I like them all. Consistent band, and there are many candidates for favourite, dependent on mood. The three that are currently getting the most regular plays are: . Face The Music . Secret Messages . Balance Of Power
Secret Messages is an album i never knew. But i found a cheap CD and it sounded fab in the car! The title track is as good a hit as he made. And i always take a second look at Balance of Power every time i come across the used LP. I need to know it.
From 1975 to 1978 Jeff Lynn created his best music in my opinion. It is unfortunate that those albums sound very muffled and the drums sound is not great. Hopefully someone can remix it in the near future.
Balance Of Power is continues the trend of stripping down the sound so a lot of fans dismiss it as a de facto Jeff Lynne solo record. The songs are great though.
On The Third Day (1973) I bought it when it was released based on a review. In hindsight I now can tell that that wasn't a review, it was a PR piece. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the album. But didn't feel the need to buy more (and money was in very short supply so every record I got was an extremely considered decision). I didn't particularly like the direction they took when they were becoming commercially successful, but I don't begrudge a band's success and livelihood. The cover artwork always annoyed me. Nothing special about the design, it's quite ordinary in fact. But rather than Jeff Lynne's face floating in the universe above the planet, it looks more like a photo of him placed on the album, because there is a very noticeably different black inside the square framing of the portrait compared to the pure black surrounding it. It's sloppy graphic design work, no excuse can be made for it.
It was the end. And I notice by the credits they had dispensed w Kaminski who on the previous Secret Messages was still a fourth member.
That's right. It's a shame but I'm not sure Mik's style would have fit well with the slim-line sound, Jeff was obviously going for at that point.
1. Out of the Blue 2. No Answer/ELO 3. A New World Record the last 4 (listed here) are easily my least favorite.
I'm pretty sure the US record company saw the UK cover photo and immediately thought, "No, we can't do that here, or the religious people will freak out." The image obviously casts Jeff as God creating the Earth on the third day (Genesis 1:9–13).
As technology advanced, Jeff needed less and less people around him. Bev was reduced, Richard was reduced in many ways to writing code blah blah blah on the now archaic Oberheim machines. And after BOP, if people will be honest about it, Richard didn't do a heck of a lot on any Lynne record.
Jeff ultimately preferred to be a one-man band. Heck, he even re-recorded their greatest hits all by his lonesome! So now whenever anybody hears the newer greatest hits they’re no longer hearing any of the old band. The lads. The band, man. The one that made their greatest records and played those great big shows. Taped over for the future. Erased.
Both are really good albums. They may be past the peak of the band but there’s loads of good music on them.
1. Time 2. Xanadu 3.1. Discovery 3.A. A New World Record I love songs from every ELO album, and Jeff's solo LPs too. Originally I'd never heard On The Third Day, until the remastered CD came out - now it's in my top 10 for sure. Nowadays it seems the more influential music Jeff made is the electronically-tinged stuff - like Time and Xanadu. In fact I'm a fan of the Aussie electronic group Cut Copy. Their brilliant second album 'In Ghost Colours' is highly influenced by ELO's Time. Just check out the first track, Feel The Love:
And it was long after the original run which is what i based the survey on. Those recent ELO solo Jeff albums are kinda outside the story in a way.
The Electric Light Orchestra (1971) - Not exactly chocked full of party bangers but has a quirky charm of it's own. Eldorado (1974) - This isn't chocked full of bangers either but is their most fully realised album for me, it all flows wonderfully well from start to finish. Out Of The Blue (1977) - Sorta chocked full of bangers, and I sometimes wish it was condensed to a single album as it would have been incredible, but nonetheless a terrific album. I like them all from the debut album to Out Of The Blue (with the exception of the limited release which I haven't heard and know nothing about). ELO 2 is probably my least fave of those. Could easily have chosen On The Third Day or A New World Record instead of Out Of The Blue. Face The Music is great too but a little less successfully put together than Eldorado imo. Discovery has a couple of good tracks but overall isn't so much to my tastes and I tried a sampler of Time but the 80's production turned me right off. Have no idea what the other ones are like. It was interesting to (in the past few days) listen to the albums in full again for the first time since the 70's. I was a young fan but being young meant that there was a lot of other music to discover and get into as the years rolled by. Great to hear them all again.
A fair-to-middling fan here. I've had several compilations. This was the keeper. 2003 The Essential Electric Light Orchestra
I really dislike 80s production. I actually abhor it in many instances. But i like the way Time sounds. It’s a great record. My favourite. And Secret Messages isn’t terrible either. Jeff Lynne sounding like Jeff Lynne outweighs any obvious 80s for me. He’s too good a producer to let the trends of the day ruin his work. Until Balance Of Power. But i really can’t say because i haven’t gone there yet.
