Status Quo - Picturesque Matchstickable Messages From The Status Quo (2CD mono / stereo) (1968)

Year: 27 September 1968 (CD 2003)
Label: Castle Music (USA), CMEDD718
Style: Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 59:10, 65:14
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 233, 365 Mb

The album's lead single was originally intended to be "Gentleman Joe's Sidewalk Cafe", with the original Francis Rossi composition "Pictures of Matchstick Men" as the b-side, but these songs were eventually swapped round. 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", 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single from the album - "Technicolour Dreams" backed with the Wilde/Scott composition "Paradise Flat" - but this was withdrawn after a few days in favour of a non-album single release early the following year.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.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picturesque_Matchstickable_Messages_from_the_Status_Quo)

Disc One Mono LP

01. Black Veils Of Melancholy (03:17)
02. When My Mind Is Not Live (02:50)
03. Ice In The Sun (02:13)
04. Elizabeth Dreams (03:29)
05. Gentleman Joe's Sidewalk Cafe (03:01)
06. Paradise Flat (03:13)
07. Technicolour Dreams (02:54)
08. Sheila (01:56)
09. Spicks And Specks (02:46)
10. Sunny Cellophane Skies (02:47)
11. Green Tambourine (02:19)
12. Pictures of Matchstick Men (03:13)
13. To Be Free [bonus track] (02:37)
14. Make Me Stay A Bit Longer [bonus track] (02:55)
15. Auntie Nellie [bonus track] (03:22)

BBC Sessions:
16. Interview with Brian Matthew (BBC Sessions) [bonus track] (01:07)
17. Pictures Of Matchstick Men (BBC Sessions) [bonus track] (03:13)
18. Things Get Better (BBC Sessions) [bonus track] (02:11)
19. Spicks And Specks (BBC Sessions) [bonus track] (02:48)
20. Judy In Disguise (BBC Sessions) [bonus track] (02:45)
21. Interview (BBC Sessions) [bonus track] (01:18)
22. Make Me Stay A Bit Longer (BBC Sessions) [bonus track] (02:48)

Disc Two Stereo LP

01-12. Original album (Stereo)

BBC Sessions:
13. To Be Free [bonus track] (02:37)
14. Gloria (BBC Sessions) [bonus track] (02:47)
15. Interview with Francis Rossi (BBC Sessions) [bonus track] (00:49)
16. I (Who Have Nothing) (BBC Sessions) [bonus track] (03:03)
17. Neighbour, Neighbour (BBC Sessions) [bonus track] (02:38)
18. I Don't Want You (BBC Sessions) [bonus track] (02:34)
19. Almost But Not Quite There (BBC Sessions) [bonus track] (02:38)
20. Spicks And Specks (BBC Sessions) [bonus track] (02:47)
21. Gloria (BBC Sessions) [bonus track] (02:43)
22. Interview with Alan Lancaster (BBC Sessions) [bonus track] (01:00)
23. Black Veils of Melancholy (BBC Sessions) [bonus track] (03:14)
24. Bloodhound (BBC Sessions) [bonus track]) (02:05)

CD1:      TurboBit                FikPer

CD2:      TurboBit                FikPer