On This Day 19/11/1972 Wizzard

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On this day, 19 November 1972, Glam Rock band Wizzard played Cardiff’s Top Rank. The band had just released their first single Ball Park Incident which reached No 6 in the UK singles chart.

Leader Roy Wood had left ELO, taking band members Bill Hunt (keyboards and french horn) and Hugh McDowell (cello) with him, as well as ELO's sound engineer, Trevor Smith. Despite press reporting a fallout between Wood and co-founder/leader Jeff Lynne, Wood denies that he and Lynne ever had a real row, blaming it on press fabrication and insisting that "We never had a real row and we're still mates now." In fact, Wood claimed that he left the group because he foresaw a fallout between him and Lynne due to their increasing differences of opinion (which he felt were caused, indirectly, by the band's management) and wanted to avoid it.

The band made their live debut at The London Rock and Roll Show at Wembley Stadium on 5 August 1972. Wizzard's second appearance was at the Reading Festival later that month. With Wood's distinctive warpaint make-up and colourful costume, not to mention regular appearances on BBC Television's Top of the Pops in which members and friends, including Wood's girl friend, singer Ayshea Brough, variously appeared in pantomime horses, gorilla costumes or as roller-skating angels, often wielding custard pies for good measure, Wizzard were one of the most picturesque groups of the British glam rock era.

In 1972 they scored their first Top 10 hit with "Ball Park Incident", which made No. 6 for three weeks from 13 January. Their biggest hit was with their second single. "See My Baby Jive", Wood's faithful and affectionate tribute to the Phil Spector-generated 'Wall of Sound', made No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks. It sold over one million copies globally, and was awarded gold disc status. The follow-up, "Angel Fingers", also topped the charts for one week. Wizzard's songs often included lengthy instrumental improvisations.

On This Day 06/10/1972 Electric Light Orchestra

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On this day, 6 October 1972, rock band the Electric Light Orchestra played Cardiff University.

Formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters-multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of Beatlesque pop, classical arrangements and futuristic iconography.

It was during this tour that Roy and Jeff began to not get along. The problems were initially caused because of the attention Roy was getting over Jeff, especially with the press. Although Electric Light Orchestra was a completely joint venture with the two songwriters/producers/musicians equally splitting the tasks on the first album and during the tour, Jeff's songs were featured even more than Roy's songs. However, at the time, Roy was the much bigger star, having had big chart success as a songwriter and more with The Move. Jeff, on the other hand, had experienced no chart success with the Idle Race and little to no chart success as a songwriter when he joined The Move.

So at press events and many of the tour performances, it was Roy who was getting all the attention, with very little left over for Jeff. According to many sources, they nearly came to blows at times and would stand at the edge of the stage on performance nights and argue who should be the last to go on to the stage. There are specific reports of this in Italy, so that "getaway" leg of the tour did little to allay the problem. Roy claims, and probably accurately, that manager Don Arden fomented the rivalry, with the goal of getting one to leave the band and then he would have two bands with talented musicians to manage, rather than one band with two talented musicians.

The reason for Roy Wood’s departure was the subject of gossip columns for many years after it happened. The truth is, the band was having difficulties functioning with two leaders. Roy and Jeff were great friends, sharing a dream with the creation of the Electric Light Orchestra concept. Roy has stated that he was often troubled by the disagreements over the direction of his band while in The Move and would not go through that again. So when Roy and Jeff were apparently feuding in Electric Light Orchestra, the very thing he didn't want to happen was happening. There are some stories of them arguing over such miniscule things as who would go on stage first while at shows. Therefore, Roy left to form another band, Wizzard, where he was the sole leader. The problem was that Roy left without telling anybody. When the band came together in July to work, Roy was simply gone and Jeff and Bev learned about Roy leaving from the music trade papers.

After Wood's departure in 1972, Lynne became the band's sole leader, arranging and producing every album while writing nearly all of their original material. For their initial tenure, Lynne, Bevan and keyboardist Richard Tandy were the group's only consistent members.

