''Famous in the Last Century'' is the twenty-fourth studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

British rock British rock describes a wide variety of forms of music made in the United Kingdom. Since around 1964, with the "British Invasion" of the United States spearheaded by the Beatles, British rock music has had a considerable impact on the develop ...

band

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...

, released in 2000 to largely negative reviews. According to the band's

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

, the idea to

record A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

it came from manager David Walker, who said they should celebrate the millennium with an album containing twenty of their favourite hits from the past century. "Another bloody covers album!" grumbled

Francis Rossi Francis Dominic Nicholas Michael Rossi, (born 29 May 1949) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is the co-founder, lead singer, lead guitarist and the sole continuous member of the rock band Status Quo. Early life Rossi was born o ...

. "We went along with it, as usual, but inside I felt like a fraud... for me it was the worst Quo album there had ever been - or ever will be!" "We didn't wanna do it," Rossi said, "but it sold. I don't think we'll do another one." However, 2003's ''

Riffs A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accomp ...

'' was another covers collection. ''Famous in the Last Century'' reached No.19 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

, a better position than the previous Quo album of mainly original material, '' Under the Influence''. Two singles from it – "

Mony Mony "Mony Mony" is a 1968 single by American pop rock band Tommy James and the Shondells, which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 3 in the U.S. Written by Bobby Bloom, Ritchie Cordell, Bo Gentry and Tommy James, the song has appeared in ...

" and " Old Time Rock and Roll" – were minor

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

. Jeff Rich left the band after recording this album and was replaced by Matt Letley. A

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

& VHS of the same name and featuring the same songs was filmed at the Shepherd's Bush Empire on 27 March 2000. This performance is mimed but they did a live gig after the album tracks were mimed but no video footage has ever been released. A few live tracks were b sides taken from this performance.

Track listing

# "Famous in the Last Century" (

Bown Bown is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Andy Bown (born 1946), English musician * Archie Bown (1882–1958), English football (soccer) striker * Arthur Bown (1851–1916), English architect * Chuck Bown (born 1954), NASCAR ch ...

) 1:04 # " Old Time Rock and Roll" (George Jackson, Thomas E. Jones III.) 2:57 # "

Way Down "Way Down" is a song recorded by Elvis Presley. Recorded in October 1976, it was his last single released before his death on August 16, 1977. The song was written by Layng Martine Jr. and was later recorded by Presley at his home studio in Gr ...

" (

Martine Martine is a feminine given name and a surname. Given name * Martine Aubry (born 1950), French politician * Martine Audet (born 1961), Canadian poet * Martine Aurillac (born 1939), French politician * Martine Baay-Timmerman (born 1958), Dutch po ...

) 2:51 # "

Rave On! "Rave On", also written "Rave On!", is a song written by Sonny West, Bill Tilghman and Norman Petty in 1958. It was first recorded by West for Atlantic Records, which released his version in February 1958 (as Atlantic 45-1174). Buddy Holly recor ...

" (

Petty Petty may refer to: People * Bruce Petty (born 1929), Australian political satirist and cartoonist * Bryce Petty (born 1991), American football player * Dini Petty (born 1945), Canadian television and radio host * Eric D. Petty (born 1954), Amer ...

, William "Billy" Tilghman, Sunny West) 2:51 # " Roll Over Beethoven" (

Berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, raspb ...

) 3:07 # "

When I'm Dead and Gone "When I'm Dead and Gone" is a song written by Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle. Background "When I'm Dead and Gone" was one of the first hit singles to feature prominent use of mandolin, played by Lyle, who also took lead vocal. Gallagher played ...

" (

Benny Gallagher Bernard Joseph "Benny" Gallagher (born 10 June 1945, in Largs, Ayrshire) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, most famous as half of the popular duo Gallagher and Lyle. Career The son of Irish parents, Gallagher atten ...

, Graham Lyle) 3:11 # "

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

" (

) 2:31 # " Sweet Home Chicago" ( R. Johnson) 2:44 # "

Crawling from the Wreckage "Crawling from the Wreckage" is a new wave song written by Graham Parker and first released by Dave Edmunds in 1979. Parker, who was unsatisfied with the song, contributed the song to Edmunds, included it on his album ''Repeat When Necessary''. ...

