When Alice Comes Back to the Farm explained

When Alice Comes Back to the Farm
Cover:	The Move Alice 1970.jpg
Type:	single
Artist:	The Move
Album:	Looking On
B-Side:	What?
Released:	9 October 1970
Recorded:	1970
Genre:	Rock
Length:	3:15
Label:	Fly (UK)
Producer:	Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne
Prev Title:	Brontosaurus
Prev Year:	1970
Next Title:	Turkish Tram Conductor Blues
Next Year:	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

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

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.

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

The Move^[9]

• Roy Wood - vocals, slide guitar, cello, baritone saxophone
• Jeff Lynne - piano, guitar
• Bev Bevan - drums, percussion
• Rick Price - bass

Additional personnel^[10]

• Roger Wake - engineering
• Roy Wood - production
• Jeff Lynne - production

Track listing

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]

External links

• • The Move - When Alice Comes Back To The Farm (1970, Vinyl) on Discogs

Notes and References

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