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Electric Light Orchestra

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File:ELO Logo.JPG
The ELO Logo as seen on numerous music covers

Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) is without question the greatest musical group that ever walked the earth. Some groups have tried to capture the disco magic of ELO, but all have failed miserable. All musicians must bow down to these bad motherfuckers.

History

The band, formed by Jeff Lynne (of The Idle Race) with Roy Wood and Bev Bevan (the remaining members of The Move) in 1971, used cellos and violins to give their music a "classical" sound. Roy Wood left ELO shortly after the release of their eponymously-titled first album (which produced the UK hit "10538 Overture") and Jeff Lynne stepped up to lead the band (the first album was released with the mistaken title of No Answer in the USA, due to a mix-up with an uncompleted telephone call to the American label and subsequent secretarial message). [1]

The band went through a line-up change (as Wood took some musicians with him to form Wizzard), including a new keyboardist, Richard Tandy, and released ELO II in 1973, from which came their first U.S. chart hit, a hugely elaborate cover of the Chuck Berry classic "Roll Over Beethoven". They also released On The Third Day in 1973, and Eldorado in 1974, scoring another U.S. Top 40 hit with "Can't Get It Out Of My Head".

In 1975, bassist and vocalist Kelly Groucutt joined, and Face The Music was released, from which the major singles were "Evil Woman" and "Strange Magic", marking a shift to a more "radio friendly" sound. From the same album, the instrumental "Fire on High," with its mix of strings and blazing acoustic guitars, saw heavy exposure as background music on CBS Sports Spectacular montages, though most viewers had no idea of the song's origins. The multi-platinum album A New World Record was released in 1976 with hits such as "Livin' Thing" (remade by The Beautiful South in 2004), a re-release of The Move's "Do Ya", and "Telephone Line". The songs "Livin' Thing" and "Telephone Line" were prominently featured in the films Boogie Nights and Billy Madison, respectively.

That was followed by the double album Out Of The Blue, featuring the singles "Turn To Stone", "Sweet Talkin' Woman", and "Mr. Blue Sky". The band then set out on a world tour, with an enormous (and hugely expensive) space ship set in tow.

In 1979, Lynne set out to capitalize on the growing popularity of disco with the album Discovery (or "Disco very" as he has been quoted). The album generated their biggest hit "Don't Bring Me Down" (the first ELO track not to feature strings), along with "Shine A Little Love" (sampled in 2005 by Lovefreekz) and "Last Train To London" (sampled in 2003 by Atomic Kitten on their hit "Be With You"). Not long after this album, the violinist Mik Kaminski and the two cellists Hugh McDowell and Melvyn Gale were considered surplus to requirements and dismissed.

Soon after, ELO was enlisted to provide half of the soundtrack for the musical film Xanadu, the other half provided by Olivia Newton-John, who starred in the movie along with Gene Kelly. The movie bombed but the soundtrack did very well, with hit singles from both Newton-John ("Magic", #1 in the U.S.) and ELO ("I'm Alive" and "All Over the World") as well as the title track to the movie, performed by Newton-John with ELO which reached #1 in the UK single charts and #8 on the U.S. Billboard top 40 chart.

In 1981, ELO's sound changed again, moving away from disco and into the 1980s, with the science-fiction concept album Time (single: "Hold On Tight","Twilight") on which synthesizers replaced classical strings. Following this, their popularity began to wane.

Secret Messages was released in 1983, with a guest appearance by former ELO violinist Mik Kaminski on the track "Rock 'n' Roll Is King"; this was the only hit single taken from this album. Secret Messages was originally recorded as a double album; however, the record company had different ideas, citing that it would be too expensive. Some of the songs that didn't survive the hatchet job cropped up as single B-sides and on later box sets; however, the tribute song "Beatles Forever" is still unavailable. It has been reported that Jeff Lynne is embarrassed by this song, hence its unavailability. Shortly after this album Kelly Groucutt was dismissed from the band, and subsequently sued Jeff Lynne for royalty fees.

By 1986, ELO was reduced to a three-piece band. They released their final album, Balance Of Power (singles: "Calling America", "So Serious"), which was all synthesizers and no strings, before going their separate ways.

Electric Light Orchestra, Part II

Without Lynne's approval or permission, former ELO drummer Bev Bevan formed "Electric Light Orchestra, Part II" 1990, releasing an album that went straight to the bargain bins. Though offended by the unauthorized use of the band name, Lynne decided that the expense of a court battle was not worth the effort, and so Bevan's venture continued. A second album, Moment Of Truth, was released in 1994. The quality of music produced by Part II, compared with the original ELO, is a bone of contention amongst fans. Many fans conclude that without Jeff Lynne at the helm, it is not ELO.

It was revealed through later interviews that Jeff Lynne did not particularly enjoy touring and preferred the confines and experimental nature of studio production to capture a distinct sound. The touring ELO act of the 70's was a visual extravaganza due to the elaborate spaceship sets, but the music was weak, with taped backing tracks providing most of the orchestral riffs the band was famous for.

