| Band
Members: |
Jeff Lynne Bass, Percussion, Piano,
Guitar, Vocals |
Roy Wood Guitar, Bass, Clarinet,
Percussion, Bassoon, Cello, Oboe, Recorder, Vocals, Slide Guitar |
| The
Review |
Clearly, ELO was a progressive band, although most people
never looked upon them as that because of their long run on
the pop charts. They had it all going for them-a unique brand
of rock music with parts of an orchestra mixed in and a singer/songwriter/guitar
player on level with the best in the world. And to put the
proverbial icing on the cake, they made a universal mixture
of music that anyone could relate to and it still stands up
very well today. Even though ELO had all of this and more,
they were underrated. I feel their contributions to recorded
music were peerless. Perhaps looking back now, we can all
realize just how far ahead of their time they really were.
And with advent of these marvelous reissues, we can hear it
all better than ever and reconfirm why ELO was one of the
greatest bands to record orchestrated rock music.
In the early years of ELO when Roy Wood teamed with Lynne,
the band sounded very different, as No Answer and ELO II clearly
illustrate. These are good recordings and a fine testament
to the development of the band's future nucleus. The foundation
was there for a great future but Wood split to form Wizard.
This was a blessing in disguise for Lynne as he was able to
take control of his destiny by working towards the sound he
envisioned all along. This classic ELO sound was finally realized
on Eldorado then subsequent recordings Face The Music and
A New World Record. These three recordings were the apex of
the ELO output. Face The Music is my personal favorite and
"Fire On High" has one of the most memorable riffs I have
ever heard. To this day, you can hear those instantly recognizable
hook filled chords on TV commercials and programs.
Every CD comes packed with bonus tracks and booklets that
have archival photos and an overview of what was going on
with the band at the time. If you listen to the CDs in order
and read the booklets, it serves as a good history of the
band and helps you to understand how things unfolded over
the years. The sound is excellent, as most remastered albums
are these days. Epic/Legacy obviously gets it, if you are
going to remaster a band's catalog you have to offer the listeners
a little something extra besides a cleaner sound if you expect
them to reach for their wallets again. For those that already
have the albums on CD, this is worth looking into for the
sound quality, and bonus tracks. On New World Record, the
bonus tracks are exceptionally intriguing. Out of the five
reissues, this album offers the best bonus tracks. "Surrender"
is great tune, it sounds good enough to be a hit single today,
and the early instrumental mixes of "Tightrope" and "Telephone
Line" are very cool as well.
There are plenty of reasons to get these reissues if you
are a longtime fan, and if you are looking for an introduction
to the band, there is a lot more than the greatest hits packages
available. These albums dive deep into the history of ELO
and give a wonderful overview of a band that made groundbreaking
music that still sounds fresh and distinctive to this day.
© Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck-http://www.muzikreviews.com
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