Dog of Two Head



Dog of Two Head is a 1971 rock album by Status Quo released by Pye Records, their fourth studio album. At the time of recording, the band consisted of Francis Rossi (credited on the sleeve as Mike Rossi), Rick Parfitt (credited as Ritchie Parfitt), Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan (credited as John Coughlan).

March 1971 saw the new four-man lineup of the band release another non-album single: a Rossi/Young song called "Tune to the Music". The single was not a hit. The band then set to work writing and recording a new album. A couple of the songs, such as the opening track "Umleitung" (German for 'diversion') had been written as far back as 1970.

In November 1971 the album was released.

A single from the album, Rossi and Young's "Mean Girl", was to become a UK #20 hit some time later, in April 1973, after they had their third top ten British hit single with "Paper Plane", from their next album Piledriver.

When "Mean Girl" charted, the record company decided to release another single from the album: a rerecording of "Gerdundula", the B-side to their 1970 single "In My Chair". This was released in July 1973, and failed to chart. The B-side to this single was Rossi and Parfitt's "Lakky Lady", taken from the band's previous album Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon.

Reception
AllMusic largely praised the album's unusual stylistics in their retrospective review, commenting that Status Quo "were going to find their characteristic sound in their posterior effort, Piledriver, but never again were they going to sound as innovative and inventive as they sound here."

Track listing

 * 1) "Umleitung" (Alan Lancaster, Roy Lynes) - 7:11
 * 2) "Nanana (Extraction I)" (Francis Rossi, Bob Young) - 0:51
 * 3) "Something's Going on in My Head" (Alan Lancaster) - 4:44
 * 4) "Mean Girl" (Francis Rossi, Bob Young) - 3:53
 * 5) "Nanana (Extraction II)" (Francis Rossi, Bob Young) - 1:11
 * 6) "Gerdundula" (Manston, James) - 3:49
 * 7) "Railroad" (Francis Rossi, Bob Young) - 5:30
 * 8) "Someone's Learning" (Alan Lancaster) - 7:08
 * 9) "Nanana" (Francis Rossi, Bob Young) - 2:26

1998 bonus tracks

 * 1) "Tune to the Music" [Previously Unreleased Version] - 3:36
 * 2) "Good Thinking" [Previously Unreleased Version] - 3:40
 * 3) "Time to Fly" (Alan Lancaster)  - 4:18
 * 4) "Nanana" [Previously Unreleased Version] - 2:58
 * 5) "Mean Girl" [Previously Unreleased Version] - 3:58

2003 reissue bonus tracks

 * 1) "Mean Girl" [Early Mix] (Francis Rossi, Bob Young) - 3:58
 * 2) "Tune to the Music" (Francis Rossi, Bob Young) - 3:09
 * 3) "Good Thinking" (Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt, Alan Lancaster, John Coghlan, Bob Young) - 3:43
 * 4) "Mean Girl" [BBC Session] (Francis Rossi, Bob Young)
 * 5) "Railroad" [BBC Session] (Francis Rossi, Bob Young)

Personnel

 * Francis Rossi - guitar, vocals
 * Rick Parfitt - guitar, piano, vocals
 * Alan Lancaster - bass, guitar, vocals
 * John Coghlan - drums