to appear on their debut album titled Move Mass in early 1967. However, their manager Tony Secunda thought it would be more commercially successful to continue performing publicity stunts in order to gain publicity for the group. "Wave the Flag and Stop the Train" was never intended as the B-side of "I Can Hear the Grass Grow", instead, an eponymous track simply titled "Move" was to take its place. However, during a mixing session on 30 January 1967 problems arose when mixing the song, which led to it being scrapped and being substituted by "Wave the Flag and Stop the Train". Deram Records released "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" on 31 March 1967 in the UK with the catalogue number of DM.117. The single was also released in territories such as the United States and Continental Europe. The single was a success, albeit not as big as "Night of Fear". It entered the UK charts on 12 April 1967 at a position of number 39. The following week, it had climbed to number 30 and by 26 April, it was at number 16. The following week it entered the top-10 for the first time at number 7 before reaching its peak on 10 May 1967, where it stayed for one week. Following this, it started descending down the chart, at number 9 before exiting the top-10 on 24 May at a position of 13. The following week it was at number 20, and the week after that it had reached number 28. It was last seen on 14 June when it was at a position of 44 before disappearing off the charts. In total, it spent ten weeks on the charts, six of which were in the top-20 and three of which were in the top-10. It also did well in most of Europe and New Zealand. Matthew Greenwald of AllMusic states that though the lyrics seem a little bit antique, he believes that the "artistic moxie" aged like fine wine. Unlike other songs by the Move, "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" was not dropped from the live set following the departure of Kefford, instead Burton would take over his lead vocals. It was first performed live on 3 August 1967 when they played at the Locarno Ballroom in Derby, Derbyshire. A rendition of the song was included on Live at the Fillmore 1969, which features Rick Price