Added: 6 years ago
From: xchad
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  • I'm sorry but Cheap Trick's version of this song is a CT classic. This is not.

  • Its a little known fact that when Jeff Lynne speaks his voice has natural reverb.

  • jeff lynne later passed on his look to David A Stuart

  • Hi motherfan666! that double bass intro must be one of the best openings to a pop single ever! I like to play Cali Man at 33rpm just to try and take in how much is going on musically in it. It's one instrument I would love to learn to play. Two other great records that feature that prominently are "The Strange World of Gurney slade" by Max Harris, and more famously, the theme to "Get Carter" by Roy Budd - both on youtube and both a treat to listen to.......

  • Jeff LYNNE !

  • The only time I've ever seen Jeff at the keyboards. Wow!

  • brilliant 2 say the least.mad as hatters but great guys,loads of good memories. 

  • Terrific stuff! this was the first "45" I ever bought -brings back memories of doing my "o" levels at grammar school. Trevor Smith must be a contender for the world's strongest man the way he moved that double-bass about! Must give the excellent Bill Hunt a mention too, later to achieve fame with Wizzard - particularly the Carlsberg Special with harpischord playing. There must be a Move reunion at some time, would be a big tragedy if it never occured - already lost the great carl Wayne .

  • @MrDavros1234 My dad just found the 45" for this song in the basement, which was the only one he kept. I got the record player and listened to it a few times ;D

  • lol - Steve Wright - now the king of radio 2

  • What a band. Trail blazers.

  • Britney a musician? She doesn't play a single instrument.

  • It's not just a great song - their antics are hilarious. These guys were ..... mental. Bring it on, this is real entertainment.

  • Good old Roy  Wood and Jeff Lynne-later they became Wizzard (R.W.)and ELO(J.L.)-its all great music....

  • @pelikaaann Jeff is doing his jerry lee lewis imitation alvin lee does that sometimes too

  • Ironic that olivia newton john should appear briefly at the start of the video... who later Jeff Lynne would produce ELO's only UK number 1 with her!! (i'm such a nerd).

    And who the hell is Roy Wood trying to fool that he's seeing live when he's scratching his face and bending at 2:18, right at the crucial bit!!

  • @colcoomagnumar everybody knows that when this was on ToTP everyone mimed. Who cares.

  • @shrewstyke I care, Shrew. That's why I commented on it.

  • I want to play piano like Jeff <3

  • 'Take it, Jeffrey!'

  • Lord, I thought Cheap Trick wrote this song.

  • Roy looks like he doesn't take showers!

  • omg Jeff!!!! <3

  • so which john lennon song is he covering?

  • Maybe Britney Spears COULD whistle dixie with her fanny. Don't know how I'd feel about that. lol

  • I remember a b side called carlsberg special demolished phone, i thought it was good but never heard it anywhere since the 70s.

  • I like both The Move's original and Cheap Trick's remake. Huge respect between Roy Wood and the American Godfathers of Power Pop

  • Hippie Do-Woop

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  • On the original recording,I wonder if its not mr.Jerry Lee who sings some lines and plays the piaon? Sure sounds like him. Anyway great song,like most of Roys.

  • @Marttinen58

    Jerry Lee? no way...Roy and Jeff.

  • @QueenReigns1 You sure? Can´t see just lookin´at a video. Listen to the lyrics, then listen to Mr Lee, (close youre eyes) the piano "plinkin" and the sound of the voise. (Not sayin´im right) But to me it sounds like Jerry,

    Try it , you might like Jerry he´s done lots of great recordings,try" Rockin´my life away" "I´m on fire" "High heel sneakers" etc you´ll like it M58

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  • Roy, Jeff, Bev, yeah dudes, you were pretty much the best guys around. see you all on the flip side.

  • Roy, Jeff, Bev, yeah dudes, you were pretty much the best guys around.  see you all on the flip side.

  • always have & always will love this guy ---- named my son in his honour

  • Great stuff! Cheap Trick also recorded this one...

