Customer Reviews

Anthology 1966-1972

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Four discs 57,39,58,58 minutes each approximately. The sound is improved from the MOVEMENTS box set from a few years ago. Having been a Move fan since the days of vinyl(I still have the albums of course) I'm glad that this anniversary edition contains so many unissued tracks. Saying that,I still feel the best way to understand The Move is through their first few albums. Someone new to The Move will better enjoy this collection after having heard those albums.

The Move were a curious amalgam of several things-a large dose of pop music mixed with humor,slamming rock and roll,a bit of the "Mod" sound,a bit of psychedelia,and a bit of British dancehall much like the Kinks. Even today,forty-some years later,The Move are still not relegated to the upper echelons of more famous contemporary groups. They were(and continue to be) the quintessential sounding British band. Having few chart hits sealed their fate and made them the much loved cult band they are to this day. This set contains many gems either rarely or never heard,which only solidifies their stature. Singling out any tracks would not help other listeners,as everyone has their own favorites,and will find new ones.

This box set,while fairly expensive,is worth the money,if for nothing else than the unissued tracks which give an even better picture of this band,which is still the best yet most unknown of the "British invasion" groups from so long ago. If you want to get away from the "Stones,Beatles,Who" sound-pick this up,and while you're at it,pick up The Move's first few albums-you won't be sorry.

The enclosed booklet is crammed with information and pictures from the era,and is a nice addition to the story of The Move. The folded poster is ok-nothing that great,but the "postcards" are pretty cool-with information and photographs on individual band members. The packaging of the four discs is not the best-clipped in loose-they could fall out easily. Pick this up before this,too,goes the way of the thirtieth anniversary set MOVEMENTS-difficult to find.

First, UK Salvo released an excellent 2-CD set of the first Move album, complete with excellent sound, some first-time stereo, and great packaging.

Then, they issued superb "Shazam" and "Lookin' On" reissues, both with excellent sound and lots of new stereo.

Finally they issued this boxset and in the main, it's a major disappointment.

First off, the plastic CD holders are the most complicated and poorest designed ever and if you don't drop or break the CD, you'll be darn lucky. Absolutely awful.

Disc 1 has a handful of excellent never-before-released tracks in mono and they're great. The remainder of disc 1 is stuff previously released on Salvo and those horrible, stupid "enhanced stereo" tracks, which they claimed were done for some unissued 1972 vinyl LP. Absolutely worthless, unless you get off on the first Elvis album in phony stereo.

Disc 2 is the best thing here; the complete live Marquee 1968 session in proper stereo, and with the exception of a few badly distorted vocals ("Fire Brigade"), this stuff has never sounded better.

Disc 3 is nearly a total washout except for the live "Open Your Eyes". More "enhanced stereo" and the remainder are repeated tracks found elsewhere on the Salvo reissues.

Disc 4 opens with a cool 1969 live "I Can Hear The Grass Grow" and the remainder is the same tracks that have reissued over and over again.

So, a difficult CD tray situation and 75% worthless repeats makes this a boxset that you should get only if you can a hellava deal for it.

I love The Move and Salvo's previous releases are first-rate, but this boxset is jam packed with repeats, phony stereo tracks and only about 1/4th of the set is exciting. If you're a fan like I am, you too will be disappointed.

