A Rock 'n' Roll Story In Six Acts

A Rock 'n' Roll Story In Six Acts

PROLOGUE

To begin this review by saying that the Move are back would be a bit presumptuous, because I suspect that for many of you the Move were never here in the first place. Long-time English favorites, their first album was recorded almost three years ago but was not (and most unfortunately at that) released on this side of the Atlantic. Suffice it to say that the Move, if they weren’t here then are most assuredly here now.

THE PLAYERS

Carl Wayne.vocals

Roy Wood.guitars

Rick Price. bass

Bev Bevan.percussion

ARCHAEOLOGY - PHASE ONE

The Move rock and rolled their way out of Birmingham, which is roughly England’s equivalent of Detroit. It is a heavily industrial city, and possesses that same depressing grayness which seems to characterize the Motor City. They were five then, employing the services of rhythm guitarist Ace Kefford and original bassist Trevor Burton. Their symbolic connection with Detroit was not merely geographical, however, for it carried over quite strongly into their early music and performance. They did r&b dance routines in matching outfits and often adapted material from American black artists, not unlike a more aggressive version of the young Rationals. They were managed by Mr. Tony Secunda, noted rock impressario and gimmic-monger (check the Jimmy Mdler interview in the last issue to find out what he’s up to now), and he made sure that his boys were always good press.

ARCHAEOLOGY - PHASE TWO

Looking back, one sees that the Move could have continually been counted on to be on top of the trend; and, that if their promotional and musical devices were not always of their own origin, they were certainly carried out with no lack of energy. Although the Move were never trend-setters, the conspicuous ways in which they went about following the trends made them solid front page material. They outgrew their pin-striped matching outfits and dance routines soon after they were brought to London by Secunda, and adopted a decidedly more impressive (and newsworthy, I might add) Lizzie Borden-style routine. The Who had been commanding headlines with their destruction ritual, but the Move took this ritual one theatrical step further, savagely assaulting automobiles, dummies, and all manner of props with axes. Needless to say, this bizarre ceremony had a sensational effect on the staid British pop scene, and gained the boys instant notoriety. The axe became synonomous with their act, and even after the routine was discarded, lead singer Carl Wayne was known to smoke a big Red Indian pipe on stage that was shaped in the form of an axe.

ARCHAEOLOGY - PHASE THREE When being the rock demolition derby ceased to be sensational or even newsworthy, the Move donned flowers and beads and became San Francisco’s English outpost. The English took “flower power” as an entity far more seriously than we Americans ever dreamed of; heated debates on the subject raged for weeks in the musical trade papers following the success of Scott McKenzie’s “San Francisco”. Any American group that took up the flowery trappings that the Move embraced (and lord knows, there were thousands of them at that particular time) was quickly lost in the foliage, but, given the English situation, it. would put a British band in the midst of a controversy and inevitably onto the front page. Which is exactly where the Move landed. They were certainly not the only ones who realized the potential in that controversy; the Stones released their “Dandelion” single at roughly the same time, and there was a song on the charts called “Go To San Francisco” by a British group who called themselves the Floer Pot Men, no less. But with the Move’s background in the dynamic, they were installed at the head of the pack. They released a single late that summer titled, quite appropriately, “Flowers In The Rain”. A reviewer for Melody Maker (one of the pop trades) called the song a “Flower Power-slanted Roy Wood composition”, but the reaction it received extended far beyond the simple bounds of the flower power controversy.

ARCHAEOLOGY - PHASE FOUR

Having decided that mere flower power was not enough for his lads, resident sharpie Mr. Secunda embarked on a more ambitious promotional campaign for the single. At this point in relative history, England’s s Prime Minister Harold Wilson was embroiled in a controversy of his own. It seems that the good Prime Minister (or ex-Prime Minister, as the score now stands) was alleged to have been involved with one of his secretaries in a slightly other-than-business manner, a scandalous thought indeed to the placid British public. Secunda, backed by a successful past history in sensational sell, attempted to get the Move a piece of that controversial action as well. He distributed a promotional postcard which pictured Mr. Wilson and the secretary in question engaging in some pormiscuous bed play; the caption read: “Disgusting, despised, and despicable though Harold may be, beautiful is the only word to describe ‘Flowers In The Rain’ by the Move”. The public, in typical English fashion, was at once shocked and infinitely charmed. But Harold, who was never particularly known for his sense of humor, was not charmed in the least and immediately took our somewhat unwilling heroes to court. Though they lost the case and had to give all royalties from the single to Mr. Wilson’s disposal, the incident insured them Stones-like lionization by the pop culture, and set the stage splendidly for the release of their first album.

