It's always great when new archival live recordings surface from the famed Fillmore East or West, and this one from 1969 featuring British act The Move is indeed further proof of how magic often happened at either of these two legendary venues. Recorded during the bands US tour in 1969 on October 17, their stop in San Francisco, California at the Fillmore West has been sitting in the vaults for over 40 years, and with a little bit of clean- up is now presented for all to hear. The line-up of the band for this tour consisted of Carl Wayne on vocals, Roy Wood on guitar and vocals, Rick Price on bass and vocals, and Bev Bevan on drums.
Though The Move are often looked back on as an eclectic act who walked the fine line between pop, hard rock, avant-garde, psychedelia, and progressive rock, in this live set their heavy side really comes out to the forefront. CD1 throws a bevy of massive hard rockers at the listener, whether it be the tumultuous Todd Rundgren penned "Open My Eyes", the the crunchy "Don't Make My Baby Blue", or the psych/heavy rock of "I Can Hear the Grass Grow", complete with a thunderous Bev Bevan drum solo. Mix in the quirky "Cherry Blossom Clinic Revisited" and the atmospheric "The Last Thing on My Mind", both great examples of late '60s British psychedelia, and you have a well rounded platter of sounds on the first disc in this live collection. Wayne & Wood work well together delivering all the layers of vocals, and Roy's guitar work is thick & heavy, as he cranks out a wide assortment of metallic riffs and tasteful lead lines.
The second set starts with the 17-minute trip into psychedelia titled "Fields of People", with charming vocals and Wood's Indian inspired banjo/sitar textures, and leads into the acid-folk rendition of the Carole King tune "Goin' Back". We then get treated to the proto-metal sounds of "Hello Susie", a sort of The Who-meets-Black Sabbath-meets-Humble Pie romp number long on heavy riffs, bluesy swagger, and power pop quirkiness. Another Rundgren/Nazz tune closes out the set, the beefy rocker "Under the Ice", with Wood again packing in some crunchy power chord riffing and Wayne screaming to the heavens. At over 14-minutes, there's plenty of room for improvisation here, especially Wood as he lays down some impressive solos, including a hot wah-wah break near the end.
As a bonus, there are a few tracks from the next day's performance on the 18th, and you can hear the energy carried over to that concert as well. There's also a 10 minute interview with Bev Bevan thrown in at the end, as he looks back on the tour now many years later. The CD booklet contains a wealth of information and some photos, and while the sound quality of the recording might be a tad below the strict standards for some fans, it's more than decent enough to enjoy these fine performances of a band that probably had all the tools to make it big, but never quite got there. Recommended.
See more about this release on our recent YouTube show!
Track Listing
Disc 1
1 Open My Eyes
2 Don't Make My Baby Blue
3 Cherry Blossom Clinic Revisted
4 The Last Thing On My Mind
5 I Can Hear The Grass Grow
Disc 2
1 Fields Of People
2 Goin' Back
3 Hello Susie
4 Under The Ice
Additional Night Performances
5 Introduction
6 Don't Make My Baby Blue
7 Cherry Blossom Clinic Revisited
8 The Last Thing On My Mind
Bonus Track
9 The Move's 1969 U.S.A. Tour Recalled By Bev Bevan
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