Beyond Reason: Random Music

[davy]

What can you guys tell me about 60's pop band The Move?

[RavingLunatic]

Thermo, you're such a stern copy editor.

[narlus]

What can you guys tell me about 60's pop band The Move?

Roy Wood was in it...he had some good solo records post-Move as well...The Fall covered 'I Can Hear The Grass Grow'.  decent 60's band...there might also be a pre-ELP connection, maybe Keith Emerson?

[Thermofusion]

That "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" cover on Fall Heads Roll is one of my fave Fall tracks of the last decade

[davy]

The two tracks I've heard sound a lot like 10cc, and I love 10cc.

[Andrew_TSKS]

What can you guys tell me about 60's pop band The Move?

Roy Wood was in it...he had some good solo records post-Move as well...The Fall covered 'I Can Hear The Grass Grow'.  decent 60's band...there might also be a pre-ELP connection, maybe Keith Emerson?

Naw, you're really close but what you wanted was ELO. Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne formed ELO after The Move broke up. Wood quit after one album, while Lynne was only in the Move for their last two albums and only had a decent amount of creative input on their final album, "Message From The Country."

Now, as to general impressions of the Move, their early era, best encapsulated on the expanded reissue of their self-titled debut, was outstanding garage-mod-psych stuff. At that point, the lineup was Carl Wayne (v), Roy Wood (g/v), Trevor Burton (g), Ace Kefford (b), and Bev Bevan (d). They had songs on that first album that were more melodic psych, songs that were tougher and garagier-sounding but still with that later-era Yardbirds psych edge, and a few songs that were almost like 50s revival stuff. The songs from that era that are best known are "Fire Brigade," "I Can Hear The Grass Grow," and "Here We Go Round The Lemon Tree." The first two are on the "Nuggets 2" box. Roy Wood sings lead on "Fire Brigade," which was rare for that lineup of the Move.

Personally, I think they went downhill after that, though I am contrarian where the typical opinion is concerned. Keep in mind that I am no fan of Jeff Lynne (although his pre-Move band, Idle Race, were not bad). Anyway, Ace quit after the first record, and started a band called The Ace Kefford Stand, with Cozy Powell (later of Black Sabbath and other 70s metal groups). Trevor first switched to bass, then quit the band entirely due to their move [no pun intended] to a poppier, more orchestrated sound. Carl stuck around for the second album, "Shazam," and then he quit too. Jeff Lynne joined for the third album, "Looking On," and by the time of "Message From The Country," he and Roy Wood were doing both that Move album and the first ELO album at the same time. I'm sure that if you liked Move songs you heard that sound like 10cc, this is the stuff you should check out, but if you want to hear the stuff that I love, you'll avoid that shit in favor of the first album, specifically the three singles I mentioned above. I'd YSI some stuff, but I'm posting from my new laptop and don't have access to any music right now.

EDIT: I just checked and discovered that drummer Bev Bevan was also in ELO, so 3/4 of The Move's final lineup was in the original lineup of ELO.

[davy]

Wow! No idea about the ELO connection. That's crazy.

Thanks for that, Andrew. Exactly what I needed.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Hah, no problem man. I just wish it was the Move stuff that I love that you were excited about, not the later stuff. But whatever, it's all good.

Oh, and for the record, narlus, Keith Emerson's pre-ELP band was The Nice. I actually haven't ever heard them, so I don't know if I'd like them or not. I get varying ideas based on what I've read about them.

Hey, one more Move note: they used to do crazy shit like smash up cars during Top Of The Pops appearances, and got in a lot of trouble for making a video for their song "Flowers In The Rain" that made fun of British prime minister Harold Wilson. He sued them for slander and won, and they had to pay all future royalties from the single to him. Based on all of this, Johnny Rotten used to credit the Move as being a big influence on the Sex Pistols.

[davy]

Damn! That's crazy. I hope that shit wouldn't fly here in the States.

And to be honest, I just listened to a couple myspace tracks, so I don't know what album they were from...could be the debut.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Hah, the fact that The Move are on Myspace blows my mind. But yeah, those songs are all from the later era, mostly "Message From The Country." Did you notice that they have the original Move version of "Do Ya," later a hit for ELO, on Myspace? Of course, you can imagine I hate that song, but I figure you probably love it.

Also, that slander case situation... the laws for libel/slander work differently in the UK, and I remember that McDonalds won a libel case against protestors in the UK that they'd never have won in the US because of the difference between the laws in the two different countries. Here's wikipedia's explanation (oh, and I was wrong, it was a promotional postcard, not a video):

The promotional campaign for the song generated enormous controversy after Secunda produced a cartoon postcard to promote the single showing the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Harold Wilson, in bed with his secretary, Marcia Williams, with whom he was allegedly having an affair. Wilson sued The Move for libel. The group lost the court case and had to pay all costs, with all royalties earned by the song, which otherwise would have belonged to composer Roy Wood, being awarded to charities of Wilson's choice, a ruling which has remained in force even after Wilson's death in 1995.

[narlus]

Oh, and for the record, narlus, Keith Emerson's pre-ELP band was The Nice. I actually haven't ever heard them, so I don't know if I'd like them or not. I get varying ideas based on what I've read about them.

ah, that's right.  Randall Lee's ex-Cannanes band was just called Nice...trying to find the out of print stuff is difficult in more than one way.


also, Cheap Trick covered Roy Wood's "California Man" on _Heaven Tonight_.

[davy]

Don't know anything about that, but at verse-chorus press's website, you can order back issues of Puncture for $6, or 4 for $18. I think I'm going to take them up on that offer, because there's a few issues that cover bands I've loved for a long time, but never really saw much press about (TFUL 282 comes to mind).

Ordered four back issues the other day. So much for catching up on all the actual BOOKS I've been meaning to read.

[davy]

New random thread here:

http://www.lastplanetojakarta.com/forums/index.php/topic,11586.0.html