Please note that he's saying "jive" not "die"

October 30, 2017 7:45 PM

Because some things you just can't un-see, so you might as well share - Top of the Pops, 1973: Wizzard, "See My Baby Jive" (SLYT)
posted by e-man (30 comments total)

Despite appearances from this lip-synching appearance, Roy Wood is seriously legit. Pretty sure The Move broke up in 1970 or so and he left ELO in 1972 so this is not long after.

What I always wonder is if he was aware of The Cockettes, because he basically stole his look from them.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 7:56 PM on October 30, 2017 [5 favorites]

You can't fool me. This is just that alternate ending to The Prisoner that they filmed.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:15 PM on October 30, 2017 [8 favorites]

Whatever drugs they are on, I want some.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:22 PM on October 30, 2017 [2 favorites]

I could not make it all the way through. That was brutal. I remember 1973 and in my mind it was nothing like that.
posted by AugustWest at 8:30 PM on October 30, 2017

Here's the thing I have always loved about this video: it totally explains the popularity of Glam Rock. It wasn't about David Bowie's androgynous portentiousness or T. Rex's elfin pretentiousness. It was an opportunity for kids to dress up in crazy costumes and run around having a good time onstage. Seriously, there is no time during this video when the musicians appear to be anything else but working-class blokes from Birmingham having goofy fun, and not in a self-indulgent way either, totally unembarrassed.

What I always wonder is if he was aware of The Cockettes, because he basically stole his look from them.

Roy stole everything from everyone but he mixed it up so originally that nobody minds. He's incredibly shy and quiet, so when he takes the lead it's often in flamboyant garb and wildly creative music. I once read an academic book (can't remember the title) that treated David Bowie and Roy Wood as complementary twins -- "gender-bending" vs. "genre-bending."
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 8:45 PM on October 30, 2017 [10 favorites]

Roy Wood is seriously legit.


Actually, it's Rick Price who really kills it on that clip.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:48 PM on October 30, 2017 [1 favorite]

It took me a lo-o-o-o-o-ng time to get into Roy Wood, simply because I couldn't get past the face paint and the dumb teased hair. But only a few years ago, I downloaded all his Wizzard-era stuff, and I realize what great songs he had, and what outstanding arrangements (if lousy production). Musically, I'd take him over David Bowie any day. He's got a much deeper catalogue (plus, as Harvey Kilobit observes above: Fun.)
posted by Modest House at 9:43 PM on October 30, 2017 [2 favorites]

Was it mere coincidence that 1973 saw another cultural artefact featuring weird makeup, strange music, and crazy costumes? At least nobody was sacrificed in a wicker man at the conclusion of Top of the Pops.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:44 PM on October 30, 2017

It's like a frat house decided to be Parliament-Funkadelic for Halloween.
posted by alex_skazat at 10:01 PM on October 30, 2017 [3 favorites]

you must really watch it to the end, or you'll miss THE PIE FIGHT!


also spoilers
posted by alex_skazat at 10:03 PM on October 30, 2017 [2 favorites]

Mad props to the be-robed dude with angel's wings playing bass on roller skates, who's bopping about and somehow manages NOT to fall over during the pie fight.

That sentence has to complete someone's Bingo card, right?
posted by mosk at 11:30 PM on October 30, 2017 [3 favorites]

At least nobody was sacrificed in a wicker man at the conclusion of Top of the Pops.

Well, not in the segments they aired, anyway.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:56 AM on October 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

Roy Wood is seriously legit...

The same year as that video I got his first solo album Boulders, where he composed and arranged all the songs, sang every vocal (lead, harmony and backing), and played every instrument except the harmonium, including electric, acoustic and steel guitars, bass, piano, drums and percussion, mandolin, cittern, bouzouki, banjo, cello, double bass, brass, saxophones, bassoon, recorders, and harmonica.

As he explained, "I thought it would be a nice challenge to record a proper solo album, with the word solo as its true meaning where I would play every instrument, sing all of the vocals, produce and mix the tracks, paint the album sleeve, drive the van and make the tea. Now, that's a "solo"album!"

