A post-script on the Night The Light Went On In Long Beach. This is also tacked on to the end of the review.
I got a chance to hear the actual album. The only thing I will add is (a) Mik's Solo is not as spectacular on the album (it's a bit shorter). (b) The tracks hang together, flow from one to another, really really well.
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Some of you have been waiting for this one. Our next album is dedicated to Romanelli and Dihannse, who have expressed, each in their own way, that this is where ELO gets really good.
BEA ranks: 1974 24th. 1970's 249th. All Time: 1121st.
Ranked highest by: TrekkiELO: 7th All Time
Results from the Best of 1974 Tournament: Lost in first round (7-5) to "Silent Tongues" by Cecil Taylor.
When I ranked it the first time, it was right after that 1974 tournament. I think I was influenced too much by its haters. I haven't heard it since, so now I will be listening again with fresh ears.
It starts with their best intro so far, combining electric with classical instruments in a way that they've gotten good at. There's a spoken word introduction (by Peter Forbes-Robertson -- thanks, Wikipedia) that describes, I think, a dreamscape that directs the listener to a place in the dream "high on a hill, in Eldorado."
"Can't Get It Out Of My Head" was the first American top ten hit for the band, which is weird, because I think it's the weakest song on the album. "Boy Blue" with it's majestic horns followed some spectacular keyboards, violins, and guitars, is a much more interesting song. I love the plucked violin strings in the middle of the song. On both tunes, Lynne's vocals are weaker than the amazing instrumental bits going on around him. (Still a problem, there, 1974 Jeff).
"Laredo Tornado" adds some funk. (You might think it sounds like disco, but this was before disco.) The bass player, Mike deAlbuquerque, gets in some amazing chops. He left before they finished the album. Also, for a change, Lynn's vocals fit in well with the instruments. "Poorboy (The Greenwood)" closes out side one. I don't know what to say about it, Lynn and Tandy (I think) are harmonizing, vocallizing separately so that it's almost like a conversation.
"Mister Kingdom" sounds like a rewrite of the Beatles' "Across the Universe", with a few ELO-ish touches thrown in. The orchestration then fades into "Nobody's Child", a piano and cello bluesy piece. This abruptly changes to "Illustrations in G Minor" Lynne's unrestrained vocals fit will into a swinging Southern Rock piece. That's the way you need to do it, Jeff.
The title track slows it down a bit. Jeff still can't do ballads, and he was doing so well on the last song. The lyrical intricacy saves a song that otherwise really drags down the album. Toward the end of "Eldorado" and then into the Finale, the music gets really insteresting. Mik Kaminski's violin playing has never been better.
Romanelli and Dihannse are totally right. This album is a leap forward for the band. They've gained a level in awesome. They've found their sound. Any track is instantly identifiable as ELO. After I heard it, I wanted to go back and hear it again. Their best so far by a huge margin.
Listmeister ranks: 1974 3rd. 1970's 27th. All time: 85th.
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Again a very good review of this album. I don't really agree with your comment on Jeff Lynne on his singing of slow songs though. I suppose you can consider "Can't Get It Out Of My Head" as a slow song and I really find this a highlight of this album although a bit of an outlyer If compared with the rest of the album.
When Time came out, I couldn't find anyone to agree with me that Time was better than A New World Record (which everyone thought of as ELO's peak--back then Out of The Blue was viewed as hopelessly bloated). Only recently have I stumbled into other members of the Cult of Time. Wouldn't shock me if you found Time ridiculous, because most of my friends did back in 1981. Out of curiosity, I'm patiently waiting for your verdict, but it won't color mine after 35 years of listening.
BEA ranks 1975: 34th (between Music Inspired by the Snow Goose by Camel, and Crisis What Crisis by Supertramp)
1970 s 392nd (between The Undertones and St. Dominic's Preview by Van Morrison)
All Time 1,854th (between Up by R.E.M. and Kiko by Los Lobos)
Ranked highest by: Clouds2095 (4th all time); TrekkiELO (6th all time; 3rd of the 1970s).
Been having computer troubles. Sorry this one took so long.
Since we last left our friends of the Powered Shiny Band, there's been a few changes. Kelly Groucutt replaces Mik deAlbuquerque on bass, and Melvyn Gale replaced Mike Edwards on Cello. For those of you keeping score, the band now consists of Jeff Lynne on vocals and a bunch of instruments; Bev Bevan on drums; Richard Tandy, piano and all things keyboardy; Mik Kaminski, violin; Hugh McDowell, Cello, and the new guys, Groucutt and Gale.
They start this album with Fire on High, as it fades in as you strain to hear the first notes, which become some weird backward-masking thing (long story), and then it turns into the Beatles' Revolution #9, only more classical (as usual). This in turn becomes a more ordinary instrumental piece, but you get to hear Mel Gale's cello, which a little bolder, a little stronger than what went before. Tandy's shining moment on the album is here. Taken as a whole, Fire On High is stirring and dramatic.
I don't want you to think that I hate Jeff Lynne's voice on slow songs. On "Waterfalls", his voice is appropriately plaintive, even going into falsetto at one point. The vocals blend with the band as they complement rather than compete.
They picked "Evil Woman" to be the first single from the album, and boy, was it a good one. It's a glam masterpiece, and one of those "Classic Rock" perennials. Just try to read the words "Evil Woman" without hearing "woaoah The Evil Woman! berderderder der der The Evil Woman! (You're an Evil Woman!) The Evil Woman! berderderder der der Eeeevil Womuhun"
Kelly Groucutt sings a line in the second verse in "Nightrider", the first time we've heard another voice so prominently since Roy Wood left. Then he went on to sing "Poker", the first track on side two, in which the whole damn Orchestra gets to rock out. His addition to the band really enhances their sound, both musically and vocally.
"Strange Magic" is the other big hit from the album. Mik Kaminski's violin is noteworthy especially during the chorus (and I here make note of it). The band really gels on this piece. "Down Home Town" has Kelly singing what sounds like a country piece, with Jeff doing some answering vocals, and Mik fiddling. The dreamscape that the final track "One Summer Dream" is a beautiful dream of timeless moments of deep waters and high mountains and warm summer breezes. "One Summer Dream" sounds like a lullaby as it fades out you find yourself drifting along with the music.
While not as big a leap forward as "Eldorado", "Face the Music" is still an improvement. For the first time, I have no complaints about Jeff Lynne's vocals, and the addition of Kelly Groucutt as a vocalist adds quite a bit of depth to the band's sound.
Listmeister ranks:
1975: 6th; 1970's: 43rd
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What you're hearing is Lynne's growth as a producer. Unfortunately, his production interests very soon outgrew his interest in ELO as a band in every way. _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
I'm starting to regret doing the Roy Wood albums. Not because they're bad albums, but because (a) they become less and less relevant to the story as time goes on, and (b) I can't post as often as I thought I would be able to, which means longer space between actual ELO albums.
(Note, in case you just joined us: I decided weeks ago to include Roy Wood albums because he and Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan had founded Electric Light Orchestra, then Roy left to do other stuff. Such as Mustard.)
Nevertheless, for consistency's sake, I will press on. I will, however try to be brief.
BEA Rank:
1975: 586th (between Heavy Spirits by Oliver Lake, and Pieces for Kohn by Thomas Hamilton)
1970's: 5,554th; Overall 48,218th
Ranked highest by Leonard, #21 from 1975
The intro track ("Mustard") is kind of interesting, and it leads into "Any Old Time Will Do", which is typical mid-70's pop. "The Rain Came Down on Everything" I did not like at all. ("Roy! Quit whining!") "You Sure Got It Now" is sort of a mix of Bluegrass, Post-Beatles Beatles, the Andrews Sisters, and Rush. "Why Does a Pretty Girl Sing Such Sad Songs" has Roy trying to be several Beach Boys. "The Song" is a mostly instrumental composition, which is fairly intricate, but sounds lightweight if you compare it to ELO.
