There has been some talk about these albums on the Move Mailing list and I thought that the "two Joes" Joe Ramsey and Joe Doyle had a nice exchange where they both made some good points about these albums. So if anyone else wants to add their two cents worth, please feel free to post something. (And it doesn't have to be a good review either - both of these albums divide Roy Wood's fans with some loving one or both while others hate these records!!!)

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Name	Message
admin Woodland	These should be out July 17th. These will be straight reissues without bonus tracks. It looks like there is going to be news soon of a Japanese expanded release that might be worth waiting for.
johan	If we are to believe Amazon.co.uk and Spincds, both albums will be released by Wounded Bird at the end of June!?
admin woodland	This is from a thread in the Move Mailing List (see links page) in which we pick it up in a brief quote from Joe R. that Joe D. is replying to. (Confused yet? You will be.) Joe R. Wrote:Geeze, just the "Superative Wizzo" story would make you cry. ...... To say Warner Brothers dropped the ball on Wizzo would be an understatement. Released just as the breakout of the UK punk scene.... The single "The Stroll" tanked, unusally so for a Roy Wood release at the time..... To which Joe D replied: I think you hit the nail on the head, somewhat, but I'm not sure Warner's are to blame (though I don't know the whole tale). Punk saw off many an old musical stalwart - the winds of change blew so much of what was around at the time into oblivion (and let's be honest, contractual difficulties or not, Wizzard's post Are You Ready To Rock releases did little commercially. The writing was on the wall with This Is The Story Of My Love). Must agree though that Superactive Wizzo is a great album, albeit with an excess of overly long songs in my opinion. For example, the edited down version of Waiting At This Door from the single release, has a life and vibrancy that is not matched by the album version for me. Earthrise too, a fantastic song spoiled a little by not knowing when to call it a day. Having said that I would still recommend the album to any Roy fan, not everybody will be as displeased as I am by the mere length of some of the songs. In the late 70's, I too was caught up in Johnny's Rottenness and Siouxie's Banshee wail and neglected my Roy music for some good time. He simply became out of time and has never recovered. Love him or not (and tho' it may not sound like of it of late, I do too), everything he released after this was sub-par by his previous standards and he lost his commercial Midas touch. Personally, I think it's because he lacked something that was present throughout his prior career - the catalyst of other truly talented and creative minds, Carl Wayne, Jeff Lynne, Rick price and Co. People who helped Roy contain his idiosynchrocies just enough to keep his musical genius on track. Left to his own devices, well, apart from a few precious golden nuggets, I'd let his musical history speak for itself. I think the reason that the Stroll tanked is simple - it was crap. To which Joe R. replied: Oldsters on this list KNOW that the two Joes *usually* agree on most things WOODY... but seems we have minimal disagreements here. Maybe. Let's see if we can't find some common ground (I know we can!). Joe R. quotes Joe D: Must agree though that Superactive Wizzo is a great album, albeit with an excess of overly long songs in my opinion. Joe R. then adds: I thought this too when I first got the album. But a funny thing happened to Superactive when I burned my own CD copy of it... it became waaaaay more playable. It's nice to just let the CD play without having to change the sides of the record. More enjoyable. I find that this is true of 2 and 3 album sets - things like George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass." I used to have a hell of a time wading through that beast of a triple album, but when it just plays continuously, it's really nice. Maybe you can call that the "Lifting Of The Tone Arm Phenomena"... I don't know. Joe R. quotes Joe D. In the late 70's, I too was caught up in Johnny's Rottenness and Siouxie's Banshee wail and neglected my Roy music for some good time. Joe R then adds: As were most people with good taste in music at that time. There was a freshness and originality that hearkened back to early Beatles, Stones, Kinks days. A lot of bands that used to be good fled to the dreaded disco (no names!), but artists like Roy, that tried to keep their same seventies thing going, died the commercial death. Some deservedly so. Joe R. quotes Joe D: Personally, I think it's because he lacked something that was present throughout his prior career - the catalyst of other truly talented and creative minds, Carl Wayne, Jeff Lynne, Rick Price and Co. Then Joe R. then adds: But he did have Rick Price with the Superactives... Mike Burney, too. And for my money, the star of the Wizzo show was Dave Donovan on drums who WAILS in Roy's quasi-Bonham style. Neat! My theory is that Roy threw everything creative he had into Superactive Wizzo... it WAS kind of a meeting point for all styles he had been experimenting with previously. You had the fifties, the Big Band Swing, The Bonham stomp... actually, the strangest element of creativity on the album comes from none other than Rick Price who, evidently, had just mastered the art of the Bob-Wills-style pedal steel and Roy segues into that in nearly every song (hey, why not?). So maybe it was poor timing (it REALLY was - as punk made most previously famous seventies stars... irrelevant), or maybe it was Warner's dropping the ball (they really did as they never even got it together to have a US release. This, after Eddy & The Falcons had done pretty well in the US market and Wizzard actually toured to support it) or maybe it was Roy's management who saw the handwriting on the wall that it was ELO they should be concentrating on (and Don Arden really allowed Roy's career to flounder whilst making Lynne & Co. one of the biggest bands in the world). All those things. I think it probably was heartbreaking for Roy. And I think as far as songwriting and creativity, he never recovered. The next album, "On The Road Again," or "The American Album" as those in-the-know called it derisively, was released ONLY in the USA (c'mon.. that was really weird!) and it was, in my opinion, Roy blanding his sound out to try to appeal to America's taste. Yow! Not a good idea. And it sold... poorly. My apologies to those that like that album, but I think it's Woody's worst. Just my opinion. Joe R. quotes Joe D.: I think the reason that the Stroll tanked is simple - it was crap. Joe R. then adds: But Roy's crap is still better than at least 75% of what else is out there, right? I have to admit, I don't really understand "The Stroll." But I'm happy it exists... and it sounds good on the Superactive burn CD, too. And The Stroll 45 had a really cool pic sleeve, too. Sign the petition!!!