Rating: **** (4 stars)
Title: Messages from Status Quo
Company: Cadet Custom
Catalog: LPS 315
Year: 1968
Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+
Comments: bullet hole through center; sticker on cover
Available: 1
Price: $40.00
Over the course of some 25 years and 30 albums Status Quo have become major stars in their native England. Unfortunately, in spite of occasional brushes with the American charts, the group's never managed to attract much attention in the States.
The group's roots can be traced to 1962 when school friends Mike "Francis" Rossi and Alan Lancaster formed a jazz combo. With the addition of drummer John Coghlan and keyboard player Jesse Jaworski the band began playing school dances and local clubs as The Spectres. Replacing Jaworski with Roy Lynes in 1965 the group signed with the small Piccadilly label. After releasing three unsuccessful singles the group changed it's name to Traffic Jam. Unfortunately, after Traffic Jam's first single ("Almost But Not Quite") was banned by the BBC the group was dropped from Picadilly's recording roster. Left without a contract the band found itself forced into the role of back up band for stablished acts such as Madeline Bell and Tommy Quickly. Adding to their problems, the band found themselves threatened with a lawsuit from Island Records which was concerned with the similarity between the Traffic Jam name and that of Steve Winwood's Traffic. Traffic Jam quickly became Status Quo.
Following the addition of guitarist Richard Parfitt the band was signed to Pye Records (Chess' Cadet Concept subsidiary acquiring American distribution rights). Produced by John Schroeder, their 1968 debut
"Picturesque Matchstickable" showcased an entertaining, if uneven collection of psychedelic pop. In one of those odd marketing moves the English and American releases differed significantly. Retitled
"Messages from the Status Quo" for the American market, Cadet Concept opted for new cover art, as well as a different track listings - covers of The Lemon Pipers' "Green Tambourine" and Tommy Roe's "Sheila" dropped in favor of original material. Musically the set was surprisingly impressive, tracks such as "Black Veils of Melancholy", "Sunny Cellophane Sky" and "Technicolor Dreams" opting for a heavy psychedelic influence, while "Ice In the Sun" (Written with '50s rocker Marty Wilde) and a cover of The Bee Gees "Spicks and Specks" offered up a lighter, more commercially oriented attack. Released as a single, the instantly recognizable title track b/w "Gentlemen Joe's Sidewalk Cafe" provided the band with their only American top 40 hit. In spite of the hit and two brief American promotional tours, the LP failed to attract much domestic attention, Cadet Concept quickly electing to drop it's American distribution rights.
"Messages from the Status Quo" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Black Veils of Melancholy (Frances Rossi) -
2.) When My Mind Is Not Live (Richard Parfitt) -
3.) Ice In the Sun (Marty Wilde - R. Scott) -
4.) Elizabeth Dreams (Marty Wilde - R. Scott) -
5.) Gentlemen, Joe's Sidewalk Cafe (Kenny - Young) -
(side 2)
6.) Paradise Flat (Marty Wilde - R. Scott) -
7.) Technicolor Dreams (T. King) -
8.) Spicks and Specks (Barry Gibb) -
9.) Sunny Cellophane Sky (Alan Lancaster)-
10.) Pictures of Matchbox Men (Frances Rossi) -
