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Rating: The first album by Status Quo released in 1968 certainly represents an important piece in the lineup of English psychedelic albums from the late '60s.
Anyone passionate about this musical period, concentrated in just a handful of years, will surely appreciate the work of the five English musicians, capable of transforming the psychedelic currents that were rampant in London and beyond at that time into an enjoyable pop album. In the sound of Status Quo, distorted guitars pushed to the extremes seem to be the formula capable of opening the doors of success for the group. Just listen to the "bizarre" guitar intros and solos of tracks such as Black Veils Of Melancholy, Sunny Cellophane Skies, and especially the famous Pictures Of Matchstick Man (the leading track which gives the album its title) to confirm this strange mix of English pop and Hendrix-like psychedelia. The two guitarists Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt, the band’s masterminds, play a bit roughly on their instruments but it is thanks to the good melodies, their singing, and the organ of their companion Roy Lynes that they manage to craft a series of potential chart hits. Furthermore, the use of as many possible studio effects as were available at the time packages an album, released by Pye, often filled with dreamy psychedelia, and it is in tracks like Elizabeth Dream, Technicolor Dreams, and the Hendrix-inspired Gentlemen Joe’s Sidewalk Cafe that Status Quo give their best. This is followed by 2 other tracks that are somewhat outside the context of the album: the rock 'n' roll ballad Sheila, a bit dated, and the famous Spick and Specks which adds nothing interesting to the original by the Bee Gees. But it is in pieces like Ice in the Sun, also released as a single, and When My Mind Is Not Live that make us remember this Picturesque Matchstickable Messages as a good debut album. It was a period at the end of the sixties worth rediscovering, along with the band's second album, before the hard rock turn with blues undertones of the 70s that would see Status Quo, willingly or not, fill stadiums all over the world.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Black Veils of Melancholy (03:17)
If I see you hiding in the night by a peppercorn tree
The tree it moves, lets me see what I wanna see
A poison gaze of your mind is all that's worrying me.
The pictures that I see are seen by no-one else but me
To cause the night to be in sight, a little point of me
I imagine nearly anything I want to see.
Black veils of melancholy falling on me
Black veils keep shadowing my mind
Black veils that make my mind seem small
Black veils of melancholy falling on me
Black veils keep shadowing my mind
Black veils that make my mind seem small
I see you with my eyes closed getting closer and closer to me
I open my eye up and you're not there
It's all in my mind
Black veils of melancholy falling on me
Black veils keep shadowing my mind
Black veils that make my mind seem small
Black veils of melancholy falling on me
Black veils keep shadowing my mind
Black veils that make my mind seem small
03 Ice in the Sun (02:13)
I'm not a little boy, I've lived alone and never loved so more
But when she touches me I'm on the way, I'm underneath the floor
Like ice in the sun I melt away
Whenever she comes I melt away
Like in in the sun I melt away
I sit down in a chair and read a book as if I couldn't there
But she is in a room and I must look I see her everywhere
Like ice in the sun I melt away
Whenever she comes I melt away
Like in in the sun I melt away
She opens up her eyes as if to speak
She looks at me and I am weak
Her eyes they seem much bigger than before
I cannot think anymore
Like ice in the sun I melt away
Whenever she comes I melt away
Like in in the sun I melt away
Like ice in the sun I melt away
Whenever she comes I melt away
Like ice in the sun I melt away
05 Gentleman Joe's Sidewalk Cafe (03:02)
Hey Joe
Would you please lend me your ear?
I've got to know if everything's all right.
Hey Joe, have you seen my baby here?
Oh we used to share a table every night.
Hey Joe, she's the only girl who's ever
Meant anything at all
If I lose her I lose all
Joe, if you've seen her won't you say,
Or point in the direction she did go.
Every night, under the light of the moon
Under a table we'd choose, she'd take off her shoes
And rub her feet against mine
Joe, have you seen my baby here?
Oh we used to share a table every night.
Hey Joe, she's the only girl who's ever
Meant anything at all
If I lose her I lose all
Joe, if you've seen her won't you say,
Or point in the direction she did go.
Every night, under the light of the moon
Under a table we'd choose, she'd take off her shoes
And rub her feet against mine
Joe, would you please lend me your ear?
I've got to know if everything's all right.
Hey Joe, have you seen my baby here?
Oh we used to share a table every night
06 Paradise Flat (03:13)
She was sold at the paradise flats
Tell me, what d'you think of that?
