Golden Hits Of The 60s”
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STATUS QUO
PICTURES OF MATCHSTICK MEN
(Francis Michael Rossi)
Cadet Concept 7001
No. 12 August 3, 1968
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For decades now, Status Quo has been dishing out three-chord bone-crunching music, and there seemed
no end in sight. Critics have consistently dismissed the band’s trademark sound as low brow and
monotonous, but Status Quo has acquired a legion of British fans who don’t want them to ever stop
playing, though the guys have tried. At the end of their 1984 European tour, and prior to their
appearance at the Band Aid concert (1985), members declared that after more than 20 years it was,
indeed, all over. But after many such announcements, Status Quo usually returns in their tried and true
form to the British charts.
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Despite the group’s sole appearance on the U.S. Top 40 with “Pictures of Matchstick Men”–an early and
atypically psychedelic pop platter–main man Mike Rossi and his rockers have racked up more than 40
U.K. hits (surpassing the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and the Hollies), making them one of the most
successful British groups in rock history. Half of these singles went Top 10, and every Status Quo album
issued in the U.K. since 1974 has made the British Top 5.
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Guitarist Francis Michael Rossi (b. Apr. 29, 1949, London), bassist Alan Lancaster (b. Feb. 7, 1949), and
guitarist Alan Key met in their school orchestra in the spring of 1962. All were 12-year-olds with a desire
to make some music, and for a while, they played together as a traditional jazz combo. Keyboardist Jess
Jaworski replaced Key, drummer John Coghlan (b. Sept. 19, 1946) stepped in, and the group’s sound
began leaning toward rock’n’roll.
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In 1965, the Spectres, as they were now known, started gigging around holiday camps outside London.
Jaworski dropped out, and his spot behind the organ was filled by Roy Lynes. The Spectres signed to the
Piccadilly label and issued three singles–“I (Who Have Nothing),” “Hurdy Gurdy Man,” and “We Ain’t
Got Nothin’ Yet.” All of them sank without a trace, as did a single credited to Traffic Jam entitled (aptly
enough) “Almost but Not Quite There.”
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By 1967, the group, now called Traffic Jam, was working mostly as a back-up band for MADELINE
BELL, Tommy Quickly, and a miscellanea of touring U.S. rock’n’rollers. Steve Winwood of Traffic
reportedly complained about the similarity of the guys’ new name to his own outfit’s moniker. To avoid
any possible legal problems, Rossi and Traffic Jam became Status Quo.
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Then guitarist Richard Parfitt (b. Richard Harrison, Oct. 12, 1948, Woking, Surrey) joined the group, and
Status Quo recorded “Pictures of Matchstick Men.” Before that bashin’-boogie trademark style had fully
evolved, Lynes quit the band. Several similar-sounding follow-ups were cut and canned: “Ice in the
Sun” (#70, 1968), “Technicolor Dreams,” and “Black Veils of Melancholy.”
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The group persisted on a pile-driving path through the ’70s and ’80s. Coghlan retired in 1982, and their
line-up has shifted repeatedly over the years, with Rossi and Parfitt as the mainstays. At various times,
key boardist Andy Bown, bassist John Brown, ex-Original Mirrors guitarist Pete Kirchner, and ex-
Climax Blues Band drummer Jeff Rich have been touring and/or recording members. Toward the end
of the 80’s, Status Quo went through some label changes; releases are now more sporadic, and
sometimes are not even issued in the States.
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