Having spent virtually their entire existence on the Regal Zonophone (and its subsequent names) label, The Move moved to Harvest for their fourth and final album plus three singles. This was primarily due to Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's preoccupation with their Electric Light Orchestra project, the Move's being kept alive only due to delays in implementing ELO. Indeed, the lines between The Move and ELO became even more blurred, with recording sessions including songs destined for both bands. By this time, the Move were down to a core trio (bassist Rick Price left during the recording of the album, with Wood re-recording the bass parts), the third member being drummer Bev Bevan.
"Message from the country" was released in the same year as the previous "Looking on", that album having been virtually ignored by the record label, the pundits and the fans alike. "Message.." fared little better, being rapidly swallowed up by the hype surrounding the launch of ELO in 1972.
"Message.." was the first album not to contain any hit singles whatsoever, although the band did release the song "Tonight" separately around the same time. While up to this point each Move album had demonstrated significant progress from the last, this final album saw the band at best standing still, and perhaps even regressing. That in itself is not a bad thing, as they had made fine music throughout their career. "Message from the country" may have been a deliberate effort, especially by Wood, to make an album which was not ELO. Songs such as "Ella James" are heavy pop rock numbers with a particular emphasis on the lead guitar riff. Jeff Lynne on the other hand appears to have been far more inclined to approach both projects in the same way. "No Time" could have been lifted from either ELO's first album, or with a bit more orchestration, from "Eldorado". From: https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=18722
