Shazam (album)

While drummer Bev Bevan regards this as his favorite Move album, Wood's memories were more bittersweet, likely due to 1969 having been a year of up-and-downs for the band. The "Blackberry Way" single hit No. 1 in the UK to open the year, bassist Trevor Burton quit shortly thereafter and replaced by Rick Price, and the February 1969 American tour was cancelled because of this. It later transpired that a couple of the tracks featured Burton playing bass rather than Price. When the tour did finally happen later that year, it was a financial failure and a logistical farce—due to shoddy planning, the band was forced to race across the country by car (and a U-Haul trailer) to make very few dates. During this time, the relationship between Wood and Wayne - who had always had different personalities and temperaments - was being severely tested.

The two dynamic creative forces in the band were frequently at odds with one another over style and content—Wood reckoned The Move had gone as far as it could go, short of breaking through in America, and wanted to launch a new strings-and-rock project with Jeff Lynne, which would become The Electric Light Orchestra. Wayne, however, still saw potential in the band and wanted to return to their roots with short sharp tracks, even attempting to persuade the others to allow Burton and original bassist Ace Kefford back in the band while Wood would focus on his new ELO project and continue to write songs for The Move, but Price, Wood and Bevan rejected his suggestion.

Returning to the cabaret circuit after the debacle in the United States was the last straw for Wood. One night, in Sheffield in January 1970, he infamously threw a glass at a mouthy cabaret patron who'd called him "a poofta." Wayne angrily blew up at him backstage, and the original Move was all but finished. Wayne quit the band, just before Shazam was released, and was replaced by Jeff Lynne who, having previously rejected Wood's first invitation to join The Move because he wanted to stay with The Idle Race, agreed to join on the condition that they retire The Move and focus full-time on ELO.

The album was not a commercial success in the UK. The hit single "Brontosaurus" debuted a fortnight after Shazam hit the stores, and was the first recording to feature Lynne. In the US, when it debuted on A&M Records, the heavy feel, tight harmonies, and extended solos made it a cult favorite and the record that introduced most American fans to the band. It also proved to be a stylistic template for successful 1970s bands, such as Cheap Trick and Kiss.

Shazam was essentially the Move's 1969 stage act captured on record. A mixture of California psychedelia, heavy metal riffs, thundering drums, and interpolations from classic composers, the album was generally praised by critics—Rolling Stone gave a glowing review in the spring of its release year—and is generally regarded as the band's best LP.

The band had spent most of 1969 on the cabaret circuit in England, much to the delight of lead singer/crooner Wayne and to the chagrin of guitarist/composer Roy Wood. When the group finally toured the United States in the autumn for the sole time in their career, they loosened up their performance and played at a louder volume.

Shazam is a classic example of one side of originals and another of covers, typifying a band wrestling with split musical directions. Wayne, who picked some of the songs on Side 2, delivers tender ballads (Wood's "Beautiful Daughter") and serves as a compère on spoken-word tracks between the songs (a similar vox-pop feature was included on a Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band album). "Beautiful Daughter" was under consideration for release as a single, the follow-up to "Curly", in 1970, but cancelled due to Wayne's departure just as the album was released.

Tracks like "Hello Susie" and "Don't Make My Baby Blue” meanwhile lets loose with distorted riffs and drum fills. "Hello Susie" had previously been a hit for Amen Corner, though their faster, more pop-oriented version was markedly different from the Move's heavy metal treatment. "Cherry Blossom Clinic Revisited" was a variation on "Cherry Blossom Clinic", a track from the group's debut album, taken at a slower pace, the first verse diffidently spoken by Wayne, recorded without any strings or brass, and interpolating a medley of classical tunes including works by Bach and Tchaikovsky, played on guitars.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Christgau's Record Guide	B–[2]

Reviewing for The Village Voice in 1970, Robert Christgau said the album is "compelling when played loud" but also "full of annoying distractions, musical and otherwise." He described it as "overtly self-conscious" "stupid-rock" and facetiously recommended it to "Stooges fans who have just found a $5 bill."[3] John Mendelsohn of Rolling Stone gave the album a positive review, ending with a plea "Do what you can to prevent this from being the last Move album... ...The Move must be kept going to give us more albums like this one".[4] In a retrospective review, AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine said the "short-yet-sprawling" album reflected the band's growth into a "muscular and weirder" group. Erlewine said that, although the variety of musical ideas may be "intimidating" to listeners, the album "rewards" repeated listens "many times over" and is "wildly inventive music", as the Move "may never have been better than they are here".[5]

All songs written by Roy Wood unless noted.

• Roy Wood - lead vocals, guitars; keyboards.
• Bev Bevan - drums, percussion.
• Carl Wayne - lead vocals; guitars.
• Rick Price - vocals, bass.
• Trevor Burton - bass (prior to leaving the band, which tracks unknown)
• Tony Visconti - bass on "Beautiful Daughter"

"Beautiful Daughter" features an uncredited string quartet.