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If nothing else, these guys deserve their props from an historical perspective. Another chapter (or perhaps a paragraph) in the incredible volume of modern music. Truth be told, I was never a fan, but that does not negate the fact that left a mark. Perhaps an inspiration for those who followed or if nothing else, an influence. What do you folks think?
From the liner notes:
The Move was one of the great groups of the late 1960's, with a string of hits which remain classics like 'Flowers In The Rain', "Blackberry Way" and 'California Man'. Of the original group, only songwriter, guitarist and lead vocalist Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan remained, when Jeff Lynne got talking to Roy in 1970 and they made plans for a rock band with a string section - an Electric Light Orchestra (ELQ). Lynne agreed to leave The Idle Race, and join The Move as replacement for original vocalist Carl Wayne, but only if the idea of ELO could be pursued. By the end of 1971 , The Move had ceased to work live, as Wood and Lynne planned the new group. ELO's first album was recorded in their spare time, and they played virtually everything on it themselves. '10538 Overture' was going to be a Move track until Wood overdubbed cello parts, and he later called the track "the birth of ELO".
Lynne and Wood shared lead vocals, with Wood playing cello, oboe, guitar, bass, bassoon, clarinet, recorder, etc., while Lynne played piano, guitar, bass, etc., with Bevan on drums plus, French horn player Bill Hunt and violinist Steve Woolam, and this line-up recorded the first ELO LP, which included '10538 Overture'. This track was released as a single in 1972, when it reached the UK Top 10, while the LP also charted in Britoin . The B-side of the single was "1st Movement (Jumping Biz)" , from 'Electric Light Orchestra', the first album, which also included 'Mr. Radio' , 'Look At Me Now', 'Manhattan Rumble (49th Street Massacre)', 'The Battle Of Marstan Moor (July 2nd, 1964)', 'Queen Of The Hours' and 'Whisper In The Night', all included here.
However, after this very promising start, the group's immediate progress ended shortly afterwards, with RoyWood announcing that he was leaving the Band. This was understood to be because of his dissatisfaction with ELO's early live gigs which he felt failed to accurately reproduce the sound of the album. The band had been augmented for stage work by Richard Tandy on boss, two cellists, and a second violinist, but in Wood's view, it was still not satisfactory. Another problem was that Wood, the best known group member, was singled out for media attention. From Lynne's point of view, the group was conceived as a partnership of three equals, he - and Bevan - were being virtually ignored. Lynne had written five tracks on the LP, including the Top 10 single, to Wood's four. As wood would find it easier to get a record deal for a new group than either lynne or Bevan, he left the band, and his subsequent career with Wizzard, The Wizzo Band, Helicopters, etc., plus solo albums was highly successful during the rest of the 1970s.
Without its most famous member, ELO were widely regarded as having no real future, but Jeff lynne had other ideas, in which he was supported by Bev Bevan. New member's were recruited, and the rebuilt group had seven members including Lynne, and Tandy. Jeff lynne was quite capable of writing an album's worth of new songs but before that, a single was released which became one of ElO's best known classics. This was a version of Chuck Berry's 'Roll Over Beethoven', which began with classical trained string section playing the familiar passage from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, before a raucous screaming guitar riff kicked off the main part of the track. The track appeared on the second ElO album, 'ElO 2' in a version lasting over eight minutes, but an edited version, lasting four and a half minutes, was released as a single, and is included here. It reached the UK Top 10 and was also the group's first US Top 50 hit, while its B-side was 'Queen Of The Hours' from the first album.
The second album, released in 1973, was abviously regarded with suspicion by British record buyers, making the UK chart for only one week, but in the US, it stayed in the chart for several months and nearly reached the Top 50. Also included here from EKO 2 are 'In Old England Town (Boogie No.2) and 'Momma'. The next ELO single was a new track: 'Showdown' remains a pop classic, which almost reached The UK Top 10/ US Top 50, and as a special bonus, an early version of the song, then titled 'All Over The World', is also included here. A further bonus is 'My Woman', an early, version of the next ELO hit, 'Ma-Ma-Ma-Belle', which was released in 1974.
