When The Move finally landed the long-awaited number one hit in their home country Great Britain with "Blackberry Way" in 1969, they were already showing signs of disintegration. Since their formation in 1965, the bassist had already changed twice and singer and guitarist Carl Wayne was already thinking about solo plans. The original quintet had shrunk to a quartet. The fifth member was only a guest musician. Carl Wayne 's successor was Jeff Lynne , who founded the Electric Light Orchestra - ELO for short - with the remaining members of the Move ( Roy Wood and Bev Bevan ).
In April 1968, however, things were not quite so far. In Great Britain, Move already had their fourth top ten single in the charts with "Fire Brigade". The first number, "Night Of Fear", had reached number two; the follow-up, "I Can Hear The Grass Grow", reached number five and "Flowers In The Rain" again reached number two. And thanks to "Fire Brigade" , they finally made it into the BRAVO Musicbox .
However, BRAVO had already reported on The Move in February 1967, immediately after the release of "Night Of Fear", and it didn't sound so positive at first: "The Move say: We don't just offer acoustic music, we also offer visual music. With us, people don't just hear something, they get to see more. And they are so enthusiastic about our show that the stage shakes and the walls shake. However, The Move demolish the theaters and studios in which they perform with their own hands. They are the biggest pop music thugs in the world. A huge axe is their preferred instrument. With it, they smash a television set, for example. Or a car. Or portraits of politicians. And of course they hack holes in the floor of the podium. Sometimes with the result that they disappear into obscurity." ( BRAVO issue eight from 1967 )
Tony Secunda, manager of such illustrious groups as The Moody Blues and later of T.Rex and Motörhead , also took on The Move and it was he who came up with the idea of the axe for Carl Wayne . Roy Wood was not keen on such sensationalism but it brought publicity. Just like Secunda's idea of signing the Move's contract with producer Denny Cordell on the back of the topless model Liz Wilson.
But the collaboration with Tony Secunda also brought trouble. Without informing the band, Secunda published a cartoon postcard with the then Prime Minister of Great Britain, Harold Wilson, showing him in bed with his secretary Marcia Williams. He was of course not particularly amused and initiated a lawsuit, which The Move lost. The result: The Move had to pay the legal costs and hand over all royalties to charities. Roy Wood was hit the hardest. He was the composer of the song "Flowers In The Rain", which the campaign was intended to promote.
The disc was the first record that BBC Radio 1 ever broadcast over the airwaves. The promotion was definitely worth it!
»Fire Brigade« only stayed in the Musicbox for two weeks and never got past number 19. After that, The Move came twice more: »Blackberry Way« (1969, position 7) and »Tonight« (1971, position 13).