Live! (Status Quo album)

Live!
Live album by Status Quo
Released	4 March 1977[1]
Recorded	27–29 October 1976
Venue	Apollo Theatre, Glasgow
Genre	Hard rock, heavy metal
Length	92:14
Label	Vertigo (UK) Capitol (USA)
Producer	Status Quo assisted by Damon Lyon-Shaw
Status Quo chronology
Blue for You (1976) Live! (1977) Rockin' All Over the World (1977)

Live! is the first live album by British rock band Status Quo. The double album is an amalgam of performances at Glasgow's Apollo Theatre between 27 and 29 October 1976, recorded using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio.

Despite being ranked at #6 on Classic Rock's list of the 50 Greatest Live Albums Ever,^[2] guitarist and singer Francis Rossi has described Live! as "the worst album we ever made", continuing, "I always thought we were better than that. Rick Parfitt and I were left to mix it, and we went through the recordings of the three nights we played, only to pick the first one." Parfitt disagreed, saying, "There are bits of the live album that still give me goosebumps."^[3]

"Unlike every other live album from those days, there are absolutely no overdubs on that album. No going back and fixing the bum notes. Nothing other than what we actually put out there on stage at the time. We wanted to prove we weren't like the others: we weren't cheating. But every time I listen to it now, all I can hear are the mistakes. I sit here cringing, thinking, 'I wish we'd put fucking overdubs on.'" – Francis Rossi^[4]

The album includes a typically extended version of "Forty Five Hundred Times". "The first part of the song was the song, but we'd make the extra bits up…" recalled Parfitt. "You'd just know when to get softer and then take it somewhere heavier. It was incredible. You'd be swept away by this rollercoaster of music. The only way to end it was to nod, 'Shall we finish it here?'"^[5]