Being a long time fan of Roy Wood and the Move I was excited when Salvo announced this box set. I have mixed feelings about it, so let me share them with you. First, I was really let down by the short, 200 minute, run time. That doesn't even fill 3 discs let alone 4. Bummer! The box is half unreleased material, exactly 31 of 62 tracks see light of day for the first time. Not an automatic plus, but in this case its the best part of the package. The 72 page booklet rocks. The guys at Salvo put lots of tlc into the sound and booklet. So 5 stars on that account. Like the 4 disc Peter Green anthology on Salvo the box design is the pits. I've written them letting them know that its risky every time you take a disc out, because the way they're packaged in pairs, you take one out, its mate slides everywhich way. If you're lucky. If not, it comes completely out and you risk scratches. I had a friend who had to have 3 copies shipped to him because the discs were damaged in shipping. Drag! The price is down to earth. Now. Started way too high, but now even the list is reasonable, so you can pick a copy up for about $25 plus s & h. Cool! Ray Wood is a musician's musician and thus some of his stuff is a bit quirky to say the least. But the pre-Jeff Lynne Move had a real knack for hit singles, in the UK, absolutely ignored stateside. Bummer. But the songs sound as fresh in 2009 as they did in 1966=1969 before Lynne left the Idle Race and the Move morphed into ELO. Looking On was pretty good, even Message to the Country, their final lp had lots of bright moments, but for most of us, the early psychedelic Move is where its at. Wood never touched drugs, so it goes to show good psych doesn't require the ingestion of controlled substances. At their best, like "I Can Hear The Grass Grow" and "Cherry Blossom Clinic" the Move had a wonderful mixture of pop and rock, and boy can Roy play. Guitar, sitar, you name it. Problem was he was too talented and was easily bored so he kept stretching out and the Move never quite had an album that stuck together, save perhaps their first eponymous album. The songs varied so widely on albums that people here in the States, unaware of the wonderful singles, couldn't put a handle on the Move's place in rock and roll history. In the UK, the hit singles became a yolk around their necks, and their label and music buyers saw them as a singles only band. What a shame. Lots of really interesting stuff on the lps. So without big lp sales, and no exposure of the singles in the US, the Move quietly flew in under the radar and just as quietly became ELO. The first ELO album, with Roy on board, was where he was headed musically, but again no commercial appeal. Wood split, Lynne took over, ELO II with its extended version of Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven" hit big and ELO became larger than life. Wood, meanwhile, continued/continues to put out quirky stuff with Wizzard cum Wizzo, etc. Bottom line, this box set has wonderful moments, all the great singles, the complete concert which was released as an EP "Something Else" in the UK, and has alternate versions and unreleased material galore. Kudos to Salvo. The sound is exquiste. Ditto to Salvo. But why the short run time? They stretched the 1st lp into a very interesting 2 cd set, why only 50 minutes per disc? No explanation there. Sum it up now. The set is worth its weight due to the excellent sound, unreleased material, and great booklet. Don't overpay, however. The short run time cuts the value. The Green anthology runs 270 minutes. Why only 200 here? But with the price properly adjusted, this is a must have for anyone remotely familiar with the Move. Roy Wood is a wizard and his lead guitar/vocal/songwriting work are impeccable though quirky. Buy it, listen to it, love it. 4 stars for short run time. 5 star quality, 4 star value.

Admittedly I am biased. I've been a huge fan of The Move since their earliest days, and probably have more duplication of Move tracks in my collection (vinyl and CD) than I'd care to admit. Hence, word of a new multi-disc anthology filled me with both pleasure and dread. Would this be yet another recycling of now-available material or give me something truly new?

The reality turned out to be a little of both. Yes, there are a number of tracks on this four disc set that have been available to collectors before and many times over. Still, it is the previously unavailable material that makes this relatively expensive box set worth the money. For starters CD 1 picks up where Mike Sheridan's Lot left off -- literally within weeks if not days -- with a track from the earliest known Move recording session in January 1966. Too bad the entire surviving acetate could not have been included here, as it should have been, but I'm sure there is a story behind that decision somewhere. Three radio recordings of the embroyanic Move follow before the remainder of the first disc is given over to a variety of excellent versions and mixes of previously released Move tracks.

It is disc 2 that makes this set what it is: nothing short of amazing. The careful reconstruction of the Move's 1968 Marquee show, portions of which appeared on the legendary live EP "Something Else from the Move," are the highpoint of this box. Not only are all but a couple of songs from the first February show lovingly resurrected with original vocals restored, but also the adding on of tunes from a subsequent May show intended to aid in the release of the promised but technically plagued EP make this the closest thing to a typical live Move show from this classic period one is ever likely to hear.

