"ROCKIN' ALL OVER THE YEARS"
- Status Quo in the year 1994
concerts, publications, releases, charts, miscellaneous
Chronological:
04.01.1994: Status Quo's "Down,Down" was shown as repeat performance at "Top of the Pops".
January 1994: the german fanzine "Fan to Fan" issue 3 was published. It's content: a news section, gig reviews of the "Just for the record"-Tour and a write-up from the book-Signing with a short interview, a discography of all vinyl-bootlegs and Francis Rossi's solo-works.
January / February / March 1994: the band is busy with recordings at Francis Rossi's own studio ARSIS who is producing the new album. Engineerd by Tim Summerhayes.
17.03.1994: at the Abraham Moss Centre; Manchester the band came together with the football-team of Manchester United to record a single. They wanted to have Status Quo because they saw them when they played Old Trafford on their stadium tour in 1991. The single choice was Quo's song "Burning Bridges". Andrew Bown and Rhino Edwards rewrote the lyrics and the single was entitled "Come on you reds".
28.03.1994: the Marble Arch label released the Status Quo compilation "Status Quo - Original recordings" (Cat.No. CD: MATCD291 cassette: MATMC291). 24 songs from the period 1968 - 1971 are issued on this album.
30.03.1994: another special show is on the schedule: out of the charity "The Princes Trust" Status Quo played at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the charity show was entitled "The Appointment". HRH Prince Charles attended this show and before the show started he was introduced to the band. He was given 2 little guitars by Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi.
The charity event raised 70,000 pounds which were given to charity projects.
March 1994: Nicola Lisle published their nineth "Full Quota" fanzine. The 36 pages included the Status Quo Story Part 7. Andrew Bown Part 2 with discography and comprehensive gig reviews of the "Just for the record" Tour.
18.04.1994: UK Polygram TV released the Manchester United single "Come on you reds". (Cat.No. Polygram TV ManU 2) B-Side is an instrumental version of "Come on you reds".
The single was issued on the 7"-format, as Maxi-CD and as cassette-single.
25.04.1994: Manchester United's single "Come on you reds" entered the UK-singles-charts on No.18.
09.05.1994: a limited edition (7,500 copies) of 12"-picture disc of "Come on you reds" were released.
12.05.1994: Status Quo performed in Berlin, Maifeld at the big farewell-party of the allied troops. 300,000 attended this free show and saw alongside Quo (who represented UK), Charles Aznavour (representing France), and the Beach Boys (USA-
representatives).
15.05.1994: the single "Come on you reds" is new No.1 of the UK-singles-charts. It's the first time that a song from a football-team is No.1 in a national chart. Just in time to celebrate another premier championship and FA Cup win. The song is 2 weeks on the top position of the UK charts.
June 1994: fanclub-meeting of the dutch fanclub "The Army".
June 1994: the official fanclub published his new fanzine "From the makers of... Vol.1 No.3". With the announcement of rockfestivals with Status Quo and Deep Purple in Europa during June and July and a planned german tour in November. The main chapter of this fanzine is a good and interesting write-up of "36 hours with Status Quo's road crew on the road", when Mike Hrano spent 2 days with them.
25.07.1994: the first single-release of the year in UK "I didn't mean it". The song was written by John David, Dave Edmunds bass-player. The B-side of the blue vinyl-single was "Whatever you want". (Cat.No. QUO34) Additional songs on the Maxi-CD are "Down, Down" and "Rockin' all over the world". The single was released on cassette format as well.
July 1994: the "Full Quta"-fanzine No. 10 is published. Besides the usual news-section the 36-pages included a gig review of the show at the Royal Albert Hall. A look back "10 years - End of the road" - Milton Keynes, and a review of the 2."Full Quota"-members party.
01.08.1994: release of the single "I didn't mean it" in Germany. But the single failed to chart.
01.08.1994: UK-release of the DIGIPACK of the new single "I didn't mean it". The second part of this Maxi-CD included an Acoustic Mix and an Hooligan-Version ofn "I didn't mean it" and 2 songs from Francis Rossi and Andrew Bown: "Survival" and "She knew too much". (Cat.No.: QUODD34)
04.08.1994: Status Quo perform at the british chart-show "Top of the Pops" with their new single "I didn't mean it". It was a very remarkable performance, for it was the band's 100th appearance at "Top of the Pops". Moderator: Mark Goodier
06.08.1994: the new single entered the UK-singles-charts with highest position No.21 and a total chart-run of 4 weeks.
22.08.1994: release of the first studio album since 3 years. "Thirsty Work" included 16 songs. The songwriting-duo Francis Rossi and Bernie Frost wrote 9 of the 16 songs. By the way; their old song "Sorry" was issued too, of whom greek singer Demis Roussos recorded his own version in 1981. The song "Restless" is a cover of Jennifer Warnes original song "I'm Restless" written in the year 1979. The fans weren't pleased with this album, because the band turned from the blues-boogie-rock to a more countryesque sound.
The UK-release was issued on LP, CD and cassette-format.
29.08.1994: "Thirsty Work" entered the UK-album-charts. Despite massive critics the album went to No.13.
