Search - Roy Wood :: Boulders

One of the best albums of 1973

Stephen F Mulcahy | United States | 09/30/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"roy wood's 1st solo album, boulders, was his best album after leaving the move, and one of the best albums of 1973. by this time, most of the wonderful experimentation of the sixties had pretty much died out. wood plays virtually every instrument on this disc, and all of the tunes are totally different from each other. some sound like the beach boys, some like 50's rock stars. one cut is kind of like fairport convention, another like the rolling stones, and yet another like the beatles. gospel , hard rock, and jazz are some of the many genres that one can trace here. the songwriting and playing are top notch as always, and the album was well produced by wood with, of all people, alan parsons as engineer. i strongly recommend this excellent disc."

The Best Album Of All Time??

Joseph Davolt | McLeansboro, IL United States | 03/09/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Roy Wood's solo debut, "Boulders", might just be the best album of all time. It is not something easily described, it must be listened to. If you're a normal person, you're gonna freak out and ask why in the world I gave it this distinction, until you actually listen to it a few times. This is prime Wood. Roy Wood has to be the most underrated songwriter/singer/musician of all time, simply because he is The Best songwriter/singer/musician of all time. And this CD is only the start, there's plenty more for you to discover. This CD has been Out-of-Print for a few years now, but luckily, a new, remastered, enchanced, bonus-indulged version is planned for release in Summer 2002. When this becomes available, buy it and enrich your muscial spectrum and world."

The Pied Piper of Himself

PopTodd | United States | 10/24/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Having been kicked out of his own band, the former leader of The Move either went over the deep end or just simply decided he was going to completely amuse himself in the studio for his solo debut in 1973. Roy pulled out all the stops for Boulders.



Either way, the world is a better place for it.



The stylistic ground covered on the album is dizzying, and it's the way it's covered -- with a pastiche of symphonic glory and marshmallows -- is a stroke of genius. The album opens with what appears, at first to be a straight-ahead gospel-inflected rocker with "Songs Of Praise". But that notion is quickly dispelled by the chorus of sped-up, chipmunk Roy voices that sing harmony in the chorus. That's folloed up with the sleepy-eyed "Wake Up", which features percussion provided by a hand splashing in a bowl of water.



The rest of the album follows suit, as every whim is indulged. The country hoedown of "When Gran'ma Plays the Banjo", to "The Irish Loafer and His Hen" and the pedal steel-led "Rockin' Shoes" (which sounds like it could be a countrified Move outtake).



It's a warped masterpiece of the highest order.

If Roy Wood followed his muse right over the cliff... he landed in a humongous pile of feathers and cookies, where we can all frolic together."