MOVE

The Move is the self-titled full-length studio album by UK rock act The Move. I have a 2007, 2 disc version where disc 1 contains the original album plus some single only songs and disc 2 contains a stereo version of the album. The Move features among others Roy Wood and Bev Bevan who would later be members of Electric Light Orchestra.

I was listening to the album yesterday and my parents came to visit so I asked my father if he knew The Move ( I had never heard about the band before finding them on PA) and he said sure. He was even able to hum a few of the songs from this album and I bet it´s about 35 - 40 years since he heard those songs the last time. That must be some indication that the music on the album has a lasting quality but actually that was not my first impression or my last to be honest ( sorry Dad). The music is not very original and considering that the album was recorded in 1967 and released in 1968 I expected much more. The music on this album sounds more like it was released in 1964 or maybe 1965. Mostly uptempo beat rooted in r´n´b, strict vers/ chorus formulaic structures and a strong emphasis on vocals. The instrumental side of the music plays second fiddle to the vocals. The many harmony vocals on the album are actually quite impressive but this was not an unusual feature in those days. The songs don´t stand out much from each other but the doo wop song Zing! Went the Strings of my Heart, which is kind of silly, and the slightly interesting Mist on a Monday Morning were songs that I noticed.

The production allright but nothing special.

The Move isn´t the most exciting album from 1968 and it sounds like The Move came a few years too late with this release. It´s not obnoxious or anything like that and a 2.5 - 3 star rating is not wrong IMO.