Ten killer deep cuts that turn fifty this year

“DON’T THINK IT MATTERS” by Status Quo

Status Quo’s album Quo yielded a modest hit in “Break the Rules.” It’s a solid rock-pop shuffle, sung by guitarist Francis Rossi, who adds a nice little solo on the break. The band reportedly wanted to release the lead track, “Backwater” as a single, but their label rejected it. “Backwater” was sung by bass player Alan Lancaster, and it’s a solid rocker as well, though perhaps a tad lumbering.

Had they only placed a call across the pond to me – after school, because I think I was in sixth grade at the time – I would have told them to release “Don’t Think it Matters” over both the other contenders. It churns forward like an unstoppable wave. If Joan Jett were a bunch of English lads back in the early ‘70s, this is the song she would have been singing.

You could say that there is nothing particularly special or innovative about the song – or maybe about the band as a whole. I won’t argue that. I’ll just say that when they were hitting, Status Quo rocked with the best of them, and they were hitting on “Don’t Think it Matters.”

“SET ME FREE” by Sweet

Sweet had a string of awesome glam hits in the early ‘70s, and were at their peak on ‘74’s Desolation Boulevard album. It yielded two top ten hits – “Ballroom Blitz” and “Fox on the Run” – along with several other solid rockers.

“Set Me Free” is an exuberant over-the-top speed workout that does much of what Sweet did best. The guitar, bass, and drum all trundle forward with the head-banging power of any metal band. You get screaming vocals and a kick-ass solo. You even get a taste of speed funk at the end. “Fox on the Run” showed up in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and I have no problem with that. But Peter Quill should have picked this song. He would have simply out-rocked his father.

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