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Shazam is the second album by The Move, released in the UK in February 1970. 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.

Like Led Zeppelin's debut album, "Shazam" was basically a snippet of the Birmingham group's 1969 stage act captured on vinyl. A crunchy mix of California psychedelia, heavy metal riffs, thundering drums and quotations from classic composers, the disc was generally praised by critics -- "Rolling Stone" gave a glowing review in the spring of that 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 disgust of guitarist/composer Roy Wood. When the group finally toured the United States in the autumn for the first -- and only -- time, they let down their hair and cranked up the volume.

Thus, "Shazam" is a classic split-personality album -- one side of originals, another of covers -- from a band wrestling with split musical personalities. Wayne, who picked some of the songs on Side 2, delivers touching, tender ballads (Wood's "Beautiful Daughter") and serves as a compere on spoken-word tracks between the songs; you almost can imagine him in a tie and tux, working the audience like Viv Stanshall. 'Beautiful Daughter' was under consideration for release as a single, the follow-up to 'Curly', in 1969.

Tracks like 'Hello Susie' and 'Don't Make My Baby Blue,' meanwhile, with their distorted riffs and monster drum fills, would not have sounded out of place on Black Sabbath's debut album. 'Susie' had previously been a hit for Amen Corner, though their faster, more pop-oriented version was very 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.

While drummer Bev Bevan regards this as his favorite Move album, Wood's memories were more bittersweet. 1969 had been a roller-coaster, draining year for the band. The "Blackberry Way" single hit No. 1 in the UK to open the year; Bassist Trevor Burton quit shortly thereafter. The early 1969 American tour was canceled because of Burton's departure; When it finally happened later that year, it was a financial failure and a logistical farce -- because of shoddy planning, the band basically had to race across the entire country by car (and a U-Haul trailer) to make very few dates. Wood and Wayne always had different personalities and temperaments, but the relationship was quickly fraying at the edges. The two dynamic creative forces in the band were frequently at odds with one another over style and content -- Wood reckoned The Move had gone as far as it could go, short of breaking through in America, and wanted to launch a new strings-and-rock project with Jeff Lynne.

Returning to the cabaret circuit after the debacle in the United States was the last straw for Wood. One night, in Sheffield, he infamously chucked a glass at a mouthy cabaret patron who'd called him "a poofta." Wayne blew up at him backstage, and the original Move was all but finished. Wayne quit the band in January 1970, just before "Shazam" was released.

While not a commercial success in the UK -- it was overshadowed by the hit single, "Brontosaurus," which debuted a fortnight after "Shazam" hit the stores -- or in the US when it debuted on A&M Records, the heavy feel, tight harmonies and extended solos made it a cult favorite and the record that introduced most American fans to the band. It also proved to be a stylistic template for successful '70s bands such as Cheap Trick and Kiss. In the 1990s, a group called The Shazam -- a power-pop outfit from Nashville who were huge fans of The Move -- took their name from this album.

Compared to the Move's long-gestating 1968 eponymous debut, their 1970 sophomore effort Shazam is unified. It was not culled from sessions from a period of 14 months but instead largely made at one time...but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's any easier to get a handle on the album. The Move changed greatly in the period between their first albums, with original bassist Chris "Ace" Kefford leaving in a cloud of acid in 1968. In his absence, rhythm guitarist Trevor Burton jumped over to bass, beginning an odd period where the group was cutting songs, most penned by Roy Wood but a few written by David Morgan, a fellow Birmingham-based songwriter signed to the publishing company of Move lead singer Carl Wayne. Pulled between these two camps, the Move finally had a true hit single with Wood's gorgeous, watery psychedelic epic "Blackberry Way," not long after Burton left the band and Richard Price was pulled in as his replacement so the band could earn money by touring cabarets in Europe.

Here, the band grew muscular and weirder, traits that are showcased on the short-yet-sprawling Shazam. Throwing out the concise constructions and meticulous miniatures of their psychedelic singles, the Move concentrate on heavy progressive rock on Shazam. With the exception of the gentle, string-laden "Beautiful Daughter" — quite clearly a holdover from previous sessions due to both its sweetness and brevity — none of the six songs here clock in under five minutes, with two sprawling over seven and "Fields of People" inching toward the 11-minute mark. To what extent this was an intentional experiment or a way of coping with a lack of material is hard to tell; of these six, only the thunderous opener "Hello Susie" truly qualifies as a new Wood original, as "Beautiful Daughter" dates earlier and "Cherry Blossom Clinic Revisited" itself is a reworked, expanded version of a song from the debut. "Hello Susie" also points the way to the heavy, hooky rock & roll the Move would patent on Message from the Country, and it does feel different than either this new "Cherry Blossom Clinic Revisited" or the three covers that make up the second side of Shazam.

All these four songs are arranged so the band can dabble in color and texture, shifting from guitars as heavy as their Brummie cohorts Black Sabbath to fragile harmonies. It's wildly inventive music and, as pure sound, the Move may never have been better than they are here, as there are more ideas in each of these long, languid jams than most bands have in a career. Once again, the sheer number of ideas can be intimidating upon first listen and there may be so many that some listeners may never get past this rush of invention, but Shazam rewards repeated spins many times over.

01."Hello Susie" (Wood) – 4:55
02. "Beautiful Daughter" (Wood) – 2:36
03. "Cherry Blossom Clinic Revisited" (Wood) – 7:40
04. "Fields Of People" (Day/Pierson) – 10:09
05. "Don't Make My Baby Blue" (Mann/Weil) – 6:18
06. "The Last Thing on My Mind" (Paxton) – 7:35

Bonus Tracks:
07. "So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll Star [Live]"
08. "Stephanie Knows Who [Live]"
09. "Something Else [Live]"
10. "It'll Be Me [Live]"
11. "Sunshine Help Me [Live]"
12. "Piece of My Heart [Previously Unreleased Live EP Outtakes]"
13. "Too Much in Love [Previously Unreleased Live EP Outtakes]"
14. "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher [Live]"
15. "Sunshine Help Me [Previously Unreleased Live EP Outtakes]"