The Move -- S/D

Blackberry Way also pilfers from Nilsson (the oo-wah oo-wah oohoohooh bit is taken straight from My Old Desk). Just spotted the Bond reference too...oh yeah!

What wl and harveyw said. Wood's Boulders is particularly mix and match of the stylistic grab-bag (particularly that medley at the end of the Everly's, Byrds and Bonny & Delaney) -- also, that Johnny Cash pastiche on Message From the Country. Sort of like an 'eavy metal 10cc, them...

Has anybody heard the live, acoustic version of "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" on Jellyfish's boxed set? It's aces...

Back to the Move - "Shazam" is my favourite album, though all their singles (and b-sides) are superb too. "Lightning never strikes twice" (b-side of "Brontosaurus"?) or "Omnibus" being my faves - today, anyway.

**Hooks. That's what separates The Move from the pack - Roy Wood's ability to write effortless pop hooks and his determination to stuff as many as possible into each of the classic early singles. At times it seems that hordes of hooks are falling over themselves in an effort to burst out and imprint themselves on the grooves for just a second or two. Take 'Fire Brigade' - the fire bells intro, the tinny guitar riff in the chorus, the 'ooh' vocal that puntuates the track and introduces the Duane Eddy guitar, the backing vocals from chorus 2 onwards - it's overwhelming. I love the way that the first time the Duane Eddy riff appears it's shoved aside half way through in the rush - genius. The first chorus also shows just how good a melodicist Roy Wood is. Shorn of some of the backing vocals, this first, slightly stripped-back chorus reveals the way that he pushes the chords around under the melody to make it *do what it does* so effectively. In a little over two minutes there's also room for a fantastic, and completely different middle eight with Carl Wayne singing. I Can Hear The Grass Grow is hook-happy too, but manages to sound completelt different - great surf-pop influences.
Wood's melodies on those early tracks were usually spot-on. Sometimes you don't *fix* the melodies for a while with everything going on aroound them, but when you do they're imprinted in your memory for ever. That's one of the tests of a great writer - never too obvious, but always memorable. There are two areas where Wood comes unstuck in the early Move. One is when the melody is slightly forced like on Wild Tiger Woman, and also when the arrangements cross from inspired madness into slightly twee 'of their time-ness'. Flowers In Rain stays just the right side of the line - the woodwind has just enough of a dark edge to keep you off balance, but Here we Go Round The Lemon Tree is slightly too close to The Flowerpot Men for comfort.

Wild Tiger Woman was a sub-standard IMHO, and it's interesting that Joe Public twigged and didn't make it a hit. Does anyone know if it was banned by some radio stations? The 'tied to a bed' lyrics might have offended some prudish old-school DJs, I suppose. Of course they should have flipped the disk and led with the wonderful B-side, Omnibus (Om-er-ni-bus).

I'm not as clued up on late Move but no doubt Marcello will put us straight at some point. Jeff Lynne's 'What'is absolutely fantastic, and I really like what I've heard of The Idle Race, JL's pre-Move band. I know 'Imposter's of Life's Magazine' from Nuggets 2 and 'Knocking Nails into My House' from Rubble 2. I need to track down one of the compilations, pref. the EMI one 'Back To The Story'.**

Having said all that I think my favourite Move song is 'Omnibus'.

Has anyone here heard either of those EMI expanded editions of the first two ELO albums? One apparantly has a lot of a lost Wood concept album called The Lost Planet. I'm intrigued...

Is anything in print from The Move in North America??

i often daydreaming about The Melvins doing a cover for "hello susie".
think about it.

"Lightning Never Strikes Twice (In the Same Place)," ace super-Byrds/Moby Grape pastiche, I love the way the Move wanted to be a West Coast band so badly...

I agree. In fact, the secret link between roots rock, country, glam, and punk is how the Move appropriated many of Spence's tricks heard on "Omaha" and "Indifference." Especially on the former jam, check out the supertight back-up vocals. The Move would expand on that and turn it into something everybody from the Damned to Queen and Sweet would pilfer.

I just love the Move. I prefer them to most British Invasion bands, especially their straight-up rockers like Looking In and Message From the Country.

I love how Roy Wood basically invented Robin Zander with "Hello Susie"

cheap trick did a cover of California Man you know

also "Down By The Bay"

Shazam! Looking On & Message From The Country are straight-up great (and I don't even like ELO that much)

don't forget the debut.

the move= search - everthing. destroy - nothing.

Didn't Cheap Trick cover like 50 of their songs?

Also - the remake of Cherry Blossom Clinic on Shazam! gives me shivers it's so great.

guitar is so damn heavy and awesome all over Shazam, esp on "fields of people"

the Move appropriated many of Spence's tricks heard on "Omaha" and "Indifference."

