| Hello! | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 28 September 1973 | |||
| Recorded | 1973 | |||
| Studio | IBC Studios, Portland Place, London | |||
| Genre | Boogie rock[1] | |||
| Length | 39:08 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | Status Quo | |||
| Status Quo chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Hello! | ||||
Hello! is the sixthstudio album by the Britishrock bandStatus Quo. Released in September 1973, it was the first of four Status Quo albums to top theUK Albums Chart.
Keyboard playerAndy Bown andsaxophonists Stewart Blandamer and Steve Farr played on "Blue Eyed Lady". This was Bown's first appearance on a Status Quo album; heguested on several subsequent releases, and became an official member of the band in 1981. Blandamer and Farr also played on "Forty Five Hundred Times", which featured piano by John Mealing.
It was the first Status Quo album on which drummerJohn Coghlan was credited with songwriting, althoughFrancis Rossi has said in an interview that the credit was given to Coghlan by himself and his co-writer,Bob Young, at the request of their management to even out songwriting royalty income, with "Roll Over Lay Down" and "Softer Ride" both having been in fact been written by Rossi and Young but the credit being shared or given to others.[3]
1973 started for Status Quo with the chart success of their first album for their new record companyVertigo,Piledriver, and its single "Paper Plane", leading to their first top ten entry on the album charts and a long-awaited return to the top ten of the singles chart. As a result, Status Quo's previous record companyPye decided to release a single from their 1971 albumDog of Two Head. The single, Francis Rossi and Bob Young's "Mean Girl", reached No. 20 upon its release. It was backed by the Rossi/Parfitt composition "Everything", taken from the band's 1970 albumMa Kelly's Greasy Spoon.
In August 1973 the only single from the new album, Rossi and Young's "Caroline", was released, reaching No. 5. It was the group's first single to reach the UK top five. Its B-side was a non-album track titled "Joanne", written byAlan Lancaster andRick Parfitt.
Hello! was released in September that year, and became the most successful album the band had ever released. Initial copies of the record onvinyl came with a large black and white poster of the group. One track on the album, "Softer Ride", had been previously released as the B-side to the "Paper Plane" single from their previous albumPiledriver.
No other singles were issued from the album, although a live version of "Roll Over Lay Down" appeared on a three-track EP released in May 1975, which reached No. 9 in theUK Singles Chart and No. 2 on theAustralian Singles Chart.
This was the band's first album to feature the band's name written in the now-familiar font used on most subsequent album covers.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
In a retrospective review,AllMusic criticized the over-simplicity of many of the songs and overindulgence of some, while praising the energy. They concluded that the album manages to be effective and enjoyable in spite of its flaws, concluding, "Clearly the product of a band at their commercial and creative peak,Hello! wears its strengths and weaknesses well: not particularly flashy or intelligent, but without exception confident, comfortable and fun."[1]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Roll Over Lay Down" | Francis Rossi,Rick Parfitt,Alan Lancaster,John Coghlan,Bob Young | Rossi | 5:42 |
| 2. | "Claudie" | Francis Rossi, Bob Young | Rossi | 4:05 |
| 3. | "A Reason For Living" | Parfitt, Rossi | Parfitt | 3:45 |
| 4. | "Blue Eyed Lady" | Lancaster, Parfitt | Rossi, Lancaster | 3:53 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Lead vocals | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5. | "Caroline" | Rossi, Young | Rossi | 4:16 |
| 6. | "Softer Ride" | Lancaster, Parfitt | Rossi | 4:02 |
| 7. | "And It's Better Now" | Rossi, Young | Rossi | 3:20 |
| 8. | "Forty Five Hundred Times" | Parfitt, Rossi | Parfitt | 9:50 |
| Chart (1973–75) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[4] | 19 |
| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[5] | 6 |
| French Albums (SNEP)[6] | 35 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[7] | 11 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[8] | 6 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[9] | 1 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[4] | Platinum | 50,000^ |
| France (SNEP)[10] | Gold | 100,000* |
| Netherlands (NVPI)[11] | Gold | 25,000[11] |
| Sweden (GLF)[12] | Gold | 25,000[12] |
| Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[13] | Platinum | 50,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[14] | Gold | 100,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
