Best Ever Albums

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

dihansse — Mon, 7 Aug 2017 15:41:27 GMT

Author: dihansse

Posted: 08/07/2017 19:41

I was mostly a greatest hits lover of ELO (especially the ones of the mid seventies because I grew up with them), but especially since the discovery of Eldorado, I learnt to appreciate them as album artists as well.
ELO is ranked 75th on my overall top chart (one album per artist), which might be a bit of an underestimation if I look at their total legacy especially after following your thread.

My current list is (only sticking to ELO):
1. Face The Music (mainly because I love Strange Magic and Evil Woman)
2. Out Of The Blue (again mainly because of the hits Turn To Stone, Sweet Talking' Woman and especially Mr. Blue Sky)
3. Eldorado: because of the whole album.
4. Discovery
5. Zoom

But I still have to listen to some others, mainly A New World Record and Time although I already know a lot of tracks from those albums.

In any case I thoroughly enjoyed reading this trip into ELO, Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood, etc...!

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Romanelli — Mon, 7 Aug 2017 01:16:18 GMT

Author: Romanelli

Posted: 08/07/2017 05:16

Listmeister wrote:

Here's some more lists from you, the Superfans. Albums are by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) except where otherwise noted.

Electric Light Orchestra Albums Ranked by Fischman
1. A New World Record 1976
2. Out of the Blue 1977
3. Face the Music 1975
4. Eldorado 1974
5. On the Third Day 1973
6. ELO 2 1973
7. The Electric Light Orchestra 1971
8. Discovery 1979
9. Secret Messages 1983
10. Time 1981
11. Zoom 2001
12. Balance of Power 1986

THANK you!!!!!!!!!

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Sun, 6 Aug 2017 21:34:14 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 08/07/2017 01:34

Near the beginning of this I posted a riddle: Are they a Light Orchestra with Electric instruments? An ensemble band that used electric light bulbs as instruments? Or an Electric Orchestra with fewer calories? My answer is:

The Electric Light Orchestra was an Orchestra that shone like Electric Lights.

There you go. I think they peaked artistically with Eldorado (1974), and musically and lyrically with Time (1981). Jeff Lynne, the front man and chief songwriter, peaked as a musician around On the Third Day 1973, as a writer with Time (1981), and as a producer with Secret Messages (1983). The rest of the band is hard to evaluate, but they had consistent quality from ELO2 all the way through their post-ELO albums, all the way to Moment of Truth.

AND SO, here is my ranking of the 40 Electric Light Orchestra (and friends) albums that were reviewed in this diary. In countdown format, because I like countdowns.

40. Armchair Theatre - Jeff Lynne 1990
39. Main Street - Roy Wood & Wizzard 2000
38. Starting Up - Roy Wood 1987
37. Boulders - Roy Wood 1973
36. Super Active Wizzo - Roy Wood's Wizzo Band 1977
35. Mustard - Roy Wood 1975
34. Alone in the Universe - Jeff Lynne's ELO 2015
33. Zoom - Electric Light Orchestra 2000
32. Idle Race - The Idle Race 1969
31. Long Wave - Jeff Lynne 2012
30. The Bithday Party - The Idle Race 1967
29. Message from the Country - The Move 1971
28. Electric Light Orchestra Part Two - Part Two 1990
27. On the Road Again - Roy Wood 1979
26. Beyond the Dream - OrKestra 1991
25. Balance of Power - Electric Light Orchestra 1986
24. Moment of Truth - Part Two 1995
23. The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 - Traveling Wilburys 1990
22. Performing ELO's Greatest Hits - Part Two 1992
21. Time Is - The Idle Race 1971
20. Move - The Move 1968
19. The Night the Lights Went On In Long Beach - Electric Light Orchestra 1974
18. Lookin On - The Move 1970
17. Wizzard Brew - Wizzard 1973
16. ELO 2 - Electric Light Orchestra 1973
15. Shazam - The Move 1970
14. Face the Music - Electric Light Orchestra 1975
13. Out of the Blue - Electric Light Orcestra 1977
12. Earthrise - Tandy & Morgan 1986
11. Eddie and the Falcons - Wizzard 1974

10.

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The Electric Light Orchestra by Electric Light Orchestra

9.

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On The Third Day by Electric Light Orchestra

8.

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No Rewind by The Orchestra

7.

A New World Record by Electric Light Orchestra

6.

