Customer Reviews

Shazam

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

not much to add to the previous review, which was extremely well done . this is one of the 5 greatest albums of the era in my opinion( 1970). you'll listen to it over and over. side one consists of excellent roy wood originals and side two has covers of material by the interesting but forgotten baroque rock band ars nova, mann weill ( don't make by baby blue was originally a version of their composition by the shadows) and folkie tom paxton. nothing of that time quite sounds like this, most pop genres are explored to some degree. some parts are psychedelic, some are like early heavy metal, some are byrds-esque. the tracks are interspersed with witty and strange man on the street interviews. the production is amazingly clear and way ahead of its time and yet not overdone. the drumming of bev bevan and the underrated genius of roy wood's guitar will stagger you . this is one of those rare albums that will totally amaze a listener the first time they play this great album . i couldnt recommend an album more.

What can I say about this album? I was cleaning out the attic today and came across my old vinyl, and as I was reading the Shazam track listing I realised that I could still hear.... even after thirty-two years... every note and every lyric and every brilliant wrenching comic-satirical nuance. I had to stop the clean-up effort and go downstairs and put it on the hi-fi (yes, I still own and USE a turntable, thanks very much ;) and have that moment all over again. These guys were great poseurs who actually backed their bombast with groove, ability, and style. I love it. There's pathos, humour, lots of noise, a great display of middle-finger chutzpah... and they don't sound like anybody else you've ever heard.

So... toot your organ and we'll be away! ;) Yes! it's a recording!

I first heard this album back in the late-60s/early 70s--I can't remember clearly that far back. I was in a used record store in Hollywood, browsing through the stacks and stacks of vinyl, when I heard the most incredible rock music I'd ever heard up to that point. I could not ignore it, as it became more than just background music for shoppers like myself. I was so taken in by the music that I went to the store owner and asked him what it was. He showed me the album and I bought it immediately. You know how you played Sgt Pepper over and over when you first got it? Shazam got played more than any of my other albums. I couldn't get enough of it. Somewhere along the line, the album disappeared. When CDs became the rage, I searched all over for Shazam, and finally found it as an import (Japanese). Actually, it was part of a Move "twofer". The music is still as fresh as it was nearly 30 years ago. (Read the review that is a couple down...good background). My personal favorite is "Cherry Blossom Clinic (Revisited)", but they are all excellent. This is truly one of those "perfect" albums. You can't go wrong with this one. Heck, I'm tempted to buy this reissue just to hear the other songs that aren't part of the original Shazam!

After 3 years, an album, a live EP and 8 singles, THE MOVE had lost 2 of its members and picked up a new one. And at this point they did SHAZAM, an album that was a radical shift in sound & style. In a mere 6 tracks they covered as many musical genres as The Beatles did on REVOLVER. There's the hard rock of "Hello Susie" on which leader Roy Wood's voice suddenly acquires a harshness unheard before. "Beautiful Daughter" is a beautiful romantic ballad whose lush strings are matched by Carl Wayne's singing. "Cherry Blossom Clinic" resurrects the almost-single of their 1st album and turns it into a complex epic that includes nods to Napoleon XIV, Paul Dukas, Bach & Tchaikovsky all in one go! (ELO fans take note!) "Fields Of People" reminds one a bit of Jethro Tull and must be heard to be believed. Following a section containing my favorite Indian sitar music (how'd THAT get in here?) is the powerful, dynamic, driving "Don't Make My Baby Blue". And closing the set is a cover of Tom Paxton's heartbreaking tear-jerker "The Last Thing On My Mind" that is wildly different from The Chad Mitchell Trio's take on it-- and simply staggering. What a FINALE! As an added bonus, 2 of the breaks between songs are filled with humorous "man in the street" interviews that would be at home on MONTY PYTHON. Roy Wood clearly began stretching his creative muscles here. Simply put, this is one of my favorite albums of ALL TIME! I can never get enough of it. This CD contains the complete SOMETHING ELSE live set, including 3 extra songs and both the edited & full-length versions of "Sunshine Help Me" (of which only the latter appears on the MOVEMENTS box set).

I remember getting pretty competitive with guys on my floor in college back in the late 60s. We'd have all these debates about bands, etc. One night some guy was going on about how great Grand Funk Railroad was. At that point in my life I was VERY much into British progressive rock and, after being booed out of the room for saying I didn't think the Funkers were so great, I retreated to my room and put on SHAZAM by the Move to console myself. About 5 minutes into the LP two of the guys who had been back in that other room came in wondering what I was listening to. They gave the Move a listen and limped out of there as if I was the Godfather of heavy music and might break all their toes and fingers for being so stupid. This LP might well be the very finest moment of British progressive rock, period. It is definitely one of my very favorites of all time.

This album covers so many styles in such dramatic and exciting ways I don't think it has ever been topped for sheer innovation.
The production is fantastic, the musicianship is outstanding the humor and the emotion energizing, I think this is one of the all time Rock greats.
I was blown away in college in the late 60's by the record, it was so different from their earlier singles that I had imported from England. The Move had evolved from a great Rock n Roll band into a true progressive multi-directional Legend.
This CD is a must have for any true Rock fan.

