Early in the recordings for this album Roy Wood left. He participated on two tracks (uncredited) - "From The Sun To The World" and "In Old England Town" - before moving on to form his new group Wizzard. Wood was a driving force, both in the late Move efforts and for initial ELO, therefore one should expect this to be somekind of a transition album, but it sure doesn't sound like that. It reminds a lot of the duos latest efforts with the two groups, maybe even more introvert. There's long numbers with heavy strings and theme changes, mostly slow pace and groovy lyrics. The tone is almost too dark and that's where I miss Roy Wood - he was the one who could lighten things up with his special voice and beautiful melodies. The brightest tune on the album is the "Roll Over Beethoven" cover wich became a hit '45, reaching top 10 in UK and also doing well in US. The album was their least commercial with only one week at UK charts at #35 and US peak #62, doing better in Canada at #17. The American release differed a lot from UK. It had another cover design, the track "Momma" was called "Mama" and "Roll Over Beethoven" used another edit, clocking in at 8:10 in comparison to 7:03 for UK. Early US on United Artists (UA-LA 040-F). First UK with label as shown here - "Grammophone" top left and "MADE IN GT BRITAIN" bottom inside rim - and thick, matt Garrods & Lofthose f/o cover. (For more background on this also check my posts on the Move albums and 1:st ELO.)(RÖWS*)(HÄVL*)
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