Way back in the 60s, were part of a peculiar pop dynasty, huge and respected in the UK while never having quite made it in the USA. By the mid-70s this most English of bands had morphed into one of the few genuinely huge bands in the world – the . By 1978 ELO were selling out eight nights on the trot at Wembley Arena during a memorable global tour.
When their star shone it was with a dazzling brilliance. I was lucky enough to be hanging onto their coat-tails through the 70s as they went into overdrive and into orbit, knocking out a string of exceptional hit singles and albums. Back to The Move.
Led by eccentric pop genius Roy Wood, their single was the first ever track played on Radio 1 when the station was launched at 7am on September 30, 1967. They were Birmingham’s . At that time, Wood The Move: a massively inventive pop writer, a great singer and a consummate showman.
He came to dislike the limitations The Move imposed upon his creative ambitions. His canvas was bigger, more colourful, a grand, kaleidoscopic, wide-screen pop-o-rama. The Move’s , with its cello-stuffed riff, was a sign of things to come.
Significantly, Wood had play on the session. He’d come to know Lynne through his work in the up-and-coming Brummie band The Idle Race. It was another sign that Wood wanted to take The Beatles’ orchestral experimentation on Strawberry Fields Forever and I Am The Walrus to new heights.
Wood had started to dabble in areas beyond drums, bass and guitar, and had taugh.