I couldn’t believe my luck, because there, at the counter, stood three recognisable guys involved in a pleasant conversation: Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood and Bev Bevan, all wearing sunglasses. So I entered a pub not far from the station. I had time to kill before my train left for London. My glorious The Move-moment didn’t happen until 1982, in Birmingham. Five years later I finally got to see ELO. I saw Wizzard live in Oslo in 1973, and my ears were bleeding. Lynne’s quality as a songwriter is indisputable. However, to be fair, none of these later records were at all bad. There weren’t many places left to go after this, as the subsequent albums proved. Lynne’s problem was that the group had fulfilled its potential and achieved perfection. The sequel, “Out Of The Blue,” is at its best just as good, but even then it can’t escape the fact that it never reaches above “more of the same”, bordering on overdose. To me, “A New World Record” is the definitive ELO album. But Lynne and the band did, God bless ‘em. It takes a musical genius to get away with songs that are so overtly catchy. And even so you could not accuse ELO of selling their souls to the devil. Every track could have been a hit single. Actually, the album was brim full with great ideas and phenomenal solutions to them. There were of course hit singles: “Telephone Line,” “Rockaria!”, “Living Thing” and an over the top heavy rocking version of The Move classic “Do Ya”. It was the most powerful pop music money could buy in 1976. The soundscape is huge, there’s lots of everything. The rasping riffs and colossal punch of electric guitars make sure the music never loses contact with its rock’n’roll roots. There’s the sleepy Lynne vocals enclosed by Beatle like harmony voices. The string arrangements have a certain oriental sway to them that the Beatles and especially John Lennon loved, the choral arrangements (the finale of “Shangri-La” touches classic opera) are extremely powerful, the operatic details in “Rockaria!” lifts the song from good to gorgeous. The prog- and sympho elements are essential to the overall experience. Everything is right in your ear, shamefully catchy, but simultaneously the arrangements offers such a resistance that you’re not done with the songs after the first couple of sittings, it’s an album to explore. The moment you saw that sleeve you instantly knew that the music would be sensational.Īnd yes, the first encounter was overwhelming, intoxicating, almost Beatles-like. ![]() And when it arrived, wow what a nice sleeve! The stylish and colourful ELO-logo made its debut, hovering under a glossy night sky. I couldn’t wait for its release, my expectations were sky high. “Evil Woman” and “Strange Magic”, both massive hit singles, are unmistakable, timeless ELO, and yet back in 1975 they were perceived as 100% contemporary.Īnd so we arrive at “A New World Record”, the album that turned ELO into international superstars, even back home in recalcitrant UK. Lynne’s endowment is his ability to experiment and absorb, without losing sight of the original plan. The perfect combination of prog rock, symphonic rock and unveiled pop, led by the wonderful Lennon-pastiche “Can’t Get It Out Of My Head.” The sequel, “Face The Music” (recorded in Munich), caught the disco trend, but without sounding neither as a genuflection nor a compromise. ![]() In September 1974 the real Electric Light Orchestra, as we know them, introduced themselves to the world with the album “Eldorado”. At last he saw the light and the future of ELO. The strings, the Beatles references, the soaring chorus, the suggestive undercurrents of the rhythm section, the ingredients were masterly combined into a unique piece of music that was definitely Jeff Lynne’s work. And they did as Lynne wrote “Showdown” during the sessions (the track was included on the US version of the album), and with this recording everything finally fell into place. The struggle continued with “On The Third Day,” still out of focus, the bait this time being a not very exciting rock’n’roll pastiche, “Ma-Ma-Ma Belle”. The fun, but very obvious cover version of Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven” (incorporating the famous riff from Beethoven’s 5th symphony) saved the day, providing the band with a sorely needed hit single. “ELO 2” was certainly more striking than the debut, but most of it sounded hesitant and lacked direction. Jeff Lynne struggled on with the residual ELO-members, adding some new names to the line-up. All Time Favorites Chiangmai Mail Pattaya Mail HM King Rama IX.
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