[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 #320 January 23, 2002 In this issue: * Set list * Brontosaurus (Edited Version) * Record Collector #179 * Mike Sheridan article * IWICBCE Cover * Roy Wood Merchandise * Wood Be * Filming the NYC shows * Early view of the Move * Amen Corner... * 1995 Tony Secunda Obit ============================================================== To POST TO THE LIST: Send an e-mail to: move-list@eskimo.com Useful Web addresses: TheMoveOnline: http://www.themoveonline.com Official Roy Wood site: http://www.roywood.co.uk Face The Music Online: http://www.ftmusic.com Join the ELO List: http://www.eskimo.com/~noanswer/showdown.html 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: Set list Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 22:04:17 -0800 From: "Christopher Anderson" Hi Everybody, Can anyone give an an idea of what the set list might be for the upcoming gigs in NYC? I plan to be there for the Saturday show and would like to know what songs to except to hear! Also, Greg, I was unable to download the lemontree mp3, it was downloading an html page instead, what can I do to correct this? The cleaned up Message will be great, what about Looking On? ********** Subject: Brontosaurus (Edited Version) Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 02:10:26 -0800 From: Robert Porter Hello fans, I'm hoping someone can help me out there. I was told that there was an edited version of the Move's "Brontosaurus" on a single out there. I picked up the UK pressed Regal Zonophone (RZ 3026) single, but the version on it was the same as the album version. Next, I picked up the USA pressed A&M promo (1197S) with the stereo version on one side and the mono version on the other-- and right there on the single is printed "Edited Version". So I thought I had it. I listened to the stereo version, comparing it to the album version and it is exactly the same-- no edited version. The mono side, though, does have an edited version in that it fades about a minute early. So my question(s) is/are: Is there a stereo edited version of "Brontosaurus" out there? Does it simply fade early or is it a cut version? If another stereo version exists, on what single and/or CD can I find it? And while I'm here... I also have heard that there is an edited version of "Chinatown" as well, although I've heard that the edit simply consists of something about the gongs being different. Can anyone shed any light on this? Thanks way in advance for your assistance. ********** Subject: Re: Brontosaurus (Edited Version) Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2002 12:36:55 -0800 From: Patrik Guttenbacher The UA re-release of Chinatown has an edited version. It missed the gong intro and the middle bridge. So it is a real cutted version. The false started MGM version of Chinatown is the regular UK Version, and that fact has made it mistitled as "extended version" in comparison to the United Artist version. Bye Patrik Guttenbacher Author of Unexpected Messages ********** Subject: Record Collector #179 Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2002 02:16:58 -0800 From: "Jim McAlwane" I was having a clear out the other day and came across an old Record Collector I kept, the issue has 13 pages on The Move including Roy Wood and Ace Kefford interviews, the whole read is excellent. BTW: Has anyone got a scanning of the very controversial "Flowers In The Rain" postcard?, I've never seen this, cheers!! Jim Mac Marmalade Skies (British Psychedelia) http://www.marmaladeskies.co.uk ********** Subject: Mike Sheridan article Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 00:29:33 -0800 From: Lynn Hoskins For those who've been wondering what Mike Sheridan is up to these days... "Mike's a Country Brum King" Birmingham Evening Mail January 10, 2002 by Andy Coleman BRUM Beat legend Mike Sheridan is used to people jiving and jitterbugging to his rock and roll music but tonight he hopes his fans will be stepping out rather differently by linedancing as he plays. The 61-year-old musician is launching the regular 'Gonna Rock This Country' at Solihull's Municipal Club with his DJ pal Rick Wise. 'Rick runs a linedancing club and one day I went down to play for him,' explains Mike. 'I was amazed to see they could linedance to almost anything. During my set I did some rock and roll and they were linedancing to that. 'But when you think about it there's a thin line between country music and rock and roll just listen to early Elvis.' Mike's career began in the early Sixties. He and his band The Nightriders were a major influence on the Birmingham music scene, which eventually went national and international thanks to the likes of The Move and Wizzard. Roy Wood played with Mike in those early years but while Roy went on to become a huge star Mike preferred to stick with his roots. 