Eldorado, A Symphony By The Electric Light Orchestra by Electric Light Orchestra

5.

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Xanadu (Soundtrack) by Olivia Newton-John And Electric Light Orchestra

4.

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Discovery by Electric Light Orchestra

3.

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Secret Messages by Electric Light Orchestra

2.

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The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1 by The Traveling Wilburys

And the Best One:

Time by Electric Light Orchestra

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Sun, 6 Aug 2017 21:15:11 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 08/07/2017 01:15

Here's some more lists from you, the Superfans. Albums are by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) except where otherwise noted.

A New World Record by Electric Light Orchestra

Electric Light Orchestra - Sons of Beatles by NowhereMan

1. Time 1981
2. Secret Messages 1983
3. Discovery 1979
4. Out of the Blue 1977
5. Balance of Power 1986
6. A New World Record 1976
7. Face the Music 1975
8. Eldorado 1974
9. Xanadu - ONJ & ELO 1980
10. ELO2 1973

Electric Light Orchestra Albums Ranked by Fischman
1. A New World Record 1976
2. Out of the Blue 1977
3. Face the Music 1975
4. Eldorado 1974
5. On the Third Day 1973
6. ELO 2 1973
7. The Electric Light Orchestra 1971
8. Discovery 1979
9. Secret Messages 1983
10. Time 1981
11. Zoom 2001
12. Balance of Power 1986

Ranking the Electric Light Orchestra by Captain Dude
1. Out of the Blue 1977
2. A New World Record 1976
3. Eldorado 1974
4. Time 1981
5. Face the Music 1975
6. Discovery 1979
7. The Electric Light Orchestra 1971
8. Electric Light Orchestra Part Two - P2 1990
9. On the Third Day 1973
10. Alone in the Universe - JL's ELO 2015
11. Secret Messages 1983
12. Zoom 2001
13. Xanadu 1989
14. Balance of Power 1986

Extracted from Clouds2095's Top 100
1. Time 1981
2. Out of the Blue 1977
3. A New World Record 1976
4. Face the Music 1975
5. Discovery 1979
6. On the Third Day 1979
7. Eldorado 1974
8. The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 - TW 1988
9. Secret Messages 1983
10. The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 - TW 1990
11. The Night the Lights Went On in Long Beach - 1974

Extracted from TrekkiELO's Top 100
1. Time 1981
2. Balance of Power 1986
3. Zoom 2000
4. Secret Messages 1983
5. Out of the Blue 1977
6. New World Record 1976
7. Face the Music 1975
8. Eldorado 1974
9. Discovery 1979
10. On the Third Day 1973
11. ELO 2 1973
12. The Electric Light Orchestra 1971
13. Xanadu - ONJ & ELO 1980
14. Alone in the Universe - JL's ELO 2015
15. Electric Light Orchestra Part Two - P2 1990
16. Armchair Theatre - JL 1990
17. Moment of Truth - P2 1995
18. No Rewind - TheO 2001
19. Beyond the Dream - OrK 1991
20. Message from the Country - Move 1971
21. Idle Race - IR 1969
22. The Birthday Party - IR 1967
23. Long Wave - JL 2012
24. Time Is - IR 1971
25. The Night the Lights Went On In Long Beach 1974

Thank you for these lists. Any other rankings of ELO albums would be welcome.

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Sun, 6 Aug 2017 20:59:34 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 08/07/2017 00:59

I made some lists. It's what I do.

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Out Of The Blue by Electric Light Orchestra

BEA says this was their best. It was also their coolest album cover.

BEA Ranks of the bands (minimum two albums)
Electric Light Orchestra (ELO): 174th
The Traveling Wilburys (TW): 705th
The Move (Move): 2146th
The Idle Race (IR): 2630th
Jeff Lynne (JL): 2930th
ELO Part II (P2): 3560th
Roy Wood (RW): 5414th
Wizzard (Wzz) 12,795th

BEA Ranks of the Albums:

