ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA

ELO's second album, their first after the departure of co-founder Roy Wood and with longtime members Richard Tandy, Mike Alberquerque and Wilfrid Gibson coming in, contains five lengthy tracks, each one longer than its predecessor, with a cover of Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven" as its centrepiece.

With its classical introduction, and Tandy's synthesizer breaks, fresh light is brought pleasingly to this well-worn piece, and it has a rousing vibe, with the band obviously having a ball, but a problem remains of being repetitious. It gives the impression of having been recorded once, and then repeated.

"From The Sun To The World (Boogie #2)" is similar. It almost has Lynne matching the great classical composers in melodiousness, but again it seems to repeat itself a bit too much, and the concluding, anti-war piece "Kuiama", is a long composition with the material sort of justifying eleven minutes but it would be one of the bands favorites and one of mine. However, the opening, melodramatic "In Old England Town" is definitely effective.

The strings (two cellos and a violin) are less raw here than on the band's debut, and the synthesizers are more prominent, which is fine. Indeed, it is a worthy album overall, but the songs just don't always justify their lengths, holding it back from being the group's best work.`

4.77

The Electric Light Orchestra found much success in the seventies with their unique combination of pop and classical music, augmented by a dominant string section. Jeff Lynne soon became the driving force of the band, but ELO actually started as Lynne and Roy Wood's creation an offshoot of The Move (which was still in action at the time); the latter left soon after this debut.

Wood, who seems to be able to play every instrument available, and Lynne, share credits and singing here, while the strings are very raw, the cellos constantly chopping and hacking, giving the impression of string-laden lumberjacks, but they have quite a dramatic and fascinating presence, and it also helps that some of the material, particularly Wood's, is very melodious; his "Look At Me Now" and the wonderful instrumental "1st Movement" are two of ELO's best songs of all, while Lynne's opening "10538 Overture" is also a classic. However, it does have uneven moments - "Battle Of Marston Moor" works in places, but not as a whole, and the record loses its unique flavour a bit on side two, which is somewhat more perfunctionary, although Wood's concluding "Whisper In The Night" is quite lovely.

All the same, this is one of the more fascinating and revolutionary debuts around, and well worth pursuing, but from here on in, Lynne took control, and with a few more changes to come, found much fame with many successful releases, featuring a much more streamlined approach, and none sound quite like this.

4.0

"Out of the Blue" would be ELO's double-platter it is thee piece-de-resistance of the ELO oeuvre. Standouts: the whole thing. The first side is graced with three potential #1's, namely the harmonic myriad "Turn to Stone', the windy rush of "Across the Border" and the delectable melodic curves of "Sweet Talking Woman". Side two moves through jungles and starlight with cyclic cohesion, juiced with a little Theremin tweaking from the Tandy hand ("Steppin' Out") and rowed upstream in a raft of Kongos-like percussion from the Bevan brigade. The second record unveils the wondrous "Concerto For A Rainy Day", a four part triumph launched in the key trills and string twills of "Standin' In The Rain", guided through the corridors of the space age greenhouse effects in "Thunder and Lightning" and relieved in the angular music hall glide of "Mr. Blue Sky". Finally, side four has the band pulling out their wildcards, with an ace in each hand: "Birmingham Blues" is all the latter needed in pop lovers accoutrements, "The Whale" is perfect adjunct to the Intergalactic Touring Band, and "Wild West Hero" is a consummate happy ending of cinematic proportions.

5.0 I recommend for Prog and Pop rock fans. One of my favorites.

"Time" is the most focused and introverted album since "Eldorado" or "On the third day". Frankly, I'm quite glad he got rid of the string section as this was bringing nothing more than colouring to the sound. With the basic 4-group band, each of the members apart from the bass player is more audible, that goes in particular for the excellent keyboard contribution and trademark powerhouse drumming which is so typical for 80's ELO. Songwriting on "Time" is less derivative of Beatles and 70's hooks. We hear more new wave, album rock and conceptual thinking. And do you recognize the Orbison's vocal influence on Lynne?