Again praise for the third and fourth discs may be a little more muted since more of the tracks there have been available before with only slight variations noticed. The taste of the now-legendary Move performance at the Fillmore West in 1969 via two tracks, makes this reviewer hunger for the entire show, which apparently the late singer Carl Wayne's estate now holds. There is no doubt that while Roy Wood was and still is a genius in the recording studio, it was often the live Move that demonstrated the musical virtuosity that was the group.

Thirty-One previously unreleased cuts and the splendid reconstruction of the 1968 Move at the Marquee all combine to make this a very desirable boxset for serious collectors.

Frankly, I bought this set for the unreleased tracks as I already had the heretofore mentioned "Movements" box set. While the mastering is great and the booklet is superb, this is really a set for only the most fanatical Move fan. The packaging is simply atrocious. The discs sit in trays secured by clips and it is nearly impossible to remove and replace them without scratching them. Actually, one of the discs in my set became dislodged during shipping and it arrived seriously scratched. I eventually just took them out of the trays and put them in paper sleeves to stem further damage. For those new to the band, I would suggest picking up the recent reissues of the separate LPs rather than this set. As an aside, Note to label: I would really love to see the entire Filmore Concert released at some point!

This 4 CD box covers the Move's career from early 1966 till they turned into The Electric Light Orchestra in 1972.

CD one is by far the strongest, containing all Roy Wood's original songs from their excellent 1968 debut album. Moreover it has all the early single-tracks, with the classics "Night of Fear", "Disturbance" and "I Can Har the Grass Grow".

Among the outtakes "Move" and "Vote For Me" stand out - easily as strong as most of the album-tracks.

The CD opens with 4 previously unreleased tracks recorded in early 1966. The strongest of the four "You're the One I Need" shows a heavy influence from a band like the Yardbirds. Even more great recordings from around 1967-68 can be found on the highly recommended extended re-issue of their debut-album also released on Salvo Records. Vocally the band is on par with their contemporaries from America The Byrds and Beach Boys

CD two is only live-recordings at the Marquee Club in 1968. These recordings took place during two concerts; the earliest when they were still a 5 piece band. The sound is as could be expected pretty rough, but the recordings show the band as a really tight unit, musically and vocally very strong. From the early set especially "Stephanie Knows Who" stand out, and from the later performance "Piece of My Heart" with an impressive performance from Carl Wayne"

CD three is from their transitional period from being a psychedelic pop/rock band turning into a heavier rocking boogie act. The band continued to release great singles during this period, with "Omnibus", "Blackberry Way" and "Curly" as great examples - on these tracks they have maintained their great distictive sound. The album "Shazam" recorded during this period, shows the band experimenting with new sounds and styles, and the album has its great moments. The strongest track off the album is "Beautiful Daughter" which is also the earliest of the only 6 tracks. Unfortunaly this alternate mix, sound like only one half of a stereo mix, with the acoustic guitar almost inaudible. "The Last Thing on My Mind" is a fine interpretation of Tom Paxton's folk song. I never cared much for "Hello Susie" and would have preferred to see "Fields of People" included instead.

CD four logically covers their final period, which I regard as their weakest. The departure of three founding members begins to show, and the band's aim to follow the trends of the time by playing longer and heavier material doesn't really impress.

Their third album ( and weakest) "Looking On" is represented by 4 tracks - of which really none have aged with grace. Oddly enough their final album "Message From the Country" is only represented by "Ella James". The strongest material on this CD comes from their fine singles off this period. "Tonight", "Chinatown" and "Lightning Strikes Twice" revives the sound of their earlier recordings - a shame the band did not stick more to these roots.

Two live recordings from Filmore West 1969 show the band as a strong live-band and again their heavy influnce fom the Byrds.

The 70 pages book is a great read, and contains both detailed biographical notes and interesting facts on each track.

A highly recommended release, though some might find it enough to just have the reissues of the band's first two albums.

