so i got really into the move after i thought i ran out of good electric light orchestra albums to buy (at the time i wasn't aware how great an album "time" is. you know, who expects a 70s group to have made a good album in the 80s?). I started with "message from the country" the last album they made as the move, which i remember reading in the liner notes was recorded simultaneously with the first elo album, in order to finish up their contract as the move. the strange thing about it is that it's roy wood and jeff lynne's peak songwriting as the move, but writing and recording songs at the same time as elo, they were going in such a new direction that they were also at their weakest. here's a wood track from "message...":
the move "it wasn't my idea to dance" (from the album "message from the country"
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after the first elo album (known in the u.s. as "no answer" after the an assistant at their u.s. label called the u.k. label to get the name of the album, and after not getting anyone to pick up, jotted down the note "no answer", which was mistaken by their boss to be the album title. seriously, check it out on snopes (click me).) wood parted ways with lynne to pursue his own musical direction, which had apparently grown at odds with lynne's. i haven't explored wood's post-elo career as deeply as i have elo post-wood (stuff's hard to find) but from what i gather there's roy wood solo, roy wood & wizzard, and then plain old wizzard (whose one album i can't seem to find). so, some roy wood (& wizzard) before we jump back into some earlier move tracks. sometimes where an artist was further along in their career is the best frame for presenting where they started out:
roy wood "song of praise" (from the album "boulders")
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roy wood and wizzard "angel fingers (a teen ballad)" (single and bonus on "wizzard brew" cd)
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the first self titled album the move did was pretty standard british invasion fair in my opinion, but still better than most stuff from the period, despite being one of the major british acts that didn't make an impact in america. the one track i find myself going to from that first album is "fire brigade", represented here by the bbc session version (which i favor):
the move "fire brigade" (from "the bbc sessions" collection)
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it's at this point that jeff lynne joins the band, though he's still not a the force he ends up being. wood still held the albums biggest single ("brontosaurus")as well the albums strongest and most interesting track ("feel too good" and at 9:36, too long for this post).
the move "brontosaurus" (from the album "looking on")
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and then next up came "shazam", what seems to have been their most critical album (really though? "message from the country"'s the one to have). surprisingly not a single jeff lynne penned song on "shazam":
the move "hello susie" (from the album "shazam")
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and then finally a song that for some reason has not yet found it's way onto a soundtrack for a wes anderson film. i can only assume it's because he has not heard it, otherwise it would have been in rushmore:
roy wood and wizzard "carlsberg special" (b-side and bonus track on "wizzard brew")
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i'm not a fan of wood's contributions to the first elo album, so i've left them out of this post. sorry.
aaaand, why not add a couple of youtube vids as well:
"see my baby jive"
"forever"
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