  • Do you notice how at 1:12, Roy starts to accidentalling sing the next line...he catches himself after a quick note...

  • My wife just got her 45's from her mom's basement, this is one I did'nt recogise.glad it's posted on YouTube.

  • compared to what they were doing in the 60s this is an abonanation

  • Cricky Moses, is Jeff Lynne an immortal or something, this was like 40 years ago and he pretty much looks the same today.

  • I like ELO, but it's weird Jeff had to string/classical it up to achieve worldwide fame. Wasn't this cool enough for people? The fools!

  • Great

  • @cpdaddy is it on youtube or..lol

  • I think they may have copied the black Blues artists which they did copy.

  • Hahahaha without the English Influence of lennon mcCartney Jagger richards Bowie et al , you yanks would still be listening to fat karaoke singers like presley and dancing to kenny rogers

  • and without the influence of the early American rockers, the brits would have had NO ONE to copy. hahaha

  • @alienhuman I think they would have copied the black blues artists that they did copy

  • @AFSCMik And without the musical influence of America's 50's rockabilly you guys wouldn't even fuckin have rock and roll

  • @Thiora Very true ..... but thats the stuff we moved on from . took the blues , skiffle rock a billy even country you made rock n roll from it. we perfected it into pop music.

  • The move , bowel ???

  • As soon as you're finished ball licker !

  • eat shit

  • DUDE LOOKS LIKE STEVEN KING!

  • PLEASE OPEN YOUR HEARTS TO THE MOVE!

  • Love that R'nR history!

    The Move b4 becoming ELO.

    Thank goodness for utube, it's the kind!

    your pal,

    Flully

  • worked at the drummers house the other day his lovely wife makes a cracking brew,nice crib

  • if you're serious I envy you to death

  • Ummm - I think this is lipsynch. Note Jeffrey missing the intro, no vocals near mikes....

    Still an awful lot of fun.

  • WOW i didnt know jeff lynne played Piano when he was with the move

  • Some joker on here seems to think that Roy wood cant cut it live playing rock n roll, well if he had seen them at Glasgow on 13/12/09 playing this live then he would eating his words "right now" Roy and the band were awesome.

  • I saw him live in the 60s and 70s in north east england, believe me he can rock live with the best.

  • You know where and when he is next gigging?

  • actually thought billy connolly was singing

  • Did this song keep glitter of the no`s 1 spot with rock n roll in june that year?

  • fantastic ,inever forgot

  • 1972 , ya

  • Ah...the summer of 1972 - now that was good time!! "Take it Jeffery..."

  • i like this version and cheap tricks version

  • When was the last time Britney produced anything in the studio? Can she play bass, guitar, drums, keyboards? Will her career span 40 years? No.

  • @DaveInBridport  she can whistle dixie with her fanny reportedly

  • @cpdaddy7 did i post this? i must have been fecked up.

  • Schade ich war zu jung und konnte Move nie Live sehen.

    Ihr könnt doch Roy Wood und Jeff Lynne

    nicht mit der Spears oder mit irgend jemand anderen vergleichen,das geht doch überhaupt nicht. Außerdem war das doch eine ganz andere Zeit. heute hast du bessere möglichkeiten ein Konzert zu besuchen,wie zu den Jahren als die beiden ganz oben waren.

  • I'm so happy to see that there are other people who love The Move. What a shame they never got the acclaim they deserved here in the US.

  • I've just heard a little of the move over the last few years and I like everything I've heard. A few weeks ago I watched a TV show of them performing their first few singles all in a row back in 67 or 68 and I was blown away. They were a great live band too. And "Wild Tiger Woman" .. forget about it... I just heard it in high fidelity two nights ago and I'm a fan for life!

  • @acommondisaster Jeff Lynne did. Remember ELO? The guy singing with the Sax is trying to sound like John Fogarty.

