[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 #456 March 21, 2003 In this issue: * Carl: "How I Got Roy Back On The Move" * Musicmania in Birmingham * Song Of The Week (week of 3/17): "The Carlsberg Special" * Night Of Fear stunt * What Roy Wants/Doesn't Want (cont.) * Dancin' Monkey * Where's Rick? ============================================================== 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: Carl: "How I Got Roy Back On The Move" Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2003 10:34:02 -0800 From: Lynn Hoskins Many thanks to Val B for typing this up for the Move List! "How I Got Roy Back On The Move" Birmingham Evening Mail Friday, March 21 By Andy Coleman, Music Editor Birmingham singer Carl Wayne has revealed how he teamed up with old mate Roy Wood for a historic show because the former Wizzard frontman got lost in London. Just before Christmas, Kitts Green-born Carl joined Woody on stage at Covent Garden's Roadhouse for a performance of the Move hits 'I Can Hear The Grass Grow', 'Flowers In The Rain', 'Fire Brigade' and 'Blackberry Way'. It was the first time the duo had played Move songs together in public for more than 30 years. "Woody had been asking me to sing with him for 12 years but I always avoided it", explains Carl who, along with Roy, Bev Bevan, Ace Kefford and Trevor Burton enjoyed chart success as The Move in the sixties. "I agreed to see his Roy Wood's Army show at the Roadhouse but decided to stay at home at the last minute with my wife. Then I got a call from Woody on his tour bus saying he was lost in London and could I give him directions to the venue. "He realised I was still at my home in Surrey and said 'you're not coming to my show again, are you?' "That's when I decided to make the effort and when I joined him on stage it went down a storm". The concert was just two months after Carl had major surgery on his throat, leading to the postponement of a UK tour with his current band The Hollies. The rescheduled Birmingham Symphony Hall date is tonight (Friday 21st). "I used the gig with Woody to test my throat and see if I could manage The Hollies tour which marks their 40th anniversary. With each show lasting two and a quarter hours it can be a really gruelling concert but my voice is holding up well". Most shows have sold out and the band is receiving standing ovations but it is not all been plain sailing for Carl. "I fell off the stage in Folkestone" (Kent, UK) he grimaces. "There was a gap between the sound desk at the side of the stage itself. It was so dark I fell down it, fifth song in. I bashed my elbow but I could have broken my back. I just told the audience that things don't always go to plan". Carl is confident of a stress-free show tonight as Symphony Hall is his favourite venue. "It's the biggest hall we play on the tour and the crowd is always marvellous", he says "I love the intimacy of Symphony Hall, although I believe The Hollies should be playing even bigger venues now. Since I replaced Allan Clarke as lead singer three years ago I've tried to move the band on. We've even recorded a new song 'How Will I Survive', for the forthcoming Greatest Hits Album". END © Copyright 2003 Birmingham Post and Mail Ltd. [Please ask Val if you want to repost this.] ********** Subject: Musicmania in Birmingham Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2003 11:03:18 -0800 From: Lynn Hoskins Here's another item Val spotted in the Evening Mail. Not specifically Move related, but... "Thousands of music lovers will help to celebrate the last five decades of music in Birmingham (UK) this weekend. Organisers expect up to 7,000 people to flock to the NEC for the UK's first music event. Stars due to make an appearance at the event include members of the Moody Blues, Visage, Iron Maiden and soulman Edwin Starr. Musicmania will be held in the Pavillion Halls from 10.00am-6.00pm tomorrow (Sat 22nd) and 10.00am-4.00pm on Sunday. Admission is £4.00" Here's a website for anyone wanting more info: http://secure.vip-24.com/venues/birminghamnec.html ********** Subject: Song Of The Week: "The Carlsberg Special" Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 17:52:25 -0800 From: Lynn Hoskins Song Of The Week: March 17, 2003 "The Carlsberg Special (Piano's Demolished 021 373-4472)" Wizzard Possible discussion topics: Instrumentation Songwriting Arrangement Production Live performance Personal interpretation Strong/weak points *********************** (Instrumental) (B. Hunt) ********** Subject: Re: Song Of The Week: "The Carlsberg