OLÉ ELO

After the release of five good albums, ELO will produce their second compilation. The tracklist, as such, is rather good but two numbers were already featured on their first compilation. It was the case for "10538 Overture" from their first album (and the best number of it IMO). Each following album will be equally represented with two songs. ELO II with two highlights : the wonderful "Kuiama" and the fabulous " Roll Over Beethoven" : these are certainly the central pieces of this effort. I am not quite sure though about the selection from their third one : "Showdown" (again should I say, since it was present on ..."Showdown" : their first compilation). IMO, it is one of the weakest track from "On The Third Day". On the other hand, "Ma Ma Belle" is a great rock'n'roll song (quite Stones oriented) but does not really belong to their best songs.

As far as "El Dorado" is concerned ("my" ELO masterpiece) it is represented by "Can't Get It Out Of My Head" which is one of their finest melody ever written and "Boy Blue" (certainly not a highlight). Their hit single "Evil Woman" and "Strange Magic" from "Face The Music" close this second ELO compiliation.

What is really annoying here, is that several numbers have been edited, which drammatically reduces the interest of this album. On top of that, there are two redundancy with their first compilation so, I am not really convinced. It is only the early stages for ELO to produce "Best Of" or "Greatest Hits". In their whole career, too many of these will flourish. Unfortunately.

Three stars.