During the rest of the 1970s, ElO became one of the biggest acts in the world, before Jeff Lynne went off to be-come a record producer and to join Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty in The Travelin' Wilburys. More
Recently, Bev Bevan and several ex-members of ELO have launched ElO Part 2, a group which keeps the classic ELO sound, although Jeff lynne is not a group member. The music on this album comes from the first two historic and experimental years of ELO's glittering career.
Locating MOG account...
Comments (32)
Having previously praised The Move on my MOG page and explained Roy Wood's crucial role in the founding of Electric Light Orchestra, it's nice to actually hear a track from that first ELO album - the only one that featured him alongside Lynne. Cheers, inrumford!
youve got a lot to say about someone that didnt float your boat, very generous of you my freind. Id have to agree, they paid their dues and I have memories of them at parties and on the radio that evoke nice reminders
I liked the early ELO, starting with ELO II. Have that on vinyl. I have on the Third Day and Eldorado on CD, also A New World Record om vinyl I think (haven't looked at my vinyl collection in some time so not positive what is there. Never heard the first ELO release so thanks for the information and the listen. I recently got The Move's Message from the Country [US Bonus Tracks] as one of my yearly free selections at BMG Music Service. And it was worth every penny,(LOL) but all kidding aside was a pleasant listening experience.
Like wiz, â˜, The Third Day and Eldorado - and probably A New World Record too, are indispensible parts of my musical history. The classical overtones really enriched the first two. And a bit later, when they turned into the "Strange Magic" hit machine, the girls at college were really into it.
Saw them in '76 and it was a hell of a show!! thanks inrum.
I LOVE ELO and almost anything having to do with Jeff Lynne. I think he was and is a massively multi-talented individual (vocalist, guitarist, writer, producer). I've sought out everything he's ever done and will continue to do so until one of us dies. Thanks.
...and I thought I was a bit obsessive... ☺
u r :-)
I can't say I was much of a fan. They had a few good tracks....but I could never forgive their butchering of "In The Hall Of The Mountain King"
Yeah, I wouldn't have picked you to be an ELO guy, and as I inferred, neither was I. However, as I stated, I do appreciate their part in the musical pantheon.
As a life-long fan of ELO, I thank you for the objectivity. it seems they were a band that people either loved or hated, with little "in between." The Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame has repeatedly snubbed Jeff Lynne, despite his later work with the Traveling Wilburys and his skills as a producer of tracks for George Harrison, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison as well as the Beatles' "Real Love."
More than anything, I think the reason people dislike his work is the very reason some of us love it - The glossy production values. Rock "purists" seem to think that less is more when it comes to producing a track. Lynne, by adding strings, backward easter eggs, and overlaid vocals defied that idea. Unfortunately, those production values came to be associated with disco and ELO got lumped into the "disco crap."
I was fortunate enough to see them twice here in Kansas City and their shows were technological wonders as well as musically enjoyable. You've not lived unless you've seen Hugh McDowell play "Flight of the Bumblebee" with his cello flipped over his back!
I have been on a huge ELO kick ever since I picked up the new Skate video game for my PS3. The intro to the game uses All Over the World as the backdrop and it gets you into the game oh so well.
@ konkrypton - guess he'd give Hendrix a run for his money!
@rawk - That would do it!
I just wish it were summer here, I have a knacking to be riding along with the windows down and this song playing rather loud
The first album, titled "No Answer" in the US (by one of those stupid US music industry mistakes), is a very important album for me. There's a discussion of this album on my post http://mog.com/Spike_1/blog/1198112 along with two videos from that period, 10538 and Whisper In The Night, with a haunting vocal by Wood. This was one of those records I always played for people visiting my home. Generally, they hadn't heard it before and were absolutely gobsmacked. ELO did not seem to be a phenomenon here until "Roll Over Beethoven". Their post-Wood stuff was a big let-down for me. I also was not fond of the post-ELO Wood stuff. The planets aligned just right this one time. I recently got a live ELO album, however, which I did enjoy, before it got swallowed up in my record library. So my mind is not totally closed.