1. Out of the Blue - ELO 1977
2. Time - ELO 1981
3. A New World Record - ELO 1976
4. The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 - TW 1988
5. Eldorado - ELO 1974
6. Discovery - ELO 1979
7. Face the Music - ELO 1975
8. On the Third Day - ELO 1973
9. Secret Messages - ELO 1983
10. Xanadu - Olivia Newton John & ELO (O&E) 1980
11. The Traveling Wilburys Vol 3. (TW) 1990
12. Balance of Power - ELO 1986
13. Armchair Theater - JL 1990
14. ELO 2 - ELO 1973
15. Move - Move 1968
16. The Birthday Party - IR 1967
17. The Electric Light Orchestra (No Answer) - ELO 1971
18. Alone in the Universe - JL's ELO 2015
19. Message from the Country - Move 1971
20. Zoom - ELO 2001
21. Electric Light Orchestra Part II - P2 1990
22. Moment of Truth - P2 1995
23. Boulders - RW
24. No Rewind - The Orchestra (TheO) 2001
25. Idle Race - IR 1969
26. Beyond the Dream - OrKestra (OrK) 1991
27. The Night the Lights Went On in Long Beach - ELO 1974
28. Long Wave - JL 2012
29. Time Is - IR 1971
30. Shazam - Move 1970
31. Earthrise - Tandy & Morgan (TM) 1986
32. Lookin On - Move 1970
33. Performing ELO's Greatest Hits Live - P2 1992
34. Wizzard Brew (Wzz) 1973
35. Eddie and the Falcons (Wzz) 1974
36. Starting Up RW 1987
37. Mustard RW 1975
38. Main Street Wzz 2000
39. Super Active Wizzo - Roy Wood's Wizzo Band (RWWB) 1979
40. On the Road Again - RW 1979

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Sun, 6 Aug 2017 18:25:25 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 08/06/2017 22:25

Stupid &@$%* Undocumented Name Changes

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Beyond The Dream by OrKestra

BEA Ranks: 227th of 1991; 2889th of 1990s; 14,075th of All Time
Ranked highest by TrekkiELO (65th of All Time)

I thought I was finished. I really did. I was working on making the final lists, which was going to include rankings of the albums by ELO superfans TrekkiELO and Clouds2095. TrekkiELO's 65th album listed was a 1991 opus called "Beyond the Dream" by OrKestra.

Wikipedia had nothing about it. The album does not have an article, OrKestra does not have an article. ELO Part II has an article but does not mention it. I was about to write it off as a coincidental name thing, but I figured I'd better Google it just to be sure. I found an image of the back cover of it the album, and most of the songs were written by M. Kaminski and K. Groucutt. So I had to count it. [Footnote]

I know I sound like I'm complaining, but I'm actually grateful to TrekkiELO for calling this one to my attention, because when I listened to it, it became clear that it had a place in the ELO story. It fits well, both chronologically and artistically, in between Part Two (1990) and Moment of Truth (1994). Released in 1991, it has some of that sort-of-eighties sound that Part Two had, and it has some of that good we're-gonna-do-what-we-want sound of Moment of Truth. Plus it has more of that classical touch thanks to Mik Kaminski's string work.

[Footnote] TrekkiELO's 64th album was "Kelly" by Kelly Groucutt. I was aware of this one, but decided not to included it because (a) ELO was still a big thing at the time (1981) so this was not the case of it being a tangential band (b) I didn't want to try to track down every single solo album by every single ELO member ever. Beyond the Dream included two former members and could be considered tangential to the main band.

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Sat, 5 Aug 2017 21:37:16 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 08/06/2017 01:37

Last one, for realski.

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Time Is by The Idle Race

BEA Ranks: 223rd of 1971; 2160th of 1970s; 15,433rd of All Time
Ranked highest by: TrekkiELO (35th of All Time)

I have become a Dave Pritchard fan. The songs that he wrote have become my favorites on each of the albums. Birthday Party had "Pie in the Sky". Idle Race had "Reminds Me Of You" and "Someone Knocking". Time Is is about half Pritchard's, and half Dave Walker's, plus a bit Roger Spencer's. Unfortunately I could not find much about Pritchard's career (if any) outside of "the Idle Race". If anybody knows what became of him, post a reply.

Each song is well crafted. This album was not just thrown together. "Dancing Flower" and "I Will See You" is beautiful, with a medieval quality. "By the Sun" and "We Want It All" are works of slow psychedelic art. "And the Rain" mixes the voices of all three vocalists into a marvellous early-70's Pop Song of the sort Three Dog Night would have been proud to cover. Even "She Sang Hymns Out Of Tune", which might be the dullest song on the album, ends with a beautiful rich harmony.

