Roy Wood

The very title of Super Active Wizzo suggests a fizzy, over-charged, amped-up version of Roy Wood's first band as a leader, Wizzard -- and, in a way, that's exactly what Wood's Wizzo Band was, with its lone 1977 LP recalling nothing so much as Wizzard Brew. No song on this six-track album clocks in at under five minutes, with two weighing in at over the 11-minute mark -- a structure mirrored on Wizzard Brew, which was dominated by nine and 13-minute tracks. But where that album was consciously a heavy, heavy rock & roll album, almost metallic in its attack, Super Active Wizzo has a lighter touch, preferring galloping rhythms and jazzy harmonies to bludgeoning riffs. Wood teases listeners with a pop hook every once and a while -- and the one that provides the structure for "Waitin' at This Door" is pretty good. This may hint at jazz-rock, but only in how it rides a groove: there is no improvisation or soloing, and the grooves stay in one place for long stretches. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide