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The Status Quo - Picturesque Matchstickable (1968)

Track listing:
  1. Black Veils Of Melancholy 3:17
  2. When My Mind Is Not Live 2:54
  3. Ice In The Sun 2:16
  4. Elizabeth Dreams 3:32
  5. Gentleman Joe's Sidewalk Café 3:04
  6. Paradise Flat 3:18
  7. Technicolour Dreams 2:55
  8. Spicks And Specks 2:46
  9. Sheila 1:59
  10. Sunny Cellophane Skies 2:47
  11. Green Tambourine 2:18
  12. Pictures Of Matchstick Men 3:12
  13. Black Veils Of Melancholy 3:19
  14. When My Mind Is Not Live 2:53
  15. Ice In The Sun 2:15
  16. Elizabeth Dreams 3:31
  17. Gentrleman Joe's Sidewalk Cafe 3:05
  18. Paradise Flat 3:18
  19. Technicalour Dreams 2:57
  20. Spicks And Specks 2:48
  21. Sheila 1:58
  22. Sunny Cellophane Skies 2:49
  23. Green Tambourine 2:21
  24. Pictures Of Matchstick Men 3:12

Notes

Size: 141 MB
Bitrate: 256
mp3
Ripped by: ChrisGoesRock
Artwork Included
Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

Picturesque Matchstickable Messages from the Status Quo is the 1968 debut album by the British psychedelic rock group, Status Quo. The album features a large number of covers, including "Green Tambourine" by The Lemon Pipers.

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, but these songs were eventually swapped round. It reached #7 in the UK, and remains the band's only major hit single in the United States 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 Singles Chart, and #29 in Canada.

The album itself was released on 27 September 1968, and reached #12 in 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single from the album - "Technicolour Dreams" backed with the Wilde/Scott composition "Paradise Flat" - but this was withdrawn after a few days in favour of a non-album single release early the following year.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 in 31st 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.

Status Quo's debut album featured none of the band's better-known boogie rock of the mid-'70s. Picturesque... is a psychedelic effort that tries to imitate the sound bands like the Bee Gees or the Beatles were doing at the moment. With this record, Status Quo surprisingly had its first (and last) hit in America, the single "Pictures of Matchstick Men," which peaked at number 12 (it reached number seven on the British charts). Other highlights from the album are the second single, "Ice in the Sun," and the Bee Gees cover "Spicks and Specks." Even if this is not the most representative album from Status Quo, it is a good psychedelic pop exercise that sometimes includes very imaginative guitar phrases ("Ice in the Sun"), and some brilliantly unusual sounds (the epic "Paradise Flat").

01."Black Veils of Melancholy" (Rossi) – 3:17
02."When My Mind Is Not Live" (Rossi/Parfitt) – 2:50
03."Ice in the Sun" (Wilde/Scott) – 2:13
04."Dreams" (Wilde/Scott) – 3:29
05."Gentleman Joe's Sidewalk Café" (Young) – 3:01
06."Paradise Flat" (Wilde/Scott) – 3:13
07."Technicolour Dreams" (King) – 2:54
08."Sheila" (Roe) – 1:56
09."Spicks and Specks" (Gibb) – 2:46
10."Sunny Cellophane Skies" (Lancaster) – 2:47
11."Green Tambourine" (Leka/Pinz) – 2:19
12."Pictures of Matchstick Men" (Rossi) – 3:13