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 February 15, 2009 Discovering the Move When, in 1970, Roy Wood finally convinced Jeff Lynne to join the Move, the Birmingham, England-based band he’d helped start five years before had already been through three personnel changes and several image makeovers. It wasn’t unusual for a band in the ’60s to change its appearance -- musicians switched hair and clothing styles from album to album. However, when a group makes three changes to its lineup, one of them a lead vocalist, it suggests some instability. But the Move was a hothouse of inspiration and experimentation, making it unpredictable for bandmembers and music industry alike. Wood and Lynne would soon disband the Move and form the Electric Light Orchestra, from which Wood would decamp after only one album. For a few years, though, from 1966 through the end of 1971, the Move was as vital, creative, and exciting as any band in England.
In January 1966, the Move recorded seven songs for a radio broadcast the following month, four of them released for the first time on Anthology 1966-1972. A burst of guitar feedback opens Wood’s "You’re the One I Need," and it’s clear from that performance and the three that follow that the Move had the drive and raw energy of Mod favorites the Who and the Small Faces. Kefford was the lead vocalist on this tune, and he had a formidable R&B-influenced style. The band’s tight vocal harmonies are well displayed on Betty Everett’s "I Can’t Hear You No More," and their R&B chops are in full flow on Brenda Lee’s "Is It True" (a much tougher version than the original) and the Isley Brothers’ "Respectable." While these performances show the Move to be a band with potential, only Wood’s composition hints at how original it would become. Soon the band was looking for a manager who would bring them to the attention of major record labels. Tony Secunda, a former wrestling promoter who had handled another Birmingham band, the Moody Blues, secured for the Move a contract with Deram, Decca’s hip "underground" subsidiary label. Secunda, a master of publicity, advised the band on how to dress and act onstage. As Bevan explained in his liner notes for the two-LP Best of the Move, released in the US on A&M in 1972, "[Secunda] recommended that we add a few dance steps to our stage act to be a little more showy. We did, he came back a few months later, liked us even more and signed us for management." He also engineered a few stunts that would gain the band notoriety. "The Move were created by Tony Secunda," Carl Wayne told the creators of an informative Move website. "I think he saw the embers of a great band and he was able to fire that." In April, Secunda got the Move a booking as an opening act at the Marquee, the London club that had launched the careers of the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Yardbirds, and many others. By June, they were headlining. The Move developed their musical skills further, and soon built a following. "To see four [sic] guys up there and all being able to sing in tune -- that was so rare," photographer Robert Davidson told Paytress. With Secunda’s encouragement, the band pulled out all the stops onstage. Its antics included smashing televisions and, on one memorable evening, nearly burning down the club. The Marquee’s management wasn’t amused, and sacked the band in November 1966, after an eight-month engagement. By then, the Move had recorded their first single for a major label. Secunda knew producer Denny Cordell from his association with the Moody Blues, and convinced him to record the Move. In typical Secunda style, the "contract" with Cordell’s production company was printed on the back of a topless model, and the band was photographed signing it . . . um, her. Secunda encouraged the Move to pattern itself after West Coast psychedelic groups instead of Motown and R&B bands. Their first single, released in December 1966 by Deram, was "Night of Fear," and it couldn’t have sounded less like the tracks the group had recorded in January. Tight vocal harmonies and a jaunty guitar line based on Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture help soften the impact of the dark lyrics ("The silent night has turned to a night of fear / With windows howling wind into your ear"). Wood based the song on fairy tales he’d heard as a child, but Secunda did not deny rumors that the song might actually be about LSD. It hit No.2 on the charts, and the song’s heavy bass line would remain characteristic of Move music for the rest of the band’s career. Their second single, "I Can Hear the Grass Grow," further solidified the Move’s psychedelic image (in fairness, the lyrics do have a black-light aura about them). Wayne sought to disabuse people of the notion that the Move were about peace and love, and the band’s brutal stage show gave him ample support. Wood wrote songs that captured some of the spirit of the time, but he had in him as much English music hall as Chuck Berry. The next single, "Flowers in the Rain," had a lilting melody and a lighthearted woodwind arrangement. When the BBC debuted its pop radio station in September 1967, "Flowers in the Rain" was the first single played. Secunda had the bright idea of promoting the single with a postcard featuring a caricature of then Prime Minister Harold Wilson in bed with his secretary. Wilson sued and won, and the Move decided their manager had gone too far and let him go.