The album charted in Germany too. It went to No.72 with 4 weeks in the german album charts.
27.08.1994: Status Quo perform at the Chelmsford-Festival (a five day event). It's their only festival date in UK.
August 1994: the german fanzine "Fan to Fan" is published the last time. Gig reviews from Berlin and Esbjerg/Denmark and a review of the new album "Thirsty Work" are included, as well as a report about Rick Parfitt non-Quo-work and bootleg-news are included on that 44-pages-fanzine.
18.09.1994: the Spectrum-label released in Germany the Status Quo compilation "It's only Rock & Roll" with 14 songs from the period 1972 - 1989.
September 1994: the new single "I didn't mean it" is released in Spain with the additional song "Survival". (Cat.No.: Span.Polydor 853 566-2)
03.10.1994: Dornbirn sees the start of a little "Alpes-Tour" with 3 shows in Austria and 1 concert in Bern/Switzerland.
10.10.1994: UK-release of the single "Sherry don't fail me now". The song was written by Andrew Bown and Rhino Edwards and the 7"-single appeared on red vinyl (Cat.No. QUO35). B-Side is the Rossi/Bown song "Beautiful", who was written during the recording sessions in ARSIS. The single was issued on the CD-Format too and included the additional song "In the army now (live)". Again a DIGI-Pack of this single was released. The second CD included the previously unreleased songs "Tossin and Turnin" (Rossi/Frost) and "Down to you" (Rossi/Bown) (Cat.No. QUODD35).
17.10.1994: "Sherry don't fail me now" entered the UK singles-charts and reached No.38.
17.10.1994: Kick-off of the german tour in Memmingen. Until the 8th November Status Quo played 16 Konzerte shows. Special Guest are "Hartmann".
October 1994: Alan Lancaster's album "Life after Quo Vol.1" (Cat.No. JVOCD1001) was released.
21.11.1994: the third single-release of the "Thirsty Work" album in UK: its the cover of the Jennifer Warnes Songs "Restless". The single was issued on clear vinyl (Cat.No.: QUO36). B-side is the Rossi/Frost/McCannany-Song "And I do". Additional songs on the Maxi-CD are the songs "Something about you baby I like", "Caroline" and "Burning Bridges (live)" (from the "Live alive"-album). The Polydor record company's main aspect seemed to be the release of different formats and so it was no surprise when another DIGI-pack of the new single was released. Alongside the LP-version of "Restless" and "And I do" a cover of Leonard Cohen's song "Democracy" was included on the second CD. Leonard Cohen recorded his original in 1992 and it can be found on his album "The Future". (DIGI-pack Cat.No.: QUODD36)
The single was released in Germany too.
25.11.1994: Blackpool sees the start of the UK-Winter-Tour. A total of 17 shows was played and Special Guests were "The Outsiders".
28.11.1994: "Restless" entered the UK-singles-Charts with highest position being No. 39. The single couldn't chart in Germany.
November 1994: Spain-release of the Maxi-CD "Sherry don't fail me now" / "Beautiful" (Cat.No. span. Polydor 853882-2)
December 1994: the english fanclub published its fanzine "From the makers of..." Vol.1 No.4. It's an album-special with all lyrics of the new album and with song-reviews of each band member.
in Germany a promotion copy of the song "Goin' nowhere" was released. (Cat.No.: ST.Q.Pro01)
UK Discography 1994:
Album: "Status Quo Original recordings" (Cat.No. CD: MATCD291 cassette: MATMC291)
Album: "Thirsty Work" (Cat.No.: Polydor 523 607) available as LP / CD / MC
Album: "Its only Rock & Roll" (Cat.No. CD: 550 190-2 cassette: 550 190-4)
Single: "I didn't mean it" (Cat.No. 7": QUO34; maxi-CD: QUOCD34; DIGI-pack: QUODD34; cassette: QUOMC34)
Single: "Sherry don't fail me now" (Cat.No. 7": QUO35; maxi-CD: QUOCD35; DIGI-pack: QUODD35; cassette: QUOMC35)
Single: "Restless" (Cat.No. 7": QUO36; maxi-CD: QUOCD36; DIGI-pack: QUODD36; cassette: QUOMC36)
UK Charts 1994:
Album: "Thirsty Work" No. 13
Single: "I didn't mean it" No. 21
Single: "Sherry don't fail me now" No. 38
Single: "Restless" No. 39
Miscellaneous:
1. Hits of the year in UK:
Singles: 1. Love is all around (Wet Wet Wet) 2. I swear (All-4-One) 3. Saturday Night (Whigfield)
Albums: 1. Cross Road (Bon Jovi) 2.Carry On Up The Charts - The Best Of (Beautiful South) 3. Music Box (Mariah Carey)
2. Football: english champions were Manchester United and the scottish campionship won Glasgow Rangers.
3. Successful cinema-films in 1994: "Lion King" "Forrest Gump" "Flintstones" "Schindler's List" "Mrs.Doubtfire" "4 weddings and a Funeral" "Free Willy" "Philadelphia" "Speed" "Cool Runnings"