  • I like my rock n roll live. On that score, Lynne and Wood faile miserably. Neither has pulled off even a theatre tour in the U.S. in the last 3 decades. Lynne prefers to pop up at a Petty concert to do a song. That's pathetic. The failed Zoom Tour did more to damage the ELO brand than anything Part II did. No wonder Lynne didn't reschedule it, even years later. On the live rock score, Bevan is the man. Jeff can continue to record songs in his house. Wonderful.

  • Forget Lynne. Wood and Bevan have proven themselves to be individual geniuses. No argument.

  • Jeff Lynne's live performance at the Tribute for George was magnificent.

    You're full of shit.

  • Well, actually I'm not. But that's besides the point. The Concert for George was a number of years ago, and he took lead vocals on what, 5 songs? That constitutes a full concert? He looked less confident in that concert than he did fronting ELO-obviously he is "out of shape." So let's get back to the historical fact: Lynne has not pulled off a complete US concert since late 1981. That's 28 years ago.

  • Yes you are.

    According to you, the Jonas Brothers and Britney Spears are better musicians than Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood for the Jonas Brothers and Spears have put on full live concerts in the US recently whereas Lynne and Wood have not.

    I disagree.

  • which berk said Britney Spears was a musician, never mind a better one than Roy Wood.!!!!!!! She couldn't whistle dixie with her fanny

  • @vulpecula999 BRILLIANT HAHAHAHAHA

  • @vulpecula999 Lol, nice turn of phrase there!

  • @vulpecula999

    I'd wouldn't mind seeing that though!!!

  • Jeff Lynne freely admitted he didn't like touring and prefered working in the studio... ELO toured every year through-out the 70's.. He doesn't need to prove anything.. His music speaks for itself.. I never saw the Beatles live that doesn't mean I disregard them..

  • Part II saved ELO from becoming an extinct band. Without the members of the Orchestra, The failed Zoom tour would be the last time anyone can hear ELO songs.

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  • then i guess the beatles are miserable failures, too, huh? so many of their songs never got played live. you're right, jeff lynne is pathetic. you fool. learn how to listen with open ears instead of ridiculous criteria about what music "should be." if you feel the need to "pass judgment" on the music, judge it on its own terms. some bands have a great live thing, others make incredible music in the studio, with great care and meticulousness. it's a totally different kind of thing.

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  • Played this about 10 times today already.... i need to switch tracks... lololol

  • Did Roy Wood play every instument in the inventory?? Great clip. THX for posting!

  • Yes, Roy could play everything and anything - the man is a true musical genius!

  • Nice song.

    Nice hair men!

  • Oh, how good were the Move!!!!!

  • I wasn't able to follow the Move till I found the best of Move cd over 15 years ago- and I thought they were terrific and apparently while finding great success in britain they didn't get a huge welcome in the us, from what I have read.

  • haha at 0:20 if u pause it he looks like Billy Connely (if i spelled it correctly!)

  • Good version,but I prefer Cheap Trick's..Great post...

  • does any1 no where 2 find music 2 this?!?!

  • love the drum fill @ 2:20

  • A great performance !

    It´s hard to imagine that this song was

    made at the same time when ELO- project was going on. The same guys play

    at the same time two totally different music at the same time !

  • Great, good to hear and see that again!!

  • i really feel this comment......like the melodic/romantic stuff better.....guess this is more top 40 action/nostalgia/fun stuff.....its ok though.

  • Who cares? Roy Wood is one of our most gifted songwriters...forget the production... his songs are pure gold!

    This is an example...note how the lyrics match the tune...he's a rare genius!

  • Think about it, the uglier a muscian is, the more you know he got where was through talent and not looks. Compare these guys the countless typical young attractive female singers that record companies keep throwing at us now. As long as we care more about how a singer looks and not how he/she can write, play, and sing, we will never dig ourselves out of the musical hole we have fallen into.

  • come out of the closet already sangoor, you like ELO!!

    admi it!!

  • ha dont u luv the way u can just mime on TOTP, i mean id luv 2 c them play that with all da dancin they throw in2 it especially with spinnin da dbl bass round & still bein able 2 hear it!!! xcellent song though

  • Think you'll find some of the vocals are live, you can hear Roy Wood laugh at some point.

