''Picturesque Matchstickable Messages from the Status Quo'' is the debut

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 ...

by the English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

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 September 1968. It features several covers, including "

Green Tambourine "Green Tambourine" is a song written and composed by Paul Leka (who also produced it) and Shelley Pinz. It was the biggest hit by the 1960s Ohio-based rock group the Lemon Pipers, as well as the title track of their debut album, ''Green Tambouri ...

" by

The Lemon Pipers The Lemon Pipers were a 1960s American psychedelic rock band from Oxford, Ohio, United States, known chiefly for their song " Green Tambourine", which reached No. 1 in the United States in 1968. The song has been credited as being the first bub ...

Background

The album's lead single was originally intended to be "Gentleman Joe's Sidewalk Café", with the original Francis Rossi composition " Pictures of Matchstick Men" as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

, but these songs were eventually swapped. It reached #7 in the UK, and remains the band's only major hit single in the US, where it reached #12. It also reached #8 in Canada. A second single, Rossi's "Black Veils of Melancholy" (with organist Roy Lynes' non-album track "To Be Free" as the B-side), flopped and has even been called "a carbon copy of 'Pictures of Matchstick Men. The third single, "

Ice in the Sun "Ice in the Sun" is a song by the band Status Quo. The track was recorded in 1968, and appeared on '' Picturesque Matchstickable Messages from the Status Quo'', an album by Status Quo that was released in August that year. "Ice in the Sun" was al ...

", was written for the band by Marty Wilde and Ronnie Scott (not the jazz musician), with the Rossi/Parfitt composition "When My Mind Is Not Live" as the B-side. It reached #8 in the UK, and #29 in Canada. The album itself was released on 27 September 1968, and failed to make the UK album charts. The band planned to release a fourth single from the album"Technicolour Dreams" backed with the Wilde/Scott composition "Paradise Flat"but this was withdrawn after a few days in favour of a non-album single release early the following year. The new single, Rossi and Parfitt's "Make Me Stay a Bit Longer", with bassist Alan Lancaster's "Auntie Nellie" as the B-side, was released on 31 January 1969. As well as getting the "thumbs up" from a majority of the record reviewers, this single was also something of a landmark for the group, as it would be their final release to credit them as "the" Status Quo.

Track listing

;Side one #" Black Veils of Melancholy" (

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 ...

) – 3:17 #"When My Mind Is Not Live" (Rossi,

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 ...

) – 2:50 #"

" ( Marty Wilde, Ronnie Scott) – 2:13 #"Elizabeth Dreams" (Wilde, Scott) – 3:29 #"Gentleman Joe's Sidewalk Café" (

Kenny Young Kenny Young (born Shalom Giskan, April 14, 1941 – April 14, 2020) was an American songwriter, musician, producer and environmental campaigner who wrote and in some cases produced hit songs for The Drifters, Ronnie Dove, Herman's Hermits, Mark ...

) – 3:01 #"Paradise Flat" (Wilde, Scott) – 3:13 ;Side two #"Technicolor Dreams" (Anthony King) – 2:54 #" Spicks and Specks" ( Barry Gibb) – 2:46 #" Sheila" (

Tommy Roe Thomas David "Tommy" Roe (born May 9, 1942) is a retired American rock and pop singer-songwriter. Best-remembered for his hits "Sheila" (1962) and " Dizzy" (1969), Roe was "widely perceived as one of the archetypal bubblegum artists of the late ...

) – 1:56 (not on US version) #"Sunny Cellophane Skies" ( Alan Lancaster) – 2:47 #"

" ( Paul Leka, Shelley Pinz) – 2:19 (not on US version) #" Pictures of Matchstick Men" (Rossi) – 3:13

1994 Japan bonus tracks

#"To Be Free" (

Roy Lynes Roy Alan Lynes (born 25 October 1943, Redhill, Surrey) is an English musician and occasional singer, who was the keyboardist for the rock band Status Quo (originally The Spectres then Traffic Jam). He joined the band in 1964/1965, two years afte ...

) – 2:36 B-side #"Make Me Stay A Little Bit Longer" (Rossi, Parfitt) – 2:54 A-side #"Auntie Nellie" (Lancaster) – 3:20 B-side #"Face Without Soul" (Rossi, Parfitt) – 3:08 #"Mr. Mind Detector" (King) – 4:01 #"Antique Angelique" (Lancaster, K. Young) – 3:23 #"Little Miss Nothing" (Rossi, Parfitt) – 3:01 #"Are You Growing Tired Of My Love" (King) – 3:37 #"I (Who Have Nothing)" (

Carlo Donida Carlo Donida Labati (30 October 1920, in Milan – 22 April 1998, in Porto Valtravaglia) was an Italian composer and pianist. Carlo Donida Labati was born in Milan on 30 October 1920. He graduated in piano and composition from the Giuseppe Verdi ...

, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) – 3:01 #"Hurdy Gurdy Man" (Lancaster, Pat Barlow) – 3:16 #"(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet" (Mike Esposito, Ron Gilbert, Ralph Scala) – 2:18 #"I Want It" (Lynes, John Coghlan, Rossi, Lancaster) – 3:02 #"Almost But Not Quite There" (Rossi, Barlow) – 2:46 #"Wait Just A Minute" (Lynes) – 2:14 #"Tune To The Music" ( Bob Young, Rossi) 3:10

''"2009 Deluxe edition"''

Personnel

;Status Quo *

- lead guitar, vocals *

- rhythm guitar, vocals * Alan Lancaster - bass guitar * John Coghlan - drums *

- organ, vocals

References

{{Authority control Status Quo (band) albums 1968 debut albums Pye Records albums Psychedelic rock albums by English artists