Aquostic (Stripped Bare)

Aquostic (Stripped Bare) is the thirty-first studio album by English rock band Status Quo, first released on 17 October 2014. Produced by Mike Paxman, this is the band's first completely acoustic album and the first recorded with drummer Leon Cave. Its cover features a photograph by Canadian singer Bryan Adams.[2][3] The album earned a Gold certification in January 2015.[4]

Aquostic (Stripped Bare)
Studio album by Status Quo
Released	17 October 2014 (2014-10-17)
Recorded	2014
Genre	Acoustic rock
Length	78:39
Label	Warner Bros. Records, earMUSIC, Edel Records
Producer	Mike Paxman
Status Quo chronology
Bula Quo! (2013) Aquostic (Stripped Bare) (2014) Aquostic II: That's a Fact (2016)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Classic Rock	[1]

Background

"We did an album of our old songs," Francis Rossi observed, "posed nude on the cover, got Bryan Adams to shoot it… Why do you do it? Because it made everyone talk about it… All those songs were written acoustically. It would be great to have new stuff out. But if you and I were the record company, and the manager comes to us and says, 'They want to write a whole new album of acoustic stuff,' they'd say, 'Fuck off, give us the hits.'"[5]

"I went from not wanting to be involved to really liking it," Rossi revealed. "The new version of 'All the Reasons' is as good as the original, or better. The same with 'Rain', which is a song I really didn't think would work in such a format." "The arrangements of most of these songs are vastly different," noted Rick Parfitt, "especially what we've done to 'Don't Drive My Car', which sounds like a cross between Stéphane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt. People will be taken aback."[6]

Performance

To launch the album, the band gave a ninety-minute performance of the songs at The Roundhouse in London on 22 October 2014. The concert was recorded and broadcast live by BBC Radio 2 as part of their In Concert series.[7][8] The band were augmented on stage by guitarist Freddie Edwards, son of bassist John Edwards.[9][10]

The concert was introduced by BBC Radio 2's Jo Whiley. Its setlist differed from the order of the eventual album track listing.[11]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Original album	Length
1.	"Pictures of Matchstick Men"	Francis Rossi	Picturesque Matchstickable Messages from the Status Quo (1968)	3:37
2.	"Down the Dustpipe"	Carl Groszman	single (1970)	2:41
3.	"Na Na Na"	Rossi, Bob Young	Dog of Two Head (1971)	2:55
4.	"Paper Plane"	Rossi, Young	Piledriver (1972)	3:38
5.	"All the Reasons"	Rick Parfitt, Alan Lancaster	Piledriver (1972)	3:08
6.	"Reason for Living"	Rossi, Parfitt	Hello! (1973)	3:21
7.	"And It's Better Now"	Rossi, Young	Hello! (1973)	3:41
8.	"Caroline"	Rossi, Young	Hello! (1973)	3:13
9.	"Softer Ride"	Parfitt, Lancaster	Hello! (1973)	2:57
10.	"Claudie"	Rossi, Young	Hello! (1973)	3:58
11.	"Break the Rules"	Rossi, Parfitt, Lancaster, John Coghlan, Young	Quo (1974)	3:09
12.	"Down Down"	Rossi, Young	On the Level (1975)	2:36
13.	"Little Lady"	Parfitt	On the Level (1975)	1:52
14.	"Mystery Song"	Parfitt, Young	Blue for You (1976)	2:34
15.	"Rain"	Parfitt	Blue for You (1976)	3:56
16.	"Rockin' All Over the World"	John Fogerty	Rockin' All Over the World (1977)	2:40
17.	"Again and Again"	Parfitt, Andy Bown, Jackie Lynton	If You Can't Stand the Heat... (1978)	3:20
18.	"Whatever You Want"	Parfitt, Bown	Whatever You Want (1979)	3:25
19.	"What You're Proposing"	Rossi, Bernie Frost	Just Supposin' (1980)	2:04
20.	"Rock 'n' Roll"	Rossi, Frost	Just Supposin' (1980)	2:43
21.	"Don't Drive My Car"	Parfitt, Bown	Just Supposin' (1980)	3:10
22.	"Marguerita Time"	Rossi, Frost	Back to Back (1983)	3:20
23.	"Rollin' Home"	John David	In the Army Now (1986)	4:05
24.	"Burning Bridges"	Rossi, Bown	Ain't Complaining (1988)	3:45
25.	"Rock 'til You Drop"	Bown	Rock 'til You Drop (1991)	2:48

