Tramline ● Moves of Vegetable Centuries

It’s sometimes hard to decide what albums to include here at "The I-Own-Every-Record-You’d-Never-Buy" CD Consumer’s Guide. Then something called Moves of Vegetable Centuries drops from the great big delete bin in the sky and, well, duh. Tramline’s second and final album, first released in 1969 on Island Records, is the follow-up to Somewhere Down the Line, the band’s not so spectacularly named debut. Like its predecessor, Moves of Vegetable Centuries is a fairly average collection of blues-infused hard rock. This UK-based quartet, led by guitarist Mickey Moody (later a member of Whitesnake), works its way through a combination of cover songs (“Pearly Queen” and “I Wish You Would”) and original compositions (“Sweet Satisfaction,” “Grunt” and “Harriet’s Underground Railway”) in delivering its brand of guitar-driven rhythm and blues. Tramline is musically proficient—the guitar playing is particularly impressive—but the band’s largely uninspired material lacks originality. Oh, and that album title? It turns out no one really knows what it means. The idea originally came from the album’s producer, Guy Stevens. Sadly, he died in 1981 at the age of 38, taking with him forever the secret of the mysterious vegetable centuries.