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Electric Light Orchestra - Showdown / In Old England Town (Instrumental) CD (album) cover

SHOWDOWN / IN OLD ENGLAND TOWN (INSTRUMENTAL)

Electric Light Orchestra

Crossover Prog


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progaardvark
COLLABORATOR
Crossover/Symphonic/RPI Teams
2 stars Showdown / In Old England Town (Instrumental) was an old 45 rpm single released by the Electric LIght Orchestra back in 1973. It features their hit single Showdown on the A side, taken from one of their most progressive albums, On the Third Day. The B side features a short instrumental outtalke of In Old England Town. The original version of that song was released on ELO's previous album, ELO 2.

Showdown was one of ELO's more popular releases. Though it didn't fair well on the US charts, it made it to #12 in the UK. Though the progressiveness of this song might be questioned, and fairly so, it was a unique sound mixing chugging cellos with a rather non-ELO funky beat. It could easily be dismissed as pop rock from the era, but that wouldn't do it the justice it deserves. The song still remains popular to this day and is considered by many as a hallmark of the group's songs.

The B-side contained a shortened instrumental version of In Old England Town. The original was clearly much better, so this is just something to fill out the B-side, a common practice from the time.

This can only be recommended to fans of the group that are interested in collecting old 45s. The song is easily more available by seeking out their On The Third Day album, which contains much more progressive material from the band. I believe the B-side outtake is now available as a bonus track on the current release of ELO 2.

Musically worthy of three stars. Due to the format being primarily for collectors, it warrants two stars.

Report this review (#1065652)
Posted Thursday, October 24, 2013 | Review Permalink
Guillermo
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars "Showdown" is a song from Electric Light Orchestra which originally was released as a single in September 1973, and it reached the Numbers 12 and 53 in the U.K. and U.S. charts, respectively. It wasn`t released in the original U.K. version of their "On the Third Day" album , but was released in the U.S . version of that same album. It was later released as part of that album in very re-issue of that album. The B-side, an instrumental version of "In Old England Town" from their "ELO2" album, is a shorter version of this song without vocals on which the melody of the vocals is played in a moog synthesizer, and it includes Roy Wood on bass and cello (as the album version). I think that "Showdown" shows a gradual change from the band from their more Progressive Rock albums between 1971 and 1973 to a more commercial approach. It sounds like a Pre-Disco song with Pop Music influences. This commercial approach became more clearly established from their "Face the Music" album from 1975. At the time of the release of this single , John Lennon was once a guest in an U.S. Radio programme on which the song was being broadcasted. He said that he liked the song very much and he called it "Son of The Beatles". The B-side is more close to their Progressive Rock origins as a band.
Report this review (#1065750)
Posted Thursday, October 24, 2013 | Review Permalink

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