The Move

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For the Christian charismatic movement, see The Move: Sam Fife.

Bev Bevan, Roy Wood, Trevor Burton, Carl Wayne
Background information
Origin	Birmingham, UK
Genre(s)	Rock music, Pop, Psychedelic rock, British Invasion
Years active	1965–1972
Label(s)	Regal Zonophone Fly Records Harvest Records A&M Records Capitol Records United Artists Records
Associated acts	Electric Light Orchestra Wizzard
Members
Roy Wood Carl Wayne Bev Bevan Chris "Ace" Kefford Trevor Burton Jeff Lynne Rick Price

The Move were one of the leading British rock bands of the 1960s from Birmingham, England.

The Move were led by guitarist, singer and songwriter Roy Wood, who composed all the group's UK singles and from 1968 also sang lead vocal on many of them. They were extremely successful in Britain in their early career, scoring nine Top 20 UK singles in five years, but they were not as well known in the United States, mainly because they did not tour there until the latter part of their career. Nevertheless, they have been credited as an influence on many later groups on both sides of the Atlantic.

The group evolved from several mid 1960s Birmingham based groups, including Carl Wayne and the Vikings, the Nightriders and the Mayfair Set. Strongly influenced by The Beatles, Motown and the emerging American 'West Coast' sound, The Move quickly established a reputation as one of the most accomplished and exciting live acts of the period. The group's name seems to refer to the move various members of these bands made to form the group. Beside Wood, the original members of The Move in 1966 were drummer Bev Bevan, bassist Chris "Ace" Kefford, vocalist Carl Wayne and guitarist Trevor Burton. The concluding members in 1972 were the trio of Wood, Bevan and guitarist-pianist Jeff Lynne, who transitioned the group into The Electric Light Orchestra.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Legal issues 1.2 Continued success 1.3 New directions 1.4 Final movements 2 Selected discography 2.1 Singles 2.2 EPs 2.3 Albums 2.4 Compilations 2.5 Reissues/Remasters 3 Cover versions of songs by The Move 4 References 5 Videos 6 External links

[edit] History

Their early career was marked by a series of publicity stunts, high-profile media events and outrageous stage antics masterminded by their manager, the flamboyant Tony Secunda, such as Wayne's taking an axe to television sets, Cadillacs and busts of Adolf Hitler and Rhodesian leader Ian Smith. They played their first shows in early 1966, and became known for their elaborate vocal arrangements, and for their taste in soul music, and American West Coast bands The Beach Boys, the Byrds, Love and Moby Grape. Their manager, Secunda (who also managed Birmingham's other major pop group of the day, The Moody Blues), got them a weekly residency at London's Marquee Club which had recently been vacated by The Who where they appeared dressed in gangster regalia, however the band members reportedly remained resident in the Midlands. They secured a production contract with independent record producer Denny Cordell (Joe Cocker, Procol Harum) but even this was turned into a media event by Secunda, who famously arranged for the band to sign their contracts on the back of a topless female model. Roy Wood wrote their first single, "Night of Fear", a Number 2 hit in the UK singles chart in January 1967 which began the Move's practice of musical quotation (in this case, the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky). Their second single, "I Can Hear the Grass Grow", was another major hit, reaching Number 5 in the UK.

[edit] Legal issues

"Flowers in the Rain" was the first track played on Radio 1, when it began broadcasting on 30 September 1967, introduced by Tony Blackburn. The song, which reached Number 2, was less guitar-oriented than their previous two singles, and featured an inventive woodwind arrangement by producer Tony Visconti. The song generated controversy when the band were sued by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Harold Wilson, for libel after Secunda produced a cartoon postcard to promote the single of Wilson in bed with his secretary, Marcia Williams, with whom he was allegedly having an affair. The group lost the court case and had to pay all costs, with all royalties earned by the song being given to charities of Wilson's choice, a ruling which remained in force even after Wilson's death in 1995. For their fourth single, the group had planned to release "Cherry Blossom Clinic", a lighthearted song about the fantasies of a patient in a mental institution, backed by the satirical "Vote For Me". However, they had been thoroughly unnerved by their court experiences; they and the record company felt it unwise to pursue such a potentially controversial idea, and the single was shelved. "Vote For Me" remained unreleased until it began to appear on retrospective collections from 1997 onwards, while "Cherry Blossom Clinic" became one of the tracks on their first LP, also called The Move.

