The Gerry Rafferty talk reminds me, I have been revisting ELO lately. I was a fan in the 70's and went to the Wembley concert in '78 introduced by Tony Curtis and later televised. However my vinyl is gone or still in my parent's attic so all I have had is a basic greatest hits CD for the past 15 or 20 years.
However I have picked up a few albums lately, Face The Music is fantastic and Ticket to the Moon (Time album) is a truly great track.
Any ELO experiences or opinions?
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>> Any ELO experiences or opinions?
Yup. They're great. Love 'em. 'Mr Blue Sky' is my all-time favourite song and will play at my funeral.
Would love to have seen the original line-up in concert.
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My ELO story is a sighting of three or four big, hairy, bearded blokes in a Triumph Dolomite in Acton, west London, in the early 1980s.
The registration number of the car was ELO 2.
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I bought ELO's Out Of The Blue album out of my very first pay packet when i started work in 1977/8.
It's probably still in the loft at my mum's house !
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I have their best of cd and a vinyl copy of Discovery. Some great stuff. Seems to grow on me more as the years go by. 'Don't bring me down' is probably my favourite of theirs.
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Loads of their stuff and very happy memories - as with Mr Rafferty the soundtrack of my life..
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Time is my favourite album ever. One of those rare albums that can't be iPodized but simply must be played from beginning to end in its entirety. Funnily enough, many - Jeff Lynne included, who says it 'lacks inspiration' - don't rate it as highly as the middle-period stuff, but I find it compelling. It's actually quite hard work, emotionally - there's a lot about loneliness, dislocation, even fear. Everyone knows Hold On Tight as a single, which radio stations treat as a feel-good lollipop, but on the album it's the only really upbeat song, and it feels more like a hard-won redemption after all that's gone before.
Lynne's at his best with rather melancholy material, like the fabulous Concerto for a Rainy Day that takes up a whole side of Out of the Blue. I don't know enough about his personal life to know what went into the genesis of that, and I don't need to - art is about emotional resonance rather than mere autobiography. Again, though, the clouds part, the mood lifts and he gives us Mr Blue Sky. When we open the curtains on a bright morning I can't resist observing to Mrs Beest that the "Sun is shining in the sky." If I get back a deadpan "There ain't a cloud in sight" I know it's going to be a good one.
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>> Time is my favourite album ever. One of those rare albums that can't be iPodized
Not sure what you mean but it's on Spotify - might give it a listen later.
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I agree that Ticket to the Moon is another great song.
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Saw them in Düsseldorf in (IIRC) Feb '82.
I have Greatest Hits Vol I & Vol II in the car CD changer.
There was a pretty good program on one of the Sky channels a few months ago about Roy Orbison where Barbara Orbison explained how Jeff Lynne and George Harrison got The Traveling Wilburys got together, accompanied by video of them recording.
They appeared to be having a real hoot :-)
RIP Roy Orbison too.
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Saw a version of ELO with SWMBO a couple of times in the last 5(?) years. They were led by Kelly Groucutt, bass player in the orignal line up, along with violinist Mik Kaminksi, orchesral aranger Louis Clark on keyboards and other more recent additions. They were brilliant - played all the old stuff and it sounded just like it should.
It was very sad when Kelly died unexpectedly in 2009 following a heart attack.
Personal favourie is probably Livin Thing.
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Still got loads of their stuff, including every single from Roll Over Beethoven through to Twilight.
A great influence on me, musically.
Jeff Lynne has produced some excellent stuff over the years with other artists; I too enjoyed the Travelling Wilburys, and he not only revived Orbison's career but gave him some of his best songs.
I've never forgiven Paul McCartney for sneering that all ELO stuff was cribbed from the Beatles. I'd be very surprised if some of it wasn't influenced (as most music of the 70's was) by the Fab Four, but I suspect it's more sour grapes because his own pseudo-classical stuff is basically carp.
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With you on that HM - Maccer was being interviewed on BBC4 the other evening the other night - he tries to talk posh now - hard with that accent.