The rest of the album is much better. "Looking Through the Eyes of a Fool" is, again, 1970's pop, but really good 1970's pop, and the outstanding track from the album. "Interlude" is the bit with the bagpipes (see the album cover), and it sounds pretty good. "Get On Down Home" is a full-on rock-and-roll song for which Roy Wood has proven skills, leading into a rock-and-rolling instrumental piece, and one of the best drum solos I've ever heard.
In it's time (1975) it had the potential to be a huge album, might have put Roy Wood back on the musical map. His album did not chart anywhere, and neither did the singles from it ("Looking Through the Eyes of a Fool" and " Any Old Time Will Do"). But it was not because the album sucked, just, no one ever gave it a listen. I think it deserved better.
BEA Rank: 1976: 17th (between Destoryer by Kiss and Arrival by ABBA)
1970's: 229th (between Something/Anything? by Todd Rundgren and Fleetwood Mac (1975) )
All TIme: 1019th (between XTRMNTR by Primal Screan and Fleetwood Mac (1975)
Ranked highest by BELAC64 (1st All Time) and kieldset (1st All Time)
Same band, no line up changes. New exciting colorful logo.
The slow fade-in with strings is becoming a standard ELO motif, and Tightrope begins true to form, and then it turns into a slick 70's pop song.
"Telephone Line" is an update (to 1976) of a late 1950's doo-wap ballad, complete with the "shoo-be-doo-wap doo-wah doo-lang" and some cool sound effects. (The sad story is, he's calling, she's not answering). Bonus points for the closing line "I'm living in twilight," which becomes a theme for their 1981 album "Time".
"Rockaria!" is, as advertised, a rock song. It's awesome, but there's not much more to it than that; if you want some more-to-it-than-that, the next track "Mission (A World Record)" has lots of more-to-it-than-that. It's a ballad, it's a rock song, it's an art-rock-song. And it keeps surprising you.
So, you flip the record over, and you hear some weird chanting, some weird fiddling, before the first song, "So Fine" even gets started. By the end of the track, you have a good early disco song. (Aside: The strings you hear on some later disco records? ELO kind of started that)
"Livin' Thing" was another huge hit for The Orchestra. It starts out with Mik Kaminsky showing some East European somber violin music, which appears at moments throughout the song. The song itself, I don't know what it means, but it's fun to sing along with it. "It's a livin' thing! It's a terrible thing to lose. It's a givin' thing. What a terrible thing to lose! (I'm taking a dive, all the same). The vocals (not just Jeff's) float around all over the aural spectrum, and the overall effect is a beautiful song, one of my favorites in the catalog.
I wish I knew more music theory, and could identify the specific beat exhibited in "Above the Clouds". It's a four/four beat, with a heavy thump on the first beat. I think.
Back in 1972, right before the Move turned into the Electric Light Orchestra, they released one last single, on which were three songs. The third song was originally called "Look Out, There's a Planet Comin'." Renamed "Do Ya" it became the only hit for the Move in the United States (#93 on the Hot 100). ELO kept singing it in concerts and eventually decided to record it. This time it made it to #24 in the States. It's also the version ("but I, I, I never seen nothin' like you! Do ya do ya want me love...") that it most familiar to everyone.
"Shangri-La" closes out the album with a sound-alike to Telephone Line, without the doo-wap that made it interesting. Instead it adds some 70's-type instrumentation (steel guitar and keyboard). Less interesting, but it does have good harmonies.
I can't really say that "A New World Record" is, necessarily, an improvement. Their quality seems to be leveling off. On the plus side, where they're awesome (Rockaria!, Livin' Thing, Do Ya), they are making some of the best tracks of all time. On the negative, there is not as much musical variety on this album as we have come to expect. The classical music elements are still there, but there's less of it. The biggest thing about this album is, and this may not have been obvious in 1976, but from here, it sounds very disco-y.
Listmeister ranks: 1976: 5th. 1970's 40th, (slightly higher than Face The Music, which is now at 44th).
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