/Coghlan/Young) / Juniors Wailing - Gerdundula (Vertigo QUO13)
  • LP: On the Level (Vertigo 9102 002 (Cassette: Vertigo 7231 002) (8-track: Vertigo 7739 024)
  • LP: Golden Hour of S.Q. -Down the dustpipe (PYE GH604)

    Charts 1975:

  • Down Down - No. 1 (UK)
  • Down Down - No. 7 (Germany) 24 weeks in german charts
  • Down Down - No. 2 (Switzerland) 15 weeks in the Swiss charts
  • Down Down - No. 1 (Belgium)
  • Down Down - No. 2 (Netherlands)
  • Down Down - No. 11 (Australia)
  • Roll over lay down - No. 9 (UK)
  • Roll over lay down - No. 2 (Netherlands)
  • Roll over lay down - No. 5 (Belgium)
  • Roll over lay down - No. 2 (Australia)
  • LP: On the Level - No. 1 (UK) 24 weeks in the british charts
  • LP: On the Level - No. 11 (Germany) 28 weeks in the german charts

    Miscellaneous:
    1. Pink Floyd released another psychedelic masterpiece "Wish you were here", a worthy follow-up of the "Dark Side of the Moon" with one of the best pop and rock songs ever "Wish you were here".
    Another album highlight of the year was Queen's "A night at the opera" with perhaps the most extra-ordinary song of all time: "Bohemian Rhapsody".
    Some good albums of the year 1975: Fleetwood Mac (Fleetwood Mac) - Toys in the Attic (Aerosmith) - Minstrel in the Gallery (Jethro Tull) - Physical Graffity (Led Zeppelin) - We sold our Soul to Rock n Roll (Black Sabbath)
    2.Hits of the year in UK:
    Singles: 1. Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen) 2. Bye bye Baby (Bay City Rollers) 3. Sailing (Rod Stewart)
    Albums: 1. The Best of the Stylistics (Stylistics) 2. Atlantic Crossing (Rod Stewart) 3. 40 Greatest Hits (Perry Como)
    3. Football: english champions were Derby County and Glasgow Rangers won the scottish championship.
    4. and noboby wanted to go swimming, when "Jaws" was shown in the cinemas, but there was some rocky stuff "Rocky Horror Picture Show" - diabolical with "Exorcist" - nice stuff with Streisand in "Funny Lady" and action with "Brannigan" in the cinemas in 1975.