  • IIRC June 22nd 1972. But The Move wasn't number 1: i occur this was their last hit. That Don McLean was still number one in the official charts. This is the other TOTP edition that existed in 1972.

  • I remember this being on Top of the Pops: ELO was on the same edition with their 1st single. I think The Move were no. 1 with this single at the same time as ELO were also in the charts: I cant think of any other occurance were the same people have been on Top of the Pops on the same night as two different bands.

  • This is the first I heard of the Move with Jeff Lyne and Roy Wood. My friend's older brother told me that and later I read that Jeff Lyne wanted to change to the Electric Light Orchestra Style from Heavy Metal or hard.

  • Heard Woody on a radio interview earlier this year on R2 saying he still considers himself a member of the Move & was not too impressed with what Bev was doing on tour under the guise of "Bev Bevans Move"

    What was the full line-up of this version of the band then ???

  • what makes a good 60's psyco-pop band , baoome this plain boring glam ? ita like going back

  • This isn't really glam. It's more like a tribute to old school rock and roll.

  • A Classic Lynne and Wood tune, this one !! A genuine power-packed rock song, so representative of the Lynne / Wood style & genre ... lots of pioneer boogie / rockabilly influences here, that's clear ... Jerry Lee included.

  • Steve Wright you wanker, you might have forgotten about it but we haven't!!

  • Indeed.

    And well said!

  • O.M.G.this is going to be played over and over i loved this perfecto mondo.Thanks for posting it xchad.

  • shades of jerry lee lewis and little richard in there,legends wood and lynne...

  • the akg mikes are switched on. at around 2.30 you hear roy stifle a chuckle.rick price on bass guitar.

  • Lynne, and Wood true master songwriter/musicians.

  • I have watched this a 100 times and I love the way Jeff Lynne misses his second line..I am sure their is a bit of Jerry Lee Lewis in there somewhere but the version I have in the car seems so tame after listening to this one..Never thought I would thank the BBC for something..still wicked..

  • did the move write this song and cheap trick cover it???

  • Mastas999 the Move wrote it.

  • Sounds like live vocals mixed with the released track backing the band? Interesting idea!

    And for you collectors, I think there's a Dutch release of a greatest hits type called "California Man" which features a still from this performance on the front cover.

    Anyone know who the bass player is here?

  • Bass player is thought to be a sound engineer named Trevor Smith. The second Sax player is Bill Hunt. Roy Wood played the bass and all the saxes on the record.

  • This is a watershed in British pop music.The Move's last hit.The band had sited the usual "musical differences" and Lynn and Wood were soon to part...so.. one last hit to set both Lynn's and Wood's new projects up.Which were ELO and WIZZARD! not bad Eh?

    Never let art interfere with a good business strategy!

  • Well not really.

    ELO was as much Roy Wood's new project as it was Lynne's. Wizzard didn't come about until later when ELO didn't move in the direction Wood had expected.

    However it is true that near the end The Move's aspirations were mostly to set up the new band, ELO.

  • Correct.

  • I have always loved this record but I never knew it was Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood..love the way you get the raw vocals of Roy Woods voice..Awesome..

  • I so like Jeff Lynne's clothes.

    His beret and black leather jacket look pretty up to date, in my opinion.

    That's true about the rest of the group too, as a metter of fact, more or less of course.

    ;O)

    Did they have happenings going on, all over the place, at this point in time?

    I was thinking: what if I was born 20 years earlier, who would I be today (i.e. except for older)?

  • Superb!!

  • Fantastic clip! They are miming to the record but the microphones are open too, that's why you can hear 'two' vocals at once at times. Great record. Roy Wood rocks!

  • I'm not as sure as you, that they are miming.

    If you notice, Jeff Lynne sings Roy Wood's part after the first verse.

    Feel free to compare to the record itself.

