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On The Level is a Status Quo album featuring Francis Rossi, Richard Parfitt, Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan. Album cover art features band members in the Ames room, and on the original vinyl release, the inner gatefold sleeve consisted of informal photos members of the group had taken of each other. When the album was released, the group were more or less at the peak of their career, record sales-wise. An edited version of Down Down had been released as a single in November 1974 and shortly after Christmas gave the group their only No. 1 single in the UK to date, and the album entered the chart at No. 1. All tracks were written or co-written by the group themselves apart from Bye Bye Johnny, a Chuck Berry song. wikipedia

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If any single song sums up Status Quo in the hearts and the minds of the millions, it's "Down Down." Other songs may have been bigger, others may have more resonance, and some ("Rocking All Over the World " comes to mind) may be so permanently ingrained that it's hard to remember that Status Quo cut anything else. But, if you want to nail the very essence of Status Quo, only "Down Down" will do. It was their first British number one and their first all-time classic. And it was also their first grinning, winking acknowledgement that not only was there a formula to the records they made, but they were not afraid to list its ingredients. "Down Down" is the perfect Status Quo record, and the fact that it doesn't arrive until six songs into the band's eighth album just proves how much fun it had coming up with it. On the Level is Quo at its single-minded best. It doesn't matter whether its driving the boogie through your skull with the relentless precision of "Little Lady" and "Over and Done," lurching loosely around the ghosts of blues and ballads ("Most of the Time" and a positively maniacal finale of "Bye Bye Johnny"), or even glancing back to their days as one of British psych's finest pop bands ("What to Do"). Still, all roads lead back to "Down Down," a dynamic riff, a perplexing lyric, and a mood that's so compulsive that you'll still be shaking your head in time long after all your hair's fallen out. And, just to make it even better, the album version's almost two minutes longer than the familiar hit, littered with false starts, fake endings, and one of the cruelest fade-outs in recorded history. It comes just as you're really getting into the groove. allmusic.com

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Status Quo Official Website
wikipedia


Tracklist:
1. "Little Lady" (Parfitt) 3:01
2. "Most of the Time" (Rossi/Young) 3:16
3. "I Saw the Light" (Rossi/Young) 3:37
4. "Over and Done" (Lancaster) 3:55
5. "Nightride" (Parfitt/Young) 3:50
6. "Down Down" (Rossi/Young) 5:24
7. "Broken Man" (Lancaster) 4:14
8. "What to Do" (Rossi/Young) 3:05
9. "Where I Am" (Parfitt) 2:43
10. "Bye Bye Johnny" (Berry) 4:47

Francis Rossi - Vocals / Lead Guitar
Rick Parfitt - Vocals / Guitar
Alan Lancaster - Bass Guitar / Vocals
John Coghlan - Drums


Links for other Status Quo's releases:
Status Quo «Picturesque Matchstickable Messages From The Status Quo» 1968 (2003 Castle Music CMEDD 718 2CD)
Status Quo «Spare Parts» 1969 (2000 Castle Music CMAR 619)
Status Quo «Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon» 1970 (1989 Castle Communications CLACD 169)
Status Quo «Dog of Two Head» 1971 (2000 Castle Music CMAR620)
Status Quo «Hello!» 1973 (1991 Reissue Vertigo 848 172-2)
Status Quo «Quo» 1974 (2005 reissue Mercury Records 982 540-0)