In the Army Now (album)

In the Army Now
Studio album by
Status Quo
Released29 August 1986
RecordedSeptember 1985 – February 1986
StudioChipping Norton Recording Studios, Oxfordshire and Jacobs Studios, Surrey
Genre
Length47:13
LabelVertigo
Producer
Status Quo chronology
Back to Back
(1983) 		In the Army Now
(1986) 		Ain't Complaining
(1988)
Singles from In the Army Now
  1. "Rollin' Home"
    Released: May 1986
  2. "Red Sky"
    Released: July 1986
  3. "In the Army Now"
    Released: September 1986
  4. "Dreamin'"
    Released: November 1986
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Kerrang![2]
Record Mirror2/5[3]
Smash Hits2/10[4]

In the Army Now is the seventeenth studio album by the English rock band Status Quo, released on 29 August 1986 by Vertigo Records. Recorded at Chipping Norton Recording Studios in Oxfordshire and Jacobs Studios in Surrey, it was the first album with the post-Live Aid lineup, featuring bassist Rhino Edwards and drummer Jeff Rich, both of whom joined in March 1986.[5]

"I was later told that nobody at the label was interested in a Quo featuring bassist Alan Lancaster and Rick Parfitt," recalled frontman Francis Rossi. "They wanted Parfitt and me. I also learned that unless we did something together, we'd have to pay back a shitload of money... I was adamant that I would never work with Lancaster again, but he warned us that he would injunct us if we tried to do it without him. And when we won he went fucking bananas."[6]

The album contains covers of "In the Army Now", first recorded in 1982 by Dutch duo Rob and Ferdi Bolland,[7] and "Speechless", from ex-Mott the Hoople singer Ian Hunter's 1983 album All of the Good Ones Are Taken.[8]

"The title song was great," Parfitt later observed of the album, "but it had too many fillers."[9]

  1. ^ Thompson, Dave. Status Quo: "In the Army Now" > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  2. ^ Oliver, Derek (18 September 1986). "Status Quo 'In the Army Now'". Kerrang!. Vol. 129. London: Spotlight Publications. p. 17.
  3. ^ Strickland, Andy (13 September 1986). "Albums: Status Quo – In the Army Now (Phonogram)" (PDF). Record Mirror. London: Spotlight Publications Ltd. p. 18. ISSN 0144-5804. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 June 2023. Retrieved 8 January 2024 – via World Radio History.
  4. ^ Patterson, Sylvia (24 September – 7 October 1986). "Albums: Status Quo – In the Army Now (WEA)". Smash Hits. Vol. 8, no. 19. Peterborough: EMAP National Publications, Ltd. p. 56. ISSN 0260-3004. Retrieved 2 January 2023 – via Flickr.
  5. ^ Ling, Dave (1 December 2005). In the Army Now (booklet). Status Quo. London: Mercury Records (983 412-5). p. 2.
  6. ^ Ling, Dave (January 2002). "Again again again…". Classic Rock #36. p. 73.
  7. ^ "Bolland - You're In The Army Now". 45cat.com. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  8. ^ "All of the Good Ones Are Taken - Ian Hunter | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  9. ^ Ling, Dave (March 2017). "R.I.P. Rick Parfitt". Classic Rock #233. p. 51.