[This digest is the copyright of the Move "Useless Information" Mailing List. Re-publication or re-distribution of "Useless Information" content, in any form whatsoever, is expressly prohibited without prior written consent.] USELESS INFORMATION The Move Mailing List Digest Issue #411 November 16, 2002 In this issue: * Song Of The Week (week of 11/4): "Cherry Blossom Clinic (Revisited)" * Irresistible repulsion (and other thoughts) * The (Rick) Price was Right! * Any Version * When The 60's Come Back To The 80's * When Bev was 14... * The Shazam * Move memories * Tell us the news about yourself... ============================================================== To POST TO THE LIST: Send an e-mail to: move-list@eskimo.com Move List Info & Archives: http://www.eskimo.com/~noanswer/movelist.html TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Send an e-mail to move-digest-request@eskimo.com with the word "unsubscribe" (no quotes) in the subject line ============================================================== Subject: Re: Song Of The Week: "Cherry Blossom Clinic (Revisited)" Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2002 10:59:45 -0800 From: Stephen Wallace Re Richard's comment: > Surely there's a PhD. paper waiting to be written: "Mentally > dysfunctional protagonists in the songs of Roy Wood".... From a professional point of view, I think the mono/prolog of CBC is perhaps one of the most touching and pertinent observations about personal distress and how it is handled. I remember as a psych student thinking how well it encapsulated some of the bewilderment of people who had been institutionalized. Much later on, I used many of the Wood/Move words as educational material for professionals in understanding some of the darker, implicit spaces of the human experience, which their words do so well - dare I say uniquely well? ( I would count Blackberry way, Open Up, CBC, Beautiful Daughter, Words of Aaron, Rain came down.. etc as good examples). On a related issue, the kinds of angst that stop close collaborators and dear friends from re-joining is revealed in the Carl Wayne attempt at reunion. While this is typical of many artistic relationships, I suspect the energies that attract so powerfully and generate such energy, can, when 're-polarized', produce irresistible repulsion, which seems otherwise inexplicable -especially to us outside the force field. Speaking of losing one's mind more humourously, I remember awaiting Roy after a Hayes gig in 1997 and seeing the band members (surprisingly) do the load-out. When asked by a fan if she was part of the band, and could she get a message to woody, one of the Naylor twins (I couldn't tell which) cleverly replied without even losing her step that she was only a roadie and knew nothing about Woody!!! After the loading was done, as she was on the way to the coach, she confessed that he was a real sweetheart! ********** Subject: Irresistible repulsion (and other thoughts) Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2002 13:35:06 -0800 From: Lynn Hoskins Stephen Wallace wrote: >On a related issue, the kinds of angst that stop close collaborators and >dear friends from re-joining is revealed in the Carl Wayne attempt at >reunion. While this is typical of many artistic relationships, I suspect >the energies that attract so powerfully and generate such energy, can, >when 're-polarized', produce irresistible repulsion, which seems >otherwise inexplicable -especially to us outside the force field. I have a feeling I'd need some of that special food to totally grasp the point above, but this ties in with something Ace said in his interview with Carl. They were talking about Tony Secunda and how The Move was "all of us." Secunda said it was chemistry... five elements... you take one of them away and it all falls to pieces. This is a very basic point that is obvious to Ace, and it should be obvious to everyone, I think, on some level. Occasionally fans on this list mention they'd love to see a Move reunion, but what about the chemistry? And would it be "The Move" if all five members didn't participate? Would it be scientifically possible for the classic line-up to play together again? A lot of Move fans feel that The Move put out two albums and a collection of singles. (And it was ELO that did Looking On and Message.) They recognize only the classic lineup. Accept no substitutes. What do others think about this? P.S. For those who have e-mailed me, here's the address again for the Ace Kefford interview Carl did this past summer for BBC Radio WM: http://www.themoveonline.com/radiowm_ace.html ********** Subject: Re: Irresistible repulsion (and other thoughts) Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2002 14:28:59 -0800 From: "Robert Sutliff" >A lot of Move fans feel that The Move put out two albums and a >collection of singles. (And it was ELO that did Looking On and >Message.) They recognize only the classic lineup. Accept no >substitutes. What do others think about this? Lynn, Well for me, no, not really. The Move seemed to be in a constant state of flux with it's membership. While I'd love to see a reunion of the original five members I'd accept pretty much any version. It's a moot point I'm sure cos I doubt any permutation is going to take the stage anytime soon.. I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite version, but I reckon the Shazam bunch comes pretty close for me. Did the Rolling Stones cease to exist after Brian Jones shuffled off this mortal coil. Of course not. I love all the versions of the Move. And to call the Looking On/ Message version of the band ELO doesn't make any sense to me. Bobby Sutliff (Who thinks the first ELO album is actually the last Move album) ********** Subject: Re: Irresistible repulsion (and other thoughts) Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2002 12:05:17 -0800 From: "Andrew Footman" The first line up of the Move only made the first album and by the time it was released Ace was no longer in the band. By the time Shazam was recorded only Roy, Carl and Bev remained from the original line up. When Shazam was released Carl was no longer in the group. I think all the line ups are the Move but if they WERE EVER to reform it must only be the first line up. But has you can see no line up lasted no more than one lp. Even Rick left before MFTC was recorded. ********** Subject: The (Rick) Price was Right! Date: Sat, 9 Nov 2002 00:05:13 -0800 From: Joe Ramsey Andy wrote: >Even Rick (Price) left before MFTC was recorded. Not according to Rick who told me personally that he played on both Message From The Country AND the first ELO album. Adding fuel to this is the unceremonious cropping of his photo from the British version of the Message From The Country cover. I understand WHY people would want the original Move to reform, but I would be thrilled to see any version perform again in any capacity. Hell, I'd just like to see Roy sit down with an acoustic and play his own versions of the Move songs (or a duet with Roy & Carl doing "Beautiful Daughter"). Happy Birthday, Roy! ********** Subject: Any Version Date: Sat, 9 Nov 2002 11:56:57 -0800 From: Gmcorie I am like joe, i would to see any version of the move. even roy on an acoustic would be great. if i thought i could mail myself over to see roy and the band in dec, i would put a stamp on my ass and be off. glad to have seen jeff and elo back in the 70's. again any version. louisiana george ********** Subject: When The 60's Come Back To The 80's Date: Sat, 9 Nov 2002 00:05:42 -0800 From: Robert Porter Hi everyone, Does anyone have a copy of the Move bootleg entitled "When The 60's Come Back To The 80's"? I've been looking for it for a while now and have done so in vain. If anyone is willing to burn a CDR copy, I'd be most appreciative. I honestly don't have much to trade, but if you write me off list, I'll let you know what I do have and see if any of it is of interest to you. Thanks. ********** Subject: Re: When The 60's Come Back To The 80's Date: Sat, 9 Nov 2002 11:55:42 -0800 From: "Andrew Footman" Maybe Rob could have the better quality bootlegs released properly. At least the money made from the sale would be going to the people who deserve it not into the pockets of the rip off scum bags. What do you think lynn? ********** Subject: When Bev was 14... Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 13:17:48 -0800 From: Lynn Hoskins Here's an excerpt from an article that was recently in the Birmingham Post. The article was titled "Local celebrities tell Richard McComb what their first and favourite records are," and among the stars interviewed was Bev Bevan. Birmingham Post November 9, 2002 Bev Bevan, drummer with Birmingham's The Move and the Electric Light Orchestra. First record: Problems, The Everly Brothers (1959): "I was 14. I remember going to my local record shop in Hall Green. I was quite a shy kid. "There were two lads behind the counter and I said, 'Have you got Problems?' I got all the rhetoric back. I was totally red in the face. To me it was a big deal." Bevan idolised Don and Phil Everly and while playing with The Move he was invited to play with the brothers at the old Rumrunner club in Birmingham: "It was like a boyhood dream." Best single: Stay With Me, Lorraine Ellison (1966): "It was a fantastic performance and I took to it. Sinatra got these people together for a session and he didn't show so they got this obscure singer and did the song." Copyright © 2002 Birmingham Post and Mail Ltd. ********** Subject: Re: When Bev was 14... Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 13:24:59 -0800 From: marmil (Marc) I always knew Bev had great taste! For those of you that have never heard "Stay With Me" by Lorraine Ellison, you owe it to yourself. It's one of the greatest soul records ever! I've seen grown men break down and cry the first time they heard it...it's THAT good. ********** Subject: Re: The Shazam Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 13:18:40 -0800 From: Richard Brown Lynn Hoskins wrote: > A lot of Move fans are familiar with a band called The Shazam. Not > just because they're named after the second Move album, but because > they are part of the Move family, through music and friendship. Hans > Rotenberry, the "Roy Wood" of the band, is a huge fan of Jeff Lynne, > Roy, The Move, ELO, The Idle Race. The whole band are big fans of > Birmingham Beat music. I have to delurk here....I would like to add to the kudos for The Shazam. They are, to my ears, the greatest band in the USA at the moment. It is unfathomable to me why they are not hugely popular. You may want to check out the site www.notlame.com which is a great pop music retailer that has it's own label (which has released or re-released all of The Shazam's CD's)...including a great 'authorized' live (warts and all) bootleg called "2000 Miles From Budokan". They are as great live as they are on record. ********** Subject: Re: The Shazam Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 17:36:56 -0800 From: David Friedman I can personally vouch for Carl and his enthusiasm for the Shazam. I lived in Nashville during the late '90s and saw the Shazam's high-energy show a few times. At the time, I didn't know about the Move, but remember drawing many comparisons to the Who and the Beatles...the first based on the sheer power (I swore the drummer was Keith Moon reincarnate) and the second for their great harmonies/arrangements. I was trying to form a band at the time and was jamming with a guitarist who later became a member of the Shazam for a few years. At one of their shows, he introduced me to lead singer Hans Rotenberry, who then took us to the group's van where we sat, drank beer, and listened to the best lo-fi demos I've ever heard in my life. It was a great treat and I've been a fan of the band since. I'm happy to know that word has spread to England and they are achieving some success over there. I only wish a group like this received mainstream radioplay in the US, but in the meantime if you want to quench your curiosity, do pick up their first record "The Shazam". Their second, "Godspeed the Shazam", didn't have the "power pop" punch as much as the first, but is also worth the purchase ... its a much more developed album. As far as their new album, I can't wait to pick it up and give it a listen. Thanks Lynn for reminding me about one of Nashville's greatest treasures. ********** Subject: Move memories Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 20:51:05 -0800 From: "Robert Lawrence" This is my first post. I'm Robert and have been a Move fan since Night of Fear when I was fifteen, almost sixteen. I'll be 52 in Jan. Live in Halifax, NS Canada (my hometown) after living the last 20 yrs in Toronto where I also spent 3 yrs previously in University in early 70s. That was when I saw Roy on the ill-fated Wizzard tour in 74. They were late and soundchecking while we waited in the lobby. TheRyerson Polytech hall held 700 people and I think it was close to full tho they had no airplay. I've got the ticket stub somewhere.They played California Man whilst soundchecking but didn't get to play it during their truncated set. First off, I was in the front row and they were deafening, maybe the loudest I heard to that time next to the Stooges who I saw earlier that year. Midway thru I slipped to the back wall and sneaked a smoke to rest my eardrums They opened with Ball Park Incident if I recall correctly. Roy wore the face paint. The horn players were decked out in Teddy Boy gear and the solos shifted from old time R&R to avant garde jazz. Perhaps that was fortuitous for as the set progressed, the sound became a muddle, picking up the Ryerson Polytech fm radio station which was and still is Toronto's only jazz radio outlet. Roy became so befuddled he had to call it quits, the