" (

Parker Parker may refer to: Persons * Parker (given name) * Parker (surname) Places Place names in the United States *Parker, Arizona *Parker, Colorado * Parker, Florida * Parker, Idaho * Parker, Kansas * Parker, Missouri * Parker, North Carolina *Park ...

) 2:42 # "

Good Golly Miss Molly In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...

" (

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, Marascalco) 2:05 # "

Claudette Claudette is a feminine form of the masculine given name Claude (given name), Claude. Claudette may refer to: People * Claudette Boyer (born 1938), Canadian politician * Claudette Bradshaw (1949–2022), Canadian politician * Claudette Bryanston ...

" ( Orbison) 2:01 # "

Rock'n Me "Rock'n Me" (also known as "Rock 'N Me" or "Rock 'N' Me") is a song by American rock band Steve Miller Band, released in 1976 from the band's ninth studio album '' Fly Like an Eagle'' (1976). It was written by primary band leader and songwriter ...

" ( Miller) 2:46 # " Hound Dog" (

Leiber Leiber is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Fridolin Leiber (1853–1912), German painter *Fritz Leiber (1910–1992), American writer of fantasy, horror and science fiction. *Fritz Leiber, Sr. (1882–1949), American acto ...

, Stoller) 2:19 # "

Runaround Sue "Runaround Sue" is a rock and roll song (in a modified doo-wop style), originally a US No. 1 Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100 hit (No. 4 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot R&B chart) for the singer Dion DiMucci, Dion during 1961, after he split with th ...

" ( DiMucci, Maresca) 2:29 # "

Once Bitten Twice Shy "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" is a 1975 song written and recorded by Ian Hunter, from his debut solo album '' Ian Hunter'', which reached No. 14 in the UK Singles Chart. The song was included in the 2017 feature-length biographical documentary, ...

" (

Hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

) 3:40 # "

" (

Bloom Bloom or blooming may refer to: Science and technology Biology * Bloom, one or more flowers on a flowering plant * Algal bloom, a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in an aquatic system * Jellyfish bloom, a collective n ...

, Bo Gentry,

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, Ritchie Cordell) 2:58 # "Famous in the Last Century" (

) 1:15

Australia bonus tracks

# "Pictures of Matchstick Men" (1999 Version) (Francis Rossi) 3:23 # "Raining in My Heart" (Special Guest Brian May) (Boudleaux Bryant, Felice Bryant) 3:31 # "Fun Fun Fun² (With

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

) (Brian Wilson, Mike Love) 3:59 # "Whatever You Want² (Andy Bown, Rick Parfitt) 4:16

2006 reissue bonus tracks

# Gerdundula (live) ( Manston/

) # 4500 Times (live) (Rossi/ Parfitt) # Rain (live) ( Parfitt)

Personnel

- Vocals & lead guitar *

Rick Parfitt Richard John Parfitt, (12 October 1948 24 December 2016) was an English musician, best known as a singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist with rock band Status Quo. Parfitt began his career in the early 1960s, playing in pubs and holiday cam ...

- Vocals & guitar * John Edwards - Bass *

Andy Bown Andrew Steven Bown (born 27 March 1946) is an English musician, who has specialised in keyboards and bass guitar. He is a member of the rock band Status Quo. Career Bown's first major band was The Herd, along with Peter Frampton. After The H ...

- Keyboards *

Jeff Rich Jeffrey Dennis Rich (born 8 June 1953) is an English rock drummer, best known for playing with Status Quo between 1985 and 2000. Early life Born in Hackney, London, Rich attended Upton House Comprehensive School, and whilst there he a ...

- Drums

Charts

References

1. Rossi, F., Parfitt, R., XS All Areas: The Status Quo autobiography (Sidgwick & Jackson, 2004) {{DEFAULTSORT:Famous In The Last Century Status Quo (band) albums 2000 albums Albums produced by Mike Paxman