Although they never broke through in the U.S. like the other British Invasion Bands, The Move were a pivotal and important link in rock 'n' roll. The band ultimately morphed (with the addition of former Idle Race singer/songwriter/gutarist Jeff Lynne) into ELO. This set from Salvo packages some terrific rarities, previously unreleased tracks and stereo remixes of key Move tracks. I'm going to rate each disc, the packaging and booklet separately.

The sound quality for a modern CD master is good. It's a bit loud at times and while some tracks sounded a compressed, others sounded fine. I did notice a bit of digital clipping on a couple of tracks but most folks probably won't notice it. Overall, Salvo has done a pretty good job on the remastering of these tracks.

Disc 1 opens with a bang--four previously unreleased early radio performances from the band and one Roy Wood song recorded before their first album was completed. The last track is from the only known surviving acetate of the song. All four sound quite good here and have been restored for their presentation. We also get an alternate version of "Night of Fear" and a longer version of "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" as well as an early mix of "Fire Brigade" and a handful of "enhanced stereo" tracks some of which sound good while others are so-so. There are other alternate and rough mixes of a variety of classic tracks by the band the most notable of which is the acoustic version of "Flowers in the Rain" with just Roy Wood and Carl Wayne. Overall, disc 1 deserves 4 stars.

Disc 2 is the REAL keeper here. 5 stars for the "Live at the Marquee" tracks that made up "Something Else". The original lead vocals (which were replaced by overdubs in many cases) plus unreleased performances from the recordings done over two nights in 1968 are a gem. A total of 12 songs but some of them are extended workouts (jams)of these classic tunes.

Disc 3 includes far too many previously released tracks but we do get the 1969 Filmore West performances of Todd Rundgren's "Open My Eyes" and "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" (we should have gotten the whole performance but I suspect that will show up sooner than later if the tapes are still in decent shape overall). We also get demos for "She's Too Good For Me" called "Second Class" here(which eventually showed up on Roy Wood's solo album "Boulders"). The only other notable track is the piano version of "A Certain Something". 3 stars for the third disc seems fair.

Disc 4 has the Filmore song previously mentioned, the promo edit for "Brontosaurus", "Turkish Tram Conductor Blues" in a rough mix, the U.S. single edits of "Tonight" and "Do Ya" closing out with "The Duke of Edinburgh's Lettuce" a joke tune by Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood recorded for "Looking On". Again, too many previously available tracks are here for the hardcore fan but for the casual fan it will give you a taste of the Roy Wood-Jeff Lynne Move. Curiously, there's nothing from "Message to the Country" included here (although there were some rarities that did show up on the Peter Mew remastered edition of "Message to the Country")but, perhaps, that's just as well since that is a terrific Move album and should be owned by every move fan. I'd give the 4th disc three stars as well since almost everything on this disc is available somewhere else. That said, the Lynne era is woefully under represented but I suspect that there were less in the way of alternate versions, demos, rough mixes and also issues with licensing since EMI owns "Message to the Country" and the singles that were also issued in the same time frame.

The packaging--the book style packging is nice but the holders for the CDs can scratch the CDs if you're not careful (two of mine were scratched in a brand new set although they still played fine). I like the concept just not the execution. I feel that the design should have been closer to that for the Faces Rhino boxed set.

The 70 plus page booklet is a terrific overview on the band's career and is pretty honest about why members left. It's well written and has terrific annotation for each track. There are also postcards with promo photos of the band included on them and a poster.

If you insert disc 1 into your computer you can also access five free mp3 downloads at the Salvo website. I had a problem with mine accessing the website but hope to have that figured out shortly. The downloads are supposed to be alternate takes/mixes, etc.

Disc 1-4 stars

Disc 2-5 stars

Disc 3-3 stars

Disc 4-3 stars

Sound Quality-3 stars (not perfect but listenable unless you are a hardcore audiophile).

Packaging 3 stars (except for the clips that hold the discs)

Booklet-5 stars for a grand total of...3 stars. Make no mistake although I have rated this 3 stars if you can get this at a decent price this is worthwhile getting.

the first 4 tracks on this set are worth the money alone. the complete

marquee set is great. the booklet has lots of great photos and stories

and the packaging isn't so bad once you figure it out. it's very exciting to hear new move songs. two thumbs up and much thanks to cherry blossom clinic, keep up the good work!!!

I have to agree with the other reviewer that this is great to have for the hard-core move fan, but not the casual fan or newcomer to the move. First, the positive about this set. This box set is great in that it contains tracks never before released by the Move. On the first disk, the first four tracks are newly released songs from the band's founding in 1966:the Roy Wood-penned You're the One I Need,I Can't Hear You No More,Is It True, and the cover of the Isley Bros Respectable(although I think the Outsiders version which came out the same year is superior).Move, the group's theme song and intended b- side to their second single, is the next new song. Then there's Vote For Me, the flip side to the aborted Cherry Blossom Clinic single which describes a stay in a psychiatric hospital which the record company wouldn't let them release as a single. Lastly there's Simple Simon, an instrumental number.

The second disk is exclusively live tracks,the one's never before released are covers: the Denny Laine-penned Too Much In Love,the Everly Bros. The Price Of Love, Janis Joplin's Peice Of My Heart, and Jackie Wilson's Higher And Higher. Apparently the Move always did a lot of covers in their live set. On the third disc, we have Second Class(Too Good For Me), an instrumental backing track which later became She's Too Good For Me on Roy Wood's 1973 solo album Boulders, a country-rock song that I love and played on guitar years ago. Then there's Todd Rundgren's Open My Eyes. There are no new releases on the fourth disc,which covers the beginning of the Jeff Lynne era to the end of the band upon the birth of the ELO. This collection also contains all the band's A-side singles, from Night Of Fear in early 1967 to California Man in 1972.

Now that I covered the positive, here's the gripes I have with this collection. First, some key tracks are edited down. Disturbance, the flip side to Night Of Fear, dosen't have the psychedelic ending with group manager Tony Secunda-inspired screams and ranting. Do Ya, the flip side to California Man,on this collection has the instrumental bridge in the middle of the song removed. My second gripe with this collection is that it leaves out some b- sides and other key tracks. Walk Upon The Water,b-side to Flowers In The Rain; What,a Jeff-Lynned penned,John Lennon/Beatles/White Album styled track which was the b-side to the non-charting When Alice Comes Back To The Farm single;Don't Mess Me Up, Roy Wood's Elvis imitation which backs Tonight; and Jeff Lynne's rockabilly styled Down On The Bay, the flip to Chinatown,their second to last single in 1971, are all missing. The title tracks to their third and fourth album, Looking On and Message From The Country respectively, are missing. Third, the only Jeff Lynne track(he joined the Move in 1970) is the edited version of Do Ya.

My recomendation is that you only buy this cd if you are a hard core move fan who must have these new releases(many of them though not all are on the previous Move box set Movements which is now discontinued). By buying two cds: one of either "Hits The Singles A's and B's And Rarities"

or "Very Best Of The Move" and the remastered "Message From The Country"

their last album in 1971 with their last three singles not on the original album added in as bonus tracks,you will get all the Move's charting singles through the whole group's history from 1967 to 1972 and are all available at Amazon. The only other kind of person I would recommend this collection to is the person who don't want to bother buying two cds and prefer the simplicity of buying the box set and dosen't mind the extra cost.

In the heyday of Anglo pop art few could match the power and creative diversity of the Move. Each album they did was unique and filled with some amazing music. Be it hit pop singles, complex prog-pop extended tracks, and ultimately heavy neo-classic arrangments their album catalog is a delight.

This box set offers a glimpse of the raw power and energy the band could conjure up on any given night Live. It adds great depth to their fab career and Roy Woods many musical talents. It's sad they couldn't keep it together, but that's the story of the "1960's" in too many cases.

Fortunately now this box set + all their original albums have been re-mastered and reissued thanks to Face the Music's Rob Caiger who has spent years devotedly searching record company archives.

You can read more about the Move Live now at [...] in the writers blog, the worlds ultimate archive of rock writings.