ARCHAEOLOGY - PHASE FIVE

Aside from being good press, however, the Move were also good musicians, a fact that may help to account for their several hit singles. The English market has always been (and to this very day remains) geared toward singles, they haven’t as yet gotten around to imposing that typically American stigma on their singles artists, and the Move were primarily a singles group. It was extremely unusual, then, when the Move released their first album (The Move Regal Zonophone SLRZ 1001) in late 1967, and it contained only one of their hit singles. Artists who concentrated on singles have traditionally never been able to put together a full album that sustained the quality of their singles, but it is a shining tribute to the Move’s talent and resourcefulness that the material on their album was on a quality par with their single accomplishments. Quite simply, they were one of the few singles groups who could put out an album containing only one of their singles and artistically get away with it. The album was packaged in a psychedelic pinwheel cover designed by The Fool, and the music that it contained was only slightly less prismatic than its cover.

ARCHAEOLOGY - PHASE SIX

Ten of the thirteen songs on the album were written by guitarist Roy Wood, and the balanced excellence of those compositions lends credence to the “pop genius” label which has been bestowed upon him by admirers and observers alike. His songs are built upon a deceptively simple base designed for the maximum in harmonic interpretation, yet they possess a subtle sub-structure which is able to accomodate orchestral and electronic accentuation without overbearing pretension. He has an acute awareness of the necessary make-up of good singles material, but at the same time he allows for satisfying artistic expansion on that singles foundation. He freely embellishes his songs with fanciful string and horn arrangements, while the band (with particular regard to Trevor Burton’s up-front bass) holds down that elementary rock and roll feeling. It was precisely this combination of the simplistic and the carefully structured that made the music of the Move so thoroughly enjoyable on all levels. Of the three songs not penned by Wood, two (“Weekend” and “Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart”) were old rock remakes which pointed up the Move’s historical self-awareness and distinct sense of humor, while the other (“Hey Grandma”) was a Moby Grape tune which evidenced the group’s concern for the rhythmical extensions of contemporary rock. The record was produced by the now-infamous Denny

Cordell, but from that perspective it must be considered not one of his finer accomplishments. Upon first listening, the album comes off as over-produced, and this feeling is relatively substantiated. In certain places the strings are superfluously arranged, occasionally overshadowing the band itself and threatening Wood’s delicate balance. The sound is rich and full, but at times almost lopsidedly so. Fortunately, these are but momentary lapses, and the album when taken as a whole succeeds marvelously, all the way from “Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart” to “Flowers In The Rain”. I have heard the Move referred to as a British bubblegum act, but they are an English pop group, an essential distinction that one can’t escape having to make. English pop is a vastly different genre from what we term bubblegum, for it embodies an explicit definition of the English form of rock and roll, and the Move’s first album is perhaps the definitive example of English pop. You can probably find it, if you are willing to dig hard enough, in the import bin at your local record shop. A&M would be perfectly justified in releasing it here in the States (if in no other than a purely historical context), but don’t hold your breath waiting for it to happen.

ARCHAEOLOGY - PHASE SEVEN

Despite the success of the Move’s debut album, all their problems were not of an external nature. Dissension was an everyday reality for the band, but things eventually reached an artistic impasse and Ace Kefford and T revor Burton were dismissed to follow their deviating inclinations. Replacing them was yet another Birmingham lad, bassist Rick Price, and this shift left the Move with an instrumentation similar to the Who. Yet despite their musical and promotional successes, the boys never quite made that great voyage across the Atlantic; a professional void attributable to both their internal problems and the economic necessities involved in being an English rock and roll band. The population of England is only 1/5 that of the United States and its pop market potential is therefore also proportionately limited. Few English stars are able to “make it big” in the American sense unless they can draw from the American market as well; in a sense, England’s only really financially successful stars are her international stars. An English band that does not draw from an international market must, for simple reasons of economic survival, concentrate on an often grueling schedule of public appearance tours. Such was the case with the Move, and their past two years have been devoted largely to one-nighters and barnstorming tours. Their productivity during this period has declined sharply, being limited to a few outstanding singles, leading us to be extremely thankful for this, their second (or first, if you consider America the entire civilized world) album.