'I've never been the ambitious type,' he admits. 'Those who have had huge success are talented guys and they deserve it. 'I'm a home type, I like to stay in. I like the recording studio.' While many of his companions headed to the States and other international markets Mike worked for several years with Joe Brown and the Bruvvers, then carved out a career with his wife Suzi as The Sheridans. 'I actually tried to retire a couple of times,' he laughs. 'Suzi was in a group called The Devotions and I managed them. But then members began to leave so I joined. The band slimmed down further until there was just me and Suzi left and we've been working steadily ever since.' Mike also devotes a lot of time to running a music club which meets monthly at Old Sills Rugby Club in Solihull. People like Steve Gibbons, Kelly Groucott, Danny King, Wizzard's Rick Price and Diane Lee of Peters and Lee fame are regular visitors who enjoy all-star jam sessions. 'The linedancing idea has partly evolved from the Old Sills sessions. There are so few places for people in our age bracket to go.' Not that Mike feels he's too old to make new records. 'I've just recorded an album of covers of love songs with Suzi, called It's A Love Thing, but I do a lot of writing so I'd love to make a record of new material. Gordon Haskell, at the age of 55, has made it into the charts so it just shows it's never too late.' * Gonna Rock This Country is at Solihull's Municipal Club in Brick Kiln Lane at 8.30pm on the first Friday of the month. (c)2002 Mirror Regional Newspapers ********** Subject: IWICBCE Cover Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2002 17:46:12 -0800 From: "Stephen Simpson" Not once, but twice over the holidays...as I was shopping...I heard a version of "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday," but it was NOT the Woody version...at least, none that I had ever heard. It sounded like Lenny Kravitz or something. Alabama is not exactly a bastion of Woody music...nor of the Wombles, hehehe...so, can anyone help me out? Is there a new version out there or am I on too much cold medication? Whatever the case, I was thrilled to hear it. Stephen Simpson Alabama ********** Subject: Re: IWICBCE Cover Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2002 08:54:17 -0800 From: Kevin A Kunreuther Ok doing a Google search I found at http://www.watkins1.freeserve.co.uk/covers1.htm a short list of other artists performing IWICBCE: All Star United - I Wish it could be christmas everyday Devil Dogs - I Wish it could be christmas everyday Die Rotton Rosen - I Wish it could be christmas everyday Spice Girls - I Wish it could be christmas everyday Could it have been the Spice Girls, by chance Kevin Kunreuther Dallas TX ********** [Catching up...] Subject: Roy Wood Merchandise Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 16:56:46 -0400 From: Alfred Masciocchi In thinking about Roy's upcoming NYC gigs I was wondering - does he usually have any merchandise (t-shirts, tour books, etc.) for sale at his UK shows? ********** Subject: Re: Roy Wood Merchandise Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 23:58:46 +0100 From: "Ken Latta" Yes, he has quite a bit of merchandise at the UK gigs, T-shirts, mugs, mouse mats, key rings, tour programmes etc. I'm not sure yet if these will be available at the US gigs. Gill will have the answer to that question. Ken The Official Roy Wood Website http://www.roywood.co.uk ********** Subject: Wood Be Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2001 00:30:43 -0800 From: Moore's Code Hallo! Just joined. Been hooked since Idle Race & Mike Sheridan! WHOA!! Me love you long time! Q: Anybody here listened to "Boulders" lately? Absolute perfection. Wanna talk about it? ;-) First Light, R. Stevie Moore Bloomfield NJ Jupiter ********** Subject: Re: Wood Be Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2001 03:07:08 -0500 From: Kevin A Kunreuther It is Woody's perfect pop album, currently being re-mastered, that is, being prepared for re-release in UK as part of EMI's First Light series. Just finished listening to Main Street, Wizzard's "grown up" album that Jet records declined to release in 1976. Probably Roy's most focused album since "Boulders", but sonically, way different. Can't wait to see Woody in New York, but wish he was coming to debut some new songs instead of playing the hits. Any chance of anyone being able to talk someone into broadcasting this three day event over the Internet for Woody fans unable to make the Trek to NYC? Heck it would make a great concert film, if someone had the money and resources to put it together,"Woody: Returns To America". Just a few ideas. Kevin Kunreuther Dallas, TX ********** Subject: Filming the NYC shows Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 18:10:45 -0800 From: "Cannell" Wow! Kevin - what a brilliant idea for those of us who cant make it =( Ok Gill, folks - who can organise this - consider my order placed! Lynnette ********** Subject: Early view of the Move Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 10:27:41 -0800 From: "Bill Krouwel" It may be interesting to some to get a view on the Move from contemporaneous sources. Nik Cohn, in "WopBopaLooBopLopBamBoom", his very early attempt at rock criticism (1969, though mine is a 1973 reprint), had this to say about the Move: "In 1966, the Move came down from Birmingham and they took over from the Stones and the Who as rabble-rousers in chief. "They were managed by Tony Secunda, a King's Road hustler from the early sixties, and Secunda was one fast stroke-puller.Any bandwagon that passed, he'd be up on top of it so fast you couldn't blink. And he was clever with it, what's more, he had bursts of true inventiveness. At the least he was entertainment. "In 1966, he launched the Move from the Marquee and they were impressive. They stood in a straight line, four part harmony, and they were natural rockers, they wore Capone gangster suits and they looked mean as hell. Eternal Brummers, dour and monosyllabic. And Carl Wayne, their lead singer, did a nice line in mike-throwing and Ace Kefford, a guitarist, was the singing skull itself, his flesh eaten away, his jaws clamping enflessly on gum, his face set rigid in infinite boredom. So they were the nastiest-looking bunch you could hope to meet and they sang well, they made a big, bad, noise. "When Psychedelia came in, Secunda made his first jump - he set them to smashing TV sets on stage, assaulting them with an axe, and destroying images of Hitler, Ian Smith and so such. This, if you hadn't guessed, was a comment on the society in which we live and, meshed with a few flashing lights, it spelled mind-expansion. It was all poor man's Who, and it got them publicity, it freaked them into their first hits. "In the summer, 1967, psychedelic was replaced by Flower Power and Secunda jumped again - the Move forgot their gangster suits, their axes and their snarls, and they took to frolicking in cornfields, all robed and garlanded. Ace Kefford, Singing Skull, cast as a daisy chain - it wasn't a likely concept but, once more, it worked. "They made a record called Flowers in the Rain and, to publicise it, Secunda cicularised what amounted to a dirty postcard of Harold Wilson. Inevitably, Wilson sued and they had to give all their royalties to charity. Still, it was their biggest bonanza yet and it finally got them established. "By the winter, Flower Power had duly faded and there were signs of a rock 'n' roll revival. So, you knew it, the Move suddenly had their snarls back and they cut Fire Brigade, complete with Duane Eddy twang guitar. As it happened, this was their best record yet and they were right back where they began, hardcore rockers again. That's what they'd always been good at, anyhow." Interestingly (as an indication of how highly rated the Move was at the time and of what might have been), the next paragraph starts:- "At a less exalted level, there were the Bee Gees, Traffic, and Procol Harum....." Interesting also is the speed at which things happened back then......and the lack of any mention of the principal author of those catchy, rocking, hits - Roy Wood, of course. As I remember it, Roy was very quiet on stage compared to the rest. Perhaps Cohn was more interested in rock heroes than good songwriters? Like the bit about dour Brummers and Ace being a sort of prototype for what Keith Richards eventually became, though..... Bill Krouwel (your country messenger) ********** Subject: Amen Corner... Date: Sat, 08 Sep 2001 04:11:12 -0700 From: "Tim Emerich" my former co-songwriter George bought me a compilation type cd thingy at The Wherehouse for $1.99 cause he saw it had this band called Amen Corner covering Hello Suzie. bless his heart, he thought i'd be happy.... but what a load of crap. this reminds me of the generic sounds of the Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band movie starring The Bee Gees. as i listen to this, all i can think of is John Lennon flying back from Bermuda on that dreadful flight circa 79/80 . the only movie on the plane being the one mentioned above, played over and over and over as he thought certain death via crashing into the ocean was at hand. what a nightmare. i honestly think The Brady Bunch kids could have done a better job! whats worse, is there's a P.P. Arnold cover of Angel of the Morning on here. yikes.... sorry if ive offended anyone, but i just cannot dig this. no, not at all. Tim Emerich Merced CA p.s. and who is Chris Farlowe?? this cat's got 3 songs on this comp! ********** Subject: Re: Amen Corner... Date: Sat, 08 Sep 2001 08:42:21 -0400 From: Bob Hughes But listening to this version I was finally able to figure out what all the words were! (Other than that you're right. It's a piece of crap.) ********** Subject: Re: Amen Corner... Date: Sat, 08 Sep 2001 15:44:37 -0400 From: "Bob Coulter" I hate to disillusion you further, Tim, but the Amen Corner version is the original one. Maybe Roy hated it too, and felt the need to do the song justice by covering his own composition. Bob Coulter, Mississauga, Ont. ********** Subject: Re: Amen Corner... Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 08:54:41 -0800 From: Bob Hughes Bruce M. wrote off-list: >Since the lyrics on Roy's version of Hello Susie have eluded any of >us "unfortunate" enough to never have heard Amen Corner's version... >would you be willing to share the lyrics as you hear them with the rest >of us? That would be a treat. Everybody sat here waiting for the train to come Just laid down a bright red carpet for her to step on Looking through the van I see her waving her hands at me She looked so tan and quite amazingly she ran to me Hello Susie Hello susie Tell Me what's new about yourself Hello Susie Hello Susie Tell Me that you've enjoyed yourself Frantically she knocked me over causing quite a scene Shook the crowd enough to sway the interest from the queen Her black transistor socked out one oclock radio Completely drowned the band loud enough to stop the show Hello Susie Hello susie Tell Me what's new about yourself Hello Susie Hello Susie Tell Me that you've enjoyed yourself Yes we'll rock and roll the day away Come on Everybody We all seem keen to make the scene Come on Everybody Best I could do. Anybody have any other guesses? ********** Subject: 1995 Tony Secunda Obit Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2001 16:39:54 -0800 From: Lynn Hoskins For those who want to know more about manager Tony Secunda, I've run across this obit... Obituary: Tony Secunda The Independent London February 22, 1995 by Chris Welch Tony Secunda, music manager, publisher: born London 1940; died San Anselmo, California 12 February 1995. Tony Secunda was one of an elite corps of pop group managers who galvanised the Swinging Sixties and helped shape the course of popular music. Among them were astute publicists and wheelers dealers like Andrew Loog Oldham and Kit Lambert, the men behind the Rolling Stones and the Who respectively. But Secunda was perhaps the wildest and toughest of them all. He was the driving force behind some of the biggest hit-makers of the era, including the Moody Blues, the Move, Marc Bolan and Marianne Faithfull. Secunda, a dark, brooding and somewhat menacing figure, thrived on taking risks, and he was not afraid to indulge in the most basic scams and publicity stunts. But he achieved results for his artists and took the ethics of the underground hippie scene into the boardrooms of the music industry. Secunda, who came from Epsom and was educated at public school, firs came to prominence as the manager of the Moody Blues, the Birmingham R&B group fronted by the vocalist Denny Laine. They needed a London-based manager in their quest for success and Secunda secured them a recording deal with Decca. They had a No 1 hit with "Go Now" in 1965. Secunda then took over the management of another promising Midlands group, the Move. They brazenly set out to rival the Who with a wild stage act involving their own brand of "Auto Destruction". Encouraged by Secunda, the band adopted a violent gangster image, complete with Chicago-style suits, while their lead singer, Carl Wayne, indulged in smashing up television sets and effigies on stage with an axe. Secunda worked in partnership with the producer the late Denny Cordell-Laverack. Secunda signed the Move to Deram records and they released their first record, "Night of Fear", written by their guitarist Roy Wood. The song was a pastiche of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture and went straight to No. 2 in the charts. On the B-side, "Disturbance", a song about a mental hospital, Secunda could be heard supplying maniacal screams. With the Move, Secunda gained notoriety as a sensationalist in 1967, when he circulated bizarre postcards which showed a nude caricature of the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, in the bath. The cards were supposed to promote the Move's latest single, "Flowers in the Rain". The innuendoes made about Wilson on the card led him to sue the band successfully and in a settlement all the royalties from the record had to go to charity. The record hardly needed the publicity as it was the first record ever played on BBC Radio 1 and got to No 2 in the charts on its own