Woke up one morning half asleep
Continuing my trip back through the 1968 album charts.
05/05/68 : Move - The Move
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I've heard of The Move, but couldn't tell you the faintest thing about them - so I'm guessing I'd better listen to this so I can remedy that!
Ah, I actually already knew "Flowers In The Rain" (the first song played on Radio 1, don't you know?) and "Fire Brigade", but I'd forgotten they were by The Move. The rest of the album is similar but different - it's mostly pleasant enough ("Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart" is an odd track though), but it all struck me as a bit closer to a mid 60s sound than I was expecting. In some ways that's good because it's not a sound we've heard very much of this year, but I'm a bit perplexed as to what it was bringing to the party at the time. Maybe all will become clearer when I hit '64 or '65 - either way, I like the album cover.
We're at #17 in the charts this week on their fifth week of a nine week run, with it having peaked at #15 - one of the less successful albums we've seen this year. The top five this week were Bob, an Otis best-of, TSOM and a pair of best-ofs from The Supremes and The Four Tops, the highest new entry was Donovan (#21) and there were no new women involved in the chart.
Wikipedia has waaay more than on this than I was expecting (148 milliPeppers) - firstly I learned that Roy Wood (of "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" fame) was in The Move and then I learned that he was one of the founding members of ELO (along with Bev Bevan, who was also in The Move). How did I not know that? Back to The Move, they'd been massively hyped and successfully so, having had several hit singles including "Flowers In The Rain". Which, the label "interestingly" decided to promote with a postcard which depicted the then PM Harold Wilson in bed with his secretary - which instantly got them sued, resulting in all profits having to be donated to a charity of Wilson's choosing in perpetuity.
Back to the album, the band were kept so busy that they struggled to find time to record the album and then, just as it was ready, the master tapes were stolen (a £200 reward was offered, which was chunky money back then!) so they had to do it all again. Interestingly, all five members of the group have a go at providing vocals across the album and there were three covers on the album, apparently staple numbers from their live shows. It was well received critically, but I get the impression it wasn't the commercial success people were hoping for.
"Customers also listened to" Amen Corner, Honeybus, Manfred Mann and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch and the last two are a good example of what I was talking about when I said it had a "mid 60s" sound - the people agree with me! I didn't mind this at all, but it doesn't feel like something I'd remember even existed to ever go back to.
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