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Wed, 2 Aug 2017 20:06:22 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 08/03/2017 00:06

The sophomore jinx

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The Idle Race by The Idle Race

BEA Ranks: 187th of 1969; 829th of 1960s; 13,555th of All Time
Ranked highest by: TrekkiELO (32nd of All Time)

The sophomore jinx is a phenomenon where a band has been building up songs for the whole lives of all the members. They get a recording contract, and put so-far-lifetimes worth of creativity on a record and it's awesome. Then what do you do? You try to put out a second album (often pressured by the studio to put another disk out while the momentum is still going). This second record, for some reason, just isn't as good as the first. I think that's what's happening here.

This album is not as much fun as The Birthday Party. It's more Jeff-intensive, and takes itself too seriously. He (Jeff Lynne, I mean) soon left the band to join the Move, and you can read what happened next on page One of this diary, starting with "Looking On".

The Idle Race kept going. We're going to do one more album, "Time Is" by the Idle Race, and then we'll wrap up and summarize the Electric Light Orchestra and peripheral acts.

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 17:23:53 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 07/18/2017 21:23

How it all started.

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The Birthday Party by The Idle Race

BEA Ranks: 80th of 1968; 424th of 1960s; 6286th of All Time
Ranked highest by TrekkiELO (33rd of All Time)

"Skeleteon and the roundabout is creepy and brilliant in equal measures."--gussteivi

I made a mistake in my early research for this project, and I completely missed The Idle Race, Jeff Lynne's first band, from before he joined the Move. By the time I discovered this, I was half-way through the project. What can I say? My bad.

It's a fun little album, not too pretentious. About the same level as what the Young Rascals or the Grassroots were doing in America at the time. Harmonies are great, instrumentation is really good (they weren't just messing around when they plugged in their guitars), and doesn't overwhelm the vocals. There's even a bit of chamber-orchestra violin ('Happy Birthday') which foreshadows the orchestral sound Lynne would be pursuing in the early-to-mid 1970's.

Each track has its own style, which could be a bad thing, like the band was trying to find its sound. But they don't do any of the styles badly, and there is a unifying stylistic theme of the music of childhood. There's pre-war music (which the band members would have associated with childhood), circus music, skiffle, marching band.

It's not just the Jeff Lynne show by any means. The drumming (by Roger Spencer) is excellent, and the band stays together and sounds like a well practiced unit. One song, 'Pie in the Sky' was written and sung by Dave Pritchard, and it may be the best one on the album.

Listmeister ranks: 14th of 1968; 78th of 1960s

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Sun, 9 Jul 2017 17:27:56 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 07/09/2017 21:27

Last, maybe least

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Alone In The Universe by Jeff Lynne's ELO

BEA Ranks: 108th of 2015; 921st of 2010s; 6,843rd of All Time

Ranked highest by TrekkiELO: 14th of All Time

"Perhaps this spaceship will save us!" -- Leonard

In my review of Zoom (q.v.), I said that it was missing something, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Here it is: The Jeff Lynne's ELO albums just aren't as interesting, musically, as the rest of the band could produce. In the old ELO you had Jeff Lynne's talent + Richard Tandy's talent + Bev Bevan's talent plus Kelly Groucutt + Mik Kaminski + Ron Wood plus everyone else who happened to be in the band during that album. Since 1986, you've had just Jeff's talent. He will produce the occasional great song (Rattled from Travelling Wilburys, So Sad to Watch Good Love Go Bad, When the Night Comes) , but he just doesn't have an album's worth of good stuff in him at any given time. The Orchestra, in its various incarnations, was not as good as ELO with Lynne; but it was better than Lynne by himself, because there are enough talented musicians to build something greater than the talent of any single individual.

"When I Was a Boy" and "Love and Rain" are slowish ballads, Armchair Theatre stuff. "Dirty to the Bone" is also balladish, but it at least has some ELO flavoring to it.

Now, I mentioned "When the Night Comes" earlier as an example of Lynne's occasional greatness. It sounds like the ELO of the 70's, complete with violins and reverb and falsettos. It captures the ELO sound, and some of that carries over into "The Sun Will Shine on You" a song which is played at way too slow a tempo. I know this is true because, thanks to some 21st century technology (You Tube setting), I listened to the song at 1.5 speed, and it's much better at that speed.

"Ain't it a Drag" would be a better description of the previous song (burn!), but it's actually really good. Worthy of that red-and-yellow disk thingy. It sounds like the ELO of the 80's, and would not be out of place on Balance of Power.