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I went to the "out of the blue" concert at wembley sometime in the late 70's
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DjJ4cNuJPY&feature=related
This one. Where the group appeared from a spaceship
I have all the vinyl and its all on MP3 as well.
Completely timeless
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 5 Jan 11 at 21:53
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>> This one.
>>
There were around five nights, I was at the first, the royal gala night.
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Got loads of their stuff. Out of the Blue is my favourite album with the track, 'it's over' particularly poignant.
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Another fan here, and Don't Bring Me Down is my favourite.
Pat
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>> Another fan here, and Don't Bring Me Down is my favourite.
>>
>> Pat
>>
Sweet Talking Woman
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They did loads of really good stuff but their cover of Roll Over Beethoven is by far teh best.
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My first hearing of ELO was Roll Over Beethoven and I thought (at the age of nine) it was great. I subsequently bought most of their albums, and I never get tired of listening to compilations of their best tracks. Mr Blue Sky is up there with Bohemiam Rhapsody for sheer scale.
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My dad loved them when I was a kid (Out of the Blue and Time only seemed to come off the record player so he could put some Pink Floyd / Vangelis / Jean Michel Jarre on) so I always have a smile on my face when they come on the radio and my wife's quite surprised when I know most of the words.
However, I am pleased that my mother's musical tastes (Motown, Stax, any American soul music basically) influenced me more long term.
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I wish I was a Wild West heeerrrrroooo !
Ride the range through the day
til the first fading light...............!
Last edited by: Pugugly on Thu 6 Jan 11 at 09:52
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I find this near-deification of ELO interesting.
At the time the band was derided by many critics as over-blown, over-produced, over-instrumentalised soft rock for the housing estate generation.
Supertramp are another case in point.
Crime of the Century is now album of the century to some.
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indeed, I have that on vinyl as well.
Rudy, being an exceptional track.
Saw them at wembley as well.
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Most of here belong to a generation that heard ELO frequently. Like Supertramp they were considered overblown, but in time, those 'avantgarde' and/or 'progressive rock' groups have been shown to be the Emperors New Clothes and we really did like the tunes we heard most often.
Can you sings all the words to Jethro Tull at Karaoke? I can't but I damn well can and do to most ELO tracks.
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>> Can you sings all the words to Jethro Tull at Karaoke? I can't but I
>> damn well can and do to most ELO tracks.
Alas yes, I know and can sing all the words to "thick as a brick"
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...Can you sings all the words to Jethro Tull at Karaoke? I can't...
Espaada,
I think you must be Livin' in the Past. :)
Your point about prog rock is well made.
Gerry Rafferty is another example of the 'ELO effect'.
I'm now told he made an enormous contribution to contemporary music.
There was me thinking he was a one-hit wonder.
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>> There was me thinking he was a one-hit wonder.
Yes it a little more complex than early beatles tracks, no wonder you feel out of your depth.
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...Yes it a little more complex than early beatles tracks, no wonder you feel out of your depth...
Complexity in popular music is a negative feature, not a positive one.
Although plenty of mug punters over the years have mistaken it for genius.
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ELO , No, not my scene I used to say.....
But....... I changed my tune
One of the best open air concerts of my life was seeing ELO (2) comprising Bevan, Clark, Kaminski, Groucutt, Troyer and Bates playing with the stupendous Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra by the lake at Tilgate Park in Crawley in 1994...
Went early with several friends , a great picnic and lots of wine and it was just a brilliant fabulous evening ...... a full concert orchestra amplified with ELO just battered my old eardrums into submission.
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Don't forget Horace Wimp!
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And if he's late once more, he'll be out.
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I'm going to peek from behind Iffy on this one... and probably hide if it all kicks off.
I didn't/don't know anyone of my generation (ie born mid 50s) who liked ELO. Soft pop rock about describes it. True they sold loads of records but so did many other average bands.
Jethro Tull (and many others) for me any day.
With a couple of swapped words I agree....
*Over complexity in popular music can be a negative feature, not a positive one.*
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>> I didn't/don't know anyone of my generation (ie born mid 50s) who liked ELO.
You do now.
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>>>You do now.