As a consequence of the lawsuit fiasco, The Move fired Tony Secunda as manager and hired Don Arden. In a 2000 interview, Carl Wayne noted that there had been a major split within the group about Secunda's tactics: "[Secunda] had the animals who would do what he wanted to do in Trevor, Ace, and me – the fiery part of the stage act. I think Roy would obviously qualify this himself, but I believe he was slightly embarrassed by the image and the stunts – but the rest of us weren’t.... We were always willing to be Secunda puppets."

[edit] Continued success

In March 1968 they returned to the charts in style with "Fire Brigade", another UK top three hit, and the first on which Roy Wood sang lead vocal. But a few weeks later, around the time of the release of the LP, Kefford left the band due to increasing personal and musical differences. They became a four-piece, with Burton switching to bass.

It was also during this line-up transition that the band first invited Jeff Lynne, a friend of Wood's, to join. He declined at the time still hoping for success in his current band, the Idle Race, another Birmingham based group.

In the summer of 1968 their fifth single "Wild Tiger Woman", a much heavier song acknowledging the group's love of Jimi Hendrix, failed to chart at all - in chart terms, a disaster as it followed four top five hits. They responded with their most commercial number yet, the evergreen "Blackberry Way", which topped the UK chart in February 1969. This new, more easy-listening musical direction was the last straw for the increasingly disenchanted Burton, who wanted to work in a more hard rock/blues oriented style, and he left the group after an altercation on stage one evening with Bev Bevan. At around this time it was rumoured in the music press that Hank Marvin of the recently disbanded Shadows had been invited to join The Move. Some years later it was disclosed that this was a mere publicity stunt; however, Marvin himself, in an article in Melody Maker in 1973 and elsewhere has maintained that he was definitely approached by Wood and invited to join The Move, but declined because The Move's schedule was too hectic for him. Burton was ultimately replaced by Rick Price, another veteran of several Birmingham rock groups.

Ace Kefford recorded a solo album in 1968 after his departure, but it remained unreleased until 2003 when it appeared as "Ace The Face". Trevor Burton played bass with yet another Birmingham group, The Steve Gibbons Band, and later fronted his own blues group as lead guitarist.

During this period Arden sold The Move's management contract to Peter Walsh. Walsh, who specialized in cabaret acts, began booking the band into cabaret-style venues unsuitable for "power pop" rockers such as The Move, which further increased the tension between Carl Wayne and Roy Wood.

1970s Shazam continued their practice of musical quotation, and of elaborately re-arranged versions of other performer's songs; "Hello Susie", which was a top five hit for Amen Corner in 1969, quotes Booker T. Jones' and Eddie Floyd's "Big Bird," and the album includes a cover of a Tom Paxton song, "The Last Thing On My Mind". It also included a slightly slower remake of "Cherry Blossom Clinic" that began in with a proto-metallic grind and finished with an acoustic guitar-dominated extended quotation from Johann Sebastian Bach's "Joy".

According to the same 2000 interview, Wayne devised a plan to revive the group's fortunes by bringing Burton and Kefford back in; well aware that Wood was intent on setting up his new orchestral rock project (which became ELO), he suggested that Wood could concentrate on performing with his new band but could also continue to write songs for The Move. However his suggestion was bluntly rejected by the other three members, so Wayne finally quit the group in January 1970. He subsequently worked in a variety of musical ventures and appeared on TV and radio. In 2000 he replaced Allan Clarke as lead singer of The Hollies and performed with them as lead singer until his untimely death from cancer in 2004.

[edit] New directions

Upon Wayne's departure, The Move promptly jettisoned Walsh as manager and returned to Arden. Jeff Lynne joined for good, as Wood realized that he needed a second composer in the band to relieve the pressure on himself, and the band toured England with Arden's Black Sabbath. From this period came the hard-rocking third album Looking On (1970), with all songs composed by Wood except for two by Lynne. The album included a #7 hit, Wood's "Brontosaurus", which was the band's last recording for Regal Zonophone, but its harder-rock focus came as a surprise to many longtime fans. The second single from the album, "When Alice Comes Back to the Farm," failed to chart.