Yes, Wood's always been a lot more than just a pretty face.
posted by LeLiLo at 1:02 AM on October 31, 2017 [7 favorites]

Actually, now that I look through the collection here, Wood basically did that (write and arrange all the songs, sing all the vocals, and play all the instruments) on all four of his solo albums. With only a few other people – like Phil Everly, Andy Fairweather Low, and John Bonham – coming by to join in on an occasional track.
posted by LeLiLo at 1:15 AM on October 31, 2017

You have to give props to a man who could almost out-Beatle The Beatles, almost out-Stones the Rolling Stones, practically invent glam rock, get 3 different recordings of his own Christmas song into the Top 40 in 3 different decades (including one shared with The Wombles), and still write a song that was so bad even Bev Bevan refused to play drums on it…
posted by Pinback at 1:21 AM on October 31, 2017 [4 favorites]

I decided that Roy Wood would be my favorite musician when I was about 13 years old and I'd tracked E.L.O. all the way back to the Move, hunting through used record stores for out-of-print vinyl. The great thing about getting into a musician when you're young is that you listen to everything he does, as you're too inexperienced to sort out suck from gold. (I mean, I'm sure there are MeFites reading this who will follow Beyoncé into whatever she decides to explore, because you trust her instincts match yours and she's got a vision. Same idea, different decades.)

About half of what Roy Wood writes is brilliantly catchy pop, and the other half is experiments. As LeLiLo mentions, Roy can play anything, so he would pull together disparate genres and instruments to see what happens. Bagpipes on a retro rock 'n' roll number? Why the hell not? (BTW that video is even weirder than the one in the FPP.)

So there I was in high school, not knowing very much about music yet, listening over and over to the Wizzo Band. This was an attempt to shove 1940s Big Band Swing into a small apartment with 1970s Heavy Metal, and I was determined to learn to love it. It's not exactly good, but damn if it wasn't mind-opening.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 2:30 AM on October 31, 2017 [8 favorites]

"… when I was about 13 years old and I tracked E.L.O. all the way back to the Move, hunting through used record stores for out-of-print vinyl."

I had to check your profile to make sure you weren't a friend of mine from school (& because I knew for a fact you weren't me ;).
posted by Pinback at 2:35 AM on October 31, 2017 [6 favorites]

how it was supposed to be
posted by thelonius at 2:41 AM on October 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

You should have seen Wizzard on the TOTP Christmas specials. They used to dress up for those.
posted by Paul Slade at 4:07 AM on October 31, 2017 [3 favorites]

Thanks for that. I will file it with my other "decorative deployment of a French horn" videos.
posted by rongorongo at 4:10 AM on October 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

Not only a snappy dresser, he could also draw his own album covers.
posted by bendybendy at 5:04 AM on October 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

Brilliant, loved this. Love it still. It made perfect sense at the time. Needs 'birmingham' and 'brummie' tags ...

The ELO/Jeff Lynne connection could do with a post of its own.
posted by carter at 5:15 AM on October 31, 2017 [3 favorites]

It's still al little early, but it kills me that this song is so little known in the U.S. Wizzard's 70s Christmas classic has been a perennial seasonal favorite in the UK without ever seriously denting American consciousness. It has the same over-the-top energy of the clip in the original post, overlaid with an eclectic selection of holiday signifiers. Let the bells ring out!
posted by layceepee at 5:28 AM on October 31, 2017 [5 favorites]

I had never heard of The Move until Jellyfish covered "I Can Hear The Grass Grow", which is kind of sad......all this stuff is great
posted by thelonius at 5:37 AM on October 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

I have never heard of this artist and thank you very very very much for posting this video.
posted by JanetLand at 6:18 AM on October 31, 2017 [2 favorites]

Yer in Wizzard, Harry is a particular British take on that meme. I <3 it.
posted by halcyonday at 6:42 AM on October 31, 2017 [3 favorites]

The ELO/Jeff Lynne connection could do with a post of its own.

Will this do? Rock Family Trees: The Birmingham Beat

Also, it's worth mentioning that See My Baby Jive is made up of two quite different songs.
posted by Grangousier at 6:58 AM on October 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

Fuckin' hipsters.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 2:29 PM on October 31, 2017

That second ("even weirder") video Harvey Kilobit links is just perfect for an All Hallows eve-ning dance party.
posted by LeLiLo at 3:08 PM on October 31, 2017

I am seriously freaking because I was watching Black Mirror recently and this song is at the end of one of the episodes and it's been getting under my skin. Sure enough, here's this link and damn, The Wizzards were an actual band.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 4:03 PM on October 31, 2017 [1 favorite]