Special" Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 12:04:43 -0800 From: Keith Fletcher One of the great Wizzard B'Sides. This could have easily been an A'side. all of the humour that you associate with Wizzard, and one of those songs which make you wonder why the other band members weren't allowed to write more songs, maybe the band would have lasted longer and Roy would not have become the lovable but frustrating eccentric character that he is today. ********** Subject: Re: Song Of The Week: "The Carlsberg Special" Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 00:34:40 -0800 From: "Andrew Footman" Wizzard's B sides always showed the band at their best.T his band contained the best musicians of the day. The complexity of this is amazing. How Bill Hunt managed to play at that speed still amazes me. I cannot see how anyone can fault this. It is has good as the A side Ball Park Incident, which was the case many times with this band. A strong arrangement which resulted in a unique original sound. No one came near this band, they should have stormed America but like the Move things never amounted to any real success over there. I HOPE ROB HAS FOUND MORE OF THESE GEMS. The master must be fantastic. There is so much going on a restored remastered version would allow us all to hear more clearly what is going on. One of the Wizzards best B sides and over 30 years old now. It sounds just has good now as then. 10 out of 10. ********** Subject: Re: Song Of The Week: "The Carlsberg Special" Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 12:05:09 -0800 From: kakman1 I am such a spazz. I was gonna ring up the number at half past five in the am Texas Time (so what's that, 11:30am GMT?) and ask if this was The Carlsberg Special and did they still demolish pianos. I actually pulled out my phone card and rang up the number just now and hung up when I realised it was gonna cost over 300 minutes of call time (texas to somewhere in Birmingham, UK or is it London? You do the math.). Talk about loss of nerve. There goes another great prank out the window. All pranks aside, I first heard this astounding number on the then West German Masters Of Rock release, See My Baby Jive (besides being a wonderful vinyl introduction to a young Wizzard fan, this compiliation contained the first four singles, that is all the A's & B's sides and two LP tracks from "Wizzard's Brew", and it also had great liner notes in English and German!). "The Special" is an astounding composition exceptionally executed. It was the album closer on the compiliation LP. It always knocked my young socks off. I would crank this one way up beyond acceptable social levels, especially at the end, getting every nuance of the fade out. Was Wizzard rock and roll's answer to Spike Jones and his City Slickers? I don't mean were they a joke band (although to some US audiences they could have been mistaken for one at the time just by the looks alone). What many people don't realise is what a crack band the City Slickers were, they could play anything and change tempos at a thrice and quite often within the same two minute fifty record. Sure they made comedy records, but what music! tHe stuff that made you go, how'd they do that? This stuff was done live, folks, with very little or no studio trickery. If the City Slickers left the jokes behind and developed their own hybrid of jazz and rock they may have sounded like Wizzard B-sides. They were that good. And that's what this Bill Hunt number sounds like to me. Great manic harspichord playing, outta sight sitar solo, honkin saxes, heavy bass, solid drums, totally amazing. And what a follow up (and an answer!) to Electric Light Orchestra. Kevin Kunreuther Dallas TX ********** Subject: Re: Song Of The Week: "The Carlsberg Special" Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 12:05:14 -0800 From: Mike Gough Possibly my favorite Wizzard song! This song displays Roy's originality and everything including the kitchen sink approach that I enjoy. I have always felt that Roy Wood was actually the author of this one. Anyone have any insight into that possibility? ********** Subject: Re: Song Of The Week: "The Carlsberg Special" Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 13:49:39 -0800 From: "Andrew Footman" Mike Gough wrote: >Possibly my favorite Wizzard song! This song displays Roy's >originality and >everything including the kitchen sink approach that >I enjoy. I have always >felt that Roy Wood was actually the author >of this one. Anyone have any >insight into that possibility? It is by Bill Hunt, and yes Roy Wood even on the B sides