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| The album art for 'New World Record' --- NOT my FIRST encounter with 'The E.L.O. spaceship',but STILL one of my favorite images!! |
Quite a while back, here on the 'Loydster-bloggy-woggy-wing-a-ding-thang', I promised a post dedicated to the EVER-so-talented Jeff Lynne and his band, E.L.O. I think it's about time I kept my promise!!
Like MOST all of the stuff I discuss here, (meaning things I'm usually EXTREMELY geeky about!!) I'm just focusing on how this artist / musical craftsman has affected me. how the music he SO obviously carefully produces and puts together has grown to become pretty much almost interwoven into the Loydster's D.N.A.!!!
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| The 'front-man' of the band himself, STILL rockin' it on tour--- 2018-style!!! |
The 1st E.L.O. tune I remember hearing, is STILL an all-time favorite-- 'Don't bring me down'!! It came floating across the airwaves to me, on my TINY little transistor radio. This was in that SAME critical time I've mentioned before (just check out some of my earlier posts, folks!!!), where I was a lonely, somewhat DORKY and awkward-feeling kid, just about to finish junior high--- AND enter into the kinda-scary unknown dimension, known as----- high school!!!
I knew even then, when I heard this EXTREMELY catchy, sort-of-blues-rock-influenced tune--- with it's WALL of musical-sounds hitting me like a sonic TIDAL-WAVE (multiple pianos thumping along, other noises CHUNKING along with it's rhythum!!--- I would learn YEARS later, that the pianos were over-dubbed 6 or 7 times, the 'other noises' included cases of soda-pop bottles being shaken in time to the other instruments!!)--- THIS band was INDEED something WAY different than most anything / anyone being played over the radio!!! Back then, as well as most of the years since!!!
My interest being captured by that first song, I began to seek out their other music. This was in 'the dark ages' of course--- before internet and instant information!! I had to do some investigating, networking, and just generally snooping around!! Talking with friends who also were really digging on this British guy,from Birmingham England-- Jeff Lynne, and his band-- Electric Light Orchestra (that's what the E.L.O. acronym stood for, I found out early on.).
I borrowed albums from my buddies,checked out earlier stuff from libraries (yes, you could check out L.P.s from libraries back then!!),and 'discovered' a band that had been around-- to my happy shock & surprise-- since the dawn of the 70s!!!
This was a band that didn't fit into ANY kind of mold!! They weren't afraid to 'mash-up' musical styles and genres. Mix-up classical orchestrated stuff, heck-- even an OPERA SINGER--- with downright EAR-SPLITTING, almost GRUNGY-sounding rock-n-roll!!! Don't quite believe me??? Give a listen to the tune: 'Rockaria'!!! It will BOTH blow your mind AND get the toes-a-tappin'!!!---
The album that tune was from, the first one with the 'spaceship' on it's cover (an icon that's since been FOREVER burned into my memory and mind-- I can't think of either the band OR Jeff Lynne, without mentally picturing it!!), quickly became one of my favorites!!! The 'top 3' favorite albums of E.L.O, on the 'ol Loydster's PERMANENT play-list, by the way--- 'A New World Record' (1976), 'Out of the Blue' (1977-- a double-album MASTERPIECE!), and 'Discovery' (1979-- mainly because it kicked off my interest in the band!!) I've been pretty much HOOKED on 'the man from Birmingham', and his band--- ever since!!
I've kept up with the TRULY talented and CRAZY-gifted Mr. Lynne, pretty much non-stop since those long-ago 'pre-high-school' days!! The catchy tunes he's capable of crafting, have been BOTH a HUGE chunk of the soundtrack of my life, and just FUN to listen to!!! It's almost impossible for me to listen to most of everything he's done, and not come away feeling good!
Need more evidence???? How about a little ditty from the first of his (so far ONLY two) solo albums, 'Armchair theater', 'Every little thing'---
That one's from 1990. A pretty good overall year for the Loydster!! I was discharged from my (by then) EXTREMELY miserable time in the Air Force, married to my beautiful wife Debbie--- AND-- an album from Jeff Lynne was released!!! Life was INDEED good!! FULL of well-crafted tunes all the way through.... I've LOST count of the times I've listened to that album!!! In fact, I NEVER get tired of hearing it!!
After the early 90s, Mr. Lynne kind of disappeared behind the soundboard, producing albums for other artists (like he had at the close of the 80s, working with Roy Orbison, George Harrison, and Tom Petty-- as well as joining those 3 gents to form the Traveling Wilburys-- along with Bob Dylan, of course!), BUT--- then he resurfaced in 2001!!
With a newly reformed E.L.O., a new album-- 'Zoom', and a live show!! This was intended to be a 'kick-off' show, before he took the 'new' band on tour. Then, unfortunately.... the album was ignored, by commercial radio, as well as a lot of record buyers!! Too bad!! It's a VERY well-done album, with PLENTY of the usual carefully crafted, catchy tunes!! Here's Jeff and the band, doing the tune that kicks off the album.----
It would be another nearly 8 years before Mr. Lynne would put out another album, this one a collection of old standards and other oldies that he grew up listening to. The 2009 release, 'Long Wave'. He recorded this one in his home studio, playing pretty much ALL the instruments on nearly EVERY track!!! Another time the 'general public' ignored what he was producing!! Again, it's REALLY too bad!!! It was Jeff Lynne in CLASSIC form!! (scroll back a few posts, for a couple of samples from that one!!)
Another CHUNK of time passed by, before any new material was put out there by one of my favorite British folks!! 2015 saw the release of 'Alone in the universe'. This time, the public responded in the positive!! A LOT of copies of the album were sold--- so MUCH so, that 'Jeff Lynne's E.L.O.' (as the band's now called!) finally mounted a couple of TOURS!! At points ALL around the world!!
One of the really outstanding cuts on the album, and my personal favorite-- is the tune: 'When I was a boy'. It's pretty much Jeff Lynne, telling us HIS story. I'll freely admit, as a LONG-time fan, this one gives me goose-pimples, folks!!----
There's not much more for me to say after that one!!! Just that I truly hope that Jeff Lynne, and WHAT EVER band he has backing him (with or WITH OUT an actual orchestra!), continues making carefully crafted, slick and BOUNCY tunes for all of his fans ( I count myself in that number, with NO SHAME whatsoever!!!), for MANY years to come!!!
----'See you NEXT time, gang!!!!'----
