One of Birmingham's most renowned musical exports, Roy Wood trained listeners to expect the unexpected. The founder or co-founder of The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, and Wizzard, Wood hasn't been among the most prolific artists of the rock era - with just four proper solo albums to his name - but he's surely one of the most inventive. Late last year, Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint reissued Wood's second solo LP, Mustard, as an expanded edition. Now, the label has returned to the
Esoteric Recordings is rightly known for its deluxe editions and box sets, but the Cherry Red imprint delivers the same high level of quality with its more modest releases. Today, we're looking at the single-disc expanded editions of a trio of diverse rock classics released in late 2019. Strawbs' ninth album, Deep Cuts, isn't an album of rarities as the title might indicate. Instead, the 1976 album is, as lead vocalist David Cousins describes in the liner notes, "the best-sounding album
Can you hear the grass grow? Continuing its series of reissues dedicated to the Birmingham rockers The Move, Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint has just issued a CD/DVD collection that chronicles the band's many facets and iterations between 1966 and 1972. Magnetic Waves of Sound: The Best of The Move, featuring 21 tracks on CD and a further 21 live performances and promotional films on DVD, is certainly not the group's first anthology, but it's doubtless among the finest. Over the
Esoteric Recordings has recently continued its series of Move reissues with expanded editions of the band's 1968 EP Something Else from The Move, and its 1970 studio album Looking On. Something Else began life as a 5-track mono EP culled from performances at London's Marquee Club on February 27 and May 5, 1968. Between those two gigs, bassist Chris "Ace" Kefford had departed the group's roster, leaving it a four-piece consisting of Carl Wayne on vocals, Roy Wood on guitar/vocals, Trevor
The Move has seen no shortage of reissues over the years, but collectors can now finally embrace the definitive editions of the Birmingham band's classic self-titled album and follow-up Shazam! from Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint. Esoteric has just reissued The Move in a 3-CD edition and Shazam! in a 2-CD expansion, both of which add copious previously unreleased material. ("Highlights" versions are also available.) These two titles kick off the Move campaign from Esoteric which
The musical partnership of Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood was a short-lived one, but EMI will soon give listeners a chance to revisit their acclaimed collaboration. A 40th Anniversary Edition of the debut album from Electric Light Orchestra is set to arrive on March 12. Self-titled for its original U.K. release and re-titled No Answer for the U.S., the album announced a bold new sound, reportedly created when Wood urged Lynne to add cellos to his song “10538 Overture.” That track leads off this
Can you hear the grass grow? An oft-circulated set by Birmingham's legendary Move is finally receiving an official release courtesy of Right Recordings! Live at the Fillmore 1969 chronicles the band's stand at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore Auditorium on October 16-19 of that year; The Move joined Joe Cocker and the Grease Band and Little Richard on the bill! The new 2-CD set is being released thanks to the cooperation of Sue Wayne, the widow of late singer Carl Wayne, and arrives in the
Electric Light Orchestra may not have been the first band to merge a classical sensibility with the power of rock, but the group was undoubtedly the most successful. Yet the group of “Mr. Blue Sky” and “Evil Woman” began as a decidedly different aggregation, born out of the ashes of Birmingham, England’s The Move. When lead singer Carl Wayne departed The Move, his bandmate Roy Wood invited one Jeff Lynne, of The Idle Race, to join him. This revitalized line-up of The Move produced two