ELO or ELP

dr prog wrote: Elo were crap lol

-Anyway, I love the greatest pop orchestra of the 1970's (who peaked in 1981 - with Time). ELP represent many of the things I do not care for in prog rock.

ELMO

ELP without an ounce of doubt.

Both - depends on the mood.

Saperlipopette! wrote: dr prog wrote: Elo were crap lol -Anyway, I love the greatest pop orchestra of the 1970's (who peaked in 1981 - with Time).

I surely like much more Paul Ryan's Scorpio Rising (1976, released on Charisma), which I also can think of as one of the most underrated albums when talking about something like Symphonic Prog/Rock.

Edited by David_D - Yesterday at 08:13

David_D wrote: Saperlipopette! wrote: dr prog wrote: Elo were crap lol -Anyway, I love the greatest pop orchestra of the 1970's (who peaked in 1981 - with Time). I surely like much more Paul Ryan's Scorpio Rising (1976, released on Charisma), which I also can think of as one of the most underrated albums when talking about something like Symphonic Prog/Rock.

Well, I wrote pop orchestra as I listen to most ELO as pop music (although prog-related in the beginning). Well composed pop music. Great tunesmithing (not the most memorable lyricism maybe, but I don't really care). I'm also indifferent to a band's degree of prog credentials.

Edited by Saperlipopette! - Yesterday at 08:31

I think ELP were always going to pull away in this poll, but its nice to see the amount of respect garnered for ELO in this thread... they were about my fave band between the ages of 9 and 12.

I think a poll between ELO and Alan Parsons would have been quite interesting?

ELO were part of the soundtrack for me growing up with a small radio in my bedroom and Livin' Thing and Wild West hero and the like in the bacground while I do my homework. Rockaria! stood out with that opera busting vocal. They were quite quirky and fun and when they released Out Of The Blue in 1977 they were the band. ELP took a downturn at the same time and stopped being any sort of fun. Interestigly in 1978 Carl Palmer named ELO as the band that took over from ELP in terms of the live show as an 'event' and what was possible. ELO were also popular at a time when punk was popular so credit for them for that. Jeff Lynne was a great tunesmith even if they copied I Am The Walrus a little bit too much! However Keith Emerson was god and one of the greatest in prog. If you care about sheer raw talent then you care about ELP despite their falling off a cliff artistically about 1977. ELP always and forever.

David_D wrote: ^ However you want to classify it, I think of Paul Ryan's Scorpio Rising as a quite similar type of music as '70s ELO. So it was a kind of recommendation of an alternative.

I checked out the six songs I could find. I suppose can see why you would find them somewhat similar. I just think ELO/Lynne has that special gift for writing memorable tunes that separates them from "the rest". I'm attracted to the pop masterpieces such as Living Thing, Twilight, Strange Magic, Showdown... There's nothing even remotely close those kind of perfect pop gems on Scorpio Rising. And I did not enjoy his singing. If I were to compare ELO to other acts, it would be more in the ballpark of ABBA or Fleetwood Mac rather than most things prog. At least from their third album and onwards. It's not meant to be challenging or anything like that - just earcandy.

AFKC's next poll will be Hawkwind vs. Hawklords.