"All My Life" and "I'm Leaving You" are completely forgettable. "One Step at a Time" is an intersection between ELO sound, some great guitar work, and old 40's standard. It's an original song with a melody reminiscent of an old Bing Crosby croon. "Alone in the Universe" can be interpreted as Jeff Lynne's longing for things to be back the way they were, with his old bandmates, making records like they used to. In that light, it's a fairly sad ending. As he said on another record, "I wish I was back in 1981."

Listmeister Ranks:
9th of 2015
41st of 2010s

I don't have a lot of depth on 2010's albums.

"When I gaze around this wreck of a town where people never speak aloud, with it's ivory towers and its plastic flowers, I wish I was back in 1981. Just to see your face instead of this place, now you know what you mean to me. And I wonder, is this the way life's meant to be?"
--Jeff Lynne, The Way Life's Meant to Be, Time

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Tue, 4 Jul 2017 18:01:45 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 07/04/2017 22:01

Better

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Long Wave by Jeff Lynne

BEA: 388th of 2012; 2407th of 2010s; 14,805th of All Time
Ranked highest by TrekkiELO, 34th of All Time

And so nothing happened with ELO for about ten years. No wait, that's not quite true. There were compilation albums released, and a few live retrospective albums (releases of concerts from "back in the day"), and the Orchestra did a live album of old ELO hits (which I can't find and therefore can't review). No new material happened until Jeff Lynne released his "Long Wave" in 2012.

This isn't exactly new material either. It's Jeff Lynne singing standards, rock-and-roll and otherwise. Unlike Armchair Theatre (recorded 20 years before), which was mostly written by Lynne, this album allows him to focus on the emotional content of each song.

Particularly moving is "So Sad to Watch Good Love Go Bad", originally recorded by the Everly Brothers. The Everly version has fantastic harmonies, of course, but you can miss the weight of decaying love. Or at least, I did until I heard the Jeff Lynne version. "Running Scared" and "Beyond the Sea" were also delightful. "Let It Rock" was an excellent cover of a more obscure Chuck Berry tune.

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 15:48:49 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 06/22/2017 19:48

Two late-blooming branches

Zoom by Electric Light Orchestra

BEA Ranks 168th of 2001; 1,720th of 2000s; 6,863rd of all time
Ranked highest by: TrekkiELO (3rd of All TIme)

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No Rewind by The Orchestra

BEA Ranks 307th of 2001; 3,413th of 2000s; 13,014th of All Time
Ranked highest by: TrekkiELO (28th of All Time)

Part of what I wanted to find out in doing this survey was, whether ELO's later albums, the post-Millenium few, were as good as they used to be. The answer is, it kind of depends on what you mean by ELO.

What happened was, Bev Bevan, who was still playing with ELO Part II, sort of retired. He sold his rights to the ELO name to Jeff Lynne. Meanwhile, the rest of ELO Part II wanted to keep on going. Lynne's lawyers dutifully informed them that they were not allowed to call themselves "Electric Light Orchestra" anymore. Fine, they said, keep your stupid electric lights. We'll just be The Orchestra.

So Jeff Lynne tried to recreate the ELO sound by himself. The result was a good try, and he came close on a couple of songs (In My Own Time, It Really Doesn't Matter at All), but the album lacks something. Passion, energy, I can't quite put my finger on it. It's just not that much fun to listen to.

To be fair State Of Mind has a really cool bass-line. Also that is beautiful cover art, one of their best.

The Orchestra was, by this time, Mik Kaminski, Louis Clark and Kelly Groucutt from the old ELO, plus Eric Troyer who had been with Part II since the beginning, and Parthenon Huxley, the new guy. The music of No Rewind has all the energy and fun of the old Electric Light Orchestra, especially on the first three tracks or so. Lyrically, it's more interesting than Zoom. The vocals are a bit different because it's not Jeff Lynne. Not better or worse, just different.

The icing on this music cake, the prize at the bottom of the cereal box. is their cover of "Twist And Shout" done in a minor key.

Link

Listmeister Ranks:
Zoom:
10th of 2001

No Rewind:
2nd of 2001
32nd of 2000s

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 17:23:53 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 04/24/2017 21:23

Good call, record company

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Main Street by Roy Wood & Wizzard

BEA Ranks: 1,212th of 2000; 14,642nd of 2000's; 57,117th of All Time
Ranked highest by Leonard (30th best of 2000)

Listmeister wrote:

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Eddie And The Falcons by Wizzard (UK)

Originally intended to be a double album, the other disk was going to be done in a more jazz-rock style. The Label asked them to release the disk of rock-and-roll stuff when the jazz-rock disk wasn't finished yet, and didn't look like it was going to be. Eventually, in 2000, the jazz-rock bit was released as Main Street. We'll get there.

