Status Quo – On The Level (2025) 2LP Edition
There are some albums that don’t just sit in your collection — they live with you. For me, On The Level by Status Quo is one of those records.
But this time, I’m not simply looking back at a historically important album from 1975. I’m looking at something genuinely new: the first-ever 2LP vinyl edition of On The Level
At first glance, everything feels reassuringly familiar. The front and back cover artwork remains exactly as it was on the original 1975 release, and the gatefold presentation mirrors the classic design. That’s important. On The Level doesn’t need reinventing — it needs respecting.
But there’s an immediate difference: this is a double album, and sides three and four open up a deeper window into Status Quo at their absolute peak.
The inner sleeve for sides one and two features an interview originally published in Classic Rock and Metal Hammer (London, November 2015). Reading it now is particularly poignant, given that we’ve sadly lost two original members of the band since then. It offers thoughtful reflection from the band themselves, looking back on an extraordinary period in their history.
The original recording credits are all present — recorded in Winter 1974 — alongside updated reissue credits, with Demon Records overseeing release coordination. Hugh Gilmour’s involvement is evident, and while the notes reference demos (likely carried over from the earlier 2CD edition), this vinyl set keeps its focus firmly on live material.
Side Three draws from the much-loved Status Quo Live! EP:
Roll Over Lay Down
Gerdundula
Junior’s Wailing
Many Quo fans will remember buying this EP back in the day — complete with its picture sleeve, which is beautifully reproduced here among the memorabilia visuals. These tracks sound powerful, confident, and exactly where they belong.
The side closes with “Roadhouse Blues”, recorded live at the Kursaal, Southend in 1975 — and it sounds absolutely superb.
Side Four, however, comes with an important caveat.
Recorded in Mainz, Germany on 22 February 1975, these tracks (Backwater, Just Take Me, Claudie, Little Lady, Most of the Time, Bye Bye Johnny) are not from an official live album. The sound quality is more bootleg-like — raw, boisterous, and rough around the edges.
Francis Rossi’s band introduction sets the scene, the crowd is rowdy, and while it doesn’t have the polish of a fully produced live release, it offers something equally valuable: historical context. This is what Status Quo sounded like onstage in early ’75 — loud, relentless, and utterly committed.
1975 was the year On The Level went straight to number one. It was also the year I left school — and for me, the album really begins at Christmas 1974 with Down Down. That song remains my favourite Status Quo track of all time. The album version, with its extended feel, still sounds immense.
If you’re already a Quo fan, you know all this. The real question is whether sides three and four justify buying the album again.
I think they do.
This new 2LP edition of On The Level is thoughtfully put together, historically respectful, and genuinely worthwhile — whether you’re replacing a well-loved original copy that’s seen a few too many parties, or discovering the album on vinyl for the first time.
With recent super deluxe releases celebrating Quo Live, it’s encouraging to see the band’s catalogue being treated with such care. And yes — I’ll happily say it — let’s hope Hello, Piledriver and Quo get the same treatment on vinyl too.
Phil Aston | Now Spinning Magazine
