"ROCKIN' ALL OVER THE YEARS" - Status Quo in the year 1989

Cover of the japanese CD 'Picturesque Matchstickable / Spare Parts' Cover of the japanese CD 'Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon / Dog of two head' Coverof the US-Compilation 'Status Quo' Video-CD 'Burning Bridges'

concerts, publications, charts, miscellaneous

The year 1989 - a very busy and impressive decade for Status Quo comes to an end. At the beginning of the year the band is busy with recordings at the Bahamas. But this time it was not "a place where no work was done" as it was 6 years before with the "Back to Back" album recordings. The band returned to England with many new songs. While the Wall between West and East Germany tumbled down the new Status Quo album "Perfect Remedy" was released. But the album was a disappointment for their fans. Some songs featured on the album were not what the fans and the critics expected from Status Quo. The results were disappointing chart notes. But despite massive critics the band carried on with a successful UK-Tour and the Birmingham shows being filmed for video release in the next year.
And its the year when David Walker became new manager of Status Quo.

All known concerts of the year 1989: ...more

Pictures: Cover of the japanese CD-releases and the US-Compilation "Status Quo" and Cover of the Video-CD "Burning Bridges". (by kind permission Günter Röder).

Chronological:

  • January 1989: UK release of the Picture Disc LP "Baktabak". It included an interview held in 1988 at London.
  • January-March 1989: the band is on the Bahamas to record new songs for another studio-album. Producer is again Pip Williams. But this time the band came up with a good bunch of new material. But with being back in #England it took a long time until the final mixing of the songs were finished. Therefore the new album "Perfect Remedy" was announced for release in November
  • March 1989: UK release of the limited edition "The Status Quo Video Box" (Channel5 CFV08822). The box included this videos: "Live at the NEC" - "End of the road" - "Rocking through the years".
  • 10.04.1989: cassette-only release of the PRT compilation "C90 Collector - Status Quo". The cassette included 25 songs until 1971.
  • April 1989: another PRT release with the CD-compilation: "PRT Collector". The 21 songs are ecact the same as on the 1973 released Status Quo compilation "Golden Hour of Status Quo" (GH556).
  • April 1989: release of the second Video-CD from the "Ain't Complaining" album - "Burning Bridges". It featured the following songs "Whatever you want" - "Marguerita Time" - ""Who gets the love" and the video of "Burning Bridges".
  • August 1989: a worldrecord charts was broadcasted by south german radiostation SDR3. The 2 moderators played all 1501 songs and they made their entry into the "Book of Records". The radio listeners could choose their all time 5 best songs. 5 Status Quo songs were voted into this record breaking charts. ("Rockin all over the world" No. 393, "In the army now" No. 451, "Whatever you want" No. 1129, "Caroline" No. 1395 und "Down Down" No. 1428)
  • 16.10.1989: the first single release of the year is "Not at all", which is taken from the forthcoming Status Quo album "Perfect Remedy". It's a Francis Rossi / Bernie Frost composition. Andrew Bown's song "Gone thru the slips" was chosen for the B-Side. This song was from the recording sessions at the Bahamas. It's the first Status Quo single in UK, which was relased as cassette single. The single was issued on 7" and 12"-Vinyl-format and as Maxi-CD. Additional song on the maxi-singles was "Everytime I think of you", which was taken from the 1988 "Ain't complaining" album.stammt. It's from the "Rhino" Edwards / Jeff Rich / Mike Paxman songwriting team.
  • 23.10.1989: the new single entered the UK singles-charts and reached only a No.50 for one week. The single was released in Germany too, but it failed to chart.
  • October 1989: Spectrum released the Status Quo-Video "The best of Status Quo - Preserved" (Cat.No.: Spectrum SPC00012). It's the rerelease of the "Preserved" video from November 1985.
  • October 1989: John Coghlan can be heard on the Live-Songs "Crime Investigator" and "Out of control", which were issued on the BOMBERS single "Raining in the shadow". (Cat.No.: A&M K905 - 12" A&M X14743)
  • 20.11.1989: UK-release of the new Status Quo album "Perfect Remedy". The album included 12 songs. The album is a disappointment for the fans and the critics were not good. Featuring some tracks nobody expected to be from Status Quo, the band leaned a bit to countryesque songs. (Namely the songs "Address Book" "Tommy's in Love" "1000 years"). But on the other side a fantastic in true Quo style recorded rocker "The Power of Rock". The album was released on LP-, CD- and cassette format.
  • 27.11.1989: Charts entry of "Perfect Remedy" with a No.49 as highest position. It's to date the most worse chart notes of a Status Quo studio album in UK. The album spent a total of 6 weeks in the british album charts.
  • 27.11.1989: another single release in UK - the Rossi / Frost song "Little Dreamer" again is taken from the "Perfect Remedy" album. B-Side is the Rossi-Bown song "Rotten to the bone". And because the single release was at the same time as the UK tour kicked off some singles were issued with a tour patch. The single was released on 7" and 12"-vinyl-format and on Maxi.-CD and again as cassette single. Rick Parfitts and Pip Williams song "Doing it all for you" was issued on the maxi-singles as additional song.
  • 30.11.1989: Kick-off of the UK-Tour in Newport/Wales and with a total of 17 concerts. (the only concerts of this year!)
  • November 1989: The Avanti Label released in UK a Status Quo compilation "Recollections - Status Quo", which included 14 songs.
  • 17./18.12.1989: the 2 shows in Brimingham, N.E.C. were filmed and were issued in 1990 on video.
  • 17.12.1989: out of their series "Classic Castle Series" the PRT label released 2 Status Quo albums "Picturesque Matchstickable Messages of.." and "Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon".
  • 28.12.1989: the only Status Quo appearance of the year in the british show "Top of the Pops" with the song "Burning Bridges". Moderator: Paul Gambaccini, Mike Read
  • December 1989: UK chart entry of "Little Dreamer" with only No.49.
  • Germany: a club-Edition was released by a book club - "Die grossen Erfolge einer Supergruppe".
  • another german release is from the TELDEC record company's series "MATINEE presents Rock Greats" the compilation "Status Quo - Best of the early years" featuring Status Quo songs from the PYE-era.
  • more "Quotations"-mags of the official Status Quo fanclub were issued this year, now with Quo historian Garry Fielding.
  • in USA the CD "Status Quo" was released including 12 songs of the Quo albums "In the Army now" and "Ain't complaining" (Cat.No.: Mercury 836 651-2).(see cover above)
  • in Japan 2 Quo albums were released: "Picturesque Matchstickable Messages from the Status Quo & Spare Parts" (Cat.No.: Teichiku 25CP-62) and "Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon & Dog of two head" (Cat.No.: Teichiku 25CP-63). (see cover above)

    UK discography 1989:

  • Album: "Perfect Remedy" (LP Vertigo 842098-1) (CD 842098-2) (Cassette: 842098-4)
  • CD: "PRT Collector" (GHCD3)
  • CD: "Picturesque Matchstickable Messages ..." (Cat.No.: CLACD168)
  • CD: "Status Quo - Best of the early years" (Cat.No.: CLACD169)
  • CD: "Recollections - Status Quo" (Cat.No.: Avanti RECCD001)
  • Single: "Not at all" (Vertigo QUO26) (12"-Vinyl QUO2612) (Maxi-CD QUOCD26) (Cassette QUOMC26)
  • Single: "Little Dreamer" (Vertigo QUO27) (Tour patch 7" QUOP27) (12"-Vinyl QUO2712) (X-MAS QUOX2712)(Maxi-CD QUOCD27) (Cassette QUOMC27)
  • Cassette:"C90 Collector - Status Quo" (Cat.No. PRT C90 3)
  • Picture Disc LP:"Baktabak" (Cat.No.: Baktabak BAK2110)
  • Video-CD:"Burning Bridges" (Cat.No.: Vertigo 080620-2)
  • Video-Box:"The Status Quo Video Box" (Cat.No.: Channel5 CFV08822)
  • Video:"The best of Status Quo - Preserved" /Cat.No.: Spectrum SPC00012).

    Chart notes (UK):

  • Single: "Not at all" No.50
  • Single: "Little Dreamer" No.49 first Quo single who didn't chart in the first week !!
  • album: "Perfect Remedy" No.46

    Miscellaneous:
    1. the comeback of the year: Alice Cooper with the single "Poison"; a wonderful rocksong who became a classic.
    Some albums of the year 1989: "The Best of the Velvet Underground" Velvet Underground - "Pump" Aerosmith - "Headless Cross" Black Sabbath - "The Miracle" Queen - "Steel Wheels" Rolling Stones - "Flowers in the dirt" Paul Mc Cartney
    2. Hits of the year in UK:
    Singles: 1. Ride On Time (Black Box) 2. Swing The Mood (Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers) 3. Eternal Flame (The Bangles)
    Albums: 1. A New Flame (Simply Red) 2. The Raw and the Coolest (Fine Young cannibals) 3. Cuts both ways (Gloria Estefan)
    3. Football: english champions were FC Arsenal London. Scottish champions were Glasgow Rangers (the first of 9 consecutive years)
    4. successful films in 1989: "Rain Man" "A fish named Wanda" "Back to the future II" "Indiana Jones and the Crusade" "007 - License to kill"