Main Street sounds nothing like Eddie and the Falcons; it's not even obvious that the two albums were made by the same band. As a double album, this would never have worked. People would have like the rock-and-roll disk (Eddie) and disliked the jazz disk (Main Street). I suppose a few might have liked the Main Street disk and eschewed the Falcons.

I'm not qualified to say that one jazz record is better than another. Even universally acclaimed jazz albums have little effect on me.[Footnote] So probably the less I say about the pure jazz pieces (Main Street, Saxmaniac, I Should Have Known), the better. I thought they were terrible, sorry. Some of the songs were more rock-and-roll, but only Don't You Feel Better approached the quality of Eddie and the Falcons. A couple of enjoyable ballads, French Perfume and Indiana Rainbow. Take My Hand is also a ballad, a bit too slow; however, it's the most ELO sounding song on the record.

And so, we wrap up the discography of Mr. Roy Wood. I regret deciding to follow his career in this music diary, it was a distraction from the main story, that of the Electric Light Orchestra. The only album in his post-ELO discography that I'm likely to listen to again is [/i]Eddie and the Falcons[i]. If Roy had had his way and released the two albums as a double, I probably wouldn't listen again to even that one. So, good call, Warner Bros.

[Footnote] I'm not fond of jazz. I say this to my shame, but I am willing to admit my limitations.

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 20:00:14 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 02/12/2017 01:00

ELO is back! Sort of!

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Electric Light Orchestra Part II Perfor...ra Part II

BEA Ranks: 526th of 1992; 5823rd of 1990s; 29,200th of All Time
Ranked highest by: TrekkiELO, 19th of 1990s

On most of the songs here, they sound like an ELO cover band. The instrumentation is phenomenal as always, that part doesn't sound like a cover, but it's just not the same, and by 'the same', I mean Jeff Lynne's vocals. It's a reasonably enjoyable album, and it gets better once you get over the cover-bandiness of it. 'Can't Get It Out of My Head' is actually pretty close to the original. "Roll Over Beethoven", the climax of the show, was powerful and energizing.

It was an enjoyable retrospective, reciting the old ELO hits, and it was good to hear Mik Kaminsky's violin again.

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Moment Of Truth by Electric Light Orchestra Part II

BEA Ranks: 271st of 1995; 2,627th of 1990s, 12,635th of All Time
Ranked highest by TrekkiELO 26th of All Time.

In "Part Two" the album, they were trying to sound contemporary. In "Performs ELO's Greatest" they tried to sound like the old Electric Light Orchestra. "Moment of Truth" is an album of original material, and you get the idea that the band just said, "screw it, we're just going to sound like ourselves." And it works, this album is fantastic, the best they've done since "Secret Messages".

It begins with a 2001-style classical music crescendo, and classical music flourishes are scattered throughout the album. If you like the concept of classical music mixed with pop, I think this is the album where they come closest to that ideal since "Face The Music."

As for the other songs, "Power of a Million Lights" is perfect ELO Pop, an instant favorite. Two songs really rock, "Don't Wanna" and "Whiskey Girls". Honorable mention for "The Fox", an epic fairy tale story of a fox hunt, told from the perspective of the fox.

Listmeister Ranks 1995: 4th; 1990's: 33rd:

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 18:59:43 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 01/27/2017 23:59

Where's Jeff? Is he sleeping outside?

Armchair Theatre by Jeff Lynne

BEA ranks: 99th of 1990, 1153rd of 1990's, 5,679th of All TIme
Ranked highest by harmony, 11th of all time

" It's way over produced and I just felt like "so what"." --Coconut

Jeff Lynne needs a band. With Travelling Wilbury's, there was greatness. With the Move, amazing. With Electric Light Orchestra, he was awesome. By himself, eeehhh, not so much.

There were a couple of interesting tracks, "Now You're Gone" and "Every Little Thing" are pretty good. Not phenomenal, just pretty good. And I'm not sure why, of all the standards that are out there, he picked "Stormy Weather" to be the one he recorded.

This album is completely skippable. I'm not even going to rank it.

