With ON THE LEVEL, Status Quo’s fourth great CD in a row, it becomes even more shocking that these guys couldn’t crack the U.S. market. It’s hard to see why, especially since songs such as ˝Down, Down˝ and ˝Nightride˝ have a sound that would have been huge in this country if there hadn’t been a glut of such bands here. The band members’ belief that the young Australian tourist jailed in Indonesia since last spring on drug-smuggling charges was unjustly convicted makes this CD an essential purchase for both your ears AND your conscience.