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
, but that is only to be expected --
wasn't as good as
Hello!
, either. But with 40 years under their belt,
really should know what they're doing now, and
is a promise to savor. ~ Dave Thompson