No goodbye, just a pat on the back
Well I know she's made her mind up
That she don't need me around
I'm trying just to see what you're trying to do to me
Your trying to screw me down
Right through the ground oh yeah
In paradise flats there's rooms for hire,
No-one cares who you are
You won't come back, it's too late now
You've been seen too much
I know what you are
You won't come back, no you won't come back
Well I know she's made her mind up
That she don't need me around
Oh I'm trying just to see what you're trying to do to me
Your trying to screw me down
Right through the ground oh yeah
07 Technicolour Dreams (02:54)
I see your face at the dawn of the day, gold as the sun begins to shine
I see your face now at the end of the day, purple shadows dancing in your eyes.
Technicolour dreams are all I see
Technicolour dreams of you and me
I see your shadow tripping through a silver glade, tiptoeing over crimson sand
Luring me onwards into a sea of jade, leading me gently by the hand
Technicolour dreams are all I see
Technicolour dreams of you and me
If I could escape through the windows of my mind
I would fly to your magic mountain land
There we would stay 'til the world had passed away
With a love only we could understand
Technicolour dreams are all I see
Technicolour dreams of you and me
I see your face at the dawn of the day, gold as the sun begins to shine
I see your face now at the end of the day, purple shadows dancing in your eyes
08 Sheila (01:57)
Sweet little Sheila, you'll know her if you see her
Blue eyes and a ponytail
Cheeks are rosy, she looks a little mosey
Man, this little girl is fine
Never knew a girl like little Sheila
Her name drives me insane
Sweet little girl, that's my little Sheila
Man, this little girl is fine
Me and Sheila go for a ride
Feel funny inside
Then little Sheila whispers in my ear
I love you Sheila dear
Sheila said she loves me, she said she'd never leave me
True love that will never die
We're so doggone happy, just being around together
Man, this little girl is fine
Never knew a girl like little Sheila
Her name drives me insane
Sweet little girl, that's my little Sheila
Man, this little girl is fine
Me and Sheila go for a ride
Feel funny inside
Then little Sheila whispers in my ear
Oh-oh-oh-oh
I love you Sheila dear
Sheila said she loves me, she said she'd never leave me
True love that will never die
We're so doggone happy just being aorund together
Man, this little girl is fine
Man this little girl is fine
Yeah, this little girl is fine
09 Spicks and Specks (02:46)
Where is the sun that shone on my head
The sun in my life, it is dead, it is dead
Where is the light that would stay in my street
And where are the friends I could meet, I could meet
Where are the girls I left far behind
The spicks and the specks of the girls on my mind
Where is the sun that shone on my head
The sun in my life, it is dead, it is dead
Where are the girls I left far behind
The spicks and the specks of the girls on my mind
Where are the girls I left far behind
The spicks and the specks of the girls on my mind
Where is the girl I have loved all along
The girl that I love, she is gone, she is gone
All of my life I've tossed with the day
The spicks and the specks of my life gone away
All of my life I've tossed with the day
The spicks and the specks of my life gone away
Where is the sun that shone on my head
The sun in my life, it is dead, it is dead
11 Green Tambourine (02:19)
Drop your silver in my tambourine
Help a poor man fill a little dream
Give me pennies, I'll take anything
Now listen while I play my green tambourine
Watch the jingle-jangles start to chime
Reflections of the music that was mine
When I toss a coin you'll hear it sing
Now listen while I play my green tambourine
Rub-a-dub before I walk away
Anytime you want, I'll gladly play
Money feeds my music machine
Now listen while I play my green tambourine
Listen while I play my green tambourine
12 Pictures of Matchstick Men (03:14)
When I look up to the sky
I see your eyes, a funny kind of yellow
I rush home to bed, I sunk my head
I see your face underneath my pillow
I wake next morning, tired still yawning
See your face come peeking through my window
Pictures of matchstick men and you
Mirages of matchstick men and you
All I ever see is them and you
Windows echo your reflection
When I look in their direction gone
When will this haunting stop
Your face, it just won't leave me alone
Pictures of matchstick men and you
Mirages of matchstick men and you
All I ever see is them and you
You in the sky, you with the sky
You make me cry, your eyes
You in the sky, you with the sky
You make me cry, your eyes
Picture of matchstick men and
Picture of matchstick men and
Picture of matchstick men and
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