RSSRoy Wood's Wizzard [extended]
- Boulders [United Artists, 1973] A-
- Introducing Eddy and the Falcons [United Artists, 1974] B-
- On the Road Again [Warner Bros., 1979] C
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Consumer Guide Reviews:
Roy Wood: Boulders [United Artists, 1973]
Wood puts his heart into his multitracking--even plays a robot and makes you feel for him (by which I mean the robot). Then, on the very next track, he impersonates a grandma picking dexterously if erratically on her banjo. These are conceits, but they're successful conceits--as substantial as Loudon Wainwright's, say, and more tuneful. And when they're Move-style conceits you can galumph to them. A-
Introducing Eddy and the Falcons [United Artists, 1974]
Catchy though it is--and why shouldn't it be, with Wood appropriating hooks if not entire melodies from the likes of Del Shannon, Elvis Presley, and "Little Darlin'"?--this collection of iron pyrite oldies may be the most pointless English import since the bowler. On Boulders, Wood exploded the forms he exploited. Here he falls victim to the Grease syndrome--in playing tribute to the teen emotions that fueled rock and roll he comes dangerously close to condescension. B-
Roy Wood: On the Road Again [Warner Bros., 1979]
I once thought it spoke well of Annie Haslam and all her renascent octaves that they'd kept this gifted recluse interested for so many years. But on the evidence of these would-be Move outtakes--and the would-be Boulders outtakes of 1976's Mustard--I gather that it doesn't take much to divert the fellow. C