You have heard their version of "Hey Grandma" right?

cool cover indeed of "Hey Grandma," altho they got the words wrong. I go back and forth with the Move--sometimes I really like the early fake-psychedelic stuff and sometimes I go for Message from the Country. Conceptually I really admire Shazam in its take on West Coast rock that they turn heavy--they found the whole idea of those harmony groups funny I think--but it doesn't always work for me. Have to be in the right mood. But as a commentary on rock that isn't exactly rock and as a harbinger of the rock 'n' roll revival of '69/'70, they're amazing.

Some days I think "Do Ya" is like the best song in the entire cosmos. Today is one of those days.

That opening riff! The bridge! The cowbell! Rambling pleading for sex! Did I mention the riff?

LOOK OUT BABY THERE'S A PLANE A COMIN

The Move are 100000% awesome. I wish I could replace every tired car commercial classic rock song with Omnibus or Cherry Blossom Clinic.

nothin sells cars like an ode to insanity eh

Nick Drake to thread!

Pink Moon is about insanity...? idgi

does this count as FREAKBEAT?

Night of Fear!

What's the best compilation out there these days?

"Do Ya" and "Wave the Flag and Stop the Train" (a Monkees imitation, I swear) are all-time favourites. Was the old twofer with the truck on the cover never issued on CD?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRKV0EvYs54

it's a crime to purchase a compilation of The Move, and not the record themselves

I think that's probably true of the early '70s LPs--forgot to mention "Message from the Country," which is awesome--but the truck compilation covers the '60s stuff really well. I mean, it seems to--are there great album tracks missing?

The Very Best of the Move is pretty decent:

1. Flowers In The Rain (2:28)
2. Blackberry Way (3:39)
3. I Can Hear The Grass Grow (3:07)
4. Night Of Fear (2:14)
5. California Man (3:34)
6. Fire Brigade (2:21)
7. Omnibus (3:52)
8. Beautiful Daughter (2:35)
9. When The Alice Back To The Farm (3:41)
10. Curly (2:42)
11. Tonight (3:15)
12. Don't Throw Stones At Me (2:40)
13. (Here We Go Round) The Lemon tree (2:58)
14. It'll Be Me (live at Marquee) (2:34)
15. Do Ya (4:02)
16. Cherry Blossom Clinic (2:30)
17. Disturbance (2:47)
18. Hello Susie (abriged) (3:29)
19. Wild Tiger Woman (2:39)
20. Piece Of My Heart (live at Marquee) (4:04) (As features in the TV series 'Nip/Tuk')
21. Wave The Flag And Stop The Train (2:56)
22. Chinatown (3:05)
23. Useless Information (2:55)
24. Brontosaurus (4:25)
25. Move (2:02)

Just a few major omissions - "Feel Too Good" and the Shazam! version of "Cherry Blossom Clinic"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ5fYObLrMU
dig this w the psychedelic flute trills and crashing sounds.

Looking On may be my preferred Move album.

This is a good thread! Glad I started it. ;-)

Just dug into them again this am -- Spotify has some of their stuff, but not enough of the early material.

I've always found Shazam to be an endearing but...odd record -- am I alone on this?

I've always preferred the singles to the albums.

I got that Elektra box set "Forever changing" last year and it has the original version of "Fields of people" on it (Ars Nova?) and it made me appreciate the Move's version on "Shazam" so much more, the original is a weedy little thing and the Move make it into a total monster. (Good to see my comments above from when I was young...)

I would love Shazam so much more if that goddamn Bach/Tchaikovsky bit was missing from "Cherry Blossom Clinic." Totally ruins the song for me.

prompted to listen to this, I have to agree - and it goes on forever! honestly much more familiar with the vastly different/superior single version, which doesn't have that coda. I had forgotten how heavy this album is on the long jamz, prefer their more concise pop moments tbh.

Shazam is a far weirder record than its reputation would suggest. Roy Wood's writing with The Move often featured a healthy dose of wit and humor. But things like "Fields of People" sound like outright parody -- parody that goes on for eleven minutes. I've had this record for going on 15 years -- and I'm still not entirely sure I understand the aesthetic they're after. Still, in that context, an extended classical break feels like it makes total sense to me.

I would love Shazam so much more if that goddamn Bach/Tchaikovsky bit was missing from "Cherry Blossom Clinic." Totally ruins the song for me.

lol this bugged me so much that I imported the track into pro tools and made a mix eliminating the entire intro.

Weird that you guys are so bothered by it. From guitar solos to the a capella stuff, I always thought they did some pretty creative stuff with that section. That's what makes it Revisited, right?

The thing is, the whole song up to that point is so perfect and so crashingly heavy, but the dark whimsy of the first part curdles into obvious, one-dimensional whimsy in the "revisited" section.

Weird that you guys are so bothered by it.

Really weird. I don't get it at all.

'Fields Of People' is a cover version like several other songs on Shazam.

Your point?