Hey Boy Blue Is Back - Otis Goes Solo (Zoom - Electric Light Orchestra)

Member Name: Newfloridian

Product:	Zoom - Electric Light Orchestra
Date:	22/10/03 (129 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant sounds, virtuoso performance, great Jeff Lynne songs

Disadvantages: What constitutes a band anyway?

After an absence of fifteen years a new album by Electric Light Orchestra is a welcome and delightful surprise. Well I remember those high powered albums of the 70s combining elements of rock with lush classical backings and the spectacular light and sound live shows. I was fortunate to be in the front row at their Newcastle City Hall concert. When a US arena tour was announced I had visions of a full blown reunion tour (after all both Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles have managed it) and I was planning my flights to join in. This was a CD I had to buy ? sound unheard. My initial reaction was that this is a brilliant collection of songs, superbly performed and engineered. The album runs for 43 minutes.

As I got immersed in the tracks it became apparent that there was more to this album than initially meets the eye (ear?!). As always the songs are all written by Jeff Lynne who is also the producer. ELO was typically a four piece rock band (Lynne, Bev Bevan, Richard Tandy and Kelly Groucutt) with classically trained string players (electric violin - Mik Kiminski and cellos - Melvyn Gale, Hugh McDowell) added. So what is the dramatis personae here?

Jeff Lynne provides (on various tracks): Lead vocals, Backing vocals, Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Piano, Keyboards, Bass, Drums, Cello. He also shows a much wider range of vocal styles than on previous ELO albums. He has ?special guest stars?: Ringo Starr plays drums on two tracks, George Harrison plays slide guitar on two tracks and Richard Tandy plays electric piano on one track.

The running order is:

Alright
Moment in Paradise
State Of Mind
Just For Love
Stranger On A Quiet Street
In My Own Time
Easy Money
It Really Doesn?t Matter
Ordinary Dream
A Long Time Gone
Melting In The Sun
All She Wanted
Lonesome Lullaby.

?Alright? is a fairly slow paced rocker and was released as the debut single.

?Moment in Paradise? is my particu
lar favourite reminding me of laid back Summer afternoons of the mid 60s ? the chorus could easily have been written by The Kinks

?State of Mind? is a magical meld of several influences. Listen to the background guitar riffs (?Lucille? ? Everley Brothers or ?Oh Pretty Woman? ? Roy Orbison (Lefty Wilbury) mixed with a modern fast vocal refrain and a classical ELO backing. Unexpected maybe but it works!

?In My Own Time? is a lush blues number from the early 1960s. The string accompaniment could have done justice to Brook Benton and the piano, Floyd Cramer?s ?Last Date?.

?Easy Money? is a straight reworking of ?Let?s Have a Party? (various including Elvis).

?It Really Doesn?t Matter At All? hints of Travelling Wilburys. ?Melting In The Sun? could have come from Dylan or Tom Petty.

Tracks which are highly typical and reminiscent of ELO at their best (?Out Of The Blue? and ?Discovery?) are ?Just For Love?, ?Stranger On A Quiet Street?, ?Ordinary Dream?

The plot thickens when you consider the history of ELO. The break up when it came appears to have been quite acrimonious. Jeff Lynne went on to record production, including collaboration with members of The Beatles. Various remaining members of the band wanted to continue touring and after a variety of legal battles persisted with the name ELO Part II.

As Otis Wilbury, Jeff was also instrumental in putting together, writing the music for and producing the eponymous album ?The Travelling Wilburys? along with his county cousin Nelson (George Harrison). It was an amalgam of their various styles and there are tracks where the distinctive ELO sound was in evidence. The other members on that first album were Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty.

The ELO arena tour was announced in June 2001 and included 25 dates in the US during September and October. On August 16th 2001, the tour was cancelled with a management statement that read: ?ELO wanted to put on
a grand spectacle with a massive stage and light show that the group is known for and that?s just not logistically or economically possible in this marketplace at this time.?

The sales of ?Zoom? were also disappointing. It entered the Billboard 200 album chart at 94 and then dropped out again after two weeks. By mid August 2001, sales were said to be about 52,000.

At the same time, another tour was announced here in the UK. Going under the name of ?Orchestra?, the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra were joined by former members of ELO and ELO Part II (Kelly Groucutt, Eric Troyer, Parthenon Huxley, Mik Kiminski and Gordon Townsend were cited at the time) to ?take you on a roaring supersonic flight through the glittering galaxy of the ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA?s greatest hits?. The orchestra was conducted by Louis Clark (who also conducted and arranged the strings on many of ELO?s best albums).

Overall this album is on a par with the best that ELO had to offer. It also compares well with the Travelling Wilburys. It would be a great pity if Jeff Lynne has made the mistake of exercising his intellectual property rights in calling ?Zoom? an ELO album. Clearly it is not; any more than Don Henley could call himself ?The Eagles? or Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks ? Fleetwood Mac. In some respects ?Otis Goes Solo? would have reflected the pedigree of this album better and it is also somewhat ironic that it was nearly Nelson?s (George Harrison?s) last foray into the world of rock. It is mainly through the agencies of Otis that Nelson?s valedictory album (?Brainwashed?) was completed and released.

I am so sorry that ?Zoom? does not hold promise the worldwide tour of reunited ELO. Now that would have been something worth waiting for. Maybe old enmities are just too deeply entrenched for that. This tragedy is really reinforced because a DVD of the inaugural concert (filmed at CBS Television City Studios in Los Angeles) was released in earl
y 2002. Although it was also entitled ?Zoom? it was a tribute to the many hits of ELO over the years and the 22 tracks included such notables as Mr Blue Sky, Evil Woman and Roll Over Beethoven. Five tracks from the album are included. The quality of the performance, the performers (which did include Richard Tandy on keyboards), the sound quality and the visuals are impeccable. There is a bonus track on the DVD which features an illuminating interview with Jeff Lynne. Mine is a region 1 DVD but I have no reason to assume that the UK release is any different.

ZOOM (2001) Electric Light Orchestra. CD EPIC EK85336 (£11.99)
ZOOM CONCERT TOUR (2001) ELO DVD IMAGE ID1334DDDVD (£18.99)

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