Message From the Country was the 1971 parting shot from Brummie rockers The Move, something of a contractual obligation while the now three piece recorded the first ELO album. And as far as contractual obligations go, it’s a bloody good’un.

Consisting of Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan, this album, recorded for the band’s new label and EMI’s progressive wing, Harvest, saw Lynne move to the fore, sharing 50% of the songwriting, vocal and production duties with the The Move’s regular creative workhorse, Roy Wood.

As a band that’d travelled a musical path from Mod chic and pop, to psychedelic floweriness, through to some particularly weighty progressive rock, Message From the Country sees a return to the realms of the pop song, albeit in a somewhat progressive vein.

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album reviews, progressive pop crossover

There’s no denying that there was an incredible amount of creative energy expended during the late sixties and early seventies, knocking up psych, prog and folk albums or various combinations thereon. Perhaps if this energy could have been harnessed and simultaneously pumped into the national grid, Jeffman wouldn’t now be paying the extortionate amount he does to keep the HFoS sound system rolling 24 hours a day.

It also begs the question of whether following these outpourings of creativity, the bands were just too spent to think of an album title. Either that or the drugs had worn off. Why else would so many bands opt for the boring eponymous route for their debut opus?

Progressive pop/rock combo Cressida is just one of the many to venture down this well-trodden path.

Released in 1970 on the Vertigo label, Cressida, the album, showcases a band eager to get in, do the business, and get out before anybody has noticed. Not for them is the traditional avenue of extended guitar and keyboard solos. Breaking with the unwritten norm, the songs on Cressida are, in contrast to other venerable members of the progressive community, succinct.

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album reviews, prog rock, progressive pop crossover

Roy Wood, prog rock or not? Discuss…

Although Birmingham’s finest beard (and bard) can boast a finger jabbed deep into many a musical pie, as far back as his early days in The Move there has been an experimental edge asserting its authority over the poppier elements. The Move’s third album, Looking On, was as progressive as they come, and then there’s both ELO’s debut and Wizzard’s Wizzard Brew, the latter a heavy, eclectic mixture that’s the sonic equivalent of a progressive brick wall falling on your head.

Roy Wood’s second solo album, 1975′s Mustard, is no exception. Traditional prog rock, in the vein of Yes, ELP or King Crimson, this is not, but the scope of its invention and the refusal to adhere to what might be regarded as common musical strictures makes it equally as progressive as a Gentle Giant album. The fact that, as with his previous solo excursion Boulders, Roy Wood wrote, arranged, produced, sang and played all the instruments himself only adds to this unconventional approach and justification of the prog label I’ve bestowed upon it. I like to label things, see?

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album reviews, prog rock, progressive pop crossover

Many has been the day when I have found myself deep in thought, pondering on what it is my life has been missing. I have endeavoured to seek solace within the realms of psychedelic and prog rock and it was through this that I found the source of my discontent was concept album based.

I have all manner of concept albums, sonically detailing topics as diverse as deaf, dumb and blind pinball players, alien invasions from Mars, the life cycle of a lad named SF Sorrow, poetry competitions, creepy old tramps and the bucolic lifestyle (Jethro Tull can lay claim to the last three) but what I didn’t have was a concept album about cricket! What’s more, I didn’t have a concept album about cricket that nodded towards the late seventies ELO sound.

Until now, that is. All hail the Duckworth Lewis Method, an album that not only ticks all the above boxes but also goes a long way to restoring my faith in ‘modern’ music.

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album reviews, progressive pop crossover