merits. In the wake of such needless controversy the band and Secunda parted company. The Move enjoyed a few more hits but petered out at the end of 1971, paving the way for the creation of the successful off-shoot bands ELO and Wizzard. The Move and ELO drummer Bev Bevan recalls that the Move went to London looking for a manager: "At the time Secunda was involved with a band called the Action and ran a company with Denny Cordell called New Movement. He had such incredible self-confidence we were swept off our feet and signed a management contract. We were green lads immediately changed our image. A stunt with a fake H-bomb was very funny. We went through the streets of Manchester hoping to get arrested. We were tramping up and down for two hours with this wretched bomb and nobody took a blind bit of notice. Eventually a copper told us to move on. A photographer took a picture and the papers said we had been arrested making an anti-Vietnam protest. "The biggest stunt of all just got out of hand and caused us to part company. That was the Harold Wilson postcard. We didn't even know he was going to do it, and while the other stunts were fun, this was beyond a joke and we were terrified. We were taken to the High Court and he got Quintin Hogg to defend us. Roy Wood was particularly pissed off with him because the settlement was all the royalties from `Flowers in the Rain', and the songwriting royalties, too, which are still going to charity. We were frightened of what Secunda might do next and we split with him." Secunda continued his involvement with another ex-Move member, Trevor Burton, when he helped set up and finance a band called Balls, in 1969, with the singer Denny Laine from the Moody Blues. But this venture failed to emulate past success. Secunda set up the classic Procol Harum record "Whiter Shade of Pale", based on Bach's "Air on a G-String", produced by his partner Denny Cordell, which topped the charts for six weeks in 1967 and eventually sold 6 million copies. The rock journalist Nick Jones describes Secunda as "a Svengali figure who bridged the gulf between the old-style Tin Pan Alley music biz people and the hippie underground. He was part of a heavy King's Road scene that included people like the producers Denny Cordell and Tony Visconti. All the bands he managed were products of the blues scene and as a sharp operator he knew just how to give them a strong image." Secunda's reputation as a deal maker made him attractive to many artists in search of a tough negotiator. In 1971 Marc Bolan, then emerging as a big star, asked Secunda to be his manager and help him re-negotiate a new recording and publishing contract with EMI and to set up his own T. Rex Wax label. Secunda and Bolan went to the United States in late 1971 where the T. Rex record "Get It On" was climbing the charts. They celebrated by throwing dollar bills off their New York hotel roof on to the streets below. But, when Bolan went on tour the following year, American hard-rock fans did not much like his music or image and preferred his support band Uriah Heep. A demoralised Bolan responded by getting drunk at an important Carnegie Hall concert and fell over on stage during the first number. Secunda parted company from him shortly afterwards and perhaps in retaliation briefly took over the management of Bolan's old Tyrannosaurus Rex partner Steve Peregrine. In the mid-Seventies Secunda remained active, and managed the folk group Steeleye Span who had a surprise Top Ten hit with "All Around My Hat" in November 1975. After a hiatus, Secunda resurfaced in the early Eighties, when he became briefly involved in the management of Marianne Faithfull. But his combative style in dealing with record companies was not deemed appropriate, and within a few months the partnership ended. On one occasion her record producer Simon Miller-Mundy was apparently instructed by Faithfull to hand over pounds 3,000 in cash to Secunda at a London bank. They walked out into Trafalgar Square where Secunda announced: "The funny thing about people is they don't like money." He proceeded to demonstrate this by offering passing students bundles of notes saying, "Here, take it." They refused, supposing skulduggery, and Secunda strolled on, having made his point. For the past few years Secunda had been living in San Anselmo, California, where he remained active in music publishing and promotion and developed an unexpected interest in the ecology and green issues. Tony Secunda was respected as one of the last of the great Sixties mavericks, without whom British pop music would have been much duller and less vibrant - as indeed it became. (c)1995 The Independent End of Useless Information #320 ******************************* [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.]