The last hurrah from the mercurial Move – album wise at least – who throughout their career veered between the most exquisite melodies you ever heard to cranium crunching guitar riffs that melted your brain. Despite this dichotomy they scored a slew of hits through the late sixties and early seventies, but their truly original approach found the band falling between two stools when it came to long players– Too heavy for pop, Too off the wall for rock fans.
Led by the uber talented tunesmith Roy Wood and aided by the redoubtable Jeff Lynne there is never a dull moment on ‘Message To The Country’. A contractual obligation album it may have been – as behind the scenes our dynamic duo were planning ELO – it nevertheless stands as the group’s strongest album. In many ways their approach mirrored the Beatles. A quintessentially English mixture of pioneering sophisticated rock, pastiche and whimsy that highlighted their song-writing strength and original arrangements. In Roy Wood they had a one man orchestra whose hybrid mixture of strings and myriad woodwinds gave them a sound like no other band.
Roy Wood was undoubtedly Britain’s answer to the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson – a musical genius – but let’s not underestimate Jeff Lynne’s contribution either. Recruited for this final album from Brummie cohorts The Idle Race – a Birmingham super-group of sorts – their psychedelic, eclectic sound found critical acclaim but alas little commercial success. The failure to crack the charts eventually led a disillusioned and fiercely ambitious Lynne to quit and be persuaded to join up with the Move where his slightly darker material complimented Roy Wood’s whimsical approach and gave the band a more progressive slant. It was later revealed that Lynne’s major reason for joining The Move was based on Roy Wood’s vision for an orchestral rock group taking its cue from The Beatles song ‘I Am The Walrus’.
Lynne’s influence is writ large from the off. ‘Message From The Country’ with its droning doom-laden guitar intro echoes ELO’s first hit record ‘10538 Overture’ – unsurprising really as both projects were recording in parallel at the time. ‘No Time’ also signposts the way to the forthcoming ELO debut with an acoustically driven guitar augmented by recorders, flutes and whistles that all combine into an otherworldly and haunting whole. The wonderfully spooky ‘The Words of Aaron’ is another highlight. Perhaps a leftover from Lynne’s stint with the Idle Race it’s a distinctly psychedelic, off kilter number. Heavy as hell it’s a rambling beast with a dense combination of Roy Wood’s thunderous bass underpinned by sinister synth punctuations. Lynne’s vocals recall John Lennon though it’s never derivative.
Whilst Jeff Lynne clearly had the bit between his teeth in his quest for recognition, contributing top notch song-writing for the Move and ELO, Roy Wood clearly had ELO on his mind judging by his contribution to Message. But whilst his nostalgia tinged ditties were for the most part disposable his talent for churning out hit singles was undiminished. The Move went out with a bang with 3 Top Twenty hits in an eighteen month period between 1971 and late ‘72 with the combination of Wood’s uncanny ear for melody embellished by Lynne’s meaty slide playing proving a winning formula. These 45’s ‘Chinatown’, ‘Tonight’ and the ebullient ‘California Man’ were stand-alone releases but have been handily been gathered together as bonus tracks on this remastered release and sound terrific. Also appearing is the classic garage rock of ‘Do Ya’. Released in 1972 it became Move’s only chart record in America and belatedly the song hit the Top 30 in the USA 4 years later when Lynne revisited it for ELO.
Although an uneven album it has many neglected treasures that make it essential for ELO fans to investigate. If Roy Wood had not persued his fixation with Phil Spector and stayed the course with Jeff Lynne, one can only imagine the spectacular music they would have made together.
Lyndon Noon
cherryred.co.uk
