Status Quo drop lyric promo

Status Quo have issued a lyric video for And It’s Better Now.

The track originally featured on Hello, the band’s sixth album in 1973. It now appears along with 24 other Quo classics on upcoming acoustic album Aquostic (Stripped Bare).

And mainman Rick Parfitt, who has recovered following heart surgery in August, exclusively told Classic Rock that fans will be “taken aback” when they hear what they’ve done to some of their best-loved tracks.

He said: “The new arrangements of most of these songs are vastly different to the ones Quo fans will already know. People will be taken aback, and pleasantly so.”

Frontman Francis Rossi also revealed he initially wasn’t keen on re-recording the tracks, but changed his mind after hearing an early acoustic demo of And It’s Better Now.

He said: “It made me think, ‘Wow!’ I went from not wanting to be involved to really, really liking it. I’ve always liked Paper Plane, for example, but what we’ve done with it is really fucking nice. The new version of All The Reasons is as good as the original, or better. The same with Rain, which I really didn’t think would work in such a format.

“It’s a really fucking great record.”

Quo head out on an a UK tour in December, and have hinted they’ll consider playing acoustic dates to support the new album in 2015.

Parfitt said: “Let’s eat an elephant, as they say – one bite at a time. We’ll gauge the response and see what happens.”

Aquostic (Stripped Bare) launches on October 20 via Warner Bros and will be available on CD, double gatefold vinyl, box set and digitally.

UK tour dates

Dec 06: Liverpool Echo Arena

Dec 07: Glasgow SSE Hydro

Dec 08: Newcastle Arena

Dec 10: Leeds Arena

Dec 11: Nottingham Arena

Dec 13: Birmingham NIA

Dec 15: Plymouth Pavs

Dec 16: Cardiff Arena

Dec 18: Bournemouth BIC

Dec 19: London O2 Arena

Dec 20: Brighton Centre

Aquostic (Stripped Bare) tracklist

  1. Pictures Of Matchstick Men

  2. Down The Dustpipe

  3. Nanana

  4. Paper Plane

  5. All The Reasons

  6. Reason For Living

  7. And It’s Better Now

  8. Caroline

  9. Softer Ride

  10. Claudie

  11. Break The Rules

  12. Down Down

  13. Little Lady

  14. Mystery Song

  15. Rain

  16. Rockin’ All Over The World

  17. Again and Again

  18. Whatever You Want

  19. What You’re Proposin

  20. Rock N’ Roll

  21. Don’t Drive My Car

  22. Marguerita Time

  23. Rollin’ Home

  24. Burning Bridges

  25. Rock ’Til You Drop