Kasim Sulton's Quid Pro Quo

Kasim Sulton's
Quid Pro Quo
The Story So Far

The first time that I ever heard of Kasim releasing another solo album was back in 1996 - the album was expected to be released in 1997.

Due to heavy touring and recording commitments, Kasim was unable to devote much time to his solo career until September 2000.

On 5th November 2000 the world had it’s first chance to hear any of Quid Pro Quo when clips from two tracks (Before She Was Gone and Over For Now) were added to KasimInfo.com.

Due to problems with his management and another heavy schedule of touring, the expected 2001 release of Kasim’s album did not happen but instead was arranged for February 2002. However, just before the start of his Have Guitar, Will Travel Tour Kasim entered into negotiations with a record company (Scott Van Duesen’s Sphere Sound Records of Rochester, NY) to release the album through them rather than totally independently so the release was again delayed.

On 21st March Quid Pro Quo was given the catalogue number CD 109 by Sphere Sound Records.

On 20th April it was announced that Ron Brancotto will be designing the cover of Quid Pro Quo. Kasim Sulton described it as “I'm really happy with the 'mood' of the cover. It's really interesting, very concept oriented and there's a lot to look at. The graphic designer who is working on it, Ron Brancotto is extremely talented with a great eye for color and style."

On 9th May 2002, Scott Van Duesen’s Sphere Sound Records of Rochester, NY issued the following press release citing June as the expected release date:

Sadly, on 4th June Sphere Sound Records released a statement to say that “due to legal protocol and licensing issues” the release would have to be delayed until August 2002.

At an online chat on 14th July Kasim announced that copies of Quid Pro Quo will be available to purchase at the Meat Loaf gigs in late August and early September.

On 18th August, TicketWeb advertised Kasim’s gig at The Abbey Pub in Chicago on 20th October as the “CD Release Show”.

In an online chat, also on 18th August, Kasim announced that the release date of Quid Pro Quo will be Wednesday 4th September 2002.

On Saturday 24th August at noon the cover of Quid Pro Quo was revealed simultaneously on KasimSulton.com, SphereSound.com and KasimInfo.com.

At midnight on 4th September 2002 the link to purchase Quid Pro Quo online went live!

From Friday 20th September until Saturday 2nd November Kasim played 9 gigs to promote Quid Pro Quo. He was also interviewed by a few radio stations and in December he made appearances at 4 Borders stores.

In October an advert was placed in Goldmine Magazine for Quid Pro Quo.

On 14th December 2002 the first critic’s review of Quid Pro Quo appeared online at Harmody.com. Part of the review was "Fans of what passes for pop songs nowadays should give this a listen to see how pop music should be done."

On 8th February 2003 RawFeedOnline.com posted their review of Quid Pro Quo and it included the comment “Not only is it well produced; the songs themselves are a remarkable and infectious combination of rock, pop and adult contemporary. The songwriting is by far one of the strong points of this CD. They are well crafted, uplifting, spiritual, and definitely written from the heart.”

In March 2003 an advert was placed in Ice Magazine for Quid Pro Quo.

On 12th March ClassicRockRevisited.com posted an uncomplimentary review of Quid Pro Quo.

On 25th March the RawFeedOnline.com review was revamped slightly and posted on 411Mania.com.

On 1st April 2003 it was announced that Quid Pro Quo was the winner of Kweevak.com's Viewers Choice Award! This is an annual award and this year there were 256 CDs entered. During the month of February, fans were invited to vote for their favorite album and Quid Pro Quo won with twice as many votes as the album that came in at second place!

On 3rd July Kasim gave his in-depth interview about Quid Pro Quo to KasimInfo.com. Extracts of this interview were subsequently posted on Harmody.com, Panhandle.co.uk and Kweevak.com.

On July 2003 Expose magazine printed another favorable review of Quid Pro Quo.

On 28th July Buzzine.com posted a favorable review of Quid Pro Quo.

In August 2003 Quid Pro Quo was announced as one of the winners of the 50 2003 CDs Of The Year Award! Back in April it was announced that Kasim's album was voted the winner of the 2003 Viewers Choice Award and now the staff and associates of the site have made it a winner of this second award as it "represented the best submissions received for the year in terms of musical quality, production and overall theme"!

On 4th September 2003 to celebrate the first anniversary of the release of the album, Sphere Sound Records announced a special 2 for 1 offer on Quid Pro Quo which will run until Christmas.

On 20th October 2003 ShopSourceOne started selling copies of Quid Pro Quo online. Each of their copies are autographed by Kasim and contain a Kasim guitar pick. Select copies also contain two backstage passes to meet Kasim.

In December 2003 AnneCarlini.com posted another positive review of Quid Pro Quo.

To be continued.......