The first 5 records of this unique group, driven by the production and songwriting genious of Jeff Lynne were among my favorite vinyl growing up. "Out of the Blue," after that, was also great. I'll never forget them arriving at the L.A. Collesium in a 'space ship' in the late 70s, once landed, out came E.L.O. Here is the Electric Light Orchestra's discography up to 1990, exlcuding re-issues and box sets (except Afterglow,) since then, in order. Click each cover to pop up a bigger version of each album.
Afterglow
by Ira RobbinsNOTE: The following is reprinted from the booklet that accompanies the ELO "Afterglow" box set.
The Electric Light Orchestra, for most people, exists as a memorable collection of hit singles, carefully crafted production numbers that defined an entire rock genre in the 1970s. But beyond the familiar radio staples and the amusing image of cellists dodging lasers on enormous stages, ELO created a unique, often fascinating, set of albums, an influential accommodation between commercial and progressive instincts that experimentally blended rock and pop with classical and strings. Besides landing 19 singles and 10 albums in the American Top 40—thereby qualifying as one of the rock era's 100 top chart artists—ELO substantially expanded music's boundaries. Unlike many of his artisti- cally ambitious peers, Orchestra leader Jeff Lynne, an unabashed Beatlemaniac, remained unwaveringly true to the band's pop focus. ELO's early work met with little success, but Lynne stuck to his guns, patiently awaiting the mainstream's discovery of ELO. Then he worked new angles and developed its potential, never forgetting the basic stylistic parameters.
Once the group became widely popular, critics took to criticizing the music as pretentious and overblown. But for every album track that might have run on a bit, there were several instantly catchy tunes with unmistakably irresistible hooks, concise four-minute marvels glowing with craft. While some of those made an art of unabashed commercialism, others took bold chances, challenging the status quo with visionary courage. Live, a mixture of pomp and silliness made seeing ELO a unique treat. Fame brought such accoutrements as lasers and a huge flying saucer in which the group performed, putting a science-fiction twist onto neo-classicism. Lynne remained as far from the spotlight as someone in his position could, declining interviews, living quietly, and spending as much time as possible in recording studios. Despite such disinclination to work at stardom, Lynne's unerring pop instincts, and a passion for creating music of quality and distinction, carried him from amateur recordings done in the front room of his parents' house to the pinnacle of interna- tional rock superstardom.
If not quite up to Liverpudlian standards as one of England's musical hotbeds, Birmingham certainly had an important and vital local rock scene in the early 1960s. Largely overlooked by the nation's record business and music press, a small but talented gene pool of musicians formed and reformed itself into an ever- shifting assortment of bands, including Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders, Denny Laine and the Diplomats, Carl Wayne and the Vikings, the Spencer Davis Group, and the Avengers. These now-obscure ensembles ultimately transmuted into such internationally respected stars as the Moody Blues, Traffic, and the Move.
The Moody Blues first put the industrial city located 100 miles northwest of London on the global rock map at the end of 1964 with the release of their second single, "Go Now." A year later, five refugees from a number of groups united to form the Move. Given the chance, Roy Wood (guitar, vocals), Bev Bevan (drums, vocals), Carl Wayne (vocals), Trevor Burton (guitar, bass, vocals), and Ace Kefford (bass, guitar, vocals) began producing a series of brilliant singles that mixed an intensely commercial pop sensibility with wildly imaginative musical styles and seemingly acid-washed lyrics ("I Can Hear The Grass Grow," "Fire Brigade").
The Move's 1966 debut single, "Night Of Fear," au- daciously employed cellos and a bit of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture"; "Cherry Blossom Clinic," on the band's first album, has a rocking brass and string arrangement by Tony Visconti. Strings, horns, and woodwinds crop up throughout the Move's catalogue. The Move (like other British groups of the time) made extraordinarily diverse records, blithely testing out psychedelia, sappy pop, neoclassical, doo-wop, folk-rock, thundering heaviness, sitars, Eddie Cochran tunes, and more.
