Friends and family know that I am a longtime fan of the 70s rock band Electric Light Orchestra and for Christmas,one of them got me this amazing 2-CD/DVD live set,which I'm really enjoying

I'm falling in love with these songs all over again.I'm happy to see that ELO will be touring the US soon.They play my area in August.After watching this DVD,I wanna go! Any other ELO fans on this board?

"Turn To Stone" by Electric Light Orchestra (1977)

"Don't Bring Me Down" by Electric Light Orchestra (1979)

"Strange Magic" by Electric Light Orchestra (1975)

here's the Prince connection ELO leader Jeff Lynne was onstage with Prince,Tom Petty and others during this legendary performance of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"

I. LOVE. E. L. O.

My first movement into ELO territory was when Time came out, although in fairness I probably heard "Turn To Stone" or "Mr. Blue Sky" somewhere before that, not knowing who they were. A friend played Time for us, and I was just enthralled with it. Ironically, it was the least-ELO album to that point, with very few strings, and a more pop approach. When I started to dig back and made the discovery on things like Out Of The Blue, Face The Music, Eldorado, and the like, it became a perfect world of music. I quickly zoomed in on all their secret messages and nuances.

The re-recordings that Lynne put out a few years ago are really, really good. But there is still something magical about the originals.

Time still holds a special place for me, though. I love that it's a concept album, and has a stronger sci-fi appeal to it.

Their work in the 80s is very underrated.Time is a very interesting album,indeed.The 1983 album Secret Messages is also superb.I especially love the title track:

I was 6 years old in 1980, and my babysitter dragged me to the theater to watch a movie called "Xanadu". I dont remember much from the theater, but I remember going with her to Licorice Pizza immediately after the movie, and she bought the Xanadu soundtrack, on vinyl. Fold out cover with pics from the film...I listened to that album ENDLESSLY, every time she babysat me afterwards...my first exposure to ELO. As I got older, I studied them...easily one of the most underrated bands of all time, so glad to see them get into the Hall of Fame recently. Much deserved! My faves...toss up between Out of the Blue and New World Record...and I stll love the Xanadu soundtrack, even the Olivia Newton John side! Dont think I will ever out grow it...part of my childhood forever!

UncleJam said:

ELO was the truth

"Turned To Stone" gives me chills...still...

"Evil Woman", "Telephone Man", "Livin Thing"....i loved all that stuff...Jeff Lynne is another one of those unheralded musical geniuses

Love ELO...takes me to my childhood...such good songs that really hold up.

Have you ever seen the documentary on Jeff Lynn? It gave me a new appreciation for him as a songwriter. He's just talented and a likable guy who has great taste.

Jeff Lynne has said that he "loved disco" and it was refreshing and cool to see a rock band embracing those sounds,as ELO did on their 1979 hit single "Shine A Little Love"

Slave2daGroove said:

Have you ever seen the documentary on Jeff Lynn? It gave me a new appreciation for him as a songwriter. He's just talented and a likable guy who has great taste.

the documentary called 'Mr.Blue Sky: The Story of Jeff Lynne and Elo'? Yeah,I have seen it.

It's a bonus feature on the 'Live In Hyde Park' DVD.

The most recent ELO album,Alone In The Universe,was released in 2015.At first,I thought it was too slow and more of a Jeff Lynne solo album but as I listened it more and more,I began to love it.There is a definite ELO feel to it and some songs are reminscent of past songs ("Love and Rain",for example,reminds me of "Showdown").Great songwriting throughout.Favorites include "Dirty To The Bone" and the uptempo "One Step At A Time",posted below....

hey,this is such a timely thread today is Jeff Lynne's 70th Birthday!

While "Mr. Blue Sky" is a jam unto itself, that whole side 3 of Out Of This World, aka Concerto For A Rainy Day, is just brilliant.

For those that don't know, Lynne was feeling particularly prolific, writing song after song after song (13 in two weeks, with "Mr. Blue Sky" being the jumping point). It was raining while he and the band were at a Swiss Chalet. The rain was torrential. Once the weather let up, "Mr. Blue Sky" was born, and the other 13 songs were written in the following two weeks. Literally a song a day. The concerto takes up all of side three.

When the whole suite starts, around the 1:07 mark the staccato strings play a morse code spelling out "ELO". At the end of the whole thing, there is a heavily vocodered voice that says "please turn me over", but fans have always thought it said "mister blue sky". Lynne confirmed it was an instruction to flip the LP over to the 4th side.

Many have compared "Mr. Blue Sky" to the Beatles with arrangement and harmonies and I would agree with that. Actually, I think Prince could have done a cover of that on ATWIAD and it would have fit perfectly.

I think the strings in "Turn To Stone" are what makes that song even better. Being an orchestra guy in school (I played violin and cello), I fully appreciated ELO's use of strings.

Cher sampled part of "Twilight" (the sound of space engines starting up) in the intro to "Believe".

Lastly, the guy on the back of the Discovery album in the Aladdin type garb wielding the sword is comedian and actor Brad Garrett.

This is what I constantly tell people about how there is the lack of vision now with writing and things of that nature. Where is todays Jeff Lynne crafting symphonies and getting it on the radio. RADIO would not have the balls nor are DJ's that creative to play something out of the box or different or they are not told to play. Also in this digital age what is gone are lyrical content and artwork for albums or who is playing on the albums, that is not important now sadly.

That's so weird I've been listening to this lately:

Jeff Lynne and ELO are great. Their earlier records with Roy Wood as part of the group are working checking out too. Speaking of Xanandu, there's a version with Jeff singing instead.

CynicKill said:

That's so weird I've been listening to this lately:

^^THIS is the best scene in the entire movie

Great appreciation thread at last, excellent musicians and in their prime had a terrific run of albums. I really liked the thematic links through Eldorado, Discovery and Time, and A New World Record takes me right back to a piece (peace?) of the 70s. Their work on Xanadu is a bit of a guilty pleasure, as is the whole film itself.

Based on the concerts that I have seen on DVD and the live albums that I have heard,this band sounds incredible live! Here's a 2001 live version of the 1983 song "Secret Messages"....I honestly like it better than the regular (studio) version.

It's interesting that,at the height of their popularity,ELO decided to not tour for their 1979 'Discovery' album.Instead,they filmed videos for every track on the album....kinda like Beyonce does these days."Last Train To London" is posted below.

SoulAlive said:

It's interesting that,at the height of their popularity,ELO decided to not tour for their 1979 'Discovery' album.Instead,they filmed videos for every track on the album....kinda like Beyonce does these days.[

In a recent thread, I noted just that. Pink Floyd sorta did the same with The Wall, but Discovery was one of the earlier visual albums before they were called that.

I absolutely loved ELO during my high school days, especially the consecutive albums of On the Third Day (1973) and Eldorado (1974). These andthe Queen 2 album that was released around then were the best ever to listen to on the headphones in an altered state. They just blew my mind. I was okay that they became so successful after that with all of their pop singles, but they never again matched the brilliance of these two albums IMO.

I love the work they did on the Xanadu Soundtrack (1980) the amazing All Over The World

The Fall

Don't Walk Way

I'm Alive

And finally the title track Jeff wrote and sang background vocals to Xanadu

[Edited 12/30/17 19:45pm]

[Edited 12/30/17 19:53pm]

SoulAlive said:

CynicKill said:

That's so weird I've been listening to this lately:

^^THIS is the best scene in the entire movie

I beg to differ.

THIS is the best scene from the movie: