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Post by Horacewimp on Jun 26, 2017 18:50:37 GMT
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Post by Chippa on Jun 26, 2017 20:15:00 GMT
Don Arden really was kind of a scumbag. Even his own daughter, Sharon Osbourne, was estranged from him. Found this interesting snippet in an open letter Sharon wrote to her brother David back in 2013. Apparently, David was just as shady as Don.....
Don allegedly ripped Jeff off for millions of dollars, over the years, which lead to him dumping Arden in favor of Craig Fruin.
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Post by BSJ on Jun 26, 2017 21:03:53 GMT
Isn't it David Arden selling ELO master tapes on EBay for something like $14,000?
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Post by BSJ on Jun 28, 2017 17:49:40 GMT
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Post by Horacewimp on Jun 28, 2017 18:10:39 GMT
I think I read somewhere they are the type of tapes which were sent to the record pressing factories to use to make the records
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Post by BSJ on Jun 28, 2017 18:20:43 GMT
Would Jeff have copies, or be interested in these tapes?
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Post by Horacewimp on Jun 28, 2017 18:36:33 GMT
Would Jeff have copies, or be interested in these tapes? I don't think they are master tapes so I doubt he would be interested in them. I think they are the finished songs we all know on a tape format.
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Post by babyzoomer on Jul 11, 2017 14:04:04 GMT
As a matter of interest to someone who is not from the UK...
RW left ELO very early; his contribution could (as far as I can work out) be summarised as inspiring JL in this critical phase, playing lots of instruments etc on tracks like 10538, and Marsden Moor. Apart from that (his career) consists of a moderately successful Xmas song (although not as big as Slade's) and an appearance on a Hairy Biker's show.
It sounds like I'm being incredibly negative - but really I am not - it's just that (from Oz) I am not aware of anything else (OK I will admit that 'The Move' stuff was mostly before my time) that puts RW in the public spotlight.
Probably more of a 'tyranny of distance' problem than anything - but honestly what's he been doing for the last 40 years?
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Post by Timeblue on Jul 11, 2017 16:38:20 GMT
As a matter of interest to someone who is not from the UK... RW left ELO very early; his contribution could (as far as I can work out) be summarised as inspiring JL in this critical phase, playing lots of instruments etc on tracks like 10538, and Marsden Moor. Apart from that (his career) consists of a moderately successful Xmas song (although not as big as Slade's) and an appearance on a Hairy Biker's show. It sounds like I'm being incredibly negative - but really I am not - it's just that (from Oz) I am not aware of anything else (OK I will admit that 'The Move' stuff was mostly before my time) that puts RW in the public spotlight. Probably more of a 'tyranny of distance' problem than anything - but honestly what's he been doing for the last 40 years? Living off the royalties.....
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Post by Timeblue on Jul 11, 2017 16:41:24 GMT
I love The Move and what they did but imo,Roy wasn't into the 'ELO' idea as much as Jeff was. Simplified I know but to me that's the crux...
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Post by bluey on Jul 12, 2017 14:58:09 GMT
I love The Move and what they did but imo,Roy wasn't into the 'ELO' idea as much as Jeff was. Simplified I know but to me that's the crux... Utter fantasy, ELO was Roy Wood's brainchild in 1968 while he was in The Move and Jeff Lynne was in The Idle Race. Roy had mentioned the idea of ELO to Jeff around that time and Jeff liked the idea of starting band with a permanent string section. Both Roy and Jeff had written songs for their respective bands that included orchestral strings. "Mist on a Monday Morning", "The Girl Outside" and "Cherry Blossom Clinic" was Roy's contribution to The Move. "The Lady Who Said She Could Fly" was Jeff's contribution to The Idle Race.
At the end of 1969, after The Idle Race's self titled second album and his single "Come With Me" failed to capture the record buying public's imagination, Jeff was wondering what he was doing wrong, and was there a magic formula he didn't have for writing a hit song. It was announced that Carl Wayne was leaving The Move to pursue a solo career in cabaret. Roy asked Jeff for a second time if he'd like to join The Move, Jeff turned down Roy's first offer in 1968 after Trevor Burton left the Move to form the short lived Birmingham super group "Balls". Burton left The Move when "Blackberry Way" was at #1 in the UK singles chart.
After Roy's second offer Jeff agreed to join The Move only on the proviso that Roy and he went ahead with the Electric Light Orchestra project. Jeff joined The Move in February 1970. The last two Move albums "Looking On" and "Message From the Country" contain songs that could easily have featured on the ELO's self titled debut album. Roy's "Beautiful Daughter" from The Move's second album "Shazam" could have fitted seamlessly into the ELO album, as could Jeff's "What" from "Looking On" or his title track from "Message From the Country". Roy's "It Wasn't My Idea to Dance" and Jeff's "Words of Aaron" also from "Message From the Country" would also have fitted into the ELO album.
