Search - Roy Wood :: Look Thru the Eyes of Roy Wood & Wizzard

Well, no ... it actually was released!

J. A. DeSilva | San Jose, CA USA | 05/08/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In fact, this is the second release in the last 12 months featuring the best of Roy Wood - last year EMI released "Roy Wood The Wizzard", featuring music from the early to mid-seventies. Woody actually was involved in the track selection on this release, and he's done quite a good job!



This CD chronicles a very difficult time in Roy's career - he actually found himself with 3 different record contracts in the mid to late-seventies, and as a result became one of rock's "burnout" casualties. Despite the enormous pressures from record companies and management, he continued to make some of the most original, idiosyncratic, and often-times brilliant pop music into the eighties.



From the 50's Rock and Roll pastiche of "Eddy's Rock" and "Are You Ready To Rock" from Wizzard, to Woody's solo (and I mean solo - he played nearly every instrument on the "Mustard" album") work in the late 70s, to his synth-pop in the mid-eighties - this CD covers the history of popular music from the 50's to the 80s "through the eyes of Roy Wood" (as the CD title suggests).



The sound quality on this release, like the release "Outstanding Performer" from 2003, has been nicely upgraded - the sonic spectrum of many of the tracks (especially from the "Mustard" album) have a very nice 'wide-screen' quality that belie their age. And the unreleased stuff, especially the live Wizzard tracks from '75, are just great rock 'n' roll.



Personally I'm not a huge fan of the "Starting Up " and "1-2-3" era Woody (1985 - 87), but the synth-drums are not nearly as grating with this new remaster. I think many of the songs from that era, such as "Raining In The City" and "Red Cars Are After Me" would sound much better with more "natural" instruments.



Overall there are a lot of pleasant surprises on this 2-CD set - songs that were heard by a criminally small number of people over the years. And the liner notes from ELO/Wizzard/Roy Wood archivist Rob Caiger are very infomative and tell the first-hand account of what has been happening with the Move/Wizzard/Woody back catalog over the past several years.



Highly recommended, along with "Outstanding Performer" and "Roy Wood the Wizzard"."