The Move – Shazam
As promised last weekend, we will be reviewing the Move’s entire back catalogue over the next few months and there’s no better time than the present to kick it off, not, as you may assume with their debut album, but its follow-up, Shazam. That’s how we do things around here.
And what an album it is. As satisfying as a well placed kick to some self-righteous git’s wedding tackle.
1969′s Shazam was the second album from the Brummy psychedelic/experimental/ prog outfit, The Move. It also saw them shy of two of the original members who’d appeared on the eponymous debut. As way of replacement, Rick Price was brought in on bass. But the core membership (prior to the arrival of Jeff Lynne) remained the same. Carl Wayne on vocals. Bev Bevan on drums. And Roy Wood, the musical powerhouse behind them all.
Despite coming at a time of upheaval within the group, with a change of management and Wayne soon to depart to make way for Lynne (the catalyst that pushed The Move onwards to becoming the Electric Light Orchestra), Shazam doesn’t disappoint.
It gets off to a rip-roaring start with the raucous ‘Hello Susie’, an opening salvo that is a full bodied assault on the senses, incorporating heavy guitar, bass, phased vocals and drums. Sadly this is only one of three Roy Wood-penned songs on the original release, the last three being cover versions – albeit covers carried off in The Move’s own unique style. Thankfully the recent Fly Records digipack CD reissues of the first three Move albums have not been shy when it comes to extras, and Shazam features eight bonus tracks, including alternate mixes of singles ‘Curly’ and the perennial ‘Blackberry Way’.
Of the original songs on the album, the highlight has to be ‘Cherry Blossom Clinic Revisited’. A seven and half minute reworking of the orchestral-heavy tale of psychosis from the debut album. The bursts of classical music have been stripped away and the intro is now spoken in Carl Wayne’s dulcet Brummy tones but the song remains essentially the same until it spirals off into full blown prog rock territory with a prolonged take on Bach’s ‘Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring’. This jaunty workout features splendid guitar shenanigans from Roy Wood, a man who’s unjustly remembered, by and large, for a Christmas song and not for being the musical wiz(z)ard that he actually was. The meandering but delightful finish to ‘Cherry Blossom Clinic’ can be seen as an early precursor to the path the band would take on their next, far more progressive album, Looking On.
Other highlights on an album consisting largely of highlights include The Move’s ten minute psychedelic adaptation of the obscure Ars Nova track ‘Fields Of People’ (no, I’ve not heard the original either), with a melody that can’t help but bring a smile to the face, interspersed with Carl Wayne’s bizarre asides as he records the vocals live in the street outside the recording studio - “There’s a bloke out here wants to know where the band is”. The cheeky ‘Beautiful Daughter’, which Roy Wood regards as one of his finest compositions, plus the other two cover versions given the extended Move workout, ‘Don’t Make My Baby Blue’ and ‘The Last Thing On My Mind’, add up to a superior album, one worthy of a pride of place in any record collection. Of the bonus tracks on this expanded CD, the aforementioned ‘Curly’ and ‘Blackberry Way’ are the standouts.
Shazam was the album that cemented The Move’s transformation from psychedelic-posters, to the real-deal experimental/progressive rockers. A move that lasted for two more albums (without the departed Carl Wayne) before they retired the name and became the splendid Electric Light Orchestra.
Shazam is reissued on Fly Records and available to buy at Amazon.co.uk
Edit. The Fly Record Move reissues also enable access to exclusive online downloads through their website.
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