Hello! (album)

1973 started for Status Quo with the belated chart success, in January, of the 1972 releases on their new label Vertigo, leading to their first top ten entry on the album charts and a long-awaited return to the top ten of the singles chart. As a result, Status Quo's previous record company Pye decided to release a single from their 1971 album Dog of Two Head. The single, Francis Rossi and Bob Young's "Mean Girl", reached No. 20 upon its release. It was backed by the Rossi/Parfitt composition "Everything", taken from the band's 1970 album Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon.

In August 1973 the only single from the new album, Rossi and Young's "Caroline", was released, reaching No. 5. It was the group's first single to reach the UK top five. Its B-side was a non-album track titled "Joanne", written by Alan Lancaster and Rick Parfitt.

Hello! was released in September that year, and became the most successful album the band had ever released. Initial copies of the record on vinyl came with a large black and white poster of the group. Of the eight tracks on the album, only six of them were new. "Caroline" had already been heard by the public as a single release, while "Softer Ride" had served as the B-side to the band's "Paper Plane" single from their previous album Piledriver.

No other singles were issued from the album, although a live version of "Roll Over Lay Down" appeared on a three-track EP released in May 1975, which reached No. 9 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 2 on the Australian Singles Chart, making it the band's only top-ten hit Down Under.

This was the band's first album to feature the band's name written in the now-familiar font used on most subsequent album covers.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]

In a retrospective review, AllMusic criticized the over-simplicity of many of the songs and overindulgence of some, while praising the energy. They concluded that the album manages to be effective and enjoyable in spite of its flaws, concluding, "Clearly the product of a band at their commercial and creative peak, Hello! wears its strengths and weaknesses well: not particularly flashy or intelligent, but without exception confident, comfortable and fun."[1]

• Francis Rossi - Lead and various guitars, vocals
• Rick Parfitt - Second and various guitars, piano, vocals
• Alan Lancaster - Bass guitar, vocals
• John Coghlan - Drums, various percussion

• Andy Bown - piano on Blue Eyed Lady
• John Mealing - piano on Forty-five Hundred Times
• Steve Farr - Alto Sax
• Stewart Blandamer - Tenor Sax