By Rick Parfitt, earMUSIC 2018.
When the news broke that legendary Status Quo singer/songwriter/guitarist, Rick Parfitt, had died fans around the world were devastated but they didn’t know that Rick had just about finished his first solo album.
The album was written while Rick was undergoing recuperation after suffering a heart attack in July 2016.
The poignantly titled Over And Out features 10 original songs created and was produced by Rick and his longtime friend Jo Webb.
Rick Parfitt had finished recording his guitar and vocal parts and a further recording session was booked to complete the backing tracks.
When he died his friends answered the call to complete the work.
Musicians of the calibre Queen’s Brian May, Muse’s Chris Wolstenholme, as well as Rick’s son Rick Parfitt Jnr and fellow Quo men John ‘Rhino’ Edwards and Alan Lancaster, and many more, answered the call.
This is the album that Rick Parfitt had been itching to write ever since his forced departure from Status Quo due to his health issues and I think it is an outstanding testament to his remarkable songwriting talent and musical ability.
Rick could always pen a captivating melody and this album abounds with them.
The title track apparently broke hearts when it was played at his funeral and the beautiful ballad When I Was Fallin’ in Love, with its Travelling Wilburys guitar opening, is particularly memorable.
It’s the variety on this album that is so enticing, from the classic Quo boogie of tracks like Fight For Every Heart Beat (in itself a prophetic comment), Everybody Knows How To Fly, and Lonesome Road, to the great rock groove of the opening track, Twinkletoes and the high energy Lock Myself Away, to the string intro of the slow ballad Without You Rick is showing us how multi-facetted his talent was.
I rate this album as superior to the recent crop of very good Status Quo releases that have appeared over the last couple of years; a period incidentally, when Rick wasn’t playing with Quo.
This is Rick Parfitt’s first, and last, solo album and a real collector’s item.
It’s worth having for this reason alone but it’s also a great album.