SHAZAM

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

This record is fairly unique in that it openly flirts with several rock cliches and current taboos, yet somehow manages to emerge unscathed and ever so healthy. Consider these examples: a) An English band’s ticket to ride during the past year or two has been the blues, but the Move not only refuse to pay hommage to this trend, they ignore it completely. They, along with Mott The Hoople, are creating a British music that takes its roots in the rock and roll rather than blues tradition, b) In a time when most of us are fervently disavowing any association with art-rock, Shazam is a consciously constructed artistic statement. And it works, c) While the lengthy cut has just about played itself out and the emphasis is on economy, the songs on Shazam number only six (averaging over six and a half minutes in length) without being the least bit self-indulgent. They sustain themselves on structural solidarity and image progression rather than ego. d) The Move engage in some wide-ranging eclectic frolic, from gutsy rock and roll to ornate pop to folk-rock, and still manage to emerge with a discernable identity and fresh sound. Within the framework of its eclecticism, Shazam is a highly inventive work, e) Electronic effects are becoming regarded as little more than a cheap device, but the Move utilize several electronic effects and make no apologies. None are needed, because the effects are tastefully employed and perceptively integrated. Keeping these things in mind, let us venture into the body of the work itself.

SHAZAM - ACT I “HELLO SUSIE” (4:55)

“Hello Susie, hello Susie/Tell me the news about yourself/Hello Susie, hello Susie/Tell me that you’ve enjoyed yourself.” Although an English hit by a band called Amen Corner (whose only bona fide smash was “Gin House”), this song was penned by guitarist Roy Wood, and he clearly demonstrates that the song belongs to no other than himself. His guitar work follows a fundamental rock and roll pattern, but its brilliance lies in his refusal to fall back on lead exercises to ascertain that brilliance. His chording is so barbarously effective that any lead work becomes unnecessary, in this respect it is comparable to the earlier work of Peter Townshend. Sweet-throated vocalist Carl Wayne’s performance is molded and dictated by Wood’s ruthless guitar, and he proves that a vocalist with a classically “good” voice can sing gutteral rock and roll with the necessary degree of balls. The personality differences of Wood and Wayne are sharply defined on this album, but they shape their differences into a highly complimentary musical relationship.

SHAZAM - ACT II “BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER” (2:36) “Your beautiful daughter/Made me younger y esterday/Beautiful daughter/Now the darkness hides the tears that soak the pillow where she lay.” This cut serves to remind us that the Move, despite-what “Hello Susie” would appear to say to the contrary,

had their roots take hold in the fertile soil of English Pop. Indeed, the song would seem more at home on “Top Of The Pops” (an English television program whose title is self-explanatory) than at the Fillmore. It possesses that graceful, almost effeminate, English feel that captivated our young hearts a few years back, a feel we soon discarded for intellectual twelve bar blues. The strings are not your usual molasses sludge, they are light and quick and play an integral part in the smooth progression of the song. Wayne and Wood harmonize lead beautifully, and this just could eclipse the pop heights they reached on their first album. Infinitely melodic and ever so nice.

SHAZAM - ACT III “CHERRY BLOSSOM CLINIC REVISITED (7:40)

“Cherry Blossom Clinic/Is there really truth in what they say/Cherry Blossom Clinic/Lock me in and throw the key away.” This is a remake of a Roy Wood song from their first album, and the two versions afford us solid perspective on the Move’s sound and attitude advancement. The version on the first album was so fully implemented that it literally burst, its extreme density gave rise to a corpulent sound that was somewhat muddled. They seemed to be giving us too much too soon in terms of texture and arrangement. With, “Revisited”, however, the basic structure of the song has been expanded so as to accomodate its fullness on a more balanced level. The band is up front, while the orchestration is used to diacritically develop the song’s theme. Roy Wood produced this album, and the differences in production are remarkable. His arrangements are air-tight, while the sound he gets has a clarity which is superb over and above comparisons between the two albums. “Revisited” reveals Wood’s maturity as a structural composer; the song can be broken down into several distinct movements which are intricately woven and co-ordinated. From a spoken acoustical beginning, a tension is developed through the interplay of both acoustic and electric guitars double-tracked by Wood (something he does quite often on this record, with fine results). Each of the movements invites a different emotional response, the driving hardness of the chorus is played off a guitar passage from Bach and the resulting tension holds the listener’s interest and affords cohesiveness to the song as a whole. The tension is finally released through a falsetto re-play of the Bach line that signals the end of the song. But the madcap falsetto chorus has driven the point clearly home: what the Move have given us is the most musically intricate and emotionally demanding picture of a mental institution to be found anywhere in rock, a song possibly approached only by James Taylor’s “Knocking Around The Zoo”. The version on the first album was a good song, here it becomes an accomplished statement.

