The Move – THE MOVE***

Yellow Rainbow/Kilroy Was Here/The Lemon Tree/Weekend/Walk Upon The Water/Flowers In The Rain/Hey Grandma/Useless Information/Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart/The Girl Outside/Fire Brigade/Mist On A Monday Morning/Cherry Blossom Clinic

Birmingham pop group The Move are best remembered for their many excellent singles written by Roy Wood. Their only album success came with their self titled debut which includes the British top three singles Flowers In The Rain and Fire Brigade. (UK:15)

"A strange hodgepodge of an album from The Move, comprising two killer singles, a number of tracks which sound like rewrites of these and others of their singles, three weird cover versions and some fair-to-middling psychedelic pop-rock with some outthere lyrics. Listening to this album it is apparent why The Move never made it into the top division, but that said the late 60s wouldn't have been the same without them, especially the singles charts."

"When the highlights are good, they're shiny bursts of creative pop genius that make the heart go pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat and suddenly the world is new and the sun is shining and sensations are stimulated. When the filler is bad though, it reeks to the high heaven. Which is a damned shame, because Roy Wood is capable of bringing us an engaging world of beauty in his songs."

"Disappointing to hear this in its entirety after enjoying some of their contemporaneous singles. Fire Brigade may be fantastic, but much of this debut album is filler. They’re a good band, with a strong rhythm section and the excellent Roy Wood on guitar: but it’s filler, nonetheless. And the inclusion of novelty tracks such as Weekend and Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart only exacerbate the unevenness of the whole."

"The Move's debut is a simple, straightforward psychedelic pop, devoid of any pretensions. There are a few pop gems, but most of the album is full of lightweight songwriting and mediocre tunes. In fact, the best songs are the hit singles, Flowers In The Rain, a song evoking pastoral imagery, and Fire Brigade, a bit more surreal."

"There are some good songs, but the album is too long and has way too much filler."