Love it seems I just can't find
Love it seems I just can't find
Seems that I'm the one love
The one love left behind
I've searched it just won't come my way
I've searched it just won't come my way
It's love that I want now
So what more can I say
Women seem to pass me by
Women seem to pass me by
If I could find the reason
I'd know the answer why
Love it seems I just can't find
Love it seems I just can't find
Seems that I'm the one love
The one love left behind
about
'Dog of Two Head' by Status Quo was the first album I owned. That's me with my original copy in the picture. It was released in the year I was born and it is one of my favourite albums. As far as I can remember, my parents bought it for me in 1980 after I fell in love with the 'What You're Proposing' single and the Quo shuffle. Why they chose to buy me this relatively obscure release rather than the single's parent album, 'Just Supposin'', is beyond me. However, I'm glad that they did because this album left a deep impression on me and meant that my introduction to Quo started in the right order. I think I got '12 Gold Bars' next and then I got the epic collection, 'The Music of Status Quo Volume 1, 1972-1974', both on tape. 'Hello' followed on record and then the behemoth double LP, 'Live'. I think 'Blue For You' came after, on cassette. Following John Coghlan's departure in 1981, it soon became apparent that the magic years were behind the band, but by this point I was absolutely hooked on their seventies releases.
Of course, being a Quo fan in the eighties provided its fair share of social challenges, nearly as much as being a McCartney fan! I'm not sure if I got ribbed at school more for 'Marguerita Time' or 'We All Stand Together'. I didn't really care though; unfashionable or not, I loved the music. I was especially drawn to the pre-'Rocking All Over The World' LP years. In 1977, the band seemed to make a determined effort to strive for a more commercial sound and a lot of their rough edges and, sad to say, creativity, seemed to get sanded down in the studio. This is certainly not the case with 1971's 'Dog of Two Head', which sees Quo transitioning from their organ driven five piece line-up with Roy Lynes on keys, to a stripped down, heavier guitar based unit ('The Frantic Four'), that would fully find its 12 bar boogie groove on 1972's 'Piledriver'.
'Dog' is my favourite Quo record, however, because at this point in the band's career they seemed to be open to so many musical influences and it is an incredibly eclectic album. 'Umleitung' (German for 'diversion') is a slow and lengthy blues-infused song featuring brilliant guitar work from Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt vamping on piano. 'Nanana' is a joyful, acoustic guitar and piano based sing-a-long that features the vocal group, 'Grass'. 'Someone's Learning' is a heavy rock song by Alan Lancaster with the 'Troubles' in Northern Ireland as its subject. 'Mean Girl' is a fast paced blues-y shuffle and later a top twenty hit. 'Railroad' wonderfully combines three disparate songs in one and 'Gerdundula' is completely out of left field. Sounding like Persian trance music, the story behind the title is that the band had a couple of loyal female German fans named Gerd and Ula, hence 'Gerd und Ula'. With no bass or drums, the song had originally been the B-side of the 'In My Chair' single. It was re-recorded for 'Dog of Two Head' with a slightly different arrangement. My version is an amalgam of the two. Curiously, although written by Rossi with long-term collaborator, Bob Young, the song was credited to 'Manston and James' on the record. Why the duo used these pseudonyms remains a mystery, but it may have something to do with a change in publishers to Valley Music.
The song has been performed live by the band several times over the decades. Both live and recorded versions of the song are taken at a frantic pace (is this where the nickname comes from?) and there was no way I could record the guitar parts that fast, so my version employs a slightly less frenetic tempo.
credits
released November 4, 2022
Blake - vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bongos, tambourine, handclaps
'Gerdundula' by Colin James and John Manston (Francis Rossi and Bob Young)
Copyright EMI Music Publishing Ltd
UK 60s-tinged/ lo-fi /indie pop
/psychedelic rock /jangle /power pop /singer-songwriter and DIY musician. Proudly
signed to the Subjangle record label. Mailing list sign up (receive a free download of my song 'Vinyl Junkie'): eepurl.com/dV04f...more
Being a singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/home recorder myself, and largely inspired by The Frond, I appreciate the amount of talent that has gone into creating this amazing work of art. Genius! Blake
Gorgeous album full of charm and wit, wonderful imagery, observations on provincial British life, characters brought to life with the skill of a novelist and nods to the ghosts of a visionary Albion. Blake
Choochtown is possibly the greatest, most creative album by one person I've ever heard. It's like a Raymond Chandler whodunnit which is in turns funny, romantic, violent, scary & uplifting. Gotta get! Blake
“Chaos Wonderland” is an expansive, probing album that weds the shimmering approach of psych rock to cinematic Britpop at its best. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 23, 2020