produced with no cutbacks. It cost a fortune to make their records and i remember Rick Price saying that after paying the studio time, there was not a lot of money left over to pay the band even after the records had been massive hits in the UK. It was over money the band fell out and Wizzard split. If memory serves me right this happened just before they were to go to America on tour. ********** Subject: Re: Song Of The Week: "The Carlsberg Special" Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 12:05:19 -0800 From: "richardkenworthy" I was late in buying my copy of Ball Park Incident to which this was the b side of the single. Not until 1974 did I finally get hold of it. On the label the song was entitled The Carlsberg Special (Pianos Demolished Phone 021 373 4472) When I tried to telephone for a piano to be demolished the phone number had been withdrawn from service. I believe that the phone number quoted was actually Bill's number and he had to change it due to the number of fans ringing it. A cracking instrumental song though. it starts off a bit like a black and white horror movie, and then it takes off. Does Bill play a real harpsichord on this one to give the really tinny plucked sound at the beginning. Great brass lines in it too. Was the title inspired by Bill's favourite drink. Probably the best... in the world (allegedly) Richard Lancaster UK ********** Subject: Re: Song Of The Week: "The Carlsberg Special" Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 13:50:07 -0800 From: "Steve Graham" Fantastic track! Surely the harpsichord was speeded up? ********** Subject: Re: Song Of The Week: "The Carlsberg Special" Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 00:34:51 -0800 From: Gmcorie it's like an old english town fox hunt. the best example of where Woody and Wizzard wanted to go with his music. the energizing instrumentation is really wild. the fox going one way dogs the other and the hunters everywhere. shows how great of an instrumentalist Roy is. your on the edge all the way. what energy! time for a smoke. louisiana george ********** Subject: Night Of Fear stunt Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2003 12:36:17 -0800 From: "grumpy-1" Please could someone tell me if one of the early stunts performed during 'Night of Fear' involved a dwarf breaking out of the base drum - or similar? Thank you Roy ********** Subject: Re: Night Of Fear stunt Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 15:26:24 -0800 From: Gmcorie midget in the drums is found in Useless Information #332 Archives. good reading got a good laugh. new members check out the archive you will enjoy. louisiana george ********** Subject: Re: Night Of Fear stunt Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 15:27:22 -0800 From: Lynn Hoskins George, thanks for looking that up for me. Here's the post from a year ago... Subject: Re: I Can See The...Whoa! Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 10:57:24 -0800 From: Rob Caiger That was Tony Secunda's idea. The band were all dressed in their gangster suits and for dramatic effect, Secunda hired a midget, dressed him in his own Move gangster suit and put him in Bev's bass drum. With a pre-arranged bass-drum pedal signal, the tiny chap burst through the bass drum skin and sprayed the audience with a machine gun, firing blanks. It worked well during a quick rehearsal, prior to the band playing the song, but once The Move started playing, a combination of too many free drinks earlier in the day and burst eardrums from Bev now giving the drum kit a good thrashing and kicking, the midget was in a terrible state by the time he fought his way out of the drum. Totally disorientated, with his head pounding with Bev's beats and with the room spinning, he tried to lift up the machine gun and promptly collapsed...... As did the rest of the band with laughter! As you can imagine, there's many more stories like this..... Best - Rob ********** Subject: Re: Night Of Fear stunt Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2003 10:42:24 -0800 From: "Andrew Footman" Boy i wish i would have seen that stunt. For all Secunda's faults you have to give him credit, when he pulled a promoting stunt, it made people take notice! The Harold Wilson one backfired! One stunt too far i suppose. ********** Subject: Re: What Roy Wants/Doesn't Want Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2003 23:05:39 -0800 From: "Andrew Footman" Please do not kick Roy down. I met him the other week. He is nice. Yes Bev please reform the Move. I HAVE GIGGED IN MANY BANDS