Less commercialism in the record is directly proportional to the increased album depth. Many listeners consider this rightfully to be one of ELO's highlights. Former prog rock roots are recognizable in the prologue and epilogue tracks whereas the obligatory rock'n'roll number is characterized by the distracting "Hold on tight". Essential listening for ELO fans and any ambitious pop listeners.

The soundtrack music is actually much better than the film itself and offers rewarded listening even when flops are inevitable. Newton-John has a pleasant and passionate voice highlighted in the first two tracks be it the mystical melody "Magic" or the conventional duet of "Suddenly". Coming up is the misaligned "Dancin'" and the average two other tracks but they don't offend either. ELO starts the better half of the album. All their contributions are above average with first two top-class selections that wouldn't have been out of place on "Discovery". "Don't walk away" is a mellower track before the anthem-like and a bit pompous "All over the world". The title track is one of Lynne's pop career highlights with pure 100% ELO ingredients and dramatic Newton-John voice. Vocal harmonies by ELO and piano playing are memorable, too. The end of the track is breathtaking and innovative in pop, when I was a kid I associated it with turning on the engine which is about to start to the universe. Overall, this is a rather achieved pop album and certainly a must for 70's ELO pop fans.

Out of the blue is Jeff Lynne's and ELO's what "Songs in the Key of Life" meant to Stevie Wonder. An ambitious double LP with many artistic directions, maybe trying to please multiple fan groups, maybe demonstrating Lynne's touch that turned everything to gold.

I think this is the first album with excellent production which would become one of the greatest Lynne's strengths in the 80's.

"Turn to stone" is a fantastic uplifting classic ELO starter and the instrumental highlight is Tandy's moog accompanied by typical string arrangements.

It's over returns to the mid-70's album rock with symphonic opening and mildly progressive chorus. Similar to the brilliant "Mr. blue sky" it contains many music ideas packed together and great arrangements.

"Sweet talkin' woman" is noteworthy for its futuristic robotic vocals, great harmonies and catchy rhythmic chorus.

"Across the border" shows has a bit of country flavour and creative synths. "Night in the city" is a generic ELO workout with major/minor chord variation and decent string arrangements.

"Starlight" starts a bit sloppy but during its 4:30 time it flourishes into a memorable chorus. It is a soothing track that brings emotional balance.

"Jungle" is a silly one-of-a-kind ELO track with playful drumming and screaming Lynne's vocal. Though it's very catchy, it doesn't have the substance of other ELO tracks on the album.

Then come two heartbroken tracks - the robotic vocal symphonic led "Believe me now" which could be an intro to the vastly elegant "Steppin' out" with McCartney-like bass guitar. It is an effective ballad though the chorus is slightly generic.

The more ambitious Concerto for a rainy day contains several tracks and starts on a solemn note - the accessible largely instrumental and experimental "Standin' in the rain" goes into several directions but is well baked by Lynne.

If you expected this to continue in the same vein, then you'll be disappointed by the poppy "Big wheels". It seems that the concerto was largely a lyrical concept and not a trip into the past ELO's music.

"Summer and lightning" is a decent if not exceptional track. "Mr. Blue Sky" is exceptional though thanks to its complex rhythmic structure and first-class vocals, it also later refers to the symphonic music on the album.

Out of the remaining tracks, the progressive keyboard led "The whale" which could be sonically linked to being in the sea, is worth mentioning. Synthesizer textures and the collaboration between the keyboards and strings is outstanding - this is how you make an accessible atmospheric track.

"Wild west hero" has an increasing chorus and excellent vocals, a country instrumental piece. The final minute sounds like an album culmination with Lynne giving his best in vocals.

This is an excellent album and showcases one of the best pop double albums of the 70's.

ELO albums between 1975-1977 were the pinnacle of Jeff Lynne's songwriting and trademark sound with orchestra. While 1975's "Face the music" still had last hints of prog baked in the cake, 1976 is fully streamlined.

The first X tracks are prime examples of Lynne's exceptional songwriting which included Beatles, classical music and contemporary album pop/rock music.