Yes... worrying. Not sure what action to take.
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I too was at Wembley in 1978 for the Out of The Blue concert, complete with starship and (then) state of the art laser show! They are (were) a fantastic band and I wish Jeff Lynne would do somthing new, even if only producing Tom Petty again as the two albums he did with him were great, too. His last 'ELO' album (really a solo effort) Zoom (in 2000?) is under-rated.
I am currently educating my children (10, 8, and 7) in music and they are fully appreciative of Mr Blue Sky as well as the other ELO classics. The Concerto For A Rainy Day on Out Of The Blue is indeed a fantastic concept that works really well. The album was written by Lynne in a chalet in the Swiss mountains, and you really get a feel for the climate there by listening to the music.
I think this is his highlight, but also like New World Record, Face The Music, and Time.
Reunion firmly off the cards due to strife within the band (and the death of Kelly Groucutt doesn't exactly help)
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...Reunion firmly off the cards due to strife within the band (and the death of Kelly Groucutt doesn't exactly help)...
I remember years ago when George Harrison was obviously annoyed to be asked for the umpteenth time about a Beatles reunion.
"It will not happen," he said. "So long as John Lennon remains dead."
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Mark David Chapman did the world a favour in my book.
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...Mark David Chapman did the world a favour in my book...
Oh dear, wrong side of the bed (again) Zeddo?
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Not at all, what's to be upset about?
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Extraordinarily unkind, even for you.
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>> Extraordinarily unkind, even for you.
Zero may be referring sourly to the posthumous canonization of a good songwriter and competent rhythm guitarist. It annoys me too.
On the other hand he may be referring to the perceived awfulness of the Beatles. I thought they were very good.
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No your right. Shooting him allowed him to become beatified, rather than being remembered for the talentless idiot he was.
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Too much snobbery in music - bit like HiFi - I like a lot of stuff, yes ELO, Supertramp etc I also like Bach and Beethoven so who cares, seen a huge amount of talent in the last year including an incredibly talented Llyr Williams play all of Bach''s Piano concertos in a small venue, the Squeeze, The Proclaimers, I derive a huge amount of pleasure from them all, and I'd go to an ELO concert tonight...!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9Sk76xpVXI
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>> Shooting him allowed him to become beatified, rather than being remembered for
>> the talentless idiot he was.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lennon/McCartney
You might not like them, but 'talentless'?
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>> You might not like them, but 'talentless'?
The key is lennon/mcartney.
McCartney could survive in its own. Lennon? nah. On his own he write complete nonsense, and musically inept.
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>> McCartney could survive in its own. Lennon? nah. On his own he write complete nonsense,
>> and musically inept.
Like 'Woman'? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman_%28John_Lennon_song%29
Unsophisticated perhaps, but not a bad pop song and lots of people seem to like it. I wish I was similarly untalented.
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Woman:
Ooh, well, well
Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo
Ooh, well, well
Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo
>> Unsophisticated perhaps, but not a bad pop song and lots of people seem to like
>> it. I wish I was similarly untalented.
yeah unsophisticated covers it,
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>> Woman:
>>
>> Ooh, well, well
>> :
>>
>> yeah unsophisticated covers it,
Glad you agree. Talented chap to make a #1 out of it.
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>> McCartney could survive in its own. Lennon? nah
They could all survive on their Beatles bread, or what the management sharks left them with. Paul McCartney went on working hard and churning out (to my ear) rather bland and soppy stuff because it's his nature, and because he has a lot of that businessman stuff in him.
John Lennon couldn't be bothered, and wanted to be a modern artist like Yoko Ono (she is one, quirky and annoying but not negligible). Crap at business and politically naive, quite intelligent though and far from talentless.
The Beatles were a great group, far greater than the sum of their parts. Like the Spice Girls writ large.
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>> >> You might not like them, but 'talentless'?
>>
>> The key is lennon/mcartney.
>>
>> McCartney could survive in its own. Lennon? nah. On his own he write complete nonsense,
>> and musically inept.
>>
OK Zed. I too, have to go with this.
