ELO?

[Chrome]

I was at the local Wal-Mart and made an impulse purchase of ELO's early greatest hits for like $7. I'm talking "New World Record" and before, with songs like "Evil Woman," "Living Thing," "Showdown," etc. I'll admit it: I love the stuff ... any other fans?

[Peter Johnson]

I have one of their records from back in the day...not sure which one. I'll have to pull it out now! I liked it, but it never made me want to get everything they did.

[Dan Gould]

I have the greatest hits CD.

Two strongest memories:

"Telephone Line" triggers memories of our summer vacation at Newport, because the song was all over the radio that summer.

The entire greatest hits album, in order, was burned into my head one winter in High School, because the Phys Ed teacher played a cassette every day, for the entire winter while we exercised in the field house. I never appreciated spring more that school year! I don't know why he would torture us like that, or for that matter how he could tolerate it. But every single day, that album played in the field house.

Took me at least 15 years before I could buy the CD for myself.

[JSngry]

Good pop band. Hooks out the wazzoo, and production that rewards close attention.

Of course, I'm working on the assumption that there was always a VERY dry humor at work in all of it. If not, well...

[Jazzmoose]

And of course, I work on the assumption that they were deathly serious, so I voted for "schlock"...who knows?

In any event, give them some credit. It's not like they were 10CC...

Edited April 9, 2004 by Jazzmoose

[jazzbo]

I couldn't really find the right answer so went with cheesy whiz.

[wesbed]

I don't listen to ELO these days and haven't listened for several years. Back in the day, however, I thought ELO was quite the good band. Sweet Talkin' Woman was my favorite song on many a day.

[Guest ariceffron]

YOU GUYS ALL FUCKING SUCK. ELO RULES. HOW CAN U GUYS LIKE THE BEATLES AND NOT LIKE ELO. ELO IS ONE OF THE BEST BANDS TO BE INFLUENCED BY THE BEATLES AND RUN WITH IT, IE. ELENOR RIGBY INTO A WHOLE BAND CONCEPT. ESPICALLY THEIR 1ST 2 LPS. YES THEY DID GET MORE POP AS TIME WENT ON BUT HAVE ANY OF U HEARD THE SONG: 'FROM THE SUN TO THE WORLD' I BET NOT. CAUSE ALL OF YOU SUCK. ELO IS NOT SHLACK. EVEN ELO WAS IN A RECENT MOVIE SOUNDTRACK I HEARD, THAT NEW JIM CARREY MOVIE, ETERNAL SUNSHINE. ELO IS GREAT. THE PROBLEM ISNT WITH ELO, ITS WITH YOU STUPID GUYS.

[Matthew]

ARIC, BEV BEVAN WAS THE WORST DRUMMER IN THE HISTORY OF ROCK. HE SUCKED, THEY SUCKED. BUT HEY, THEY WERE IN A SOUNDTACK FOR A JIM CARREY MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!, SO THAT MUST MEAN THEY RULE DUDE!!!!!!

Now I will return to my normal life and way of thought -- thank you.

[jazzbo]

Hey, that explains that. . . I'm not a Beatles fan either!

[rockefeller center]

Caps lock forever!

[Jazzmoose]

Well, thank goodness we have Aric here to put us right!

[neveronfriday]

Out of the Blue was my favourite album for a while. Lots of great numbers on a classic pop album. "Mr Blue Sky" and "Wild West Hero" plus some others were my faves.

After Out of the Blue? Nothing but downhill, IMHO.

But before that? Saw them live in Cologne once (I think it was there) around the time of "Evil Woman" and the string section was just rockin' away. Great fun, and handmade music. Not like that Spears et. al. gunk.

Guilty pleasue.

Totally.

P.S.: Bev Bevan was a bad drummer? The people who say that usually also hate Charlie Watts. 'Nuff said.

[Aggie87]

YOU GUYS ALL FUCKING SUCK...

...CAUSE ALL OF YOU SUCK....

...THE PROBLEM ISNT WITH ELO, ITS WITH YOU STUPID GUYS.

Wow - I haven't even posted in this thread, and I SUCK.

[Jazzmoose]

Wow - I haven't even posted in this thread, and I SUCK.

No, you fucking suck. Assuming there's a difference...

[Matthew]

P.S.: Bev Bevan was a bad drummer? The people who say that usually also hate Charlie Watts. 'Nuff said.

Bev and Watts in the same sentence? Bev, of "Evil Woman" dullest druming in any top 40 record, Bevan? I'll see your , and raise you to !

P.S.

[JSngry]

I still go w/the "VERY dry humor" angle. Any band that had Roy Wood as a founding member has to have VERY dry humor as an ingredient. I think ELO was every bit as self-awarely ironic as bands that came later on and made a point of letting you KNOW that they were. ELO's irony was enhanced by the fact that they did it without so much as a smirk. But geez - those hooks and the production are SO "wink-wink" that I think it would be impossible for the pop-savvy listener not to get the joke, to hear the "we kid because we love, but we DEFINITELY kid" flavor that pervades damn near every ELO hit.

