The Move were a British rock band of the late 1960s and the early 1970s. They scored nine Top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any real success in the United States. Although bassist-vocalist Chris “Ace” Kefford was the original leader, for most of their career the Move was led by guitarist, singer and songwriter Roy Wood. He wrote all the group’s UK singles and, from 1968, also sang lead vocals on many songs, although Carl Wayne was the main lead singer up to 1970. Initially, the band had 4 main vocalists (Wayne, Wood, Trevor Burton and Kefford) who split the lead vocals on a number of their earlier songs.
The Move evolved from several mid-1960s Birmingham based groups, including Carl Wayne & the Vikings, the Nightriders and the Mayfair Set. Their name referred to the move various members of these bands made to form the group. Besides Wood, the Move’s original five-piece roster in 1965 was drummer Bev Bevan, bassist Kefford, vocalist Carl Wayne and guitarist Trevor Burton. The final line-up of 1972 was the trio of Wood, Bevan and Jeff Lynne; together, they rode the group’s transition into the Electric Light Orchestra. Between 2007 and 2014, Burton and Bevan performed intermittently as “The Move featuring Bev Bevan and Trevor Burton.”
Move is the debut album by The Move, released on the Regal Zonophone label. The only one which was recorded by the group’s initial line-up before bassist Ace Kefford left, it includes both sides of their third and fourth singles (“Flowers in the Rain” and “Fire Brigade”). “Flowers in the Rain” was the first ever song played on Radio 1 in September 1967 by Tony Blackburn.
The album consisted of Roy Wood originals, and three cover versions that had featured prominently in their live set. “Weekend” was an Eddie Cochran song, and “Hey Grandma” had originally been recorded by US psychedelic band Moby Grape. “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart” was an old James F. Hanley standard, with an arrangement copied from The Coasters.
The last track, “Cherry Blossom Clinic”, was intended as a single at the end of 1967, and an acetate, with “Vote for Me” (a song which remained unreleased until 1997), was pressed. Release was cancelled, as the lyrics were about the inmate of a mental home, and in the wake of the controversy which had dogged “Flowers in the Rain”, with its promotional postcard featuring an allegedly libellous drawing of Prime Minister Harold Wilson, it was felt that potential further allegations of bad taste and scandal would harm their career irreparably. (by wikipedia)
There’s a good reason why the Move’s eponymous 1968 debut album sounds like the work of two or three different bands — actually, befitting a band with multiple lead singers, there’s more than one reason. First, there’s that lead singer conundrum. Carl Wayne was the group’s frontman, but Roy Wood wrote the band’s original tunes and sometimes took the lead, and when the group covered a rock & roll class, they could have rhythm guitarist Trevor Burton sing (as they did on Eddie Cochran’s “Weekend”) or drummer Bev Bevan (as they did on the Coasters’ “Zing Went the Strings of My Heart”). Such ever-changing leads can lend excitement but it can also lend confusion, especially when the group enthusiastically mixes up Who-inspired art pop with three-chord rock & roll oldies and more than a hint of British eccentricity. Add to that, the album had a long, convoluted birth of 14 months, a long span of time in pop music, but it was an eternity in the mid-’60s, when styles and sounds were changing monthly.
The Move were releasing singles during this time so they weren’t absent from the scene, but they did happen to be set upon a course of cutting singles when their peers were crafting album-length epics, something that separated them from the pack, making them seem eccentric…and the Move needed no help in seeming eccentric. In an age filled with outsized originals, the Move may have been the most peculiar, not quite fitting into any particular scene or sound. They rivaled the Who in their almost violent power, but were almost entirely devoid of Mod style, despite the “Ace” nickname of bassist Chris Kefford. They were as defiantly British as the Kinks, but during 1967 and 1968 they were more closely tied to psychedelia than the Davies brothers, producing intensely colorful records like “(Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree” and “I Can Hear the Grass Grow,” songs that owed a heavy debt to the Beatles. Indeed, the Move were arguably at the forefront of the second wave of the British Invasion, building upon the bright, exuberant sound of 1964 and 1965 and lacking any rooting in the jazz and blues that fueled the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and Manfred Mann, among countless others.(by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)
Personnel:
Bev Bevan (drums, percussion, vocals)
Trevor Burton (guitar, vocals)
Ace Kefford (bass, vocals)
Carl Wayne (vocals)
Roy Wood (guitar, vocals)
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Nicky Hopkins (piano on 07., harpsichord on 12.)
Tony Visconti (string, brass and woodwind arrangements)
Tracklist:
01. Yellow Rainbow (Kefford/Wood) 2.38
02. Kilroy Was Here (Wood) 2.45
03. (Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree (Wood) 3.02
04. Weekend (B.Post/D.Post/Burton) 1.48
05. Walk Upon The Water (Wayne/Wood/Kefford) 3.24
06. Flowers In The Rain (Wayne/Wood) 2.22
07. Hey Grandma (Miller/Stevenson/Wayne) 3.13
08. Useless Information (Wayne) 2.57
09. Zing! Went the Strings Of My Heart (Hanley/Bevan/Kefford) 2.50
10. The Girl Outside (Burton) 2.56
11. Fire Brigade (Wood/Wayne) 2.24
12. Mist On A Monday Morning (Wood) 2.32
13. Cherry Blossom Clinic (Wayne/Wood) 2:30
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14. Night Of Fear (Wood) (Single A-Side) 2.17
15. The Disturbance (Wood) (Single B-Side) 2.50
16. I Can Hear The Grass Grow (Single A-Side) (Wood) 3.09
17. Wave The Flag And Stop The Train (Single B-Side) (Wood) 2.58
18. Vote For Me (Unreleased Single B-Side) (Wood) 2.51
19. The Disturbance (alternate version) (Wood) 2.02
20. Fire Brigade (alternate version) (Wood/Wayne) 2.20
21. Second Class (She’s Too Good for You) (Roy Wood solo track) (Wood) 2.08
22. Cherry Blossom Clinic (alternate version) (Wayne/Wood) 2.54
23. (Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree (stereo version) (Wood) 2.59
24. Weekend (stereo version) (B.Post/D.Post/Burton) 1.48
25. Flowers In The Rain (stereo version) (Wayne/Wood) 2.31
26. Useless Information (stereo version) (Wayne) 2.58
27. Zing! Went the Strings Of My Heart (stereo version) (Hanley/Bevan/Kefford) 2.51
28. The Girl Outside (stereo version) (Burton) 2.55
29. Walk Upon The Water (stereo version) (Wayne/Wood/Kefford) 3.22
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