After 3 years, an album, a live EP and 8 singles, THE MOVE had lost 2 of its members and picked up a new one. And at this point they did SHAZAM, an album that was a radical shift in sound & style. In a mere 6 tracks they covered as many musical genres as The Beatles did on REVOLVER. There's the hard rock of "Hello Susie" on which leader Roy Wood's voice suddenly acquires a harshness unheard before. "Beautiful Daughter" is a beautiful romantic ballad whose lush strings are matched by Carl Wayne's singing. "Cherry Blossom Clinic" resurrects the almost-single of their 1st album and turns it into a complex epic that includes nods to Napoleon XIV, Paul Dukas, Bach & Tchaikovsky all in one go! (ELO fans take note!) "Fields Of People" reminds one a bit of Jethro Tull and must be heard to be believed. Following a section containing my favorite Indian sitar music (how'd THAT get in here?) is the powerful, dynamic, driving "Don't Make My Baby Blue". And closing the set is a cover of Tom Paxton's heartbreaking tear-jerker "The Last Thing On My Mind" that is wildly different from The Chad Mitchell Trio's take on it-- and simply staggering. What a FINALE! As an added bonus, 2 of the breaks between songs are filled with humorous "man in the street" interviews that would be at home on MONTY PYTHON. Roy Wood clearly began stretching his creative muscles here. Simply put, this is one of my favorite albums of ALL TIME! I can never get enough of it.

This CD contains the complete SOMETHING ELSE live set, including 3 extra songs and both the edited & full-length versions of "Sunshine Help Me" (of which only the latter appears on the MOVEMENTS box set).

We got to talking about this fantastic album a few nights ago on the discussion thread "YOUR TRIPPIN' ALBUM IS ON ITS WAY--WHAT IS IT?" (Most of those threads are a lot of fun, by the way...and very addictive to us music junkies.) I just shared my thoughts with joeindover in response to his knee-slappingly funny review and feel compelled to give my 2-cents' worth to the masses here.

Everything you've read here is pretty much right on the money, although I can't (yet) attest to the supposed lower-sounding quality of the CD. Guess I'll find that all out in due time. What I want to share was how I was made aware of this album. During the sweet summer of 1970--back when underground FM radio still blissfully existed--I was in Long Beach, California on vacation with my mom, between my sophomore and junior year of high school, and VERY much into the burgeoning English rock and prog-rock scene. In those days, the Moody Blues and King Crimson were my new gods. One afternoon, I was sitting in my living room, listening to what was then for me the Radio Station From Heaven: KABC-FM 95.5. There was so much unspeakably cool music I got turned onto that summer that I could be sitting here for another hour just chronicling it....but I'll never forget this particular afternoon. Seated there on my couch, I had my little portable mono Channel Master cassette recorder, microphone attached, pointed at the speaker of an inconsequential little FM clock radio, and filling up several C-60 cassettes with random recordings of what I was hearing on this fantastic radio station. After one commercial break, here came disc jockey Tony Pigg with the announcement, "Here's one from The Move, a Tom Paxton song called 'The Last Thing On My Mind.'" Well, I remember hearing the Chad Mitchell Trio's original country/folkie version of the song, so I kept the recorder going...

...and cornball and over-the-top as this might sound to some, this was one of the defining moments in my musical development. As I sat there listening to this band of Brits I'd not yet even HEARD of taking this sad little breakup song and turning it into a psychedelic, acid-drenched, acoustic and electric 12-string wah-wah guitar sound painting, I was just stunned. I couldn't move (pardon the pun) for the next 7 1/2 minutes. For me, it was like hearing "Question," "The Court of the Crimson King," Procol Harum's "Repent Walpurgis" or Yes's "Yours Is No Disgrace" for the first time. I swear this to you: those were moments that brought me to states of consciousness that tapped me lovingly on the top of my head to remind me that humanity--even with all its flaws--were still capable of creating great masterpieces in the world of music. When the song reached its very UNpretentious conclusion--with the final chorus still ringing in my ears in near-perfect CSN-style vocal harmoney--I couldn't set about to finding the album fast enough.

Here's what I discovered upon hearing it for the first time: I wasn't nearly as knocked out by Side 1 as I was by Side 2....that's just my opinion for all it's worth. But those 3 tracks on Side 2..."Fields of People," "Don't Make My Baby Blue," and the one I just raved about like a lunatic...for me amounted to 3 of the greatest tracks in a row in British prog history, 23 minutes of near-bliss. The psychedelia and interspersed humor of "Fields," the near heavy-metal interpretations of "Baby" and the concluding masterpiece alone made this album worth having...I can listen to those 3 songs even today and still get the initial rush of hearing them for the first time. But when it comes to "Last Thing," as I shared with joeindover, I think Roy should be humbly proud for coming up with such an exquisite arrangement of a very cool song, and I can only wonder what Tom himself would have thought of it.

For all of you uninitiated ones--especially those of you who might be exploring the founding days of the British progressive rock onslaught of the 70's--you'd be well advised not to let this one slip through your fingers. Cheers.....

I bought this album in the early years of the 70s and listened to it until the grooves in the vinyl wore out sometime in the 90s. It isn't just that it is quirky and unique, it is musically top-notch. Wood's work on the 12-string throughout is clean and creates a "wall of sound" that is deep and resonant. "Fields of People" is still my favorite, followed closely by the wonderful "Cherry Blossom Clinic" and "The last thing on my mind." The spontaneous man-on-the street interviews interspersed between and sometimes within the songs are truly hilarious and confirms that these boys were just out to have a great time while making some memorable music. The additional live cuts are interesting but pale in comparison to their studio creations. The Move may not have influenced music one way or another but with SHAZAM they did succeed in making an album of songs that belongs in any serious rock-lover's collection.

Yes, indeed, a masterpiece. However, contrary to ProEvil's assertion, it *was* released in the US. In fact I have my original A&M LP sitting next to me as I write this. 'Twas the first album never released in America.