All but one of the dozen songs on
the Motions' debut LP were penned by Robbie van Leeuwen, their reliance upon original material in itself setting them apart from many non-British European bands. It's fair but derivative mainstream British Invasion-style rock, neither too pop nor too R&B-oriented. Van Leeuwen gets into Continental-style mordant folk music on "I'll Follow the Sun" (not the Beatles song) and attractive beat balladry on "No Matter Where You Run." But usually this is brash rock with echoes of both Merseybeat and early mod rock (some Kinks influences are especially evident). It's simultaneously moody and exuberant, yet a little anonymous-sounding, the best and most tuneful track being "For Another Man." This album and the group's second LP, 1966's Their Own Way, have been combined onto one CD on a 2001 Pseudonym reissue, with the addition of seven bonus tracks (all but one from non-LP 1965-1966 singles). ~ Richie Unterberger