Status Quo - In Search Of The Fourth Chord

“Is this the beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning?” sings Francis Rossi on Track One, and immediately you find yourself asking the same question. Despite being reunited with their long-time producer Pip Williams, Quo’s 33rd album ultimately disappoints. It sounds like the product of a quality pub band, a CD one might purchase out of an open guitar case in a wave of drunken enthusiasm, only to find, hungover and slightly bemused the next morning, that they were better live. While very far from their worst, In Search Of… is a rather plodding, laboured affair, with moments of inspiration. Beginning Of The End has a fine opening riff, while Alright and I Don’t Wanna Hurt You Anymore peddle the old Quo formula effectively. A new studio effort, however poor, is a welcome break from endless greatest hits comps and contractual obligation covers albums, but ISOTFC fails to scale the heights of 2002’s Heavy Traffic, with which the Quo proved there was life in the old dog yet. By the sound of this, the spark has faded again and they’ve returned to the creative level of 1999’s Under the Influence.