A review by John Van der Kiste

Throughout its late 60s and early 70s heyday, the Harvest label, EMI's launch pad for its progressive and more experimental artists, regularly enticed curious punters with a series of budget-priced, eye-grabbing sampler albums. Times may have moved on, but some traditions never completely die. 35 years after The Move signed to Harvest, along comes 'Harvest Showdown', a beautifully-packaged CD featuring the group and its various offshoots.

What you have here is a snapshot of one of the most creative musical units that ever graced the annals of British rock music. One unit? Maybe not, but when all is said and done, Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne (not forgetting the other musicians involved, such as Move and ELO drummer Bev Bevan, or Move and Wizzard bassist and backing vocalist Rick Price, to name but two) were at the centre of it all.

This is much more than another hits and album tracks selection or a mere random trawl through back catalogues; on the contrary, many of the tracks are either alternate and previously unissued versions, or rarities that have never been released before on CD - or released anywhere. Is this collection a rich harvest of music or what?!

Leading the pack is the 7" edit of a cut that first appeared on the B-side of a three-track UK single, yet ironically went on to become the group's only stateside hit, albeit with a peak position of no. 93. DO YA, written by Jeff Lynne, became one of the group's most-lauded items, with a subsequent life of its own. It was later covered by Todd Rundgren and ex-Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley, and became a regular part of ELO's set on stage in the mid-70s, with the result that they re-recorded it on 'A New World Record' in 1976 and issued it as a single in the US in 1977, when it peaked at no. 24. Its original working title, taken from a vocal line during the song fadeout, was LOOK OUT BABY, THERE'S A PLANE COMIN'.

Two other tracks from The Move are included, the US single edit of TONIGHT (the group's first Harvest hit single in the UK, reaching no. 12) and, from 'Message From The Country', UNTIL YOUR MOMMA'S GONE, which with its frenzied lead guitar, saxes and manic piano clearly pointed the route ahead to Wizzard.

Wizzard take a bow with their debut tour de force BALL PARK INCIDENT (No. 6 in January 1973). Reviewing it in his singles column in Disc and Music Echo, John Peel called it "an eccentric piece of work which sounded as though the group were playing on the platform at Notting Hill Gate tube station while someone held a mike at the other end of the Holland Park tunnel." Also included is the magnificently rowdy B-side, THE CARLSBERG SPECIAL (PIANOS DEMOLISHED PHONE 021 373 4472) written by keyboard player Bill Hunt (uncle of the Wonder Stuff's Miles Hunt). And though it was a band members' actual home phone number, the fact that Roy Wood generously allowed other members of the group to compose B-sides enabled them to enjoy a share of the sales royalties. At the time most of these were derided as little better than cacophonous fillers, but hindsight suggests that the group were ahead of their time in their love of the experimental, the deliberately uncommercial yet no less inventive, and their 'everything but the kitchen sink' principle. CARLSBERG, is no exception, with its nods to Bach on the harpsichord intro, its Lord Rockingham-style saxes and a burst of jazz-inflected drum and Coral sitar soloing.

Rounding off a trio of Wizzard tracks is an early edit of BUFFALO STATION, which would later appear on the album 'Wizzard Brew' as part of a segue with another song altogether, GET ON DOWN TO MEMPHIS. In its original embryonic form, STATION is a delightfully frenzied marriage of lo-fi punk, rock and jazz, with its deliberately scratchy vocal adding to the feel far better than any clinical digitally-created piece could ever hope to achieve.

Both of Roy Wood's 1973 A-sides can be found here too. DEAR ELAINE (No. 18), which had previously been considered for a single by former Move vocalist Carl Wayne, is a breathtaking ballad, its lute, recorders and cellos producing a mood reminiscent of 16th-century English folk. Casual listeners must have been amazed at the contrast it made with its creator's other music at the time, a point underlined by DJ Tony Blackburn, who remarked on a new release programme on Radio 1 that it was "funny how nice Roy sounded when he wasn't with Wizzard".

FOREVER, Roy's affectionate tribute to the sound of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys and Neil Sedaka made No. 8 UK over Christmas 1973, thus giving him the accolade of two simultaneous Top 10 singles as a soloist and with a group (Wizzard's I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY was peaking at No. 4 at the same time). Wilson and Sedaka both expressed their warm approval, the latter sending Roy a telegram: "Thrilled and flattered by your mention of my name. A devoted fan". Its B-side, the amiably eccentric instrumental MUSIC TO COMMIT SUICIDE BY, is partly semi-classical semi-jazz acoustic guitar, followed by stately mock-instrumental woodwind waltz, and an eerie passage on synthesiser which all but defies categorisation. To complete a foursome of Roy Wood songs, we have ROCK DOWN LOW, a thoroughly infectious track from BOULDERS that gives free rein to his love of rock 'n' roll saxes and cellos in equal measure.

That's not all. There's rare photos and memorabilia a-plenty in the colorful booklet, alongside quotes from Lynne and Wood, and between the songs themselves, there are snatches of count-ins and talkbacks from the original recording sessions. Oh yes, there's also a hidden track that no one will have heard before (and still won't if they don't find it…) but will enjoy singing along to. If we told you what it was, it wouldn't be so hidden any more, so happy hunting…

There was always more to The Move and its many associated acts than met the ear, or eye. Anyone who has ever doubted that Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne were arguably the most creative geniuses active on the British rock scene at the time will find their doubts dispelled by this collective extravaganza.

John Van der Kiste

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