Tracks 13,14 and 23 are "bonus tracks" and are not on the Spotify version. They are on the version on MP3FREEX with track 23 in the correct place and tracks 13 and 14 at the end but in the reverse order with "Mystery Song" segueing into "Little Lady".

Personnel

Status Quo

• Francis Rossi − guitars, vocals
• Rick Parfitt − guitars, ukulele, vocals
• Andy Bown − guitar, mandolin, harmonica, piano, vocals
• John "Rhino" Edwards − guitar, bass, vocals
• Leon Cave − guitar, drums, vocals

Additional musicians

• Geraint Watkins − accordion
• Martin Ditcham − percussion
• Amy Smith − background vocals
• Richard Benbow − string arrangements
• Lucy Wilkins − (leader) violin
• Howard Gott − violin
• Natalia Bonner − violin
• Alison Dods − violin
• Sophie Sirota − viola
• Sarah Wilson − cello

Production

• Mike Paxman − production
• Gregg Jackman − recording, mixing

Chart performance

Chart (2014)	Peak position
scope="row"	Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[12]	33
scope="row"	Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[13]	123
scope="row"	Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[14]	81
scope="row"	Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[15]	26
scope="row"	French Albums (SNEP)[16]	183
scope="row"	German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[17]	15
scope="row"	Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[18]	26
scope="row"	Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[19]	4
scope="row"	UK Albums (OCC)[20]	5

References

1. Staunton, Terry (10 September 2014). "Status Quo Aquostic (Stripped Bare)". Classic Rock Magazine (202). TeamRock.
2. Ling, Dave (31 August 2014). "World Exclusive: Status Quo Stripped Bare". Team Rock. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
3. "Status Quo strip down for album". Independent.ie. 1 September 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
4. "Status Quo spend landmark 500 weeks in albums chart, figures reveal". Nme.com. 2015-01-05. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
5. Glass, Polly (May 2015). "Live! Status Quo". Classic Rock #209. p. 122.
6. Ling, Dave (October 2014). "No rolling over, laying down for Status Quo". Classic Rock #202. p. 17.
7. "Status Quo Concert Setlist at Roundhouse, London on October 22, 2014 - setlist.fm". setlist.fm. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
8. "Status Quo - Acoustic". Radio 2 In Concert. bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
9. "Status Quo - Aquostic". statusquo.co.uk. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
10. "Freddie Edwards Music - Session Guitarist". Freddie Edwards Music - Session Guitarist. Archived from the original on 2 February 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
11. "Status Quo Setlist at Roundhouse, London". setlist.fm. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
12. "Austriancharts.at – Status Quo – Aquostic - Stripped Bare" (in German). Hung Medien.
13. "Ultratop.be – Status Quo – Aquostic - Stripped Bare" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
14. "Ultratop.be – Status Quo – Aquostic - Stripped Bare" (in French). Hung Medien.
15. "Danishcharts.dk – Status Quo – Aquostic - Stripped Bare". Hung Medien.
16. "Lescharts.com – Status Quo – Aquostic - Stripped Bare". Hung Medien.
17. "Offiziellecharts.de – Status Quo – Aquostic - Stripped Bare" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts.
18. "Dutchcharts.nl – Status Quo – Aquostic - Stripped Bare" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
19. "Swisscharts.com – Status Quo – Aquostic - Stripped Bare". Hung Medien.
20. "Status Quo | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart.