Mover - Fly Casual

  by Benjamin Howarth

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

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Two years ago Mover released their self titled debut album, which was heavily influenced by Motown. Since then the band have spent a lot of time on the road, both in the U.K. and in Japan. They have also lost a member, original guitarist James Powell, and their line-up now is Sam Hazeldine ( Vocals, keyboards) , John Ruscoe (Guitar), Erik Bower (Drums and Percussion) and Felix Taylor ( Bass). Apparently (although I don’t have a clue what they mean by this) Taylor is also the band's mentor. Vocalist Sam Hazeldine wrote most of the tunes, with assistance on some tracks by Ruscoe, while Hazeldine and Powell wrote one track together ‘Step Lively’, before the latter's departure. The album was originally demoed in the frontroom at Sam Hazeldine’s house but was recorded in the spacious ballroom at Great Linsford Manor. To create the necessary atmosphere the band were forced to move all their furniture and a mobile disco kit (complete with mirrorballs!!) into the ballroom. Suitably cramped the band recorded the eleven songs that make up ‘Fly Casual’. Moving on from being mainly Motown influenced, the band have come up with a new funky sound that also incorporates plenty of other sixties influences. Nothing too original then. If you were in an awkward mood then you might say that there are loads of groups making this kind of mod-meets-soul sound, so why should we care about Mover? It is true that Mover have more in common with the baggy and Britpop scenes than they do with the Small Faces or The Family Stone. I can’t stand baggy so for me to like Mover surely they must have something else to set them apart. Basically they can write tunes. Take ‘You The Man’, it starts with the chords from ‘Go Now’ but then mutates into a classic tune. It’s the least frantic moment on the album and the most brilliant because of it. I get the impression from ‘Fly Casual’ that Mover could be a really great band, but at the moment they are merely a good one. ‘Fly Casual’, for all it’s charm, has several faults. Its inconsistency is one of them. The lovely ‘You The Man’ is followed by the storming ‘Step Lively’ and its Beatles (Sgt Pepper period) guitar line. But then ‘Fatwa’, despite a cracking chorus, tries to combine too many ideas into the verses and sounds muddled. They seem to like the use of female backing singers. No doubt this was intended to provide the necessary ‘soul’ but to my ears it sounds a little clichéd. And besides if you have a great singer (and Sam Hazeldine is, indeed, a pretty good one) then backing vocalists generally make the records sound over-produced, unless handled with care and attention and I am afraid we don’t get this here! I am being over critical by picking little holes in a pretty fine record. At this stage, Mover have not generated much attention and I do not expect them too because currently this style of music is unfashionable. I wish people could just judge the music on its merits. ‘Fly Casual’ is a good album, with some faults, but it will be lumped in with a bunch of bands it is now not cool to like. My verdict is that I recommend this album, although it isn’t one I could call a classic. I think that with a bit of fine-tuning Mover do have a classic in them, but as for now I’m quite prepared just to ‘Fly Casual’!

Track Listing:-

1 Charly Brown
2 That's It
3 You the Man
4 Step Lively
5 Fatwa
6 Good Business
7 Deep Fat Fry
8 Jimmy Two Times
9 Fizzy
10 Hit The Switches
11 Original Sweetdish

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