SOMETHING ELSE FROM THE MOVE

Throughout their career, The Move were first and foremost a singles band. Roy Wood had quickly developed a knack for writing highly appealing pop songs which headed straight for the charts as soon as they were released. Albums were a different story though and only their debut, which was largely a collection of singles and b-sides, troubled the album charts in the UK.

Between the band's first and second albums, this live EP appeared as a sort of stopgap. An EP was actually a highly appropriate format, as this collection sits neatly mid-way between the appealing singles and the more challenging "Shazam" album. Taking a leaf out of Vanilla Fudge's book, this EP contains five imaginative covers of familiar songs. The tracks were all recorded live in London, UK in 1968. It should be said up front that the sound quality of the recordings is not that great, especially by today's standards. The recordings do however offer a rare opportunity to get a flavour of the excitement of a live gig by the band.

We kick off with a rendition of The Byrds' "So you wanna be a rock and roll star". This interpretation draws out the heavy aspects of the song but overall it is not that different to the "Untitled" original. Love's "Stephanie Knows Who" on the other hand balances the psychedelic aspects of the original with a Stones like hamming up of the song.

Eddie Cochrane's oft covered standard "Something else" becomes a heavy driving number, with the band clearly having a lot of fun. The oddest choice of song is country singer Cowboy Jack Clement's "It'll be me". The song has been recorded by a wide variety of artists including Richard & Linda Thompson and Jerry Lee Lewis, the version here being closer to the latter's. It was reportedly Cliff Richard's version of the song though which inspired the band to pick it up. The final song is Spooky Tooth's "Sunshine Help Me", another reasonably faithful interpretation featuring some good bass work.

In 1999 a CD version of the EP was released which included further songs from the same gig. Three of these are recordings not heard previously, while the fourth is an extended version of "Sunshine help me". The extension reinstates parts of the guitar solo cut from the original EP, including a brief diversion by Roy Wood into "Strangers in the night". The additional songs are further covers including the Erma Franklin/Janis Joplin standard "Piece of my heart" and the Jackie Wilson standard "(Your love keeps lifting me) Higher and Higher". The set is completed by Denny Laine's "Too much in love" (Laine worked with Bev Bevan in The Diplomats before joining the Moody Blues).

In view of the fact that no live albums by The Move are officially (or unofficially?) available, this EP is unique in capturing the excitement of their performances outside the studio. The sound quality is a definite negative, but fans of The Move/ELO are really missing out if this set is not part of their collection. These days, the entire extended EP can be found on the excellent. "Movements" box set.

Share this THE MOVE review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Easy Livin
• Report this review (#187463)
• Buy THE MOVE music online with PA partners
• Show all THE MOVE MP3/Stream
• Go to THE MOVE page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Something Else From The Move page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for THE MOVE related discussions