Kronk: I sure wish I could have been there for their live show. Playing "Bumble Bee" on the cello has to be a feat in itself, but over his back! (I recall seeing Harry James play that work live on the Dorsey Brothers TV show.) Also, I admired Lynne for his work with Orbison et al but I must admit the pop gloss makes the ELO stuff seem like dance hits. Really though, it's also the danceable beat.
I'm incerting that Whisper In the Night video because the one on my post got withdrawn somehow.
PS: At http://mog.com/Spike_1/blog/1198112 , you also get other stuff, like a video of Frank Zappa playing the bicycle on the Steve Allen Show. His first TV appearance - pre-Mothers, and a discussion of a story by Jonh Ingham about a guy obsessed with The Move before he had even heard the band, on the strength of an influential critic's review.
Super addition to the post Spike 1! Thanks!
My pleasure, Inny. Any time I get to hear 10538 and discuss ELO is a good time for me. Thanks for posting this and getting a whole different crowd of people in on the discussion.
I'll take ELO any time, any place. They are (were) magic. And anything Jeff touches anit too bad either. Mark, do you have Jeff Lynnes solo disc Armchair Theatre to post a few tracks?
I was not aware of the background of ELO, and really only knew their poppy 70s vaguely disco stuff, so I was not a big fan til recently. Thanks for the backstory.
Mog's own neilnathan's cover of ELOs "Do Ya" was used to good effect in a closing scene from an episode of Californication earlier this year.
Here's the whole song:
A whole different feeling. Very nice.
Oh. Almost forgot what I was going to point out. Doesn't Showdown remind you of Heard It Through the Grapevine?
spike, i gotta say - your avatar pic looks like you are standing in a police lineup! Don't know why I felt compelled to mention that unless of course it's true :-)
Love that cover of Do Ya - great vocal
I guess I'm busted. I guess we all cannot have such artsy pics as some people. Your action shot is really classy. Actually, that's the siding on my garage.
Don't take it the wrong way, just an observation :-)
My harem appreciates your kind words in referencing the photo they took of me and have offered to do the same for you should you desire.
God, I hate being so late....but then again, that's what I get for getting days off.....I have to frequently be the outcast saying, "hey you guys, wait up!!"
Somewhere in between Mark and Dharmachris is how I feel about ELO.
While certainly never obsessed, and not having been familiar with their really early stuff, I loved a lot of their songs from when I was in elementary school (but even then I felt that "Don't Bring Me Down" was, uh......cheesy).
Later, when my son was a toddler (it might make a difference to know that I had him when I was 18) and into HIS elementary school days, I played lots of mixed cassettes and then CDs, some of which included ELO songs.
I love when generations can appreciate passed down.....pasts? Cherished music, anyway. HE came to love songs from said CDs such as "Mr. Blue Sky" and Living Ting and a few more, you get my point!!
Too much coffe rt. now, and SO many MOG posts to look at!!
"Too much coffe rt. now, and SO many MOG posts to look at!"
The price of being a slacker. :-)
How true....and I didn't even take the time to edit my comment! ;)
the beauty of the english lanquage - if you've grown up with it, there is not much you don't understand.
they deserve props for their hair. and i have always loved them. mr. blue sky is my go-to song for sad days.
I must say: The music of my generation was much more different from my parents' than my children's is from mine. When I was growing up in the 50s, rock n' roll was new and you could hear someone on TV saying, "That's not music." I'm pleased as pigs in shit that I can share music with my own children. Kids at my school wear tee shirts with Led Zep, Stones, Beatles, etc. We had a Jamfest Friday and the most popular band was a local unit that played mostly Dead. A few years ago a custodian, another teacher and I put on a hootenanny for the elementary school and the kids not only loved it, they could sing all of the old songs.
how cool is that!
Just "refound" this post and thoroughly enjoyed some of the subsequent comments with music, esp. the vid of "Whisper In the Night." What's with Roy Wood's hair and beard, he looks like Merlin?