Fake Applause Uses 101:The Move Live @ The Marquee EP

THE MOVE-Something Else From...E.P. (So You Want To Be A Rock N' Roll Star/Stephanie Knows Who/Somethin' Else/It'll Be Me/Sunshine Help Me) U.K. Regal Zonophone TRZ 2001 1968

Confusion has long reigned in my mind until a few years back on The Move's 1968 E.P. which was reputedly recorded "live" at the famous Marquee Club at 90 Wardour Street in London. The front and back sleeve depicts a four piece Move, yet some of the tracks clear;y feature two guitars signalling that it might've been recorded by the original five piece Move line -up: Carl Wayne (lead vocals), Roy Wood (lead guitar/vocals), Trevor Burton (rhythm guitar/vocals), Chris "Ace" Kefford (bass/vocals) and Bev Bevan (drums).

The facts are now clear. In the December '67/January '68 Move fanclub newsletter members were encouraged to attend a special gig to be held at the Marquee on February 27, 1968 for the purpose of the recording of a special live E.P. The E.P. was to be "revolutionary" because unlike most 60's E.P.'s that consisted for four tracks this one would contain six. A full set of nine tracks was recorded. Due to some faulty tape recorder issues the lead vocal tracks on several of the numbers were inaudible. This was remedied by the band booking studio time to overdub a vocal track onto the live recording (hmmmm "Got Live If You Want It" anyone? Necessity really is the mother of invention). The set was as follows:

"Move Bolero" (an interpretation of Ravel's "Bolero")
"It'll Be Me"
"Too Much In Love"
"Flowers In The Rain"
"Fire Brigade"
"Stephanie Knows Who"
"Somethin' Else"
"So You Want To Be A Rock N' Roll Star"
"The Price Of Love"

Vocal retakes were done in the studio on the Jerry Lee Lewis number "It'll Be Me", "Denny Laine's "Too Much In Love", Love's "Stephanie Knows Who" and The Byrds "So You Want To Be A Rock N' Roll Star". Of these four all but the Denny Laine song were selected for inclusion on the E.P. It was decided that the band would return to the Marquee on May 5th for more "live" recordings. By this time however the band's charismatic bassist Ace Kefford had left following personal problems and rows within the band. His slot was taken by Trevor Burton who forfeited his rhythm guitar slot. Five new numbers were taped on May 5th with the new four piece Move, once again tape recording issues sent the band AGAIN into the studio to re-record the lead vocal track on some efforts from the May 5th gig like Jackie Wilson's "Higher And Higher" (where you can hear frontman Carl Wayne's low-fi verbal intro of "this one's for all the junkies" indicating how poor the lead mic was functioning), Spooky Tooth's "Sunshine Help Me", Eddie Cochran's "Somethin' Else" (sung by Trevor Burton) and Erma Franklin's "Piece Of My Heart" (the band scrapped an attempt to re-do the vocals for Moby Grape's "Hey Grandma" which was also cut on May 5th). Try as they may two separate mixing sessions (one with producer Tony Visconti and engineer Malcom Toft another with producer Denny Cordell and engineer Glyn Johns) failed to reduce the material to be condensed for a six track E.P., forcing the band and their manager Tony Secunda to settle for five tracks which were to be played at 33 1/3 to maximize available space on a 7" E.P. 5 tracks from two different gigs were chosen, lined up in a different order with fake applause dubbed in (the audience reaction on both "live" recordings is less than noticeable in the original tapes) as well as an intro tacked onto the opening track.

Opening with a frantic version of Jim McGuinn and Chris Hillman's "social R&R commentary" tune "So You Want To Be A Rock N' Roll Star", the band pull out all stops. Roy Wood goes absolutely batsh*t on wah-wah and Trevor Burton churns away with a choppy riff. On a personal note when I was in a garage band in 1985-1986 called The Phantom Five we played the track, I had never really heard The Byrds version, just this version by The Move as I bludgeoned through, Trevor Burton style on the number. The band make full use of their 4 part harmonies (well honed in their days as a soul/r&b band in their earlier days in late '65 through '66 and their next venture into "American West Coast sounds" after that) with decent results, even if the lead vocals are "faked". The wah-wah goes full tilt again as the band tackle Love's "Da Capo" track "Stephanie Knows Who" with some soulful vocals from Carl Wayne and their "heavy" sound make it very chunky and by all rights, their own. Eddie Cochran's classic "Somethin' Else" is tackled with Trevor Burton taking the lead vocal spot (a hark back to the days when all Move members handled lead vocals onstage) stomping the guts out of the original. One only ponders what folks made of the once stylishly "mod" band who used to cover "Stop And Get A Hold Of Myself" by Gladys Knight & the Pips and Betty Everett's "Can't Hear You No More" as they got firmly "heavy" and in "rocker territory" with this brilliant number. The rocking continues with the Jerry Lee Lewis tune "It'll Be Me" (that opened the original February 5th gig recording of the E.P.), this time led by the late great Carl Wayne. The E.P.'s final track is culled from the four piece Move gig, a cover of Spooky Tooth's debut 45 "Sunshine Help Me"(which like many of the session's "contemporary" cover versions borders on obscure). It's not terribly dissimilar from the original version, though it is decidedly heavier and certainly not as "polished", but unique with it's three part harmonies. The E.P. failed to chart, in fact it was the first U.K. 7" by The Move to fail to do so, something that would, for awhile become all to common as the band backslid into the lucrative yet souless "cabaret" scene.

All of the tracks from the original U.K. E.P. as well as all of the February 5, 1968 Marquee gig and some of the cuts from the "make-up" May 5, 1968 show have been painstakingly restored and issued as part of last year's essential 4 CD "Anthology 1966-1972" box set.

"Somethin' Else":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8fDnUKDDDU

"Move Bolero/It'll Be Me":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QsTe2omnWs

"Sunshine Help Me":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe_Tq9hMEbM

"So You Want To Be A Rock N' Roll Star":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gFQJzdgrw4

"Stephanie Knows Who":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJCmMI6upog