I love Roy Wood because…
… of all the ‘oh my god look at that’ Top of the Pops moments he gave me.
Add to “See My Baby Jive” the astounding “Angel Fingers” and the astonishing “Ball Park Incident” a trifecta of unequalled wizardly Woody over-the-top-ness.
I bet Bjorn and Benny loved those tunes.
He had the audacity to have one of my early teen crushes as a girlfriend, the completely lovely Ayshea Brough, host of the kids pop show Lift Off**. How dare he! She was mine, I tell you!
He had a cheap Chinese cello, with which he made bazillions of overdubs on “10358 Overture”. Jeff Lynne liked it and a band was born.
He then left said band. You gotta admire that.
He’s responsible for a Christmas song that unlike so many others, never gets old.
He can make an ordinary bar band blues sound amazing…
The string of Wood-penned Move hits is as strong a run of songs as any band has made, before or since. Count ‘em: “Night of Fear”, “Flowers in the Rain”, “I Can Hear the Grass Grow”, “Fire Brigade”, “Blackberry Way”, “Brontosaurus”, “Tonight”… this list goes on and on. Every single one a winner.
And all that whilst still managing to gently take the piss out of the scene… I mean, come on.
Mr. Wood, I salute you. You are a genius.
** Trivia fans: which show was the first to feature David Bowie playing Starman? Lift Off with Ayshea.
