The Move – Message From The Country

Before there was Electric Light Orchestra there was The Move, the brilliant psychedelic rock band led by Roy Wood. In 1970, Jeff Lynne left his band, Idle Race, and joined Wood’s Move, which released three more albums before calling it a day. Lynne, Wood and Move drummer Bev Bevan would go on to form ELO. The Move’s last, 1971’s Message From The Country, was remastered and expanded to include nine bonus tracks, including some then newly discovered studio recordings. There’s rock, pop, psych and doo-wop. It’s bold (“Until Your Moma’s Gone”), at times bizarre (“Ben Crawley Steel Company”) and very British (“My Marge”). The title track with its booming bass and harmonies is a natural predecessor to ELO’s thundering “10538 Overture,” which was released later in ‘71.