Message From the Country
Although they had three more fine singles in them--the Supergrass- inspiring "Tonight" and "Chinatown" together with "California Man"--album-wise,Message from the Country, released in July 1971, was the Move's curtain  call. It was also the firstELOalbum in all but name. The Birmingham band  responsible for an enviable run of eclectic '60s hits ("Flowers in the Rain," "I  Can Hear the Grass Grow," "Fire Brigade," "Brontosaurus") had now trimmed down  to a nucleus of three members--principal songwriter, autodidactic multi- instrumentalist and latter-day heavy-rocking hairballRoy Wood, dependable drummer  and fellow cofounder Bev Bevan and former Idle Race rival andBeatlesdisciple Jeff Lynne.Oddly--given the quality of their work--the Move only existed at this time as a  financial vehicle to fund Wood and Lynne's vision for fusing rock music with  classical instruments in the manner of the Beatles' "I Am the Walrus." Thus, the  Electric Light Orchestra, whose live debut was only months away, would go one  better than John and Paul by playing their own cellos (Roy Wood, who else?) and  the gothic, chamber orchestra rock blueprint can be heard onMessage from the  Country. It remains a fascinating chapter in the bafflingly complicated  Move/ELO/Wizzard/Roy Wood  chronicles.--Kevin Maidment