  • Of course they are miming (lip-sych) 'Its Top Of The Pops' and everyone had to do it

  • listen closely, the vocal is live.

  • I remember watching this on Top of the Pops as an 11 yr old growing up in Suffolk. I've waited 36 yrs to see and hear this again. Jeff Lynne, Roy wood and Bev Bevan were decades ahead of their time. We are truly lucky to have been able to be exposed to their vision.

  • Has any1 else noticed the guy playin the dbl bass at 3.28 spinning it round on his knees & yet u can still hear the bass line being played though. Stilll great song!!!!!

  • Ok, it may sound like I'm old... ok I am.. but Music has never been so good as it was in the late 60's thru the mid 70's... The Move, ELO, Tull, Floyd, stones, Beatles, Bowie, Springstein, J giles, ... nothing close in 30 years

  • ELO doesn't get the respect it deserves.

  • Didn't the early 70s Rock Man those were the days I remember my platform shoes, bib n brace and rocking to uncle Roy, Marc, Noddy and the others glam rock was cool!!!

  • This is a classic and just awesome. What a combination of Jeff Lyne and Roy Wood. The more members you have in a band, the more spectacular the sound! I absolutely love this lost classic, and course I rememember it in 1972 when it came out.

  • Thanks xchad! It's so hard to find ANYTHING by The Move on CD or MP3 - to see video is just crazy weird! Awesome!

  • WOW I love this song!! But look at all the hair in that studio..8-)

  • Brings back memory's ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺

  • Roy is FAB and he should have been one of the beatles pitty he didnt come from liverpool.. Rock on Roy!!!!

  • I remember hearing this in 72 as a kid and vowing one day I would get to california. I had to wait until 2004!!!Ps I am in LEEDS England.

  • Awesome... and everyone thought that Cheap Trick worte this... yes, hey kicked ass with it but The Move wrote it asnd they really rock this song. Jeff Lynne singing, later of ELO and THe Traveling Wilburys... and so on and so on...

  • Cheap Trick did this song proud --- and better

  • Bollocks!!

  • I don't know much about playing the drums but I've always loved the sound of Bev Bevan's playing! Saw him with Sabbath in the mid 80's or so and he was great!!!

  • 70s musice is the best ever.

  • Is that Rick Price wrestling with the bass?

  • What a great track

  • What a song! Like this? Try the Idle Race - Jeff Lynne's 1st real band.

  • Ahhh, June 1972, one of my favorite times. Thanks for the post!

  • I love this song. If Billy Joel did a song like that with his back-up band The Hassles during the late 1960's, that would rock big time.

  • This sounds like "Cleveland Rocks" by Ian Hunter

  • no problem with

    Brummies,Isn't Carl Palmer one

  • honk if you love cheap trick.

  • Bit of a fib this, they were all Brummie men ! Still it is magic !

  • The Move are one of the best British groups of the 60's and early 70's. This is one of their best!

  • Superb!

  • Much respect to Roy, Jeff, etc...but, Cheap Trick's version just smokes. I love their cover.

  • Probably one of my favourite songs ever ! And certainly in my all time top ten.

  • I would really like to find a copy of Chinatown. I've been looking for quite a while. Most people have never heard it. "I could find a goodtime girl in Chinatown".

  • I have ALL The Move singles, I'll sell you Chinatown for £2,000.

  • CHINATOWN is on the "Message from the Country" CD, along with "Do Ya" and all the singles from the time.

  • oh yes,wot a belta!

  • An all time enjoyable golden hit that can be heard again and again and still sounds fresh thank to Roy and Jeff who are both geniuses

  • The one with the biggest talent is without

    doubt Jeff Lynne. Just look at some of the people who

    asked him to write and produce for them.the

    list goes on and on. Both the remaining beatles,+ Harrison, Tom petty,Roy orbison,Dell shannon,

    Aerosmith,Dave edmonds.Randy Newman,Brian Wilson, and many more. It was only a few years ago that wood asked lynne to produce some records for him which he did,so thay must got on ok.