The Electric Light Orchestra - Out Of The Blue (1977) Flac
The last ELO album to make a major impact on popular music, Out of the Blue was of a piece with its lavishly produced predecessor, A New World Record,
but it's a much more mixed bag as an album. For starters, it was a
double LP, a format that has proved daunting to all but a handful of
rock artists, and was no less so here. The songs were flowing fast and
freely from Jeff Lynne
at the time, however, and well more than half of what is here is very
solid, at least as songs if not necessarily as recordings. "Sweet
Talkin' Woman" and "Turn to Stone" are among the best songs in the
group's output, and much of the rest is very entertaining. The heavy
sound of the orchestra, however, as well as the layer upon layer of
vocal overdubs, often seem out of place. All in all, the group was
trying too hard to generate a substantial-sounding double LP, complete
with a suite, "Concerto for a Rainy Day." The latter is the nadir of the
album, an effort at conceptual rock that seemed archaic even in 1977.
Another chunk is filled up with what might best be called art rock mood
music ("The Whale"), before you finally get to the relief of a basic
rocker like "Birmingham Blues." Even here, the group couldn't leave well
enough alone -- rather than ending it on that note, they had to finish
the album with "Wild West Hero," a piece of ersatz movie music that adds
nothing to what you've heard over the previous 65 minutes. In its
defense, Out of the Blue
was massively popular and did become the centerpiece of a huge
worldwide tour that earned the group status as a major live attraction
for a time. [Out of the Blue
was reissued in 2007 as a 30th Anniversary Edition with new photos,
liner notes, and three bonus tracks, including "The Quick and the Daft,"
"Latitude 88 North," and a home demo of "Wild West Hero."]
This is the double disc edition of 1986. I love nearly all the works of Jeff Lynne so it will give more stuff in the future. I have add some nice ELO wallpapers in the artwork from artist Martin Driver. Really nice.
Kind regards
Frank
Flac

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