A lot of folk hate 'Wings', but the Wings at the speed of sound LP really does it for me. Yeah yeah, I know. It explains a lot.:)
M
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From the distant viewpoint we all (I assume) have of the individual Beatles Lennon would be the only one I'd want to chat with over a drink.... and that's not going to happen.... just yet.... hopefully.
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I did chat over a drink with his son Julian a couple of times - many moons ago.
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See... I knew a soft landing of *I assume* might be needed.
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...See... I knew a soft landing of *I assume* might be needed...
I describe myself on here as a Beatles 'fan' because I like their music.
I've no desire to take tea and stickies with any of them.
Partly because you should never let daylight intrude on magic.
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"tea" Tee Hee nudge nudge !
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>> I did chat over a drink with his son Julian a couple of times -
>> many moons ago.
>>
I was only just saying to Nelson Mandela the other day how I can't stand name droppers ....
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Well its quite odd - I had no idea who he was at the time, it was only other people that pointed him out to me. Very nice bloke.
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>> I was only just saying to Nelson Mandela the other day how I can't stand
>> name droppers ....
>>
I was saying just the same to some of the people on my facebook....
(you may need to look at my FB friends list to get the joke.....) ;-)
Last edited by: swiss tony on Thu 6 Jan 11 at 21:21
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I'm with Alan Partridge on the Wings / Beatles debate!
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>> No your right. Shooting him allowed him to become beatified, >>
Do you mean beatlefied?
>> rather than being remembered for the talentless idiot he was.
>>
Harsh, he and Macca wrote a lot of great songs.
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>> Harsh, he and Macca wrote a lot of great songs.
In Hindsight yes its harsh. We owe him a lot
He broke up the Beatles. He has my gratitude for that.
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...Extraordinarily unkind, even for you...
The guy can no longer be taken seriously - he's become a pathetic cypher.
But lest people think he's offended me, I reckon John Lennon was well past his creative best when he was shot.
So in that limited respect, his death may have been no loss.
I say 'may have been', because we can't be sure what Lennon would have come up with, and we might have got that Beatles reunion, which would have had enormous curiosity value, if nothing else.
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>> The guy can no longer be taken seriously - he's become a pathetic cypher.
Alas Iffy your jottings give me credibility.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 6 Jan 11 at 12:38
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...Alas Iffy your jottings give me credibility...
That's for others to decide, but it's not intentional, I assure you.
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The trouble with my little spats with Zero is they tend to stop a thread in its tracks.
So to get this one going again, can someone please post something under here about the blinkin' Electric Light Orchestra?
They were from Birmingham, you know.
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Indeed they are from Birmingham, and have the true Brummie's enthusiasm for Birmingham City - which accounts for Lynne's fondness for slipping the word 'blue' into his titles and lyrics.
I have to confess I'm not keen on much of Lynne's post ELO work. I have - and like - his 1990 solo album Armchair Theatre, but the rest is too much in the Travelin' Wilburys / Tom Petty mode of dominant acoustic guitars. It shows how much of the ELO sound came from Richard Tandy's multilayered keyboard textures and - I suspect - the arranging expertise of Tandy and Louis Clark.
I snapped up Zoom, of course, when it came out, but I really can't get on with it. I do quite like the concert DVD filmed in LA in 2001, and not just because Rosie Vela is more decorative on the high harmonies than Groucutt was in 1978.
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>> Rosie Vela is more decorative on the high harmonies than Groucutt
>> was in 1978.
>>
Maybe. But she'll never match his sideburns.
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"and we might have got that Beatles reunion"
We will get a Beatles reunion. All it'll take is two more bullets.
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Nice relaxin' site this. Now where's me Kevlar vest?
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AFAIAC Supertramp and not a patch on ELO, IMO of course.
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Very long documentary on Tom Petty on BBC 4 (TV) last night, which touched on the Jeff Lynne production and Wilbury albums. Nicely detailed and the kind of programm that multi-channel TV occasionally excels at (as opposed to the more usual shopping channels, porn, etc.).
Surprise surprise, most of the other Heartbreakers were not too keen on their band being interfered with.
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ELO - Badwolf