By the time the Something Else EP was released, Ace
Kefford had left and Trevor Burton had taken over bass chores. Wood penned a likable,
oddball single that didn’t chart, "Wild Tiger Woman," and then a No.1,
"Blackberry Way," a perfectly charming piece of late-’60s British
psychedelic pop. Trevor Burton departed soon after, and the band went into the studio with
a new bass player, Rick Price. A single, "Curly," soon followed, and in October
1969 the Move briefly toured America. On their return home, they entered the studio to
record their second album. In contrast to the first LP, which contained 13 tracks, Shazam
has just six, only one of them shorter than five minutes. It brilliantly combines the
brute force of hard-rock bands like Led Zeppelin and Cream with beautifully realized
melodies and carefully arranged harmony vocals. The longest track was a take on "Fields of People" by Ars Nova, a New York art-rock band. The Move’s version includes medieval-style acoustic guitar playing, lengthy improvisational passages, and intricate vocal tapestries. Another long selection, an interpretation of Tom Paxton’s "The Last Thing on My Mind," sounds like a chance meeting between the Small Faces and the Byrds. "Cherry Blossom Clinic Revisited" takes a second look at a track from The Move, this time with harder-hitting guitars and sustained instrumental passages that include sly references to classical works. Throughout Shazam, the Move is never at a loss for ideas, seamlessly fitting together apparently disparate parts. Rolling Stone critic John Mendelsohn gave the record a glowing review: "The Move must be kept going to give us more albums like this one."
The album’s grandeur is apparent from the title track, which opens the disc with a ringing wall of multitracked guitar arpeggios and Roy Wood’s prominent, very punchy bass line (Rick Price had since left the band). Lynne’s lyrics are mystical and inscrutable ("Sister I have touched the evergreen / And I promise that its life should go unseen"), and the song breaks for a vocal ensemble that is astonishingly intricate, sweeping, and gorgeous. Wood’s "Ella James" and "Until Your Mama’s Gone" are hard, heavy rock songs performed with wit and power. Wood plays oboe, clarinet, and bassoon on "It Wasn’t My Idea to Dance," a slightly sinister pop ditty with a monster bass line. Message from the Country is the work of two young musicians who have mastered the recording studio and filled this record with great sounds that make their songs take flight. In the US, the Move was a critics’ favorite that never caught on. The closest the band came to a hit here was in October 1972, when United Artists Records released "California Man" as a single, with "Do Ya" on the b-side. Both tracks were recorded a few months after the release of Message from the Country, and were the last two songs credited to the Move -- Bevan, Lynne, and Wood would thereafter be known as the Electric Light Orchestra. In America, "Do Ya" became a hit, and was one of the finest singles by any band at any time. A ringing metallic guitar line that you can’t forget opens the track, and the chorus, sung in a wall of intricate vocal harmonies, won’t let you go. The Move’s glorious appearance on the US charts reached No.93.
There’s never been a better time to catch up with this underappreciated band. The Move, Shazam, and Looking On are all available in expanded editions from Salvo/Fly. EMI issued a remastered edition of Message from the Country in 2005. It includes "Do Ya" and other bonus tracks, and sounds better than earlier CD versions. Anthology 1966-1972 is for hard-core fans, but it’s reasonably priced and has plenty of rarities and very good annotation. Message from the Country is in print in the US, so you should be able to order it easily. You can pick up the Salvo/Fly discs from a UK dealer, such as Amazon UK. A comprehensive one-disc overview, The Best of the Move, is available from Repertoire Records, a Danish label. Start with that disc or Message, but follow John Mendelsohn’s advice, from his review of Message: "Don’t deprive yourself of them for another instant." . . . Joseph Taylor
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"It was all Ace and
Trevor’s idea," drummer Bev Bevan (who played with both the Move and ELO) told
Mark Paytress, who wrote the liner notes for the Move’s Anthology 1966-1972,
a four-disc set released in the UK this past October by Salvo and Fly Records. Bassist
Chris "Ace" Kefford and guitarist Trevor Burton had played in two popular
Birmingham cover bands, but decided in fall 1965 that they wanted to take a band to London
to hit the big time. They pulled in Roy Wood, a guitarist and beginning songwriter; Carl
Wayne, a well-known local singer; and Bevan. The group claimed a wide variety of
influences and interests, from blues to soul to such American West Coast contemporaries as
the Byrds and the Beach Boys. After a few rehearsals, the Move began playing in Birmingham
clubs, where they set themselves apart by singing four- and five-part harmonies.