amps intermittently squelching feedback and modern jazz. It was such a shame -having waited almost 8 years to see Roy and getting about a half hour of music, most of it, interrupted with radio interference. I think the band played only a few other long songs with extended solos. We didn't get a Move hit in the bunch. Nor did we get Forever or See My Baby Jive. The websites are great, work done by true devotees and made greater with input from Carl himself. He's a fabulous singer. I've never seen him live but I did get my paws on some TV show clips by The Move. It irks me tho when Carl says he felt out of place as the Move were a pop band touring with heavies like Hendrix, Cream and the Floyd. After all, the live EP (well it was live in the studio) is incendiary. Their Sunshine Help Me makes Spooky Tooth's original sound like bored session players and the version of Stephanie Knows Who has a super vocal and really rocks. It is testament to their talents that they appear as background singers on Jimi's Axis Bold As Love. He certainly must have held them in esteem. Perhaps Carl would talk about the Hendrix sessions. I'd like to hear his take on that. The conflict of pop vs heavy rock has been a long one. My other faves the Kinks invented one of the heaviest riffs in all of R&R but were considered a quirky band until the mid 70s when they broke thru in the mid to late 70s as an arena rock band and losing much of Ray's nuances in the process. The Move, Kinks, Small Faces and the Who had great runs of hit singles, yet all had a strange time, missing the charts with a fine single. The Move missed with Wild Tiger Woman as did the Kinks with Days, The Who with Dogs and Call Me Lightning and the Small Faces with the low placing of the fab Tin Soldier. Even the Hollies 60s streak was stopped in the UK while breaking late in the US. Anyway, for people who know them, the Move remains a great rock and roll band. Management problems aside, I wish they had a better chance at cracking America. I did my part lending my imports to a local DJ to play on air in prime time. I'm listening to the Beeb session as I write this and it is a great indication of how diverse the band was. Four really fine singers, a great front man, a fine songwriter and a tremendous stage act. Closing down the Rome Pop feast with the army being called out must be some kind of highlight for a so-called pop band. Carl's interview with Ace was heartbreakingly truthful. Charlie really is quite an engaging interviewer and Ace is candid to a fault. I hope he is, as it seems, getting on with his life. I do hope Carl is getting his health back. I know how it feels, believe me. I wish him health and happiness and hope he continues to perform and work getting unreleased group and solo stuff out there. I have, unfortunately, never heard the solo album or his single of Imagine. Before I go I should say I think the track Something is his greatest vocal. I even love the Italian version. So, All the best to Carl, Ace, Roy, Trevor and Bev. Thanks for the great stuff. Be well all you Move fans. Before I go, after all these years, I'd like to point out the true lyrics to Hey Grandma. The Move sing about muscles on the album and live versions. The actual lyric is "Robitussin makes me feel so fine". The reference is to a prescription only cough syrup containing codeine. It was often used by druggies to get spaced out. It doesn't exactly get you high, more like so called downers. Unlike Canada, where Codeine is available over the counter (many American musos have told me they like that fact), Codeine is tightly controlled in the US. I just thought I'd like to clear that up. For further reference, read the much vaunted and late rockcitic Lester Bangs' Psychotic Reaction. He loved the stuff. Best wishes Robert ********** Subject: Re: Tell us the news about yourself... Date: Sat, 9 Nov 2002 11:55:02 -0800 From: Joachim hi everybody! well. i am male, 52 years old, a grammar school teacher by profession here in germany, a place called moers, near the dutch border. i first got into "contact" with the move early in 1967 when i heard "night of fear" on the radio. at that time "rock music" was still quite new to me as i had been into classical music (YES!!) before. i was stunned by the sheer melodical brilliance and diversity of the move's singles: "i can hear the grass grow", "fire brigade", "wild tiger woman" coming to mind,especially. here in germany music papers were scarce (to say the least!!), so news of the group was eagerly scanned from the few copies of "new musical express" available. thank god the move appeared