I keep wasting my chance with you

Roy Wood is a real enigma to me.  He wrote some of the finest Beatle-ish pop singles ever for this band The Move, founded the Electric Light Orchestra with Jeff Lynne, released two amazing and critically respected solo albums, and hit the top of the UK charts multiple times with his 50's sax and rock band Wizzard.   From about 1966 until 1973 he was consistently on the British charts, and more importantly, writing challenging pop music in a variety of styles.   And then.... nothing.   Well not exactly nothing, he had a few released under his own names as well as the Wizzard successor "Wizzo", but clearly the times had changed and he was running out of steam.

For a time in the early 70s after Jeff Lynne joined The Move, Roy and Jeff were being touted as the logical extension of the defunct Beatles.   Why these two had a falling out we may never know.   Roy moved in a radically different direction with Wizzard from The Move and his solo work.  His new band was truly a two headed monster.  On one hand they released killer Spector-ish 50s/early 60s pastiches, but then put out one of the hardest, heaviest, most speaker-killing albums ever recorded with "Wizzard's Brew".   For me, I love it all and appreciate the wide range of his musical compositions.   If you get bored with one style, just wait a few minutes for the track.   I am eternally grateful that Mr. Wood was around during a time when such daring musical styles were accepted by the record buying public - at least in the UK.   I do not fault him for stopping when he did.   It was a great run and my vinyl and CD collection is better off for it.

The following tune was one of the singles released from his second solo album "Mustard".  Do not be fooled by the somewhat dated arrangement, for under the covers is one of the loveliest melodies he ever wrote, and the harmony work throughout is a combination of the Beach Boys and the Ronettes!  Here is what Geoge Starostin has to say about Any Old Time Will Do over at his old website - "will hardly be appreciated on first listen, but on subsequent ones the way Wood constructs his harmonies - from caring and tender falsettoto bitter and desperate tenor - will definitely win your heart over (if you have a heart, that is)"

Now and then I look out my window
But my only world is songs that I still can hear
Though I wait for you
My hours are few
I keep wasting my chance with you
So any old time will do

Tulsa Time

The summer of 1975 my Tulsa homeboys Dwight Twilley Band hit the national charts with the power-pop-tastic I'm On Fire. It has every element that a hit single should have - a monster guitar riff, cool harmonies, great drumming, rockabilly lead vocals and a closing chorale over the top of the chorus. With a top 20 hit on their hands, their record company was in shambles and by the time the followup album appeared ten months later the group was already forgotten. Mr. Twilley is somewhat of a god in power pop circles and has been making music pretty much continuously with a real renaissance in the last ten years.

Since you are here, give a listen to the tunes on Dwight's just-released Green Blimp. The Turtles-ish Me and Melanie and the gorgeous beyond belief Let It Rain are just stupendous.

Borax

Coming out of the three album Preservation series, The Kinks were still an eight man band plus additional backup singers. At the time Ray Davies stated that after the intensity of the previous albums he wanted something lighter and less serious. The rest of the band - well, at least Dave for certain - were growing tired of the concept albums. But Ray persevered to complete and release A Soap Opera one year after Preservation Act 2.

This album tells its tale in a single LP with dialogue interspersed to assist with the story telling. It is cute and listenable but I rarely find myself pulling out the vinyl. There are not any songs that I would list as a favorite, although the first song opens the record with a wall of sound. Ray has been accused of "borrowing" from himself and other bands, though I do not hear it so much. But in this case the opening riff on Everybody's a Star (Starmaker) owes a heavy debt to The Move's awesome Do Ya. It loses some steam after the opening salvo but is one of the perkiest tunes on the album.