Electric Light Orchestra fans wonder if earlier iteration of the band is ‘better’

Fans of Electric Light Orchestra were left wondering if the band which precedes the formation of the legendary group is, in fact, “better”.

The Move preceded Electric Light Orchestra, a group founded by Roy Wood. The band would eventually see Carl Wayne and Bev Bevan join, with the latter joining Wood’s follow-up group, ELO, along with Jeff Lynne. But fans of ELO discussing the merits of both groups believe The Move may have the edge when it comes to better works. Though not as commercially successful, The Move enjoyed a handful of chart singles and some belated success in the 1980s. They would release four albums from 1968 to 1971, with their last single release, Do Ya, proving successful under ELO.

A fan of both Jeff Lynne’s ELO and The Move took to the r/ELO subreddit and wrote: “Were The Move better than ELO? I am a died in the wool ELO fan since 1984. I’m an album tracks guy, rather than a fan of the hits. Favourite song is Mister Kingdom. They are far and away my favourite band by some distance. I have listened to them way more than anyone else over the years. As for ‘The Move’, I had listened to a few chart hits by The Move.

Flowers in the Rain, Fire Brigade, etc, the usual ‘surface’ stuff. I never thought much of it. Nice hits, but that’s about it. But…in my YouTube recommended list around a month ago, I was shown a song by The Move called Words of Aaron.

So I listened, and I really loved it. So I ended up listening to the album Message from the Country. Wow! I was blown away by it. The ludicrousness of it. It was all over the place, but in a great way. Couldn’t get enough of it and played it over and over for a few weeks.

Then I moved on to their Shazam album, and also listened a lot to Looking On. I feel like it’s ELO with more ‘loose fun’. It feels like it has much less restraint. I am enjoying it all so much. I can’t believe that, for whatever reason, I ignored them for so long. Dare I say it, they are becoming my favourite band… strange.”

Fans replying to the original poster were also split on which proved to be the better band. One flippant comment reads: “Nothing is better than ELO.” Others gave their response a little more thought, with one writing: “Easy and also difficult to compare the two as The Move had three distinct lineups over their five or so year period, which happened to overlap with ELO for a brief time.

“ELO’s first album recording overlapped with the recording of Message From The Country (with this in mind, you’ll see a lot of similarities in instruments and arrangements). As you put it ‘loose fun’ is what described earlier The Move as they, along with other bands, made a name for themselves as a live act, breaking things on stage, lighting fires, and other gimmicks.

“Jeff Lynne joining The Move honed and straightened out the group to a degree, but they still had Roy Wood’s sense of humour, which overlapped with Lynne’s. This is notable in a lot of outtakes where they can both be heard making fart noises and singing in funny voices.

“If you haven’t yet, I’d recommend giving a listen to the first two Idle Race albums with Jeff Lynne, you can kind of see where the two worlds would collide in what ultimately became ELO!”

Another summarised the strengths of the two groups through commercial success. They wrote: “The Move was experimental and ELO was more solidly commercial. But I hold that ELO, while becoming more commercial, utilised a solid Beatles vibe while experimenting and innovating. Lynne’s sense of production quality was also outstanding. And they had musicians who were great in their own right – Kelly, Richard, and Bev are all excellent musicians.

“So, if you are looking for raw, experimental, and cutting edge, The Move might be considered quite interesting (they are not my favourite, but I see the pull).

“For a more commercial sound that both innovated while not giving up excellence, and frankly shows it’s broad appeal in the resurgent interest in the band (and by the way Jeff worked on and with a number of projects throughout the 80s, 90s, and 00s, so he never went away, though ELO took a hiatus) – ELO is hard to beat. Few bands have shown this kind of multi-generational pull while ALSO the front man influencing a number of key projects by other well-known artists.”