Status Quo - Masters Collection: The Pye Years - VINYL LP

South London members Alan Lancaster (bass) and Francis Rossi (guitar) were the original members and founders of Status Quo. Formerly known as The Spectres and later renamed to Traffic or Traffic Jam they settled for Status Quo as their band name in 1967. The following years they were joined by John Coghlan (drums), Roy Lynes (keyboard) and Rick Parfitt (guitar †2016), and after several band members changes are still performing today in a revamped line-up. In 1968 their first hit record 'Pictures of Matchstick Men' was released and the debut album soon followed. The subsequent years Status Quo, or simply Quo, enjoyed a multitude of hits; 'Mean Girl', 'Down Down', 'Rockin' All Over The World', 'The Wanderer', 'In The Army Now', 'Roll Over Lay Down (Live)', all climbed the charts in different countries. During the years Status Quo developed their own signature style of heavy rhythms, a few guitar chords, straightforward, accessible lyrics and collected a huge and loyal fan base. In 2006 NME magazine named Status Quo 'The Most Successful UK band' as they achieved more chart hits than any other British band. The 2 LP Collected compilation is an era spanning selection of Status Quo including the hits, 4 original mono recordings 'Pictures Of Matchstick Men', 'Ice In The Sun', 'I (Who Have Nothing)' by The Spectres, 'Almost But Not Quite There' by Traffic Jam and is newly remastered for vinyl. This limited edition includes a 4-page booklet with liner notes and is packed in a limited gatefold embossed 'guitar' sleeve.

UK collection. The Golden Age of Instrumental Rock lasted for 10 glorious years - from modest beginnings in 1956 with just three US Top 100 chart entries, through the peak year of 1961 with 52 hits, onto a still very respectable 27 chart showings in 1965. After the breakthrough of the Beatles in the USA, everything changed, but even then, the Ventures kept the instrumental flag flying into the early 70s. For a movement that was originally seen as little more than a passing fad, it has outlasted many other genres and endures into the 21st century, maverick young musicians still strapping on guitars and heading out for a twangy trip on the reverb-ed highway of instrumental rock to play classics such as 'Walk Don't Run', 'Rumble', 'Miserlou', 'Apache', 'Wipe Out' or 'Pipeline'. Here we bring you a second volume of Long-Lost Honkers & Twangers featuring 10 rarities from the genre's heyday, plus a whopping 14 previously unissued gems by the Ventures, Ramrods, Velvetones, Mus-Twangs and other instrumental bands. Compilation and notes by Ace's go-to instro experts Dave Burke and Alan Taylor, longstanding co-editors of Pipeline magazine.

Vinyl LP pressing. Reissue. Record collectors, producers and crate diggers like a good creation myth, and Skull Snaps' self-titled 'debut' had it all. A mysterious funk trio, who recorded one album under a curious name, housed it in a sleeve that looked more like a proto-metal album, and released it through a tag (GSF Records) that folded shortly afterwards? Everything pointed towards the Skull Snaps album as a single totemic object, packaged in a way that predicted it's own disinterment almost twenty-five years later. For those who sampled it, myth maintenance was advantageous, both for their reputations and for their consciences. Likewise, an unsanctioned 1995 reissue on Charley Records removed the credits from the inner sleeve to further sever the record from it's context - or perhaps because the tag couldn't quite face using the names of artists they had no intention of paying. Either way, owning the record was a right of passage, as Amir Abdullah once wrote InchIf you don't have Skull Snaps in your collection, your collection is weak.Inch