After Wood’s departure from ELO, his former collaborator Jeff Lynne took the group ever closer to his dream Beatlesesque template. Roy, on the other hand, immersed himself in the sounds and studio trickery of his own personal heroes, Phil Spector and Brian Wilson. It resulted in some heady singles at the height of glam, including two chart-toppers, but this compilation concentrates on what happened next.
Leaving Harvest for Warners in 1974, Wood continued to plunder the more stylistic elements of vintage pop and rock’n’roll. It was kind of hit-and-miss, though. A teddy boy concept album (Introducing Eddy & The Falcons) had its moments, but there was always something a little unsettling about a big hairy Brummie brute warbling Goffin & King-inspired anthems of innocent teenage love. Like Dave Edmunds’ records from the same era, there was much to be admired in Wood’s painstaking recreations of bygone sounds, even if they failed to appeal to a wider audience.
The best of the Warners years and beyond are gathered here, plus nine unreleased songs, and live versions of a couple of the Harvest hits. It’s the work of a master craftsman, albeit one who followed his own
