He’ll be forever known for his festive hit, but Wood was virtually the face of 70s glam rock – writing and performing stomping hits with the Move, ELO and Wizzard
Roy Wood occasionally wrote for others – psych fans should check the Acid Gallery’s splendid 1969 single Dance Round the Maypole – and the single he made with girlfriend Ayshea Brough, an early 70s TV presenter, exemplifies his idiosyncratic pop skills and his kitchen-sink approach to arrangement: kettle drums! More oboe!
At the end of the 80s – a decade where musical trends didn’t fit Wood’s approach at all – the Electric Light Orchestra’s architects briefly regrouped, recording two tracks that were never released. Me and You is the pick, offering a tantalising glimpse of what latter-day ELO might have sounded like had Wood never left.
The great lost Wizzard single (recorded for the rejected 1976 album Main Street) saw Wood grafting a charming big band-influenced song and arrangement on to a thunderous dancefloor-adjacent drumbeat. The music sounds surprisingly like the disco-swing hybrid of Dr Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band’s 1976 debut album, which might have accounted for its belated release.
By the release of Brontosaurus, Wood’s career was in flux: Jeff Lynne had joined the Move with plans to start ELO; Wood had started wearing backcombed hair and make-up that prefigured his Wizzard look. The track itself is proto-metal but still packs a great pop melody.