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Mon, 9 Jan 2017 20:16:54 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 01/10/2017 01:16

Can we do this without Jeff?

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Electric Light Orchestra Part Two by Electric Light Orchestra Part II

BEA Ranks: 190th of 1990; 2,326th of 1990's; 11,200th of All Time
Ranked highest by: TrekkiELO, #23 of All Time

Jefflessness was not a problem with ELOP2. The songs were well-crafted and musically interesting. Some of them (Honest Men, Thousand Eyes) sounded like typical Electric Light Orchestra songs. The sound, it seems, did not stick to Lynne. Some of them harkened back to the classical music of their early days (Once Upon a Time, Thousand Eyes). And one, For the Love of a Woman, hearkened back even further, back to the Wall of Sound of the early sixties.

It was as if the record couldn't decide which decade is was supposed to be in. One of the songs, Kiss Me Red, sounded like the 80's ELO of Time and Secret Messages. Even more interesting were the songs that sounded "of their time", that is, late 80's. Every Night and Easy Street were solid rockers that were clearly influenced by the big hair metal of the late 80's; Heart of Hearts was a good power ballad.

At this late date, one can only speculate about how it sounded when it was new. It certainly would have been enjoyable for ELO fans, who had not gotten any new music in four years. Contemporary audience would probably have heard most of it as a 70's throwback.

Listmeister Ranks: 7th of 1990; 85th of 1990's.

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Wed, 28 Dec 2016 15:36:18 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 12/28/2016 20:36

The Tale of Otis Wilbury

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The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1 by The Traveling Wilburys
BEA Ranks: 18th of 1988; 147th of 1980's; 925th Overall.
Ranked highest by Romanelli and JuicyJohnPink (8th of All Time out of 100)

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The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 3 by The Traveling Wilburys
BEA Ranks: 95th of 1990; 1126th of 1990's; 5,562nd Overall.
Ranked highest by Clouds2095 (30th of All Time out of 50).

In 1988, our friend Mr. Lynne went to America, changed his name to Otis Wilbury, and with his new-found brothers (the erstwhile George Harrison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison) started making music as the Travelling Wilburys. They produced an album called Traveling Wilburys, Volume 1. Tragically, Roy Orbison died shortly after the album was recorded. They soldiered on without him, and his voice was missed on their second album, called Volume 3.

We are not here to review these albums. (Except to say that Volume 1 was unbelievably awesome, maybe the best ever made by a legit superband). We are here to review Otis's contribution to the Wilbury legend. As with any good band, it's impossible to really separate one band members contribution from another's, so, full disclosure, I'm mostly just guessing here.

Volume 1. There's a delicious moment of harmony with George Harrison on 'Handle With Care', on the line "I've been up-tight and I've made a mess / but I'll clean it up myself, I guess." His first obvious contribution is on "Rattled", an 80's/neo-50's style rock number for which he provides the vocals. Margarita (sung by Dylan) is the most ELO-sounding track in the catalog, especially in the intro. "Heading for the Light" has some ELO-esque harmonies also. He sings the second verse of "The End of the Line", a pleasant ensemble pop/rock track.

Volume 3, as I mentioned before, suffered from the loss of Roy Orbison. All though Bob Dylan took up a lot of the slack, Jeff also had more to do on this album. He drives the rock and roll on "She's My Baby", a musical sequel to "Rattled". "Inside Out" has some more Harrison/Lynne harmonics on the bridges. "New Blue Moon" features Lynnian vocals as well.

"Roll up your rug, dust your broom, ball the jack, howl at the moon. Ain't never been nothing quite like this, everybody's talking 'bout the Wilbury Twist."

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 18:09:36 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 10/26/2016 22:09

The Adventures of Richard Tandy and Dave Morgan

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Earthrise by Tandy & Morgan
BEA Ranks: None.
Ranked highest by Listmeister (25th of 1980's).

With all the emphasis of Jeff Lynne's musicianship and producership and song-writery-ness, the other members of the band were feeling sort of left out (I would imagine). When a band breaks up, one can see from their solo works how each contributed to the band. We saw that with the first few post-Beatles Beatles' albums, and in the late 80's, we start to see this with the artists formerly known as Electric Light Orchestra.

Tandy, ELO's keyboard player, teamed up with Dave Morgan, who had been touring with ELO since 1981, and who had sung some of the background vocals on 'Secret Messages'. They formed "The Tandy-Morgan Band" and recorded a concept album along the same vein as "Time", this time about space travel. It was released in 1986.

