This three-CD, 63-track set is the last word on Status Quo's early years, gathering not only every track the band did for Pye in the late '60s and early '70s, but also adding seven songs by the Spectres and two by Traffic Jam (the group's pre-Status Quo incarnations). As Status Quo were a psychedelic pop band in the late '60s before shifting to hard boogie rock at the turn of the decade, it might be a disappointment to much of their fan base, as prior to 1970 they sounded like an almost entirely different act. Conversely, though, to British Invasion and psychedelic fans who have little use for the band's long run as hard rock journeymen, this might be the most useful Status Quo collection of all. For it's psychedelic pop -- of a resolutely trendy brand that's actually more "pop" than "psychedelic" -- that dominates the first two discs, including of course their big hit "Pictures of Matchstick Men," as well as their follow-up U.K. Top Ten single, "Ice in the Sun." It's not until the half-dozen or so 1970 recordings that close disc two that the band starts embracing harder sounds, almost fully changing to a blues-rock-boogie direction for disc three.
CD1
1. Status Quo - Pictures of Matchstick Men
2. Status Quo - Gentleman Joe's Sidewalk Cafe (Mono Version)
3. Status Quo - Black Veils of Melancholy
4. Status Quo - To Be Free
5. Status Quo - Ice in the Sun
6. Status Quo - When My Mind Is Not Live (Stereo Version)
7. Status Quo - Elizabeth Dreams
8. Status Quo - Paradise Flat (Mono Version)
9. Status Quo - Technicolor Dreams
10. Status Quo - Spicks and Specks (Mono Version)
11. Status Quo - Sheila (Mono Version)
12. Status Quo - Sunny Cellophane Skies (Mono Version)
13. Status Quo - Green Tambourine (Mono Version)
14. Status Quo - Make Me Stay a Little Bit Longer (A-Side Version)
15. Status Quo - Auntie Nellie (B-Side Version)
16. The Spectres - I (Who Have Nothing) (Mono Version)
17. The Spectres - Neighbour Neighbour (Mono Version)