During the lengthy recording sessions for the next album, which included continuous overdubbing of new instruments by Wood and Lynne while the rest of the group idled, Rick Price left to form the band Mongrel, Price later joined Wood in Wizzard, and the shortlived Roy Wood's Wizzo Band, playing steel guitar for the latter, then went to work in musical management, and also formed the duo Price and Lee with Dianne Price. The remaining members -- Wood, Lynne and Bevan -- completed the final Move LP, Message From The Country (1971), an eclectic collection widely regarded as The Move's best album. Lynne's compositions displayed a strong Beatles and Bee Gees influence. Wood's "Ben Crawley Steel Company" featured a Bev Bevan lead vocal that was obviously modeled on Johnny Cash, while Bevan's "Don't Mess Me Up" (sung by Wood) paid homage to Elvis Presley, complete with fake Jordanaires. Nevertheless, in 2005 Bevan referred to this album as his least favorite from The Move.

The album was followed by two more Wood-penned hit singles, "Tonight" and "Chinatown". For several television appearances behind these songs, The Move added two musicians who became members of the group after its transition into ELO: Bill Hunt (horns, winds, piano) and Richard Tandy (guitar, bass).

[edit] Final movements

As the release of the first Electric Light Orchestra album drew near, The Move released what turned out to be a farewell disc, a "maxi-single" in 1972 consisting of "California Man", "Ella James" (from Message), and "Do Ya." "California Man", a Number 7 UK hit, featuring baritone saxophones, a double bass, and a riff borrowed from George Gershwin, was an affectionate tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis (the double bass had "Killer," Lewis' nickname, written on it) with Lynne and Wood trading verses and lines. It was one of the first records to kick off the 1950s rock and roll revival in the early 1970s in Britain. Like all UK Move hits, it was a Roy Wood composition. Meanwhile, Lynne's "Do Ya" became the Move's best-known song in the U.S.; it was The Move's only song to reach the American Top 100 charts, if only the lower rungs (#93). (The Electric Light Orchestra's remake of "Do Ya," recorded after Wood left ELO, was a significant US hit in 1977).

With the release of the album The Electric Light Orchestra, The Move completed its transition into ELO. Wood and Lynne were joint leaders; it was Wood who played many of the album's classical instruments (such as cello and flute), with Lynne on piano, and articles of the time discussing the new group noted how Wood would repeatedly overdub until he had become more familiar with each instrument. The group recruited new musicians to recreate their sound live, retaining the Move trio at the center, and started recording tracks for a second album.

But after several disappointing live performances and growing disagreements about musical direction, Wood decided to leave and form his own band, catching Lynne by surprise. Wood's aspirations to combine rock and jazz elements, incorporating saxophone players such as himself, seemed at odds with the group's experimental classical style and Lynne's desire to keep touring until the band jelled. Of the eleven ELO songs recorded by both Wood and Lynne, seven were Lynne compositions, which may also have contributed to Wood's unrest.

Wood released a solo album in 1973, Boulders, and went on to front the glam rock band Wizzard, while Lynne and Bevan kept touring and finally achieved massive success with The Electric Light Orchestra.

Message From The Country, the band's highly acclaimed 1971 album, was remastered and released on the original labels, Harvest in the UK in 2005 and Capitol in the US in 2006.

Although never as popular in the United States as they were in their native England, the Move were a seminal pop/rock group of the era, and are often cited as one of the main progenitors of power pop. Cheap Trick recorded a version of "California Man" on their Heaven Tonight LP, while Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols admitted that one of the guitar riffs on "God Save The Queen" was inspired by that on "Fire Brigade".

