ELO 2/LOST PLANET

ELO 2/Lost Planet is a 2-CD, limited edition release celebrating the 30th anniversary of ELO's 1973 album Electric Light Orchestra II. CD 1 features the entire album remastered and restored for the very first time, with six previously unreleased tracks, three of them recorded with Marc Bolan. CD 2 is called "Lost Planet," a name Roy Wood had intended on using for a concept album that would have been ELO's second release. The name was abandoned prior to recording. This CD includes unreleased tracks, outtakes, and three rare BBC session tracks.

One of the surprises I discovered is that founding member Roy Wood actually performs on two tracks from ELO 2. He plays cello and bass guitar on From the Sun to the World and In Old England Town. On the original release of ELO 2, Wood was uncredited for his performances. The CD booklets are also filled with many photographs from the early years of the band, plus historical essays by ELO archivist Rob Caiger and statements from some of the band members who were only with the band during the group's first 2-3 years.

First, let's start with the remastered version of ELO 2. This new mix is simply astounding. If you recall, the original release of ELO 2 (at least in the United States) has always had a muddy sound to it, especially when you compare it to their next release, On the Third Day. With this new mix, the "muddiness" is gone, the sound is crystal clear, you can pick out the individual instruments better, and even hear sounds that could not easily be picked out from the original release. Each track is now more vibrant, has more depth, and delivers a more beautiful and powerful essence.

The dark cello lines in In Old England Town are more vibrant and powerful than before. Bevan's drumming is more clearer, and although Lynne's guitar work on this song is merely adequate, it seems to have more of a shine since it isn't drowned out by the cellos like on the original release. The sad song Momma (called Mama on the original US release) is brighter sounding than the original and is beautifully done. Their classic hit Roll Over Beethoven was a bit of a surprise in that it's slightly shorter than the original release, timing in at 7:01 instead of 8:05. According to the CD booklet, Roll Over Beethoven existed in "various edited formats." It says that for most countries, it timed in at 8:02, but the UK and Japanese versions of the song timed in at 6:56. Since ELO 2/Lost Planet was released in the UK, it sort of makes sense that they would keep that version.

Anyway, From the Sun to the World really gets a nice refreshing breath of air. It feels more energetic and seems to have lost that "sloppy" feel that the original release had. And finally, the 11+ minute Kuiama is more powerful, has more depth, and throughout I can hear things that were barely audible in the original release (such as the "growling" cellos at the end of that long instrumental section where it gets real quiet). These remastered tracks are clearly superior and outshine the rest of the ELO catalogue.

Continuing with CD 1, a remastered version of the single Showdown from the On the Third Day album is next. To me it doesn't sound that different from the original, nevertheless it is a high quality mix. Following this is the rare B-side of the UK release of Showdown, the short instrumental version of In Old England Town. This song also appeared on the 1977 compilation "The Light Shines On." It takes a small segment of In Old England Town and replaces the vocals with a Moog synthesizer. This version, although not significantly important, has a much better mix than the original release. Next is the unreleased track Baby I Apologise, a session outtake from 1 June 1973. It's a really fun tune, very Beatlesque, with some cool piano work. I can see why this would not fit in with their other material of the time as it would fit more nicely on Face the Music or Eldorado.

The next four tracks (9-12) are outtakes from something called "The Elizabeth Lister Observatory Sessions." All four tracks feature Marc Bolan sharing lead guitar duties with Jeff Lynne. The sound quality of these outtakes is quite stunning. Usually I would expect some very muddy mixes for this kind of stuff, but these have either been cleaned up real well or were not far from being "releasable." The first outtake is a 1:19 instrumental jam called "Auntie" which would later be Ma-Ma-Ma Belle. This is followed by the full version of the song, complete with strings and Lynne's vocals. Next is "Mambo." This would later become Dreaming of 4000. The strings are slightly lower in the mix than the original, but Lynne's vocals are amazingly clear here. The final track with Bolan is called Everyone's Born to Die, which was never released on any of ELO's albums. The song lacks the customary strings, but really sounds like it might have made a wonderful single. It has a slight Dylanesque feel to it, mostly from Lynne's vocal delivery. The song ends with a lot of goofing off on it. I'm glad they kept some of the "playing around in the studio" stuff as it adds life to the personalities that made up the band.

