The Move - Looking On (DELUXE EXPANDED EDITION 2008)
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Artist: The Move
Album: Looking On
Released: 14 April 2008
Source: SALVO/FLY RECORDS (SALVOCD014)
Looking On
Salvo / Fly - SALVOCD014
The Beat Magazine, 2008
The Move's third album, released at the end of 1970, was the group's first since the departure of front-man singer Carl Wayne and the arrival of Jeff Lynne as a collaborator for Roy Wood. It reflected the band's switch from pop and psychedelia to a much heavier approach - but there was also a very distinct foretaste of what was to follow with the creation of ELO and Wizzard.
Wood, Lynne, stalwart drummer Bev Bevan and bassist Rick Price had embarked on a musical project that had produced eclectic results and a sound that was boisterously progressive but leavened by some attractive vocal work and exotic instrumentation.
The LP - which comprised seven tracks, among them the rowdy singles 'Brontosaurus' and 'When Alice Comes Back To The Farm' - has been remastered and boosted beyond the one-hour mark through bonus tracks that include rough mixes of alternate takes found on recently uncovered studio tapes. An illustrated booklet carries the background story, complete with contributions from band members, and an informative track-by-track guide.
RUSSEL NEWMARK- THE BEAT MAGAZINE
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The Independent (UK)
Album: The Move, Looking On (Salvo)
(Rated 2/5 )
Thursday, 17 April 2008
Looking On was a transitional album in The Move's career, with Jeff Lynne drafted in to replace the cabaret-bound Carl Wayne and share some of Roy Wood's songwriting burden, en route to ELO.
The drift from psychedelic pop to more eclectic priorities is signalled in Wood's instrumental credit: "Oboe, sitar, slide guitar, cello, guitar, bass and all saxes" - which makes the predominance of heavy rock riffing all the more puzzling.
Proto-metal rocker "Brontosaurus" is the standout, but elsewhere prog-rock stodge like "What?" dominates. Lynne's "Open Up Said The World At The Door" is the most preposterous, the baroque excesses of its kitchen-sink production accommodating foreground stints by the aforementioned sitar and oboe, and just about everything else in their instrument cupboard.
ANDY GILL
Track List:
01 Looking On
02 Turkish Tram Conductor Blues
03 What ?
04 When Alice Comes Back To The Farm
05 Open Up Said The World At The Door
06 Brontosaurus
07 Feel Too Good
08 Lightnin' Never Strikes Twice
09 Looking On Part 1 (take 3; rough mix)
10 Looking On Part 2 (take 12; rough mix)
11 Turkish Tram Conductor Blues (take 5; rough mix)
12 Open Up Said The World At The Door (take 4; rough mix)
13 Feel Too Good (take 11 extract; rough mix)
14 The Duke Of Edinburgh's Lettuce (take 2; rough mix)
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