ALBUM REVIEW: ELO - The Electric Light Orchestra

    ELO, or The Electric Light Orchestra for proper people, as we know them were formed out of an older group called The Move, headed by Roy Wood - his idea came in 1968 to form a group centered around cellos, violins, and other classical instruments as a means to "pick up where The Beatles left off." Another Birmingham musician by the name of Jeff Lynne picked up on Roy's idea and was excited by it. Lynne was asked to join The Move, but only joined after lead vocalist Carl Wayne quit the group, and soon enough the two's vision came to light with a new song named "10538 Overture," the first song from The Electric Light Orchestra. As these things usually do, a debut record followed, and if you're expecting the same pop highlights of their later work, well I've got a surprise for you. The Electric Light Orchestra is a pretty so-so album, not offensive to the ears by any means, but you'll be lucky if you remember anything by the time the groove runs out.

    I can give ELO some credit - from their first album, it's pretty clear that they knew what they wanted to do, and it works. The music certainly has the energy and rock style, but the focus is all on the cellos, the violins, the strings and woodwinds. Their vision comes through best on "10538 Overture," no doubt, with it's palpable energy, rising and falling chaos, and a driving rock riff through it all. Jeff Lynne is also a very good singer, and his clean vocals are a strong aspect of why the song works so well - something about his tone suits the large sound of the music. Only one other song on this debut really "works" in my mind, and it's the suspenseful "Mr. Radio," which bounces and powers through many movements to create an undoubtedly smooth listening experience. A friend of mine highlights the closing track "Whisper in the Night" as a highlight, and while I thought it was a rather flat way to end the album, they are also a bigger ELO fan than I am, so take my criticism with a grain of salt - maybe there's some hidden genius I'm missing.

    Now what about the rest of the record? Most of it is par for the course with what I've already mentioned - a pretty well-produced, clean melding of classical ideas with rock sensibility. Not too bad, but remember: this album is 9 songs and 40 minutes. Yep, unfortunately this album suffers from the dreaded Wild Life Syndrome (or WLS). I think it's bad enough when you have a good song that is marred down by being overly long - see "Nellie Takes Her Bow" for a taste of that - but some of these ideas don't even sound that great to begin with. Take for instance "Battle of Marston Moore," an instrumental that definitely contains strings, drums, and also a prominent didgeridoo solo halfway through; you're probably thinking that last factoid isn't true, but chances are you don't remember the song enough to know for sure. The second half of the LP doesn't suffer from this issue nearly as bad, but at the same time these cause the songs to swirl and congeal with each other, so good luck telling the difference between "1st Movement" and "Manhattan Rumble."

     Truth is, while the concept of ELO is interesting and their execution is fine, the songs just aren't here yet. Of course, we all know that ELO would go on to perfect their own style in the future, so this embryonic view of the group is probably not the best first impression, especially when so many songs feel unrealized and overstretched to meet a certain runtime. Purely for those that are curious at heart, and are wondering how one of the bigger rock groups of the 1970s got their start.

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to The Electric Light Orchestra.