ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA
On the Third Day
Face the Music
A New World Record
(Epic/Legacy)
www.legacyrecordings.com
www.elomusic.com
To say that the music of ELO has had a profound effect on me--as a listener and as a musician--would be an understatement. To say that I'm thrilled that the next round of ELO reissues are available is a given.
On the Third Day (1973) does away with its original U.S. sleeve; for those who have no desire to see pasty English dudes in 1970s garb showing off their navels, it's actually a good thing--indeed, since what is important is the music. The debt to John Lennon is eerily apparent in the pulsing piano ballad, "Bluebird Is Dead," a structural element echoed in the track that follows it, "Oh No Not Susan." "Daybreaker" is typical of early period ELO in that it's a bit high-concept prog pop, but when it gives way to the opening guitar riffs of "Ma-Ma-Ma Belle," you can't deny the rock (double lead guitar with Marc Bolan shared on this track, as well as "Dreaming of 4000" and "Everybody's Born To Die" in the bonus material). Third Day's obvious centerpiece, "Showdown," is a funky, clavinet-and-strings ode to black American music which underscores a direction Jeff Lynne would take the band on future albums.
It had been many, many years since I'd listened to Face the Music (1975) in its entirety--so many that I'd forgotten about its grandiose opener, "Fire on High." On the one hand, the track is self-indulgent prog pop in epic proportions. Anyone who watched sports on TV in the late 1970s through the 1980s (and maybe even to this day) will instantly recognize the acoustic guitar hook synonymous with game-film highlights. For me, the over-the-top instrumental will always be associated with K-SHE 95, a classic-rock radio station in St. Louis which used the track for years in its station IDs (at least I can finally quit blaming King Crimson for something they didn't do). The second track is a beautiful pop number that suggests what might happen if Queen permitted Centro-matic's Will Johnson to sit in for the late Freddie Mercury--a stunning, overlooked gem in the ELO oeuvre. Two of Face's singles--"Evil Woman" and "Strange Magic"--are not simply a couple of ELO's better known (and catchy-as-hell) tunes, they are in a way aural signifiers of 1970s pop. Among the bonus tracks are the single edit of "Strange Magic," and a stripped down, string-less mix of "Evil Woman," which Lynne prefers (I don't). An interesting side note about Face the Music is that it supposedly moved Todd Rundgren to comment that ELO had only ripped the Beatles off half way, thus inspiring his Fab Four-fueled (by way of Neil Innes) project with Utopia, Deface the Music, where Rundgren ripped The Beatles off entirely--but that's a story for another day.
2006 marks the 30th anniversary of the release of A New World Record (1976); the title was a double-entendre about the 1976 Montreal Olympic games and the band's greater levels of success in the United States (versus at home in the UK). And what would a 30th anniversary be without an excuse to buy an album again? It was this album which first presented ELO fans with the jukebox logo--iconography which is as much a part of our memory of the band as the music. And as for the music, A New World Record boasts some of the band's most well-known tunes--the catchy opener ("Tightrope"), the best-selling, gut-wrenching single ("Telephone Line"), the band's staple melding of classical and rock forms ("Rockaria!"), the disco rave-up ("So Fine"), the stellar remake of "Do Ya" clearly outshining an earlier execution by The Move (Lynne's previous band with Roy Wood that provided the genesis for Electric Light Orchestra), the simply spectacular "Livin' Thing," the bouncy "Above the Clouds," and the sentimental closer ("Shangri-La"). I still can't help but wonder how an amazing track like "Surrender"--found here in the bonus tracks--failed to make the final cut. Also worth noting in the bonus material are rough mixes for "So Fine" and "Above the Clouds," and an alternate vocal of "Telephone Line" that is far from definitive, but certainly of note for the curious or the amateur anthologist. And speaking of neurotic complete-ism...man, what I wouldn't give for one of those ELO promotional frisbees they were tossing out at concerts in 1975. Until then, I'll keep spinning my worn-out vinyl copy of Out of the Blue, as I wait for its proper CD repackaging. -EDWARD BURCH
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