Latest CD releases reviewed

THE MOVE
Message from the Country EMI ***

It is arguable that only The Move's inability to do anything in the US kept them away from the high table of great British '60s bands. On this, the fourth and final album, the trio of Roy Wood, Bev Bevan and the Beatles stalker that is Jeff Lynne provide us with yet another clue in the Move/ELO/Wizzard complicated puzzle. Like all best song-writing partnerships, Wood and Lynne had different strengths. Here you can tell who wrote what; all the cheerier, poppier compositons comes from Lynne and the more ironic, darker material is Wood's. Perhaps not as strong as earlier and now classic Move albums, there's still enough here to reinforce the argument that the band were criminally under-rated at the time - and even still. Many people will tell you that this is more the first ELO album than the last Move album. And there's more than a grain of truth in that. Brian Boyd