Sheridan & Price - This Is to Certify That (Rare Album UK 1970)

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Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

This is one of the better albums coming from the Move family tree. It was released in 1970 though it has a clear 1967/1968 sound and is one of the best albums of its kind. Rick Price entered the Move sometime in the late 60s, contributing bass and guitar to “Shazam“, “Looking On” and “Message From The Country.” Mike Sheridan had previously been leader of the Nightriders which were a Birmingham group that specialized in the merseybeat sound and 50s rock n roll.

The Nightriders were sort of a breeding ground for future Move members, most importantly Roy Wood. During Price’s tenure with the Move, he and Sheridan started writing songs together for the above album. Both Sheridan and Price share vocals and writing chores on an album that veers into power pop, psychedelia, sunshine pop and progressive pop. There are horn and string arrangements on this beautiful album that recall some of Paul McCartney’s soft moments on the Beatles’ classic White Album (think “Martha My Dear” or even the Move’s great ”Beautiful Daughter”). Some of the heavier moments like “Sometimes I Wonder,” “Lamp Lighter Man,” and “Lightning Never Strikes” sound like excellent 68/69 era Move outtakes. 

In fact, “Lighting Never Strikes” was released as a Move single at the tail end of the 60s. Sheridan and Price’s version is just as good though not as trippy, with a splendid backwards guitar solo, slashing acoustic guitars and crashing drums. Other songs such as the string laden pop number ”Davey Has No Dad” or the trippy “Picture Box” have a beautiful child-like, story song whimsy that hints at a Ray Davies influence.

This is an exceptional if little known Move album that will appeal to fans of the Beatles, Kinks and even lovers of soft, sunshine pop sounds.

Rick Price is probably the least-known member of the Move, if only because he never really established a well-defined musical (or personal) identity of his own, as the other members did. In the latter regard, Ace Kefford can be pigeonholed (fairly or not) as a drug/acid casualty, Roy Wood as a genius, Jeff Lynne as a pop genius, Trevor Burton as a frustrated rock & roller, the late Carl Wayne as a pop/rock crooner, and Bev Bevan as one of the two or three best drummers ever to come out of Birmingham. But who, apart from some really inquisitive Move fans, really knows anything about Rick Price? His most visible work from the most widely covered part of his career, the Rick Price & Mike Sheridan collaboration referred to as This Is to Certify: Gemini Anthology, released at the start of the 1970s, seems hardly to have sold at all in its own time. And since then, he's had to stand in the shadow of the similarly named Australian vocalist. 

An astonishingly good collection of the post-Move recordings of Rick Price, both solo and in his collaboration with Birmingham rock singer Mike Sheridan, originally cut for Gemini Records and released circa 1970. The music is an often appealing mix of psychedelia, pop/rock, and art rock, rather McCartney-esque at times but in the best possible way -- think of the production on "Martha My Dear" and "Your Mother Should Know," and the texture of the Move's "Beautiful Daughter" from the Shazam album and you've got the idea...is a vital addendum to the Move's history, and at least as essential listening as the first ELO album.

01. Davey Has No Dad   (Rick Price - Michael Tyler) - 2:52

02. Lightening Never Strikes   (Rick Price - Michael Tyler) - 2:38

03. Bitter Sweet   (Rick Price - Michael Tyler) - 2:40

04. Tracey Smith   (Rick Price - Michael Tyler) - 2:05

05. Sometimes I Wonder   (Rick Price - Michael Tyler)- 2:42

06. Tomorrow's Child   (Rick Price - Michael Tyler) - 2:25 

07. Face In My Window   (Rick Price - Michael Tyler) - 2:15 

08. Will You Leave Me Behind  (Rick Price - Michael Tyler) - 2:20

09. Beautiful Sally   (Rick Price - Michael Tyler) - 2:00

10. On the Moon   (Rick Price - Michael Tyler) - 2:50

11. Picture Box   (Rick Price - Michael Tyler) - 2:10

12. Lamp Lighter Man  (Rick Price - Michael Tyler) - 2:55

+ Bonus Tracks

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