{"id":22503,"date":"2022-03-05T05:30:38","date_gmt":"2022-03-05T10:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22503"},"modified":"2022-02-15T09:32:55","modified_gmt":"2022-02-15T14:32:55","slug":"march-through-time-electric-light-orchestra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/05\/march-through-time-electric-light-orchestra\/","title":{"rendered":"March Through Time: Electric Light Orchestra"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>This month, I\u2019m hitting<\/em> pause <em>on coverage of new artists and releases, focusing instead for a bit on the bodies of work from some of my favorite artists. \u2014 bk<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-22504\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_elo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_elo.jpg 425w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_elo-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/mtt_elo-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>I\u2019ll always have a special place in my heart (and record collection) for Electric Light Orchestra. The first rock concert I ever attended was one of their shows, October 1978, on the \u201chamburger bun\u201d tour. (You\u2019d know what I mean if you\u2019ve seem photos of the stage setup.) Even then they were considered unhip by many, though I loved \u2018em. The big got really big when \u2013 in my view \u2013 Jeff Lynne jettisoned the characteristics that made ELO interesting. Alas, perhaps in a tacit acknowledgment of that, when Lynne revived the ELO moniker in the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century, he re-instituted many of those qualities. But by then \u2013 good as the new music could be \u2013 it was largely nostalgia. I\u2019m restricting my coverage here to the group\u2019s initial run of albums.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>The Electric Light Orchestra<\/b><\/i> aka <i><b>No Answer<\/b><\/i> (1971) \u2013 Quite an experimental album; a transitional work, really. Featuring co-founder Roy Wood, it\u2019s a fascinating project. That doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s full of snappy, catchy tunes; it is not. \u201c10538 Overture\u201d is great, but some of the rest is tough sledding.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>ELO 2<\/b><\/i> (1973) \u2013 Counter-intutively, when Wood left (to embark upon a wonderful if deeply idiosyncratic career on his own and with Wizzard), ELO seemed to find its footing. Perhaps the most \u201cprogressive\u201d of all the band\u2019s albums, with but five lengthy songs, it\u2019s supremely well done. The Chuck Berry cover is beyond inspired.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>On the Third Day<\/b><\/i> (1973) \u2013 The band\u2019s lineup stabilized around this point, too, and Lynne\u2019s knack for writing songs that were both ear-candy catchy and rocking found full flower. An overlooked gem.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Eldorado<\/b><\/i> (1974) \u2013 ELO was rarely progressive in the conventional sense, and concept albums weren\u2019t really their thing, either. That said, this record has elements of both, with really good songs to boot. You\u2019ll know several of the songs, but the ones you don\u2019t know are nearly as good. Essential.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Face the Music<\/b><\/i> (1975) \u2013 The group was on a tear by this point. Face the Music is better-sounding than its predecessors (bigger budget?) and the songs are really good, too. The instrumental \u201cFire on High\u201d hints at a direction ELO could have pursued, but \u2013 alas \u2013 did not.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>A New World Record<\/b><\/i> (1976) &#8211; The band\u2019s high water mark. Top-notch production, songwriting, production, album packaging, you name it. Every positive quality of the group\u2019s character is at its apotheosis.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Out of the Blue<\/b><\/i> (1977) \u2013 Another blockbuster, overstuffed with hits. A double album, with the benefit of hindsight it does feel a bit bloated, and hints at going through the motions. Still essential for fans.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Discovery<\/b><\/i> (1979) \u2013 Many longtime fans despised this record on its release, calling it <i>Verydisco<\/i>. Lynne dismissed the cellists and violinist, making ELO a conventional four-man group. Bev Bevan\u2019s drumming quickly became a parody of itself, and the group started to sound like a wind-up toy. Some good songs, but a good bit of filler as well. Inevitably, greater success was the result.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Xanadu<\/b><\/i> (1980) (with Olivia Newton-John) \u2013 Flashes of the old ELO, but more of the same, and only half of the LP is ELO. Side note: why wasn\u2019t The Tubes\u2019 track included?)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Time<\/b><\/i> (1981) \u2013 In some ways, a slight return to form, with better songwriting. But more Tinkertoy production, and a loss of the orchestral vibe. And more hits.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Secret Messages<\/b><\/i> (1983) \u2013 It was shocking how quickly ELO seemed to fall out of favor with the general public. Other than the gruesome \u201coldies\u201d style retread \u201cRock and Roll is King,\u201d no hits.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"western\" align=\"left\"><i><b>Balance of Power<\/b><\/i> (1986) \u2013 Perhaps this was an attempt to course-correct. Down to a trio, this outfit has none of the qualities that made the early records special. It also had no hits. Not awful in any way, it\u2019s merely irrelevant.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This month, I\u2019m hitting pause on coverage of new artists and releases, focusing instead for a bit on the bodies of work from some of my favorite artists. \u2014 bk [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22504,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,65],"tags":[756],"class_list":["post-22503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","category-review","tag-electric-light-orchestra","cat-27-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22503"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22507,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22503\/revisions\/22507"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}