You can hear how Tandy influenced the musical direction of ELO, especially on Time, which this album most resembles. It's not a sequel, exactly, but the two albums are, at the very least. siblings. The songs are pretty interesting, with plenty of musical intricacy.

Later they released an album of leftovers and other songs they recorded after Earthrise, it was called "The BC Collection." It's not as good, and feels unfinished. It sounds like any other 80's pop music, the sort that would be the soundtrack for a teen romantic comedy that did not star anyone you'd ever heard of.

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Fri, 7 Oct 2016 19:12:41 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 10/07/2016 23:12

We're not done yet.

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Starting Up by Roy Wood

BEA Ranks
622nd of 1987 (between Spanish Fly by Lisa, Lisa, and Cult Jam and Too Late to Cry by Alison Krauss)
6,028th of 1980s; 44,618th of All Time

Ranked highest by iancrockert141, 21st of 1987.

We haven't heard from Roy Wood for awhile. So, let's hear what he's up to. I'm expecting something very 50's sounding with some updated instrumentation, like several Move songs, and a lot of his last few albums.

[Record starts playing]. Okay, this is straightforward 1980's. Pretty typical 1987 rock. I recognize those synthetic percussion rhythms. Actually. this is pretty bland.

[Time passes as the record plays] Right, the record. I guess I haven't been paying attention.

[On Top of the World begins playing] Wait a minute.... Now, that's what I'm talking about 50's sound updated a bit. That's a good one. The next song, Ships In the Night, is also pretty good.

Except for those two songs, this is basically a middle-of-the-road late 1980's album. No real indications of the brilliance that Mr. Wood has demonstrated in the past.

Re: Listmeister listens -- Electric Light Orchestra

Listmeister — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 20:08:32 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 09/29/2016 00:08

The Electric Light Trio

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Balance Of Power by Electric Light Orchestra

BEA Ranks: 84th of 1986 (between Tutu by Miles Davis and Epicus Doomicus Metalicus by Candelmass) ;
840th of 1980s; (between Delicate Sound of Thunder by Pink Floyd and Devididos por la Felicidad by Sumo);
5,240th of All Time (between Kerosene Hat by Cracker and Lil' Beethoven by Sparks)
Ranked highest by TrekkieELO, 3rd of All Time.

So, Kelly Groucutt, the bass player, left the band, and it was down to just Jeff Lynne (Guitar and Vocals), Richard Tandy (Keyboards), and Bev Bevan (percussion). Bevan had been there since the founding of The Move, even before Lynne joined. This would be the last studio album of ELO for 14 years.

For a change, the album doesn't begin with a fade-in, but goes right into "Heaven Only Knows", which is pretty good rock song, followed by "So Serious", another rock song with almost the exact same tempo and tone. "Getting to the Point" is a ballad about a breakup. It's kind of the 'Let It Be' for their final album. "Secret Lives" sounds dated, built around an 80's style synth vibe.

So far there isn't much here that's interesting enough to comment on, especially when you compare it to the last two albums. The songwriting is fairly competent, but the music is kind of tired. These guys have been playing together for 13 years by this point, and the spark just wasn't there.

"Is it Alright?" kind of breaks that trend a little. It's a positive, energizing rock song, where he's encouraging his friend ('Joe') to believe in himself, feel better, and get back on his feet. "Sorrow About to Fall" and "Without Someone' is a pair of highly-produced mood pieces, but that's alright, because it works; it's the sort of thing that Electric Light Orchestra has gotten really good at.

"Calling America" goes back to the "Pretty Good Rockers" that the album started with, but this is better than the first two, more enjoyable, there's some spark there. "Endless Lies" can't decide what it's trying to be (ballad? breakup song? epic? rock song?). It doesn't work.

"Send It" is a lot of fun. It's Rock-a-billy with ELO's style, and the most interesting percussion effects of any ELO song.

The album is bittersweet. There are moments of awesome, and moments when you could tell they just weren't into it. The best songs (Is It Alright, Send it, Calling America) stack up to the best of their catalog, while the rest is just mediocre, not terrible, but not exciting either.

Listmeister Ranks: 4th of 1986 (between Graceland by Paul Simon and Raised on Radio by Journey)
29th of 1980s (between "Weird Al" in 3D and The River by Bruce Springsteen)