SHAZAM - ACT IV “FIELDS OF PEOPLE” (10:09)

“Fields of people/There’s no such thing as a weed/Seeds of hatred/Plant them and soon they will breed.” This song, with its concern for structure and progression, is very close conceptually to “Cherry Blossom Clinic”. It is built around a progression with a distinctly Spanish flavor and is accented by a vocal chorus that is the model of vocal projection and production. The song is marred only by the addition of a four minute Indian excursion which seemed to have been tacked on to the end of the song as an afterthought. With Roy Wood double-tracking himself on sitar it’s an interesting idea and well executed, but ifijust doesn’t fit into the context of the rest of the song; it’s about the only musical form that the Move couldn’t successfully rescue from 1968. The six minute body of the song is fine, however, and supports my contention that the Move, with all due respect to Peter Townshend, are the band best equipped to produce a rock and roll opera.

SHAZAM - ACT V

“DON’T MAKE MY

BABY BLUE” (6:18)

“I know your reputation/They say you can’t be true/So I’ll be standing by and you better try/Not to make my baby blue”. When the pop songwriting team of Mann-Weill wrote this nice little tune, you can be sure that they never expected it to be interpreted in this manner. The song is so uncompromisingly powerful that it almost returns respectability to the “heavy” cliche, simply because that’s about the only word to describe it. At times it threatens to be dragged down by its heaviness, but the effect of Carl Wayne’s smooth vocal against Roy Wood’s vicious guitar keeps things alive and moving. By this time, however, the contributions of bassist Rick Price and drummer Bev Bevan are far, too obvious to be ignored. Price can mold the responsive sound of his instrument on a favorable plane with guitarist Wood, and Bevan’s drumming is the most punctual I’ve heard in the post-Ginger Baker period. One only need look at his cymbal work in “Cherry Blossom Clinic” to find the basic brilliance in that song’s progression. It is in songs like this where their contributions are most easily measured, for without their solid support the song would have degenerated into a power play between Wood and Wayne.

SHAZAM - ACT VI

“THE LAST THING ON MY MIND” (7:35)

“Are you going away with no word of farewell/W'ill there be not a trace for me to find/I could have loved you better, 1 didn’t mean to be unkind/You must know it was the last thing on my mind.” John Mendelsohn was perfect when he said that the Move’s version of this Tom Paxton song “compares quite favorably to anything the Byrds ever did with Dylan”. The use of twelve-string guitar sets up a musical parallel, but the conceptual parallel is there as well. They have taken a folk song and translated its acoustic principles into an electric vocabulary. The guitar work is lucid and almost ethereal, like looking out oyer a sun-drenched ocean and watching the sunlight dance on the crest of the waves. In many ways it’s closer to the mood Fred Neil created with his “Dolphins” than to the Byrds. It’s also the nicest way I can think of to end the album, as the Move let their soaring closing harmony carry us off above the clouds.

SHAZAM

GENERAL CONCLUSION

In looking back upon this album, it seems incredible that the Move could have produced this full a musical experience in only forty minutes with only a minimum of excess and pretension. This album reads like a compendium of the diverse styles and elements that make up contemporary rock and roll, and they pull it off because every song on the album bears that Move trademark of structure and energy; the songs flow within that framework easily and smoothly. A reviewer in Fusion dismissed the on-the-street interview segues as in bad taste, but he misses the point entirely. Each of thos e segues gives us a marvelous insight into the British mind, and Shazam gives us marvelous insight into the distinctively British form of rock and roll. As such, it is without a doubt the finest rock and roll record to come out of Great Britain in some time (with, of course, the celestial exception of the Stones). But far from being a geographical thing, the Move show us an understanding of rock and roll that all too few American bands can match. Shazam is the kind of record that I find myself returning to over and over again; and that’s about the best measure of quality that there is.

EPILOGUE

Shortly after this record was released in England, vocalist Carl Wayne left the band, a move that really surprised no one; rumors of his departure have been news for almost three years now. He has been replaced with Jeff Lynne, a guitarist from Birmingham who had previously played in a band called Idle Race with Roy Wood. The two will alternate on lead guitar and Wood will henceforth handle the lead vocals. Their first single in this present aggregation, “Brontosaurus” (which sounds like the title would lead you to believe it would sound), is currently near the top of the English charts. And, true to unpredictable form, Roy Wood appeared on “Top Of The Pops” to promote the single wearing a mask of African war paint. Front page till the end. The separation rumors are still running rampant, however; this time they have Wood and Lynne leaving to develop a concept they call the Electric Light Orchestra, a project thay have been contemplating for a couple of years. Current plans call for at least one more Move album, and Lynne says that they hope to run “the Orchestra and the Move as two separate units.” Though the rumors persist, the Move have scheduled an American tour for early in the fall, and with any luck at all America will get her first real look at this extraordinary band. But no matter what the future may hold for the Move, in Shazam they have given us a first-rate artistic statement, and that’s more than a lot of the more internationally successful English bands have given us.

Ben Edmonds