Both the "Message From the Country" album and the "Electric Light Orchestra" album were recorded at the same sessions, so it's little wonder that there are similarities in their material. Jeff wrote 10538 Overture as a Move 'B' side song in July 1970, when Roy laid down some heavy "Hendrix" riffs on his £30 Chinese cello for the song Jeff loved them and the ELO was born.
There has been a lot of speculation over the years about exactly why Roy Wood left the ELO while it was still an embrio. It has been suggested that Roy and Jeff fell out about who was the leader of the band, that's not true, Roy and Jeff have never fallen out in 50 years. The instigator for Roy leaving ELO was none other than Don Arden, the bands manager. Arden didn't like Roy's compositions for the ELO album, they weren't commercial enough compared to Jeff's, Arden drove a wedge between these two creative and talented songwriters. Roy left ELO because he was the most well known of the two with a string of hit singles to his name with The Move, it would be easier for Roy to start a new successful band than Jeff.
Now that Jeff had his first hit single with "10538 Overture" he was more than capable of taking the ELO helm and steering the band to more success. Roy left ELO in June 1972 during the recording sessions for the second ELO album with the working title "The Lost Planet" eventually released in early 1973 as ELO 2. Roy took, cellist Hugh McDowell, French Horn player Bill Hunt and ELO's sound engineer Trevor Smith with him to form Wizzard, he also signed up ex-Move bassist Rick Price, and drummers Keith Smart and Charlie Grima who were all with "Mongrel" at the time. Saxophone players Nick Pentelow & Mike Burney came from "The Daltons". Don Arden now had two bands to manage, so Roy leaving ELO worked out well for him. Wizzard had 2 UK #1 singles with "See My Baby Jive" and "Angel Fingers", between 1972 and 1975 Wizzard had 6 top ten hits. After Wizzard split, Wood went on to form the Wizzo Band, Roy Wood's Helicopters, The Roy Wood Big Band, Roy Wood's Army and the Roy Wood Rock & Roll Band, he currently tours with the latter.
The rest is history, after an experimental start Jeff Lynne recruited new band members and he found his stride with ELO by writing catchy string laden pop songs and under his guidance ELO went on to become one of the worlds biggest bands of the late 1970's and early 1980's.
I'm sure that if Roy had stayed with the ELO, it would have been a very different animal indeed, more prog rock than symphonic pop. Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing to have at your disposal?
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Post by bluey on Jul 12, 2017 16:02:48 GMT
As a matter of interest to someone who is not from the UK... RW left ELO very early; his contribution could (as far as I can work out) be summarised as inspiring JL in this critical phase, playing lots of instruments etc on tracks like 10538, and Marsden Moor. Apart from that (his career) consists of a moderately successful Xmas song (although not as big as Slade's) and an appearance on a Hairy Biker's show. It sounds like I'm being incredibly negative - but really I am not - it's just that (from Oz) I am not aware of anything else (OK I will admit that 'The Move' stuff was mostly before my time) that puts RW in the public spotlight. Probably more of a 'tyranny of distance' problem than anything - but honestly what's he been doing for the last 40 years? The main reason that Wizzard's Christmas song didn't get higher in the charts was due to the band changing record labels from Harvest to Warner Bros. Warner's thought they had the rights to publish Wizzard's music so they pressed a whole batch "I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday" complete with picture sleeve. It turned out that the band were still contracted to Harvest, so the Warner Bros pressings were withdrawn and there were no records for sale. Harvest eventually pressed their version of the record using the Warner Bros picture sleeves with Harvest catalogue number stuck over the Warner's one, these pressings arrived in the record stores too late to sell enough for the record to move any higher up the chart than #4. Had this mix up not occurred I'm sure that Wizzard would have been in a position to challenge Slade for the #1 spot.
Wizzard's next single "Rock 'n' Roll Winter" was also delayed with it's release due to Warner Bros, instead of being released in January 1974, it was finally released as Wizzard's first official Warner's single in April '74. That's the reason Roy put on the label "Sorry the word Spring wouldn't fit". Hope that has cleared things up over Wizzard's evergreen Christmas classic.
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Over the past 40 years Roy Wood has been writing and producing for other artists, he currently tours the UK every winter with the Roy Wood Rock & Roll Band. Before that he toured with Wizzo Band, Roy Wood Big Band and Roy Wood's Army. I meet Roy in Holmfirth, Yorkshire every time he plays in the town, he's a very approachable and friendly human being. Roy bought a disused pub (The Howard's Arms) in Derbyshire, he built his own recording studio in the outbuildings and has converted the pub into his home. Roy Wood is anything but idle.
Here are images of both Warner Bros and Harvest's version of the 'B' side of the single.
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Cheers,
Dave.
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