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USELESS INFORMATION
The Move Mailing List Digest
Issue #002
October 13, 1997


     In this issue:

     Bevan & Lynne's 50/50 split
     What about Richard Tandy?
     ... And speaking of Bev
     Moving Jellyfish
     John Holcomb new to the Move list
     And they didn't even have to call themselves Part II
     Bev's writing credits
     Euan has the box set!


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ALL PUBLIC RESPONSES TO ARTICLES ON THIS LIST SHOULD BE
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Subject: Re: Tandy and Lynne
Date: Fri, 03 Oct 1997 05:35:52 +0000
From: Joe Ramsey

Adam John Vogt wrote (to the ELO list):

> Also according to the ELO FAQ, ELO was legally a 50-50 split between
> Lynne and Beven? What about Richard Tandy? Why should Beven have 
> gotten so great a cut? He did no writing and basically played the 
> same beat all the time, meanwhile Tandy was going TO WORK on the 
> keyboards. Just thinking about it gets me a little peeved. Hope this 
> doesen't offend any drummers, but one only has to listen to the albums 
> to see that ELO was essentially a Lynne/Tandy production, with a 
> drummer and sometimes Kelly. Credit (and money) where its due!

Dear Adam,

I think that the answer to this question lies with what Bev had to 
give up to EVEN start the Electric Light Orchestra. Bear in mind that,
at least in the UK, The Move were an extremely successful band with 
an ability to produce charting singles with almost every release.

This means they were making good money.

For Wood, Lynne and Bevan to pull the plug on this successful band to 
make way for a VERY risky venture, it took guts, determination and 
incredible confidence. Likewise, when Wood left, I'm sure that Bevan 
played a huge role in launching the Wood-less Orchestra. I'm quite 
positive that that is where the 50/50 split comes in (although a 
50/50 split sure doesn't leave much for the other members, does it?).

I don't understand Richard Tandy's roll in ELO. I agree, I think 
that he was a HUGE part of the early ELO (as was Bill Hunt). In fact, 
I have read that Tandy was in a very early version of The Move. I 
have heard that he played on a lot of the singles, "Blackbery Way" 
for instance. Is this true? If so, perhaps he is much more comfortable 
with a more "backseat role" in the band (although the money split is 
a completely different question).

I would imagine the other members of ELO were hired as side players 
and not really partners in the venture. As fans, it's kind of hard to 
grasp this because we love the band so much. But the original three, 
Wood, Lynne and Bevan, really took all the risk and, because of their 
enormous talent and forethought, made it pay off.

Joe Ramsey

PS. I'm not a drummer, but I'll tell you - it's tough to diss Bev. 
At the end of the Move and for at least the first four ELO albums, 
for my money, he was the BEST drummer in rock and roll. Especially 
on the first album, that was SO experimental - great, great drums 
and percussion. I'm not sure many drummers would have the imagination 
to make a project like that come off (they wouldn't!).

Of course, by the disco mid-70's it was everybody's idea that a 
drummer should sound like a drum machine (but hey, Bev was good at 
that, too), so the challenging percussion went by the wayside.

Ahhhhhh... the heck with it, give Bev his 50%!

PSS. (I know that this is going to be a massively unpopular sentiment
but....) If the ELO had stopped after "El Dorado," they would 
definitely be on my top five Rock and Roll bands of all time. And 
Kelly wouldn't have been involved in that at all. (...please, no 
flames.)


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Subject: Re: Tandy and Lynne
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 1997 05:43:44 -0700
From: Bruce Dumes 

> I don't understand Richard Tandy's roll in ELO...

Richard told me that he played an electronic harpsichord on Blackberry
Way, and also played bass on gigs for them for a little while when 
Trevor broke his arm.

He didn't play on "a lot" of the singles, though he was always friendly
with the band, and I'm told Roy still thinks very highly of Richard.


                              **********


Subject: ... And speaking of Bev
Date: Sun, 05 Oct 1997 22:24:47 +0000
From: Joe Ramsey

When I first got turned on to The Move, I remember thinking what a gas
it would be if I ever got to see any of the members play live. It 
seemed like a pretty far-fetched idea at the time as the band had 
called it quits and the new project, The Electric Light Orchestra, 
seemed even a longer shot than the Move to tour the States (who knew??)

Ironically, the first time I saw a Move member play was Trevor Burton,
playing bass for the Steve Gibbons Band, far down on the list of support
acts for the Who at Anaheim Stadium in a suburb of Los Angeles (Orange
County). As much as I liked the Who, the whole reason that I went was to
see Trevor with Gibbons - and I was lucky enough to have met him many
years later to tell him this story.

The first time the ELO came to Los Angeles, they opened the show for Hot
Tuna and Joe Walsh. I was extremely excited to be there and I remember
noticing every detail of the set-up and how the band performed. The
first thing that struck me - and I was surprised, was that all the gear
was rented and that every piece of Bevans drum kit had the huge
stenciled letters "Rented from S.I.R. Studios" across them.

But what I really thought was weird... was the way Bev held his left
drum stick. Has anybody else noticed this? Since then, I've seen him in
photos with the same grip - it's almost like the traditional jazz-type
grip, but turned over. I pictured Bevan's drum style to be aggressive
and very loud (a la John Bonham), but I don't think you can play THAT
loud with this grip (although I could be wrong here). I tried it with my
little practice set at home and wore a painful blister on the inside of
my index finger. Ouch - don't try this at home!

Let there be drums!!


                              **********


Subject: Moving Jellyfish
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 1997 09:50:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: Rob Michel 

The band Jellyfish once did a cover version of I Can Hear The Grass
Grow I downloaded the soundfile awhile ago from the Jellyfish-site 
(it's not on CD I think).

Jellyfish is a good band BTW (for nineties music i.e.): loads of 
Beatles and some Queen-influences. Hoped Jeff would produce their 
next album, as they seemed to have met, but the band split up.

http://bubblegum.uark.edu/Jellyfish/ (official site)


                              **********


Subject: Introduction
Date: Mon, 06 Oct 1997 17:39:21 -0500
From: John Holcomb

Hello,

My name is John Holcomb, and I'm new to the Move list!  Had a hard time
tracking it down (thanks Dave!) but I'm here.

I've been a fan of Roy and the Move since the late sixties.  I was
fortunate enough to have a very hip cousin who was a few years older
than me that turned me on to the band.  I've been hooked ever since.

I don't have a story about the Move or Roy but I do have a story about
well known Move fans Cheap Trick.  In the mid to late seventies I worked
at a record store in Charleston, IL, where I went to college.  The owner
of the building the store was housed in also owned the big band bar in
town-Ted's Warehouse.  Cheap Trick was a regular at Ted's prior to the
release of their first album.  One day I was working by myself, had just
opened the store, and had put "Shazam" on.  In walks Ted with the
members of Cheap Trick (Ted coming into the store with any band was not
unusual).  Rick Nielsen's eyes got big (well, even bigger), as he looked
at his band mates and exclaimed, "Hey, The Move!".  We ended up having a
nice conversation about Roy and the band (which basically consisted of
us congratulating each other for having such great taste).  A few months
later Cheap Trick's debut came out and they never came back to Ted's.  I
have never forgotten the excitement with which those guys discussed The
Move and Roy.  Their admiration for him is genuine.

Besides being a school psychologist, I write reviews for AMPLIFIER
magazine.  AMP is a growing magazine specializing in Power Pop and Roots
Rock.  I'll be reviewing the 30th Anniversary Anthology-as soon as I can
get a hold of one.  Any one who can assist me by letting me know who the
coordinator of the project is would be greatly appreciated.  I'm really
excited about getting to finally write a review about one of my all-time
favorite bands.

Long live Roy Wood and the Move!!!


                              **********


Subject: And they didn't even have to call themselves part II
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 1997 09:06:03 +0100 (BST)
From: Ed Morris

Hi all,

> PS. Do you have to have any original members in the group to add the 
> II at the end?

:)

That's actually an interesting question...

A couple of months ago the BBCtv program Watchdog did an article about
60s bands reforming but lacking in original members. It mainly featured
AnimalsII who only had John Steele and the guitarist who's name escapes
me at the mo. They then went on to ask if there needed to be *any*
original members at all for a band to "reform" and they came to the
conclusion that as long as the band is no more *and* the public are
are not being fooled into thinking the "reformed" band is the original
band, then this is an OK thing to do.

To demonstrate this they searched through the Virgin book of 
rock 'n' roll (or whatever it was) and decided that they were least 
likely to be sued by impersonating The Move! BBC viewers were thus 
treated to 3 BBC journalists (with the sound man on drums) playing 
Blackberry Way live.

One for the bootleggers?

and another thing...

When Pink Floyd reformed in 1987 there *almost* weren't any original
members. Rick Wright only played as a session musician and he hadn't
played on the previous album anyway. The only original member to be
in the band was Nick Mason, who in the end only played on one track!


                              **********


Subject: I just blew up that steel company!
Date: Wed, 08 Oct 1997 04:25:27 +0000
From: Joe Ramsey

I posed the question in my FAQ, but no one has responded... anybody know
the scoop on Bev Bevan getting writing credit for "Turkish Tram
Conductor Blues" and "Don't Mess me Up?"

Both sound like Roy to me (but maybe because he sings 'em). It's hard to
believe, especially with the later Wizzard Elvis-stuff, that "Mess..."
isn't Roy.

Now I'd believe it about "Ben Crawley Steel Company."

Anybody...(???)


                              **********


Subject: Box set
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 1997 19:36:58 +0100
From: Euan Wilson

Hi all,

Just bought the new Move 3 CD box set, very nice, 3 Cd's at about 
the 20 pound mark.

Played the previoulsy unreleased tracks, at last I have Vote for Me, 
was it worth it? well yep, not a great song but I have it.

Not examined the box set in detail yet but there are a few mistakes, 
for example who wrote This time tomorrow? This set lists it a R Wood.

More tomorrow, when I've played more of it.




End of Useless Information #002
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