"So fine" features an updated disco beat by Bevan and Tandy contributes with funky clavinet. "Telephone line" belongs to the best group ballads with excellent vocals, great string arrangements and soaring melody.

"Do ya" is a re-recording of the Move version. The tracks is cleaner, well arranged but doesn't bring much added value.

"Shangri-la" as track title sounds deceivingly unconventional and the start is quite unspectacular with a more generic classic motive with lack of tension. Synths alongside strings are quite pleasant though however after the 4- minute mark we are coming to the overblown pinnacle of the album with strings, moog and ornate singing (Lynne sounds a bit like Orbison).

4-4.5 stars granted to this well executed work and 2 stars for prog-rock ELO fans.

I can't get over the difference in sound between this 1973 release and the next one "Eldorado". Much better production and sound quality here with "On The Third Day" and it's just more my style of music as well. This one while still very much tapping into what THE BEATLES did is a pretty good rocking record. "Eldorado" is dominated with orchestration and the sound quality is not good, There's no way I could go more than 3 stars with it. Sure that style would be the key to Jeff Lynne and ELO's success but for my tastes give me that gritty, slicing cello any day and that harder edged record.

Like "Eldorado" there are two songs I recognize, probably from listening to FM classic rock stations. "Showdown" is one I really like but wasn't the biggest fan back in the day. Also "Ma-Ma-Ma Belle" is the other one I know and this rocks pretty hard, no doubt a good live track for these guys once upon a time. I can't believe Marc Bolan is playing guitar on this one along with the next tune "Dreaming Of 4000". Marc has been on some good Fusion albums and speaking of that check out the final 30 seconds of "Oh No Not Susan" with the Jerry Goodman-like violin.

Back in the day when I was 17 years old and finding my way musically I did check these guys out by buying "Out Of The Blue" for the very happy "Mr. Blue Sky". Interesting that the RYM site has the four straight albums beginning with "Eldorado"and ending with "Out Of The Blue" as their highest rated. And add "Time" from 1981. I'll take the "The Third Day" thankyou.

I've mentioned many times that orchestral music just isn't my thing and this album is full of it. I think the first time I heard this band was probably the song "Telephone Line" on the radio and I really liked that one. But they would have many hit songs playing on the radio over the years, I'm sure Jeff Lynne isn't hurting financially. Just read the Bio here. This particular album and "On The Third Day" the one before it get props from some Prog fans but to my ears this is commercial sounding music that is inconsistent overall.

After the opening overture we get the hit "Can't Get It Out Of My Head" and it's a pretty good tune and one I remember from back in the day. I still can't get over how orchestral this album is with that 40 piece orchestra in play. I honestly thought this band would be in Prog Related, so I'm surprised to see them in Crossover although this record by itself leans heavily towards the Symphonic I must admit.

I'm not surprised at the success commercially of this one with the two or three popular tunes and of course being unique with that orchestra. And come on this also brings THE BEATLES to mind at times as well. Jeff was onto something. Just not my thing. 3 stars.

Every Electric Light Orchestra album in the 70's and 80's could stand on its own and face fierce competition in the prog, rock and pop genre. "Discovery" and "Xanadu" may be the most commercial outcome by ELO but it does not diminish their artistic quality and strong songwriting at its core. Lynne was able to come to terms with the latest music development such as disco and produce two decent answers "Last train to London", "Shine a little love" without staying superficial. The bulk of the album is firmly rooted in pop which aged well because of wise production techniques and to my pleasure, also aptly arranged keyboards. Beatles hooks are still on big sale and keep repeating which brings the artistic value a bit down to a typical ELO listener. "The diary of Horace Wimp" is a witty Beatles go 70's BeeGees vocal connection.

This album is not meant to be analysed and reflected upon endlessly, it's supposed to bring you the jovial end of 70's atmosphere with 2 decent ballads ("Need her love"

"Don't bring me down" is an overrated rock'n'roll pastiche that ELO tried to compete with on the next albums ("Hold on tight", "Rock'n'roll is a king")

Recommended to the ELO fans, pop enthusiasts and if you're an old 72'-74' ELO fan, you'd better stay away from it!