Finally, CD 1 ends with the very first take of Roll Over Beethoven, recorded on 8 September 1972. The beginning of this is hilarious. While the strings are performing an excerpt from Beethoven's Fifth, the group is duplicating the same notes with their voices ("bum bum, bum bummmm") interspersed with laughter and other noises. This is a full version of the song timing in at 8:15. The mix is fantastic and Lynne's vocals are much more clear on this take than the original release.

Now it's onto the second disc in this set. This starts off with two BBC session tracks recorded for Brian Matthew's European BBC Top of the Pops radio program, these being From the Sun to the World and Momma. Included also is Brian Matthew's original introduction for ELO on the radio program. There are some slight differences between this version of From the Sun to the World and the original, notably a few guitar lines in the calm middle instrumental section and the song fading out (it has an ending on the original). Momma is pretty much the same as the original. Both mixes are nicely done, and Lynne's vocals are much clearer.

Next is the single version of Roll Over Beethoven, timing in at 4:32. Like the original, being cut and pasted together like a Word document, it has an awkward transition between the various sections. Still a disappointing version of the song, even if it was remastered. The next track is the first take of Showdown. The mix is great, some parts are slightly different, but the most noticeable difference between this and the original is the many vocal ad-libs Lynne added to the performance.

The next three tracks were sort of a "reunion session" featuring Carl Wayne, the Move's original lead singer, on vocals, with Jeff Lynne, Richard Tandy, Bev Bevan, and Mike De Albuquerque. It was basically the "electric" part of ELO minus the "orchestra" meets the Move. The tracks include two songs Lynne never used on an ELO album, Your World and Get a Hold of Myself. In addition Wayne sings a rewritten version of Momma. For the most part, these songs sound like typical early 1970's rock. What surprises me about them is that they sound nothing like ELO, not even their pop music from the late 1970's onward. Interesting indeed, but nothing especially exciting.

Next is an outtake violin solo by Wilf Gibson. It's very nicely done and includes breaks between the parts where Gibson talks about how he wants the performance to sound. The final track is the BBC session version of Roll Over Beethoven timing in at 7:14 (yes, another version!). I realize this is a rare release of this song and is special for ELO collectors, but the mix on this one is quite poor. The only major mistake made on the whole collection. Everything else is mixed extraordinarily well except for this one track. Most likely, it was included for completeness and you can't fault an archivist for that.

Now the problem of rating this. The remastered version of ELO 2 deserves nothing less than five stars. Absolutely essential. The bonus material is good but not essential. The Marc Bolan recording sessions are quite excellent and add a lot of flavor to the collection. The BBC sessions, although quite interesting, are for collectors. The Carl Wayne recordings are good, but only interesting to collectors and historians. The historical essays and photographs are a delight. Although I would love to give this five stars, I feel a more fair rating would be four stars. Portions of it are a masterpiece, but a bulk of it is primarily for collectors and of historical interest.

Being that this is a limited edition, very few new copies of this 2-CD set are available making this an expensive purchase (it cost me 38 USD, and I've seen it as high as 60 USD). For die-hard ELO fans, this is an absolute must-have. For the rest of you, I would highly recommend trying to find the remastered version of ELO 2. I believe it is a UK-only release and consists of everything from CD 1 in this set. Overall, a very worthwhile and excellent collection from the most interesting period of ELO's history.

ELO 2/Lost Planet was a 2-CD limited edition release marking the 30th anniversary of ELO's ELO II album. It features the entire ELO II album, newly remastered, plus a whole load of archival takes and unreleased stuff from the recordings for this album. If you thought ELO II was a masterpiece (like I do), then this one is an absolute must-have. The newly remastered recordings are unbelievably wonderful. The sound is crisp and refreshing, yet still maintaining the wonderful analogue sound of that time. This is miles better than the muddier American version released so many years ago.

The outtakes are surprisingly well produced and recorded. Typically one finds a mixed bag or just senseless noodling on these, but these in effect are practically finished pieces. Often there are humorous moments that can be picked up at the beginnings and endings of the recordings (and in some cases the middle sections). Leaving these intact in this archival set really gives the group personality that often seems to be missing from their studio recordings. In addition to the band at this time, guests included Carl Wayne (lead singer of the Move) and Marc Bolan. Musicians were also fully credited on this release as opposed to the original (e.g. Roy Wood).

A truly wonderful archival collection of ELO's sophomore release. The original is a masterpiece. This is a masterpiece with frosting and a side of ice cream. A must-have for ELO fans and highly recommended to all others. Five stars.