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Shazam (album)

Shazam
Shazam-move.jpg
Studio album by The Move
Released February 1970 (1970-02)
Studio Advision Sound Studios, London
Genre Freakbeat, hard rock, psychedelic rock, progressive rock
Length 39:13
Label Regal Zonophone
Producer
  • Roy Wood
  • Carl Wayne
  • Rick Price
  • Gerald Chevin
The Move chronology
Something Else from The Move
(1968)
Shazam
(1970)
Looking On
(1970)

Shazam is the second studio album by English rock band the Move, released in February 1970 by Regal Zonophone. The LP marked a bridge between the band's quirky late '60s pop singles and the progressive, long-form style of Roy Wood's next project, the Electric Light Orchestra. It was the last Move album to feature the group's original lead vocalist, Carl Wayne.

Shazam was essentially the Move's 1969 stage act captured on record. A mixture of California psychedelia, heavy metal riffs, thundering drums and quotations 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.


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