The 1st press has "O Baby" on label (later pressings have "Oh Baby), The 1st press has NO sleeve printers mentioned on back sleeve (later pressings have also nothing or "Howards Printers (Slough) Ltd. We had a crossover with managers and we were doing something similar to what we’re doing now, but Pye really didn’t see it. The two albums that preceded Piledriver, Ma Kelly’s Greasy Spoon and Dog Of Two Head, showed the glimmers of the band’s now-famous style, but Piledriver would be the first time that Status Quo boogied and shuffled their way into a trademark. Elsewhere on Piledriver the band turns in a very credible slow blues piece and a folk-inflected duet for 12-string guitars. But with Piledriver we were playing that stuff live and when we went into the studio we were ready to go!

We lost our way for a bit after that, in the mid-80s and 90s we lost our way, we got into drugs and everybody’s head started going off in different directions whereas before we were like one.The front cover showed a live shot of the band in their classic "heads down, no-nonsense boogie" mode. The band had dabbled in blues rock on their previous two offerings Ma Kelly and Dog of Two Head but with this they found the perfect marriage of blues rock and heavy rock. But for us to get back together for these reunion shows, and be friends all these years later, it’s been brilliant. Someone’s sending a message to China, do-do-do-doo-do-doo-do-do, all you’d have to do is sit down and work it out! Before their last London shows at the end of the month, the band took a look back on the album that marked the birth of the Quo as many fans would like to remember them.

Without any privacy the band was too upset and made a dicision to leave the club only 3 hours before the start of the regular gig in the evening. There are some classics like ‘Big Fat Moma’ and ‘Paper Plane’ and the now very famous ‘Roadhouse Blues’ which was actually responsible for kicking off everything that we do. The album was the first one the group recorded after they had switched labels from Pye to Vertigo Records. They’d joined the UK singles landscape with the 1968 top tenners “Pictures Of Matchstick Men” and “Ice In The Sun,” then after a quiet-ish spell, there were further hits in 1970 including “Down The Dustpipe. When you’re young the things you think about are sex or death, and I guess sexual death is what that song is about!Denim-clad Francis Rossi’s lead vocals and Rick Parfitt’s harmonies presided over a mesh of guitars, with a sound that the band were to make their own. The single took its place on Piledriver alongside the Rossi/Young opener “Don’t Waste My Time” and their “Unspoken Words. This was certainly not the case in Sydney as the announcer can clearly be heard telling the audience that Status Quo will be on soon. There was this couple dancing really kind of slinkily to this dunk-du-dunk-du-dunk-du-dunk kind of rhythm and I just looked at him and he looked at me and the hairs stood up on our arms. Labels, managers, producers and stylists defined their existence and tried at every turn to corral them into the ‘pop band’ image.

RP: One of the tracks that I really love on there that was really unusual for us was ‘Unspoken Words’, it’s such a lovely song.Coming overnight from England the band rehearsed their new full set in front of "some curious guests" around midday because the band was so loud and the neighbourhood of the tiny village Muffendorf went to the club to Quo's surprise and checked their Rehearsals. Status Quo have finally hit the big time,” reported Melody Maker on its front cover in March, “with their raw and rorty [i.

He let us have a bit of free reign, and that’s when we made Ma Kelly’s Greasy Spoon, which was the start of the change, then we did Dog Of Two Head. I really don't recommend anything but you could listen to Cross That Bridge and Burning Bridges for a bit of a laugh.As well as the unparalleled joy of keeping the publication alive, you'll receive benefits including exclusive editorial, podcasts, and specially-commissioned music by some of our favourite artists. In a retrospective review, AllMusic applauded the album as both crowd-pleasing and moderately ambitious, commenting that "Despite the name, most of the music on Piledriver is varied and subtle enough to be interesting. RP: I think Piledriver holds up because it was of its time and there is some beautiful songs on there. We found out, but only when we got to Australia, that ‘Slade Alive’ had gone ‘Gold’ 6 times and we had 3 singles in their Top 20.