The Move Get Sued !

THE MOVE-Flowers In The Rain/(Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree Portugal Stateside PSS 1001 1967

I don't think any band other than The Move can go down in history for being sued by a Prime Minister for libel.  In August 1967 the band's manager Tony Secunda (unbeknownst to any of The Move) printed up promo postcards for distribution to promote their new single "Flowers In the Rain" featuring a cartoon of then Prime Minister Harold Wilson  with his personal secretary Marcia Williams (who herself eventually became a politician) taking dictation next to him in bed with her (there were rumors that the two were intimate going on for years). Wilson of course, was not amused.  He sued The Move for libel and won.  In October, 11, 1967 the High Court upheld the suit and designated that all royalties accrued from the song would go to charities of Wilson's choice.  To this day song writer Roy Wood does not see a penny from the song, which has gone on to be used in TV commercials and ranks, allegedly, as one of the band's greatest selling singles of all time.  Curiously Wilson's counsel, Quentin Hogg QC was previously one of his most outspoken political opponents! It also holds the distinction of being the first pop song ever played on the BBC's Radio One's , by DJ Tony Blackburn (after of course George Martin's brilliant orchestrally lysergic "Theme One").  Radio One was the Beeb's new more rock n' roll friendly format created in response to the defeat of pirate radio.  The incident led to a management rethink and the band parted ways with Secunda (briefly winding up under the evil Don Arden!). Today's 45 rpm specimen comes from Portugal.

"Flowers in The Rain" marks a departure for The Move from their harder edged five piece power pop/mod sound of their first two singles on Deram which you can read about here:

http://anorakthing.blogspot.com/2009/08/move-debut.html

http://anorakthing.blogspot.com/2010/07/move-part-two.html

"Flower In The Rain" benefits from some brilliant pop psych orchestration scored by a young American named Tony Visconti who'd just come under the wing of the band's producer Denny Cordell, who took them along with him to the label Regal Zonophone (previously only the home to "Christian" rock n roll like The Joy Strings et al).  It also marks their debut in the genre of carefully orchestrated, well crafted psychedelic pop that would lead to other famous tracks like "Blackberry Way".  Like most good Move singles lead singer Carl Wayne shares the vocals, with lead guitarist Roy Wood taking the chorus. The flip side, "(Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree" is in the same vein orchestration wise, a bit too twee for me I'm afraid, I prefer the version cut by their Brummie pals The Idle Race for a U.S. only release.  You can read about that here:

http://anorakthing.blogspot.com/2011/05/us-only-uk-pop-sike-pressings-part-ii.html

Roy Wood takes the lead vocals on this track but the melody is just too saccharine for my ears.  I was never a huge fan of this track and I'm afraid time has done little to change that!

The band in Secunda's office at the time of the lawsuit, pic courtesy of Getty Images.



Both sides can be found on a variety of Move CD's, we recommend the double CD deluxe edition of their untitled debut 1967 LP or the equally cool 4 CD box set "Anthology 1966-1972". There's an amazing BBC player segment on the track and it's political ramifications  that you can hear here.

A few other issues of the 45:

Rare South African 45 P.S.

German 45 P.S.



French 45 P.S.

Belgian 45 P.S.

Spanish 45 P.S.



U.S. pressing

U.K. pressing

TRIVIA NOTE:

If you were friends with me in the 90's you probably received a U.S. copy of this single from me along with a U.S. pressing of "Fire Brigade" as I literally bought a dozen copies of each at the Princeton Record Exchange for 50 cents a copy (along with equally as many U.S. copies of Prince Buster's "The 10 Commandments" on Phillips and U.K copies of Roy C's "Shotgun Wedding" on U.K., all at the same price)!

U.S. Only U.K. Pop Sike Pressings Part III

THE MOVE-Yellow Rainbow/Something U.S. A&M 966 1968

Today's item in question is an interesting U.S. only pressing of a Move single that was not released anywhere else!  On side A we have "Yellow Rainbow" a track from the band's untitled debut LP (which wasn't even released in the U.S.) coupled with a track called "Something". Interestingly this single is listed as having been released in August of 1968.  "Something" would not appear anywhere else until November 1968 on the flip side of "Blackberry Way" (U.K. Regal Zonphone RZ 3015).  Even stranger is that A&M would re-use "Something" as the flip for their next U.S. Move single "Blackberry Way" in January 1969 (A&M 1020)!

The post Ace Kefford '68 vintage Move

"Yellow Rainbow" is a quirky slice of brilliance from Roy Wood, a man who never imbibed in psychedelics but wrote the most way out tunes. Lyrically it has a post-apocalypse feel with some great thundering/heavy bass licks from Ace Kefford (who would be out of the band around the time the track made it's appearance on the band's debut LP) and the lead vocals are handled by rhythm guitarist Trevor Burton (with Roy Wood singing the bridge). As always the band's four part harmonies are spot on and drummer Bev Bevan plays some incredible bits!  "Something" is one of those tracks that lead Trevor Burton to leave because he felt the Move were (quite rightly so) turning into a "cabaret act" in 1969.  It was penned by lead singer Carl Wayne's friend David Morgan and is pure crooner crap, something the late Carl Wayne, was sadly, very much into in the late 60's.

Hear "Yellow Rainbow":

http://youtu.be/nRHxNbaSHk4

Hear "Something":

http://youtu.be/RtiiJzgwqC4

Les Move 1967

THE MOVE Live on French TV 1967

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 clearly feature two guitars signaling 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). Ace left the band on March 13, 1968  after slamming his Fender Precision bass into a wall during as rehearsal and storming out, going home and barricading himself in his apartment and slitting his wrists, never to return to the band again.  This has left some some confusion to his involvement on the E.P. He is on some of the tracks, but not all....read on:

The facts are now clear. In the December '67/January '68 Move fan club newsletter members were encouraged to attend a special gig to be held at the Marquee on February 27, 1968 (literally weeks before Ace's departure) 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