Flowers in the Rain by The Move

The first song played on BBC Radio 1 provoked a lawsuit from UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

9/10

Flowers in the Rain—The Move

Topped the NZ charts for 1 week, starting on 24 November 1967.

More about my NZ number #1 project.

The Move

There was a lot of great British pop/rock music in the 1960s, and Birmingham psychedelic rock band The Move are sometimes overlooked. They never made an impression in the US. They morphed into Electric Light Orchestra, who were much more successful in the States.

But leader Roy Wood is a talented writer, an English eccentric whose quirky songs fitted well into psychedelia. Wood wasn’t the lead singer in the band’s early years – Carl Wayne provides lead vocals on ‘Flowers in the Rain’.

Flowers in the Rain

The Move had already released a couple of standalone singles, but ‘Flowers in the Rain’ was the first single from their debut album. It was based on a book of fairy tales that Wood wrote at The Moseley College of Art.

Assistant producer Tony Visconti, later famous for his work with Bowie, supplied the arrangement with oboe, clarinet, cor anglais, and French horn.

It was blocked from the top spot in the UK by Engelbert Humperdinck’s ‘The Last Waltz‘, but made it to the top of the NZ chart.

The song’s promotional strategy provoked controversy. Manager Tony Secunda organised a postcard of then-Prime Minister Harold Wilson naked in bed with his secretary. Wilson sued and asked the band to donate the single’s royalties to the Spastics Society and Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

My Verdict

The Move aren’t quite in the same league as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, or The Kinks, but they’re still a terrific 1960s band. They have songs I like even more, like ‘Blackberry Way’, but ‘Flowers in the Rain’ is still excellent. I especially like the bridge, which feels like a more manic version of the verses.

The aftermath

The Move arguably never quite fulfilled their potential. After Jeff Lynne joined, they morphed into Electric Light Orchestra and sold millions of records in the 1970s with hits like ‘Mr Blue Sky’ and ‘Telephone Line’.

Wood left ELO after a couple of albums, but enjoyed solo acclaim with Boulders, and released a relatively respectable Christmas hit (‘I Wish It Were Christmas Everyday’) as the leader of Wizzard.