[edit] Selected discography

[edit] Singles

• "Night of Fear" - (Jan, 1967) - UK #2
• "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" (April, 1967) - UK #5
• "Flowers in the Rain" (Aug, 1967) - UK #2 -- first record ever to appear on BBC Radio 1
• "Fire Brigade" (Feb, 1968) - UK #3
• "Wild Tiger Woman" (Aug, 1968) - UK #53
• "Blackberry Way" (Dec, 1968) - UK #1
• "Curly" (July, 1969) - UK #12
• "Brontosaurus" (April, 1970) - UK #7
• "When Alice Comes Back to the Farm" (Oct, 1970)
• "Tonight" (June, 1971) - UK #11
• "Chinatown" (October, 1971) - UK #23
• "California Man" / "Do Ya" / "Ella James" (April, 1972) - UK #7

Note: "Do Ya" (B-side of "California Man" single - 1972 US #93 Billboard Pop Singles; 1974 UK; 1976 - rerecorded by ELO)

[edit] EPs

• "Something Else From The Move" (1968)

[edit] Albums

• The Move (April, 1968) - UK #15
• Shazam (1970)
• Looking On (1970)
• Message From The Country (1971)

[edit] Compilations

• Split Ends (1972) (same as Great Move!, except omitting 'Ben Crawley Steel Company', 'Don't Mess Me Up' and 'My Marge')
• The Best Of The Move (1974)
• Great Move!: The Best Of The Move (1994) (same as Message reissue, except omitting alternate takes)
• The BBC Sessions (1995)
• Movements: 30th Anniversary Anthology (1997) (comprehensive collection through Looking On)

[edit] Reissues/Remasters

• Message From The Country (2005)

[edit] Cover versions of songs by The Move

• A cover of "California Man" was released by Cheap Trick on their 1978 album Heaven Tonight. It features a quick snippet from "Brontosaurus" in the middle section.
• A cover of "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" was released as a single by The Fall in 2005, and is also included on their album Fall Heads Roll. It was also recorded by Status Quo on the first of their cover versions albums, Don't Stop (1996). In addition, the song was recorded by New York psychedelic act, The Blues Magoos on their third LP, Basic Blues Magoos, released in 1968.
• As an odd note, there is also a brief (uncredited) cover of "I Can Hear The Grass Grow" on Spirit guitarist Randy California's 1972 solo album Kapt. Kopter And The (Fabulous) Twirly-Birds. It appears at the end of the sixth track "Things Yet to Come", and is backwards and played at double-speed. Noel Redding is the vocalist.
• "Fire Brigade" was released as a single by The Fortunes in the U.S. in 1968, in a vain attempt to compete with the original; neither version made the U.S. charts.
• In addition to the 1969 No. 4 hit version by Amen Corner, "Hello Susie" was also recorded by British soul band Buddy Curtess and the Grasshoppers as a single in 1986.
• "Do Ya" has been recorded by Todd Rundgren's Utopia and Ace Frehley.
• "Flowers In The Rain" has been recorded by Nancy Sinatra.
• "Ella James" has been recorded by The Nashville Teens.
• "Brontosaurus" was later recorded by Cheap Trick and released in 2002 as a 7 inch vinyl single by Sub Pop Records.

[edit] References

• Guinness Book of British Hit Singles - 16th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-190-X
• The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits - ISBN 0-85112-250-7
• Guinness Book of British Hit Albums - 7th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-619-7
• Guinness Rockopedia - ISBN 0-85112-072-5
• The Great Rock Discography - 5th Edition - ISBN 1-84195-017-3

[edit] Videos

• Blackberry Way video
• When Alice Comes Back to the Farm video (live)
• The Words of Aaron video (with Hunt)
• Down on the Bay video (live, with Hunt and Tandy)
• California Man video (with Hunt)

[edit] External links

• Move, Idle Race, Elo & Jeff Lynne: "Ales' ELO Web" - fan site is dedicaded to ELO and Jeff Lynne.
• The Move official site
• Message From The Country
• Face The Music site: Move, ELO, and related
• Roy Wood official site
• Carl Wayne official site
• The Move Information Station

The Move
Members: Roy Wood | Carl Wayne | Bev Bevan | Jeff Lynne | Trevor Burton | Ace Kefford | Rick Price
Discography
Studio albums: Move | Looking On | Message From the Country
Live albums: Something Else From The Move | Shazam
Singles: "Night of Fear" | "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" | "Flowers in the Rain" | "Wild Tiger Woman" | "Blackberry Way" | "Curly" | "Brontosaurus" | "When Alice Comes Back to the Farm! | "Tonight" | "Chinatown" | "California Man" | "Do Ya"