The Grass Roots - Move Along

The Grass Roots – Move Along

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The early 70’s were a time of transition for The Grass Roots and ‘Move Along’ was their first studio album of the ‘Me’ decade, the big rock production sound was now in.

Written by: Eric

ARTIST: The Grass Roots
ALBUM: Move Along
LABEL: ABC/Dunhill
SERIAL: DSX-50112
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

LINEUP: Rob Grill – lead vocals * Warren Entner – guitars * Reed Kailing – guitars * Virgil Weber – keyboards * Joel Larson – drums

TRACK LISTING: 01 The Runaway * 02 Monday Love * 03 Anyway The Wind Blows * 04 Runnin’ Just To Get Her Home Again * 05 Two Divided By Love * 06 Someone To Love * 07 Face The Music * 08 Move Along * 09 One Word * 10 Only One * 11 Glory Bound

WEBLINKS: Site Link

Background

The early 70’s were a time of transition for The Grass Roots and ‘Move Along’ was their first studio album of the ‘Me’ decade. With new members Reed Kailing and Virgil Weber as well as the return of original drummer Joel Larson, The Grass Roots three part harmony folk/pop vocals were now passe.

The big production rock sound courtesy of Entner and Grill was now in, along with co-producer and long-time Grass Roots collaborator Steve Barri who was part of the Barri/Sloan songwriting duo that provided the groups very first hit ‘Where Were You When I Needed You’. Of course, vocalist Rob Grill was the main man with his pop star looks and voice.

But The Grass Roots always did better (‘Midnight Confessions’ excluded) with outside writers and for this album Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter hooked on. Their credits included Coven‘s 1969 smash ‘One Tin Soldier’ as well as Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds‘ hit of the same year as this album ‘Don’t Pull Your Love (Out)’. They were brought in to beef up The Grass Roots sound and in turn provided the album with two hit singles.

The Songs

Opener ‘The Runaway’ was one of the Lambert/ Potter tracks and it’s easy to hear why these guys were pulled into the project, although it barely dented the Top 40 as a single. Orchestrated with brass and a huge hook it’s pure 70’s pop at its best and the kind of music I never grow tired of.

‘Monday Love’ is cut from the same cloth and ranks with the best of the Roots late 60’s output and while ‘Anyway the Wind Blows’ was released as the album’s third single with ‘Monday Love’ on the flip, I would have gone with the latter, not the former as the ‘a’ side. The 45 as it was, never made it beyond #107 on the Billboard chart. ‘Two Divided by Love’ is slightly bubblegummy and a great cut at that, again with hooks galore.

Unfortunately, ‘Someone To Love’ is a little too much like a funky Three Dog Night throw-away and since it was tacked on to the end of the first side, no harm done.

The second side kick’s off with ‘Face The Music’ and is a good example of early radio rock while the title track doesn’t really do much for me, although I do like the brooding orchestration, it’s definitely not the strongest cut on the album. Much better is the final track and second hit single ‘Glory Bound’ with what sounds like a sitar as the lead instrument and again, a sound that harkens back to The Grass Roots golden era of the late 60’s.

In Summary

The group’s follow-up, 1973’s ‘Alotta’ Mileage’ was a worthy successor, but it was the final Grass Roots record for guitarist Warren Entner who would go on to manage both Angel and Quiet Riot.

His replacement Reggie Knighton would record one album with the band, the self-titled ‘The Grass Roots’ in 1975, before leaving and putting out a couple of interesting albums on his own. Rob Grill meanwhile, released his first solo in 1979 followed by an attempt at pure AOR with a new Grass Roots line-up for 1982’s excellent ‘Powers Of The Night’.


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