ELO Part II remedied this problem by playing with a full symphony orchestra on many dates providing the massive, undistorted "wall of sound" which was lost during the arena shows of ELO's heyday. While the two studio records produced by ELO Part II may fall short Lynne's pop genius, the live shows provided by the band far outshined the musicianship of the "spaceship" era ELO as best heard on the "One Night, Live in Australia" CD which has been remixed, remastered, and re-released under so many guises that the original CD may prove difficult to acquire.

ELO Part II first consisted of Bev Bevan, Mik Kaminski, Hugh MacDowell, Kelly Groucutt, Eric Troyer, Phil Bates, and Louis Clark. Cellis MacDowell left the group shortly after recording a live album with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. Phil Bates (of "Trickster") remained with the band until the mid 1990's and was replaced by Parthenon Huxley. In November of 1999, Bev Bevan played his last show with the band at the Sands hotel in Atlantic City. The group reformed under the name "The Orchestra" with drummer Gordon Townsend.

As of 2005, the Orchestra has released an extremely limited amount of their CD "No Rewind" which was produced and released without involvement from a major record label. The album contains the Orchestra's best known non-ELO song, "Over London Skies" and a cover of "Twist and Shout" which begins in a slow, plaintive minor key with arpeggiated chords before building to the familiar, rocking major progression. The band continues to tour albeit irregularly in the United Kingdom, India, Spain, Brazil, and occasionally the United States.

Release of a live DVD from a show in Reno, Nevada is pending.

Re-forming Electric Light Orchestra

Jeff Lynne's comeback with ELO started in 2001 when he reformed the band with completely new members and released the album Zoom. Former ELO member Richard Tandy rejoined the band a short time afterwards for a tour that was unfortunately cut short due to poor ticket sales. A superb DVD of the opening concert was released in the wake of the aborted tour. Zoom was made after Lynne had collaborated with The Traveling Wilburys and took on a more organic sound, with less emphasis on strings and electronic effects. Guest musicians included former Beatles Ringo Starr and George Harrison.

In 2003 and 2004, ELO's song "Mr. Blue Sky" enjoyed a resurgence. It appeared in a commercial for the Volkswagen Beetle convertible, was featured as a song sung by the main characters in the movie adaptation of The Magic Roundabout and was used in the trailers for the films Adaptation. and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. "Mr. Blue Sky" was also the theme song of the television series, LAX. In 2005, ELO's song "Hold On Tight" was used in an Ameriquest commercial. "Do Ya" has been used in a Monster.com commercial and also in trailers for the movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Additionally, "Twilight" from Time was used as the theme song for the popular Japanese TV series Densha Otoko and in the opening of the 1983 Japanese sci-fi convention Daicon IV. JCPenney used "Livin' Thing" in its 2005 Christmas commercials and the TV Comedy My Name Is Earl used "Livin' Thing" in 2005 for the episode "Quit Smoking".

ELO's latest release is a remastered compilation, All Over The World: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra.

Electric Light Orchestra band members

Discography

Studio albums

  1. Electric Light Orchestra (1971) - released in the US as No Answer (1972)
  2. Electric Light Orchestra II (1973)
  3. On The Third Day (1973)
  4. Eldorado (1974)
  5. Face the Music (1975)
  6. A New World Record (1976)
  7. Out of the Blue (1977)
  8. Discovery (1979)
  9. Xanadu (1980)
  10. Time (1981)
  11. Secret Messages (1983)
  12. Balance of Power (1986)
  13. Zoom (2001)

Live album

  1. The Night The Light Went On (In Long Beach) (May 12, 1974)

Reissues

Compilation albums

Singles and highest chart positions (US)

From Electric Light Orchestra II:

  • "Roll Over Beethoven" (1973); #72

From On the Third Day:

  • "Showdown" (1973); #59
  • "Daybreaker" (1973); #87

From Eldorado:

  • "Can't Get It Out Of My Head" (1974); #9

From Face the Music:

  • "Evil Woman" (1975); #10
  • "Strange Magic" (1975); #14

From A New World Record:

From Out of the Blue:

  • "Turn to Stone" (1977); #13
  • "It's Over" (1977); #75
  • "Sweet Talkin' Woman" (1977); #17
  • "Mr. Blue Sky" (1977); #35

From Discovery:

  • "Shine a Little Love" (1979); #8
  • "Confusion" (1979); #37
  • "Last Train to London" (1979); #39
  • "Don't Bring Me Down" (1979); #4

From Xanadu:

  • "All Over the World" (1980); #13
  • "I'm Alive" (1980); #16
  • "Xanadu" (1980); #8

From Time:

  • "Twilight" (1981); #38
  • "Hold On Tight" (1981); #10

From Secret Messages:

  • "Four Little Diamonds" (1983); #86
  • "Rock and Roll is King" (1983); #19

From Balance of Power:

  • "Calling America" (1986); #18

Electric Light Orchestra, Part II

Band members

  • Bev Bevan - percussion, vocals (1988–1999)
  • Kelly Groucutt - bass guitar, vocals (1988–1999)
  • Mik Kaminski - violin (1988–1999)
  • Eric Troyer - keyboards, vocals, guitar (1988–1999)

Discography


See also

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