MYSELF. I can see why he may not want to play with some people again. We see or should i say hear the good things only. He may well only remember the bad times. If Roy just evolved round money, he would have done a Move reformation many years ago. When or if Roy wants to do a Wizzard Move or ELO THING he will do it. It is very very unlikely. We have no right to tell him what we hope or want. I have said he should reform The Move, it would make a lot of people sit up and that notice of him. But at he end of the day it is up to him. Not us, he owes us nothing. Most of us let him down years ago when we let him fall into the realms forgotten. I ALWAYS GOT HIS RECORDS WHICH FLOPPED...But i bet many of you never got things like SAW or (We're on the road again). ********** Subject: Re: What Roy Wants/Doesn't Want Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2003 23:05:57 -0800 From: John DeSilva On Saturday, March 15, 2003, at 12:23 PM, Kenny (Sweetfa) wrote: >I say screw Roy Wood!! He doesn't care so why should we continue to >beg and kiss his ass?? Enough Is Enough!! No matter what we're still >going to love Woody BUT that said...HEY BEV REFORM THE MOVE...PLEASE >REFORM THE MOVE!!!!!!! I'm not sure I understand where Kenny gets that anybody's been kissing Roy's ass (we've done a fair amount of begging on the list but that's just to make ourselves feel better! :-D). Everything I've read from former Move members state very matter-of-factly that Roy simply doesn't want to revisit his past - no begging or pleading that I've heard from Carl, Bev, Trevor, or Ace, just resignation if nothing else. I don't even get the sense from Rob's posts that he's down on his knees to Roy begging and pleading - and Rob's trying to resurrect the man's back catalog for God's sake! As much as I'd love to see the original Move do a one-off charity gig or something of that nature, I respect the fact that Roy is adamant about not trading on his past in that way. Sure he's playing the old hits with the Army, but it's different arrangements with different musicians doing songs culled from his various hit-making years (the 70s mostly). It seems almost a hobby - although that theory is belied by what I saw in NYC last year, where he and the band really seemed to be encouraged by the audiences at the shows. Personally I stick by my original desire to see the four other original Move members get together, do Move, Ace, Trevor, and Carl solo songs as some cleverly named outfit that lets all know who these guys are, and even do a tour of the US and Europe. That would be great, and I'd be there to enjoy it. Given what we know about Woody over all these years, my greatest wish for him is that he gets the ol' confidence back, writes a new batch of tunes as only he can do, and gets into the studio and records. Hell, he doesn't even need backing musicians - "Boulders" and "Mustard" prove that. And let's not forget - he's going to be working with Carl Wayne this year (hopefully!) - maybe this will get the juices flowing as they've not for the last 18 years. Stranger things have happened!!!! JD San Jose, CA ********** Subject: Re: What Roy Wants/Doesn't Want Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 10:36:13 -0800 From: kakman1 "I say screw Roy Wood!!" I say Kenny is a liar and is just trying to stir us up. Nevertheless, there is a point here, which is dealing with the frustration of being a fan of a talented artistic musical genius who for many myriad reasons has not recorded anything "up to snuff", or even at all, in donkeys ages and plays live irregularly and fairly close to home, and appears not give a whiff about his back catalogue or history. Well it is tough to be one of us but I'm not going to publicly or privately slag off at the man because he doesn't have a new recording out or he turns out a duff performance now and again (you ever stop and think how tough it IS to BE Roy Wood?). It's ok to be frustrated such turn of events but let's not go overboard and throw the baby out with bath water. There was also the point mentioned about how it is not about the money to Roy, and that's one reason he will not reform the 'classic' Move again with his old bandmates. The lowest point of the Move's career at one point artistically was when they were doing cabaret even though most of 'em hated doing it, but Roy must have been entertaining at least the idea of leaving the Move himself at that point, because Bev kept saying to him throughout, "think of the money Roy". After the unhappiness, frustration and rows caused by doing it for the money, Roy vowed