MESSAGE FROM THE COUNTRY

As a longtime fan of early Electric Light Orchestra, I have decided to work my way through the catalog of their precurser band, The Move. The first disc I have chosen is MESSAGE FROM THE COUNTRY, which bears the most resemblance with NO ANSWER the first ELO release. There are 4 great tunes here. "Message From the Country", "It wasn't my idea to Dance", "The Words of Aaron" , and "No Time". All are Jeff Lynne numbers which I guess explains why I like them. The Roy Wood songs are more of a mixed bag with rock, pop, and even Johnny Cash ripoffs to boot. Nothing special among them. Lynne saves this album and shows the beginning of his songwriting talent. Any of his tunes here could have easily fit in on the first 2 ELO records. However, they only bring this to a good but not great release. 3 stars