"Flowers in the Rain" and
the band’s next single, "Fire Brigade," appeared on The Move, their
first LP. The album, originally released in April 1968, is now available in an expanded,
two-disc edition from Salvo/Fly. Many critics felt The Move was too eclectic and
didn’t quite jell, but the album has aged well. The band shows its affinity for West
Coast pop in a cover of the Moby Grape’s "Hey Grandma," and the record
shows Wood’s equal command of rockers and lush ballads. A live five-track EP released
in June 1968, Something Else from the Move, included the quintet’s take
on two other West Coast favorites, Love ("Stephanie Knows Who") and the Byrds
("So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star"). Anthology includes all five
tracks, and adds seven more to create a 40-minute live disc. It shows the Move to be a
tough, tight live band that can still toss off credible versions of R&B songs like
"Piece of My Heart" and "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and
Higher."
Bevan considers it the Move’s best album,
but admits that the songs were so long because Wood hadn’t written much new material
-- only three of the songs are his.
Soon after Shazam was
released, in early 1970, singer Carl Wayne left. Roy Wood had wanted Jeff Lynne in the
group for a while, and when Wood, Bevan, and Price entered the recording studio in May,
Lynne was on board. Looking On, released in December, was a heavy record
with dense guitar riffing and even more instrumental experimentation than Shazam.
Wood played oboe, sitar, and a few other instruments that he combined in unusual ways. He
contributes a loud slide guitar to "When Alice Comes Back to the Farm" and, at
the end of each verse, a cello line; on the title track, he plays jazz sitar. Two long
tracks belong to Lynne, whose Lennon-esque "What?" pays tribute to the Beatles
without merely imitating them. Bev Bevan says that Looking On is
"ploddy," but it manages to be progressive while retaining a
rock’n’roll edge.
In the liner notes to the 2005
reissue of Message from the Country, Bevan calls it his "least favorite
Move album." Critics and fans, however, are united in their opinion that it’s
the band’s best long-player by far, and one of the very best records of the 1970s.
Every element of the Move’s greatness came together in this final album, from the
stunningly complex and beautiful vocal harmonies to tightly written, precisely delivered
songs that were filled with hooks and, at the same time, were visceral and hard-hitting.
The album also contains lighter moments. Bev Bevan’s "Don’t Mess Me
Up," with Roy Wood on vocals, is an amusing Elvis tribute, and Bevan takes the lead
on Wood’s "Ben Crawley Steel Company," an affectionate parody of Johnny
Cash. In contrast to the lengthy instrumental passages that defined the previous two
albums, Message from the Country features short, carefully thought-out pop tunes.
In an attempt to cash in on the
Move’s brief success here, United Artists excised three tracks from Message from
the Country and replaced them with "Do Ya" and three other tunes, to create Split
Ends. In his liner notes to the LP, Richard Cromelin caught the spirit of the band
perfectly: "I guess the main thing about the Move is the way they can blast your head
wide open and make you feel extremely, ecstatically happy all at the same time." But
by the time those words were published, their subject was defunct and the Electric Light
Orchestra had already released its first album. Roy Wood left ELO after one tour to form
his own band, Wizard. ELO went on to become vastly more popular than the Move, especially
in the US, but to my ears, it was never as challenging or as innovative. It lacked Roy
Wood’s very English eccentricity, which had made the Move so unique.