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When Alice Comes Back to the Farm

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"When Alice Comes Back to the Farm"
Single by The Move
from the album Looking On
B-side"What?"
Released9 October 1970
Recorded1970
GenreRock
Length3:15
LabelFly (UK)
Songwriter(s)Roy Wood
Producer(s)Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne
The Move singles chronology
"Brontosaurus"
(1970) 		"When Alice Comes Back to the Farm"
(1970) 		"Turkish Tram Conductor Blues"
(1971)

"When Alice Comes Back to the Farm" is a rock-blues song recorded by The Move and written and sung by Roy Wood. Musically, it is a hard rock song and features Wood playing slide guitar, cello and baritone saxophone, reinforcing Rick Price's bassline.

Background and recording

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A potential B-side, an untitled "10538 Overture", recorded on 12 July 1970, ended up being used by the members as the first Electric Light Orchestra single rather than the B-side.[1]

Two weeks prior, Wood had bought a "cheap Chinese cello" for 15 pounds and had messed around with the instrument, with the recordings later being used for both "10538 Overture" and "When Alice Comes Back to the Farm".[2][3][4]

The genre itself is a mix of proto-glam rock and early heavy metal, with influences from blues as well.[5] The song shows similar instrumentation to the band's previous single, "Brontosaurus".[6]

Release

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Taken from the 1970 album Looking On and released as a single on the Fly label, "Alice" and Looking On failed to chart,[7] with "Alice" not charting largely due to lack of airplay by BBC radio stations, despite an appearance on Top of the Pops. The song allegedly made mild references to cannabis—"Alice", "time for tearing out the weeds", and the last line "don't get around much anymore", which is a description of the singer's condition rather than a reference to the Duke Ellington song.[according to whom?]

It was released around the same time as T. Rex's hit single Ride a White Swan, with both singles released in the Fly label.[8] In English-speaking countries (Austria, Ireland, United Kingdom and New Zealand), the B-side was "What?", but in Austria and Germany, a Move track "Kilroy Was Here" was instead opted as a B-side.

Personnel

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The Move[9]

Additional personnel[10]

Track listing

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7" single release (1970)
  1. "When Alice Comes Back to the Back" – 3:40
  2. "What?" – 6:44
7" single release (1970; Germany & Austria)
  1. "When Alice Comes Back to the Farm" – 3:40
  2. "Kilroy Was Here" – 2:43[11]

References

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  1. ^ Delve, Barry (2022-08-04). Electric Light Orchestra on Track. Sonicbond Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-78952-224-2.
  2. ^ Mercury, Sunday (2009-04-05). "Wizzard and Move pop legend Roy Wood reveals his secret shyness". Birmingham Live. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
  3. ^ "Roy Wood Music - Biog". Roy Wood. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
  4. ^ "The Move - The Move / Looking On / Something Else From the Move (Esoteric Recordings)". The Big Takeover. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
  5. ^ "Moving On: Esoteric Expands The Move's "Something Else" and "Looking On" - The Second Disc". The Second Disc. 2016-06-09. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
  6. ^ Kiste, John Van der (2017-01-21). Jeff Lynne: Electric Light Orchestra - Before and After. Fonthill Media. p. 36.
  7. ^ Rees, Dafydd (1991). Rock Movers & Shakers. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-87436-661-7.
  8. ^ Kiste, John Van der (2017-01-21). Jeff Lynne: Electric Light Orchestra - Before and After. Fonthill Media.
  9. ^ Porter, Robert. "The Move - When Alice Comes Back To The Farm". Jeff Lynne Songs. Retrieved 2024-09-04.
  10. ^ The Move (1970), Looking On (album notes), Fly
  11. ^ "uk-charts.com - The Move - When Alice Comes Back to the Farm". UK Charts. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
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