Electric light orchestra concert
The Electric Light Orchestra was the brainchild of remaining Move members Lynne, Bevan, and Hood, who is credited with conceiving the idea of a fully electric rock band augmented by a classical string section.
A well-received disc, it yielded the English hit single “10538 Overture ” and started the band members on a new path. Contractual disputes eventually led to the Move ’s demise, but before the band was finished, the remaining trio recorded what would become ELO ’s first album, No Answer. Before the group dissolved, however, after a long string of personnel changes had whittled the group down to Hood, drummer Bev Bevan, and newcomer Jeff Lynne, the Move issued their last (and possibly finest) album of new material, Message from the Country, in 1971.
Though popular with the underground London music scene as a singles band, the Move went unrecognized in the United States until after they had disbanded. Charged with character defamation, the band eventually lost the suit. During the band ’s first four years of existence, the Move managed to record only two albums and were the focus of an ongoing legal dispute with the then- prime minister of England, Harold Wilson. Group formed in 1970 (some sources say 1971), in Birmingham, England, by active members of the English rock group the Move: Bev Bevan (drums born November 25, 1946), Jeff Lynne (guitar, synthesizer, and lead vocals born December 30, 1947, in Birmingham, England), Rick Price (bass), and Roy Wood (guitar and vocals) Price and Wood left band in 1972, were replaced by Michael de Albuquerque (bass), Mike Edwards (cello), Wilf Gibson (violin), Richard Tandy (guitar and keyboards born March 26, 1948, in Birmingham, England), and Colin Walker (cello) Gibson and Walker left band in 1973, were replaced by Mik Kaminski (violin born September 2, 1951, in Harrogate, England) and Hugh McDowell (cello born July 31, 1953, in London, England) de Albuquerque left band in 1974, replaced by Kelly Groucutt (bass and vocals born September 8, 1945, in Coseley, England) Edwards left band in 1974, replaced by Melvyn Gale (cello born January 15, 1952, in London) Gale, Kaminski, and McDowell left band in 1977 band formally dissolved, 1986.Īccompanied him into other projects. Onstage violence and manic behavior were a creation of the group ’s manager, though leader Roy Hood was known for his own stage antics, a trait that For the Record … The lack of cohesion showed in the group ’s music, the bulk of which has been hailed as imaginative by critics. The Move was a band in constant turmoil with personnel changes some of their personality conflicts led to fistfights. It is difficult to imagine that such an unusual ensemble as the Move, infamous in Britain for wild stage antics that included smashing television sets and pianos, would give rise to the Electric Light Orchestra (also commonly known by the abbreviation ELO), a seemingly cultured pop orchestra that exerted a significant influence on contemporary music, with the use of strings, synthesizers, and exquisitely layered vocals. The Electric Light Orchestra, whose fusion of rock and classical sounds made it one of the most innovative groups to come out of the 1970s, had its origins in the mod-dadaist group the Move, one of England ’s more enigmatic and controversial bands of the late 1960s.