Live at Wembley '78

AMG Review of Live at Wembley '78

Bruce Eder
All Music Guide

To some, the notion of an Electric Light Orchestra concert was a contradiction in terms. The band's music was built so heavily on studio-generated effects, multiple overdubs, and (very obviously) countless retakes, that the idea of doing the music in concert seemed superfluous. But many audiences obviously felt differently, to judge from ELO's attendance figures in the late '70s, and the group evidently did put on a good show, although Jeff Lynne is on record as not liking live albums. However, that hasn't stopped a few from turning up over the years, including Live at Wembley 1978. This show, from the tour behind the Out of the Blue album, is amazingly energetic and presents reasonably bracing renditions of 13 songs, ranging from "Standin' in the Rain" (which doesn't come off too well); to "Turn to Stone" and "Tightrope" (which do); to "Telephone Line," "Livin' Thing," and "Do Ya" from A New World Record; to "Showdown" and "Roll Over Beethoven." The sound has the usual balance problems associated with live albums, which even the inevitable sweetening in the studio doesn't solve, but overall the CD does make a good compromise between the vast sound canvas painted by the group in the studio and the immediacy of live performance. Lynne is in good voice and, even playing in the arena setting, his guitar and the rest of the band generate a big enough sound to envelop the listener without becoming incomprehensible (though one does suspect that some of the instruments -- especially the piano -- have been punched up in the mix, if not actually re-recorded after the fact). Not all of it works -- "Mr. Blue Sky" comes off as rather loud and tuneless in this setting, and Lynne's singing is a bit flat on "Livin' Thing" -- but "Do Ya," with much more heavily ornamented guitar from Lynne, is preferable in its incarnation here to the studio original on A New World Record. Assuming that one gives ELO the benefit of the doubt, it's nice to know that the band could really pull these songs off decently in concert -- even the pounding "Rockaria" and the alternately crunchy and soaring "Sweet Talkin' Woman."