LOOKING ON

The Best Move.

With their third album, The Move finally recorded a collection worthy of four stars. Building on the sound they introduced on Shazam, the Move take it even heavier and edgier here, and extend their songs with additional sections and well-developed solos. This album seems Jeff Lynne join the band, replacing the departed Carl Wayne who didn't like this shift away from pop (and of course, Lynne would later form ELO with Move members Roy Wood and Bev Bevan). The bass player is also new here, with Rick Price taking over from Trevor Burton. So, this is really quite a new Move, with only Wood and Bevan remaining from the previous lineup. The result is a great album that draws the listener to it for repeated listens. The title track "Looking On", Jeff Lynne's "Open Up Said the Door to the World", and the closing track "Feel Too Good" are among their best songs. "Brontosaurus" is trudging, but fun-trudging. By the time this album came out, Wood and Lynne had already decided to form a new band (ie ELO), and they made their last (fourth) album for contractual reasons. But this album was made before they got that far, when they were putting their bets on a revitalized Move co-led by Wood and Lynne. You can feel it in the vibe here too. Of all the move albums, this is the one most worth having. I give this 8.2 out of 10 on my 10-point scale, which translates to 4 PA stars.