Line up

Jeff Lynne: vocals, guitar

Bev Bevan: drums

Richard Tandy: keyboards

Wilf Gibson: violin

Mike Edwards: cello

Colin Walker: cello

Mike deAlbuquerque: bass, backing vocals

Jake Commander: engineer

On This Day 06/10/1972 Electric Light Orchestra

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On this day, 6 October 1972, rock band the Electric Light Orchestra played Cardiff University to promote the bands first album

Formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters-multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of Beatlesque pop, classical arrangements and futuristic iconography.

After Wood's departure in 1972, Lynne became the band's sole leader, arranging and producing every album while writing nearly all of their original material. For their initial tenure, Lynne, Bevan and keyboardist Richard Tandy were the group's only consistent members.

It was during this tour that Roy and Jeff began to not get along. The problems were initially caused because of the attention Roy was getting over Jeff, especially with the press. Although Electric Light Orchestra was a completely joint venture with the two songwriters/producers/musicians equally splitting the tasks on the first album and during the tour, Jeff's songs were featured even more than Roy's songs.

However, at the time, Roy was the much bigger star, having had big chart success as a songwriter and more with The Move. Jeff, on the other hand, had experienced no chart success with the Idle Race and little to no chart success as a songwriter when he joined The Move. So at press events and many of the tour performances, it was Roy who was getting all the attention, with very little left over for Jeff.

According to many sources, they nearly came to blows at times and would stand at the edge of the stage on performance nights and argue who should be the last to go on to the stage. There are specific reports of this in Italy, so that "getaway" leg of the tour did little to allay the problem. Roy claims, and probably accurately, that manager Don Arden fomented the rivalry, with the goal of getting one to leave the band and then he would have two bands with talented musicians to manage, rather than one band with two talented musicians.

On The Day 08/02/1968 The Move

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On this day, 8 February 1968, rock band The Move played Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens.

The Move evolved from several mid-1960s Birmingham-based groups, including Carl Wayne & the Vikings, the Nightriders and the Mayfair Set.

Their name referred to the move various members of these bands made to form the group.

Besides Wood, the Move's original five-piece line-up in 1965 was drummer Bev Bevan, bassist Ace Kefford, vocalist Carl Wayne and guitarist Trevor Burton.

The final line-up of 1972 was a trio of Wood, Bevan and Jeff Lynne, all of whom had for two years been working in the parallel project the Electric Light Orchestra.

The band were just about to release their first album Move in April.

The album features ten Roy Wood compositions, along with three covers which had been a prominent part of the group's live act.

Although scheduled for an earlier release, the album was delayed by the theft of the master tapes, which led to the tracks needing to be re-recorded.

The album was sporadically recorded between January 1967 and February 1968 at Advision, De Lane Lea and Olympic Studios in London, during gaps in their tight recording schedule when the group were not booked for any performances.

Highly anticipated, the album featured two previously released singles: "Flowers in the Rain" and "Fire Brigade", both of which reached the top five in the UK Singles Chart.

It was the only album by the Move to feature original bassist Chris "Ace" Kefford, who left the band shortly after the record was released in spring 1968, as well as being the only one to fully feature rhythm guitarist Trevor Burton, who left during the early sessions for their follow-up Shazam.

Move was also the only album by the Move to chart in the UK, reaching number fifteen on the charts during the early summer of that year.

Tour Setlist

It'll Be Me

(Jerry Lee Lewis cover)

Too Much in Love

(Denny Laine & His Electric String Band cover)

Flowers in the Rain

Fire Brigade

Stephanie Knows Who

(Love cover)

Somethin' Else

(Eddie Cochran cover)

So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star

(The Byrds cover)

The Price of Love

(The Everly Brothers cover)

Piece of My Heart

(Erma Franklin cover)

(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher

(Jackie Wilson cover)

Sunshine Help Me

(Spooky Tooth cover)

On this day 06/10/1972 Electric Light Orchestra

Images may be subject to copyright

On this day, 6 October 1972, rock band the Electric Light Orchestra played Cardiff University.

Formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters-multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of Beatlesque pop, classical arrangements and futuristic iconography.

After Wood's departure in 1972, Lynne became the band's sole leader, arranging and producing every album while writing nearly all of their original material. For their initial tenure, Lynne, Bevan and keyboardist Richard Tandy were the group's only consistent members.