Shortly after the Move's formation, another local musical career got underway when Birmingham guitarist/singer Jeff Lynne joined the band Wood had exited. It was a dream come true for the young rocker. "Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders were the first group I ever saw play. They were my favorite group," says Lynne. "They used to play at the community center near where I lived. I used to hang about after the show and the lead guitarist, Big Al, would show me riffs." One single later, the Nightriders (no longer under Mike Sheridan's leadership) became the Idle Race, and the talented 18-year-old got his first chance to flex some creative muscle. Besides an aptitude for writing and performing in a skillful post-Beatles idiom, Lynne demonstrated the first signs of a lifelong fascination with studio technique.
Lynne's now-prominent career as a record producer began in a small way with the Idle Race. Move associate Gerald Chevin and Eddie Offord, who later produced Yes, allowed the young techie to "sort of co-produce" the 1968 debut, The Birthday Party. "I didn't know anything about it, really, but I pretended I did," Lynne Explains. "the next album I said 'I'm the producer,' and the record company said okay." Two decades later Lynne still sounds suprised. "I realize now how little I knew then," he laughs.
The Birthday Party, one of those rare collectors' items that is actually well worth hearing, is a delightfully Beatlesque affair that closely resembles the Move in spots. What's more, it contains numerous sonic previews of Lynne's future with the Electric Light Orchestra: a brief symphonic rendition of "Happy Birthday," strings on two songs, Lynne's unmistakable melodic style, and other now-familiar production signatures.
Recalling the roots of his fascination with strings five years later, Lynne told the English music weekly Melody Maker, "I've wanted to work with strings ever since a bunch of session musicians came in to do an Idle Race track. I couldn't believe what these guys were doing to my song! It sounded completely different."
Despite the two groups' unequal levels of success, members of the Move and the Idle Race became quite friendly. Wood sang harmony on the Idle Race's 1967 cover of his "(Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree" and used Lynne's Bang & Olufsen sound-on-sound tape deck - then still located at his parents' house - to record the demo for "Blackberry Way," Lynne was invited to replace Trevor Burton in The Move in 1969, but declined, preferring the freedom of his own little group. The job instead went to Rick Price of Sight and Sound, a Birmingham outfit that later employed a bassist named Michael Groucutt. Despite his decision, Lynne wasn't entirely disinterested in the Move. Profoundly influenced by The Beatles - especially George Martin's string arrangements on "I Am The Walrus" and "Strawberry Fields Forever"—he was nurturing a dream, and he wasn't alone. "Roy Wood and I used to go down to the pub together," says Lynne. "The Move were a big famous group, but he still lived in Birmingham, about a mile away from me. About 1969, we started talking about what it would be like to have strings in a group."
Pseudo-rockers singing to the accompaniment of studio orchestras were by no means foreigners to the pop charts. By 1969, such groups as Procol Harum ("A Whiter Shade Of Pale" dated from mid-'67), the Moody Blues, the Nice, and even Deep Purple had experiment-, ed with classical music elements. But the idea of a performing rock group actually including string players was—with an acknowledgment to thejuilliard-educat- ed New York Rock & Roll Ensemble—still a novel concept. With the beloved Beatles' sound echoing in their heads, Lynne and Wood separately contemplated the possibilities.
In 1970, the Move's chronic personnel instability — specifically Carl Wayne's departure—gave Lynne a second opportunity to join. This time he said yes, making his first Move contribution to the earthshaking "Brontosaurus" single. Despite appearances, his motive for signing on had little to do with fame and fortune and everything to do with joining Wood in a successful venture that provided the resources to develop their experiment. Lynne's arrival actually bolstered the Move's musical output, but both men viewed the group as little more than a launching pad for their new project. They formulated a strategy: develop a separate group with overlapping members. The Move would cease touring but continue recording and performing on television. (continued ...)
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