he'd never allow for that situation to occur again. And I applaud him for sticking to his guns. With the aforementioned Wayne-Wood project due out, there is a good chance things will turn around for our man. We applaud Rob Caiger and his effort to keep the faith alive and message out there and helping make the old catalogue available once again in pristine condition and making us believe there are more wonderful things to come from Roy himself (just you wait). Kevin Kunreuther Dallas TX ********** Subject: Dancin' Monkey Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2003 17:31:20 -0800 From: Joe Ramsey Sweetfa wrote: >I say screw Roy Wood!! >He doesn't care so why should we continue to beg and kiss his ass?? >Enough Is Enough!! No matter what we're still going to love Woody BUT >that said...HEY BEV REFORM THE MOVE...PLEASE REFORM THE MOVE!!!!!!! I agree with Kenny 100%. Screw him! Who needs the main songwriter, singer, producer, player of most of the instruments, etc. Besides... Bev Bevan has this tasty little song called "Whisky Gals" that he's been dying to do with a new group. ELO Part II didn't quite capture the... um, magic flair... that he felt the song called for. Kenny, Kenny, Kenny... just as Bev wouldn't be allowed to reform Denny & The Diplomats without Denny, Black Sabbath without Iommi or ELO without (oh wait - he DID do that one... gulp!), there IS NO MOVE without Roy Wood. None... zippo, zally, zero. If Carl Wayne and Bev Bevan want to start a new group, more power to them. They should do it. Call it something else and say former members of The Move. And they can play all of the old material - I would imagine that they wouldn't be writing much new. Me? I admire Roy Wood for NOT bowing to the nostalgia gods. He has his group that he obviously likes and they play some of his older material... OK. They're not calling themselves Wizzard, which would be wrong but WAY more profitable for Woody I would imagine. Roy dances to the beat of a different drummer. NOT Bev Bevan. He does what he wants when he wants to. As OJ Simpson so ELOquently put it as he was being hounded by the press, "Hey... I ain't no dancin' monkey for you all!". And Roy ain't no Dancin' Monkey for the fans, record companies, managers, attorneys or booking agents. There are so few free-thinking, honest to God eccentrics out there anymore. They have either sold out, gone completely nuts or died. We should celebrate Roy's weirdness, not condemn it. Move Part II... Hmmmmmmmmmmm... ribfest, anyone? Joe PS. Whisky Gals... Aye yay yay! ********** Subject: Re: Dancin' Monkey Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 10:35:57 -0800 From: "Jeff Cooper" Joe wrote: > Call it something else and say former members of The Move. Much as I do want to see Bev, Carl, Trevor, Rick (or whatever the combination) live playing Move song, I really do think that the name is the crunch issue here. Without Roy in the band, whatever the line-up is shouldn't go out under the name The Move. How about this (inspired by the line below from Jo's mail). The band call themselves "Something Else" and go out under a banner such as ... 'From Night of Fear to California Man, "Something Else" featuring former members of The Move present a night of classic Move songs live in concert'.... Its a bit of mouthful but without any kind of full re-union then this tactic (or a variation of the theme) has to be employed to promote and/or advertise the thing. Any other ideas...? ********** Subject: Re: Dancin' Monkey Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 16:56:20 -0800 From: kakman1 Jeff Cooper wrote: >'From Night of Fear to California Man, "Something Else" featuring former >members of The Move present a night of classic Move songs live in >concert'.... What often happens whenever Orchestra goes on tour, the promoter will always calls it "Electric Light Orchestra" with "former members of" and "Orchestra" in very tiny and obscure print. If the band doesn't call itself The Move, rest assured, the promoter will. Kevin Kunreuther Dallas TX ********** Subject: Where's Rick? Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2003 12:35:58 -0800 From: Gmcorie Re: The Words Of Aaron >Who played what is a bit hazy on some of those tracks. It has been >said that Rick Price played bass uncredited on a few "MFTC" tracks. >But I am quite sure Roy is playing bass on "Aaron". now what i would like to know is, where was Rick at the time? louisiana george End of Useless Information #456 ******************************* [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.]