regularly on the ONE and ONLY "rock show" on german tv: BEAT CLUB, that is, which fortunately was repeated on tv from 1994 onwards although in a somewhat scaled down format,so i have MOST of the move's stuff on video! my most treasured recording of the move is an ORIGINAL copy of the "something else" -EP, but for musical brilliance the SHAZAM album is head and shoulders above the rest! i have to say that the personnel upheavels in the ranks surely added to the spiral going downwards: nice to listen to, but hardly mindblowing anymore, but i am quick to add that my musical tastes had changed to what today is referred to as "prog"-rock, and here the move - especially the inclusion of jeff lynne - could not cut the ice anymore,although only in LATER years i have become aware of the musical intricacies involved production-wise! roy's solo outing in 73 was a MAJOR disaster for me because he seemed to be very self-centred and self-indulged when attempting to beat himself at his own game! i managed to see WIZZARD twice, once in 72 at a place called the "edmonton sundown" and once at the "hammersmith odeon" in 73 at the peak of his powers with that band.at the end of the former i got back to my hotel in the company of his cello player on the tube, during the later i managed to sneak on stage during the show being able to watch proceedings from the side of the stage! i was not too overwhelmed by the first ELO outing as well when roy was still in the band: he was trying to do too many things at once and lost his focus: 10338 overture being the best thing on the album! in 77 i saw ELO live in cologne: exciting on stage, but fairly bland and samey as far as the music goes. in actual fact i stopped buying all that stuff altogether at that time, not caring for roy's solo stuff, always being disappointed when i picked up the odd LP in one of the "cheapo-bins" for a couple of quid. so i gradually lost touch ALTHOUGH i have ALWAYS continued to pay REPEATED "hommage" to those 67-69 move outings: what a classy act!! on a par with the beatles and the who: the move could have conquered the world, if only......... in 1995 i saw (and heard) roy "live" again at fairport's copredy bash, and was stunned by his "army", but to my eternal regret neither his contributions at copredy nor an "army" cd have appeared except for that "i heard it through the grapevine" performance, WHAT A SHAME!!! as i was was invited to the "after show" party i actually managed to talk to roy for a while,and it appeared to me that he somehow was sad that his great days were over. there are some things on my mind which i would like to express record wise: a)the must be a "part two" of the bbc recordings b)his fairport contributions must see the light of day, c)the move "LIVE at the fillmore": release that one, please!! d)that brum charity show: i want to see it!! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!! greetings joachim ********** Subject: Re: Tell us the news about yourself... Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2002 15:49:09 -0800 From: Richard Messum Joachim, welcome aboard! You wrote: >"at that time "rock music" was still quite new to me as i had been >into classical music (YES!!) before." Sure, and so were the Move: remember the snippet from Tchaikovsky's "1812" that was interpolated into "Night of fear?" And we've discussed just this past week the use of themes from Bach, Tchaikovsky and Dukas in "Cherry Blossom Clinic (revisited)" -- and then of course it all goes nuts with ELO, so i don't see a move from classical music to The Move as a retrograde step at all (not that you suggested that it was, of course): more a logical progression, Roy Wood being the modern day equivalent of, if not perhaps Beethoven, at least Mozart ! >there are some things on my mind which i would like to express record wise: >a)the must be a "part two" of the bbc recordings >b)his fairport contributions must see the light of day, >c)the move "LIVE at the fillmore": release that one, please!! I couldn't agree more, especially with "b," as i'm a huge fan of Fairport as well, but i don't know if much of it was ever recorded. I recently forwarded a query about recordings to both the Fairport and the Richard Thompson Lists and received a grand total of zero replies.... I think that we may be out of luck on that one. End of Useless Information #411 ******************************* [This digest is the copyright of the Move "Useless Information" Mailing List. Re-publication or re-distribution of "Useless Information" content, in any form whatsoever, is expressly prohibited without prior written consent.]