CALIFORNIA MAN

The Move spent virtually all of their 4 years or so signed to the Regal Zonophone label, only moving to Harvest records (who released this album) for their final LP and three singles. For the entire time they were signed to Harvest (in 1971), the now trio were also working hard on launching the Electric Light Orchestra. Almost all of The Move compilations which are available therefore exclude the band's work for Harvest. While such an omission is not a disaster, it does mean that the whole story is not told. The final three singles ("Tonight", "Chinatown" and "California man") were solid if unremarkable Move songs which retained the same magic which had seen the band enjoy a run of hits in the late 1960's and early 1970's. All three gained singles chart success, and are included here along with their respective B-sides.

The most interesting of the B-sides is an early version of Jeff Lynne's "Do ya" a song he would revive and improve greatly with ELO. It is though the tracks from their only album for Harvest, "Message from the country", which are perhaps of greatest interest. The best way to obtain those tracks is of course to obtain the album, and indeed this entire compilation is swallowed up by the expanded CD reissue of it. For a long time though, this budget label LP offered a cost effective way of obtaining a significant portion of the album plus the singles from the period.

For me, the band's final album saw them treading water and even regressing. The tell-tale sign here is that the songs extracted for this compilation sit well beside the singles, something which could never be said for the majority of tracks on "Shazam" or "Looking on". The album was not a disaster by any means though, and Jeff Lynne songs such as "The words of Aaron" and "No time" are tantalising glimpses of the direction he would take ELO in after Roy Wood left that band. Wood's songs actually do likewise to some extent, hinting at the style of his solo projects and Wizzard albums to come.

At the time of its release on LP, "California Man" offered a useful summary of the final days of the Move. With the advent of the CD, and the appearance of the expanded "Message from the country" album it is now superfluous other than as something for avid collectors to seek out.

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