Of course, how many pop-savvy listeners were teenagers buying records in the 1970s? Not many, which just bumps the irony up another notch. Brian Ferry WISHES he could have done it like that.

And don't knock 10CC, Moose. Well, ok, go ahead, just be aware that Godley & Creme knew EXACTLY what they were doing.

Edited April 9, 2004 by JSngry

[gdogus]

ummm...and what, exactly, was the joke?

(obviously, I am among those who "fucking suck")

Edited April 10, 2004 by gdogus

[danasgoodstuff]

I voted for cheesey, but I was thinking post-Roy Wood. ELO w/Wood is basically the Move, pt. II (III?), and the Move were a great band, IMHO. But as is always the case with cultists, once the band had changed to the point where the gen pop got interested, I got uninterested...

Edited April 10, 2004 by danasgoodstuff

[Shawn]

I was at the Record Exchange in Roanoke Virginia when I was a kid, was looking around through the used records and bought Out Of The Blue just because I thought the cover was COOL. Luckily for me at the time I loved the music as well, I totally wore that record out. Thought it was really brilliant. I never really owned any of the other records but I knew all the hit singles and was a closet fan for many years. I seem to remember the last thing I heard from them was a single called Time (?), not sure what that's from but it must have been around 1982 or 83.

Wish I had a copy of Out Of The Blue right now, I'd love to hear Wild West Hero again....

[BFrank]

The only album of theirs that I thought was really interesting was the first one .... maybe because it was basically a Move album.

[Guest ariceffron]

THATS NOT WHAT I MEANT ASSHOLE-- I WAS TRYING TO DUMB IT DOWN FOR ***YOUR*** STUPID ASS!!!! I HAVENT EVEN SEEN THE NEW CARREY MOVIE (ALTHOUGH I WISH TO). BEV BEVAN GOD REST HIS SOUL WAS NOT THE WORST DRUMMER IN ROCK WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT. ELO ARE A PERFECTLY FINE ROCK BAND. DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT ***SHITTY*** ROCK BANDS FROM THE 70S?

LETS TALK ABOUT ***RUSH*** IN THAT CASE!!! OR WHAT ABOUT THAT BAND THAT SINGS THAT SONG, "RIDE CAPTAIN RIDE, UPON YOUR MYSTERY SHIP". THAT IS 'CHEESY SHLOCACK' IF THAT TERM APPLIES TO ANYTHING. OR WHAT ABOUT THAT SONG: 'SKY-ROCKETS IN FLIGHT--- AFTERNOON DELIGHT!" MORE CHEESE. BUT ELO? HELL NO.

[Guest ariceffron]

YOU GUYS ALSO SUCK BECAUSE YOU DONT HAVE THE ELO CARDBOARD SPACESHIP HANGING FROM YOUR CEALINGS LIKE I DO

[DrJ]

Depends on the day and mood - today, I voted "cheesy scholck" because I'm feeling smarmy, but tomorrow perhaps "good pop band."

Really, ELO is a great example of the strange phenomenon of the ephemeral that defines true pop music to me..sometimes I want to pull the car radio out of the dashboard and throw it into the path of an oncoming 18-wheeler when I hear one of their tunes, other days I'm bellowing along until I notice the teenage girl in the car next to me is looking at me like the aging dork I am and I hush up.

Funny Dan mentioned "Telephone Line" as inescapable during a summer vacation, I remember the very same thing, think I was in 8th grade but maybe a bit later...and tagging in on Jim Sangrey's comment, this is one of their tunes that I think you can hear was done with tongue FIRMLY in cheek and yet also with a great deal of affection for 50's/early 60's pop, PLUS with fantastic production and hooks and arrangement. It's held up, more than well.

But much of their other stuff hasn't - perhaps the most misguided and stupid approach to covering a 50's rock and roll tune ever in their turgid rendition of "Roll Over Beethoven." The violins and other touches borrowed from classical music never worked for me either - they just sounded like whining, out of tune, badly recorded electric guitars. Also, the multilayered production most of the time worked agin-em rather than afore-em, burying some of the hooks under a layer of sludge. But I have to say I did really like their drum sound, HUGE and very distinctive.

Odd thing: I absolutely LOVE what Jeff Lynne did for Tom Petty's music, and I'd have never guessed that would be a good match. As much as I still love older Petty like HARD PROMISES and DAMN THE TORPEDOES, with the rootsier sound, his absolute greatest singles were with Lynne as producer.

Postscript: I like Jim's take on 10CC too - when I'm in the mood for this type of pop thing, I'll take 10CC over ELO on most any given day, and related to my comments above what separates them for me is that 10CC's production was more complementary to their tunes, while many times ELO's production was production for production's sake and actually buried the tunes.

Edited April 10, 2004 by DrJ

[BFrank]

Lynne did a nice job in that "Concert for George" show. His voice works really well on Harrison tunes.