Another of the records I first heard because my parents had it. Roy Wood’s 1973 solo album had seen its birth in recording sessions as far back as 1969 and was finished by 1971. Its release was delayed until 1973 due to his other gigs with The Move, ELO and Wizzard. Wood liked to collect musical instruments and started recording “Boulders” as a way of getting some of the more unusual instruments on to a record. It includes contributions on cittern (a Renaissance instrument similar to a Lute), bouzouki (a stringed, Lute like instrument from Greece) and water bowl (that’s a bowl of water to you and me). Apart from John Kurlander playing harmonium on one song, all the instruments on “Boulders” were played by Roy Wood (although I’m sure I recall a family rumour that Uncle Bill had contributed somewhere, uncredited, which was probably why my parents had a copy). 

It runs through a lot of different styles and sounds, some work some don’t. One that does is opener “Songs Of Praise” a gospel-ish rocker that would have made a great single but only achieved B-side status as backup to “Dear Elaine” (which did make #18 in the charts so...) a ballad we encounter later in the record.

There’s a weird pair of country/rock ’n’ roll tunes in the rollicking “When Gran'ma Plays The Banjo” (guess which instrument he’s highlighting there), which is a song a little like that scene from “Deliverance” but with a little more humour about it. The first part of the final “Rock Medley”, that being “Rockin' Shoes”, also has a very country feel about it.

“Miss Clark And The Computer” left me emotionally scarred as a kid, I ain’t kidding. It’s the story of a computer that has fallen in love with its operator but is in need of some technical jiggery-pokery as it is failing. The technician arrives to fix things and when the computer delivers the lyric “Screwdriver so sharp, Now I’m…scared Miss Clark” it still makes me well-up to this day ! When NASA’s Opportunity Rover sent that last message from Mars a few years ago (“My battery is low and it’s getting dark”) all I could think of was this poor computer and Miss Clark.

Roy Wood is one of this little islands greats. A superb musician and songwriter who deserves to be held in much higher regard than it seems he is.

Miss Clark And The Computer - https://youtu.be/4bBYwk5Zy10?si=870BjgNnNASgEPMR