ELO 2 [AKA: ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA II‎]

After joining The Move, Jeff Lynne single-handedly changed the direction of that band into his own vision thus showing his charismatic gravitational pull on others around him and slowly but surely The Move transmogrified completely into the ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA with some tracks on the band's first album actually coming to fruition when writing material for The Move's final two albums as both band briefly existed simultaneously. The Move was Roy Wood's baby and he had done quite well with it having scored several single hits as well as bridging the gap between pop and prog. Somewhere along the line though Wood decided to add cellos intended for a Move B-side titled "10538 Overture" and that's when Jeff Lynne saw an opportunity to create a completely new musical beast. This evolved into what Wood and Lynne unleashed the wacky strange world of ELO that tackled Lynne's obsession of taking the pop sensibilities of The Beatles and marrying them with more sophisticated classical music entanglements.

The first ELO album was one of a kind with modern pop meets prog compositions performed on mostly acoustic classical instruments along with the modern electronic instruments that included electric guitar and Moog synthesizers. The album was too weird for many with its army of brass and woodwinds. The mondo-bizarro rendezvous of cellos, oboes, bassoons, clarinets, recorders and French horns with electric guitars, violins and keyboards that teased classical tones and timbres into a rock context was revolutionary if not universally appreciated and didn't exactly set the world on fire but it did establish the ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA as its own band outside of anything that The Move had done. The album was brilliantly quirky but wasn't exactly the blueprint for a successful future. That's when Roy Wood became discouraged when it proved unfeasible to perform the acoustic instruments with the electric ones in a live setting. He decided to leave the band.

Unfortunately for Lynne, not only did Wood leave the band but so did everybody else! The sole holdout was drummer Bev Bevan who would enjoy a long career with ELO. Having been forced to completely rebuild the band from scratch Lynne suddenly found himself as the leader of the band and pretty much was grasping at straws to see which direction the wind was blowing in terms of the musical market. Given all these tumultuous changes Lynne and his new party of noise makers crafted the rather un-innovative-ly titled ELO 2, well at least in the UK where it was deemed a good move to truncate the cumbersome moniker into a sleek new branding however in North America the album found a release as ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA II. Ironically the album was supposed to be a concept album titled "The Lost Planet" but that all went by the wayside when Wood departed to form the band Wizzard which went down the road to glam rock and progressive pop in the manner of The Move.

ELO II was very much a transition of sort where Lynne was throwing out as many ideas as possible to figure out exactly where his newly acquired baby would lead. The result is a very mixed stylistic approach. The opening "In Old England Town (Boogie #2)" was a leftover from the original sessions with Roy Wood appearing as bassist / cellist and therefore sounding a lot like the debut album however the second track "Momma" ("Mama" on US copeis) drops most of the classical instruments and focused more on a crossover prog sound however what really got this album on the charts was the brilliant classical / rock and roll fusion number "Roll Over Beethoven" which deftly fused the Chuck Berry song with the classical accoutrements courtesy of Ludwig himself. The 8-minute song not only was Lynne's attempt of keeping good old fashioned rock and roll alive but that he was an absolute genius in the fusion of such disparate genres of the larger musical universe. It was a top 10 hit in the UK and became a staple of live performances.

Taking a completely different turn the symphonic prog "From the Sun to the World (Boogie #1)" was also an 8-minute plus excursion into the possibilities of mixing pop, rock and classical music and was also a Lynne original. With a rather hootenanny style of violin playing the track took on even more visionary possibilities by incorporating folk and country aspects. Lynne was clearly a musical genius at this point although the pop sensibilities alienated the prog worshippers during the day and vice versa the music was too complex for the average pop music market consumer. An intricately designed composition this one goes into all kinds of changes but offers a satisfying return when experienced over many listening experiences as it morphs from classical to rock and roll and back again. The closing "Kuiama" provides the lengthiest track at over 11 minutes and therefore the most rooted in progressive rock. It was also the longest track EVER recorded by the ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA. It featured all the attributes of a great prog song. Melody, complexity and a cool tool about a war orphan with a soldier as he tells her tales about a war.

ELO II is very much an enigma in the band's existence much like the debut. This was the last album to be released on the Harvest label and by far the most diverse amongst ELO's canon however with the success of the single "Roll Over Beethoven," also was the moment in time when Lynne became aware of his strengths and therefore the stylistic approach of the single was the way to sally forth into the future. The future ELO albums would incorporate classic rock and roll sounds with modern crossover prog and eventually disco which made ELO a household name in the 1970s and one of the biggest musical acts of all time. This was quite the pivotal moment for Jeff Lynne and this album showcases the myriad directions the band could've have taken at this point in 1972 when prog was still popular but in the end Lynne's decision to channel his musical mojo into the more accessible pop aspects proved to be the winning lottery number. Many discount this album as a fluke but i personally find this one to be a deeply moving musical experience. To me the early ELO experiences are the most rewarding.