Electric Light Orchestra
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Electric Light Orchestra
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| Background information
<tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">Image:Flag of England (bordered).svg Birmingham, England</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Rock |
Electric Light Orchestra also known as ELO or E.L.O. were a successful rock music group of the 1970s and 1980s from Birmingham, England.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Birth of a supergroup
Formed in 1970 by Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan (the remaining members of the 1960s rock group The Move). The band used cellos, violin, horns and woodwinds to give their music a classical sound. This was an idea Roy Wood initially had while with The Move, to take rock music in a new direction. In 1970 when Carl Wayne left the The Move, Jeff Lynne, front man with fellow Brum band Idle Race, responded to Wood's second invitation to join the line-up, with the lure of starting the new band. To help finance the fledgling project, two more Move albums were released during the recording of their eponymous first album in 1971 which produced the UK hit 10538 Overture. In the US this album was released with the mistaken title of No Answer, due to a mix-up with an uncompleted telephone call to the American label and subsequent secretarial message. [1]
However, tensions soon surfaced between Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne. With most of the media attention focused on Roy Wood, differences in musical direction, and a disastrous first live outing, it was no surprise when the band went through the first of its many line-up changes as Wood took Hugh McDowell and Bill Hunt with him to form Wizzard. Despite the music press's predictions that the band would fold without Wood, Jeff Lynne stepped up to lead the band, with Bevan remaining on drums, bassist Richard Tandy switching to moog synthesizer, Michael d'Albuquerque on bass, Mike Edwards, Colin Walker (cello) and Wilfred Gibson replacing Steve Woolam on violin. They released ELO 2 in 1973, from which came their first U.S. chart hit, a hugely elaborate version of the Chuck Berry classic Roll Over Beethoven. After their second album, violinist Gibson was dismissed and replaced by Mik Kaminski. They also released On The Third Day in 1973, with Mike Edwards playing all the cello parts due to Colin Walker leaving the band. Later that same year saw the return of Hugh McDowell, who had jumped ship the year previous, to replace cellist Colin Walker. "Showdown" was the hit from this album. In 1974 Lynne hired a thirty-piece orchestra, choir and Louis Clark, then began work on the next LP Eldorado, A Symphony by the Electric Light Orchestra, a concept album about dreams, scoring their first U.S. Top Ten hit with Can't Get It Out Of My Head in 1975.
[edit] Global success
After the release of Eldorado, A Symphony, bassist and vocalist Kelly Groucutt and cellist Melvyn Gale joined, replacing d'Albuquerque and Edwards respectively. At this point the line-up would be at its most stable and enjoy worldwide stardom throughout the remainder of the decade. In 1975 Face The Music was released, from which the major singles were Evil Woman (whose instrumental string hook was sampled in 2006 by Pussycat Dolls to form the basis of their hit Beep) and Strange Magic, marking a shift to a more "radio friendly" sound. From the same album, the instrumental Fire On High, with its mix of strings and blazing acoustic guitars, saw heavy exposure as background music on CBS Sports Spectacular montages, though most viewers had no idea of the song's origins, the song features a famous deliberate backward message, where a mysterious deep voice reverses to "The music is reversible, but time is not, turn back! Turn back! Turn back!"—ostensibly Jeff Lynne's shot at backmasking hysteria, after completely false satanic allegations were made against their song Eldorado which were made by Fundamentalist Christians leading up to the 1980s American Congressional Hearings, ELO then answered similarly with Secret Messages in 1983.
The band concentrated most of their touring efforts in the United States at this point and were a star attraction on the stadium and arena circuit, as well as regularly appearing on The Midnight Special, although surprisingly they were still largely ignored in the United Kingdom. The multi-platinum album A New World Record was released in 1976 and became the band's first true breakthrough album on a global scale, finally giving them their first top ten LP in the UK. It contained hits such as Livin' Thing (remade by The Beautiful South in 2004), a re-recording of The Move's Do Ya, Telephone Line and Rockaria!. The songs Livin' Thing and Telephone Line were prominently featured in the films Boogie Nights and Billy Madison, respectively.
That was followed by the platinum-selling double-LP Out of the Blue in 1977, although the record's success was soured somewhat by a lawsuit filed by the band against their former distributor, United Artists, who they claimed had flooded the US market with substandard pressings of the album. The double set featured the singles Turn To Stone, Sweet Talkin' Woman, It's Over, Mr. Blue Sky, and Wild West Hero. The band then set out on a world tour, with an enormous (and hugely expensive) space ship stage set in tow, complete with fog machines and a laser display. On the UK leg of the world tour the band played at the Wembley Arena for (a then record) eight sold-out nights, the first of these shows was recorded and televised and later released on video and DVD, It was during the famous spaceship tour the band were criticized for allegedly playing backing tapes. By the end of 1978 they were the biggest live draw in the USA, averaging fifty thousand people at their shows.
In 1979, Lynne set out to capitalize on the growing popularity of disco with the album Discovery (or "Disco very" as has been quoted). The album generated their biggest hit Don't Bring Me Down (the first ELO track not to feature strings), along with Shine A Little Love (sampled in 2005 by Lovefreekz for a dance hit called Shine), Last Train to London (sampled in 2003 by Atomic Kitten on their hit Be With You), Confusion and The Diary Of Horace Wimp. Although there would be no live tour associated with this album, the band did record the entire album in video form. Not long after this, the violinist Mik Kaminski and the two cellists Hugh McDowell and Melvyn Gale were considered surplus to requirements and dismissed. The Discovery (music video)'s would be the last time the original late 1970s line-up would be seen together. The Electric Light Orchestra finished 1979 as the biggest selling act in the UK.
[edit] The '80s and decline
Soon after, in 1980 ELO were enlisted to provide half of the soundtrack for the musical film Xanadu, the other half provided by Olivia Newton-John, who starred in the movie along with Gene Kelly. The movie bombed, but the soundtrack did very well, with hit singles from both Newton-John (Magic and Suddenly with Cliff Richard) and ELO (I'm Alive, All Over The World and Don't Walk Away) as well as the title track to the movie, performed by Newton-John with ELO, which was #1 in the UK. The Electric Light Orchestra Story, Bev Bevan's memoirs from his early days and throughout his career with The Move and ELO, were also published this year.
In 1981, ELO's sound changed again, moving away from disco and into the 1980s, with the science-fiction concept album Time (singles: Hold On Tight, Twilight, Rain Is Falling, and Here Is The News / Ticket To The Moon), in which synthesizers largely replaced classical strings. The band embarked on what would be their last world tour, to promote the new LP. The live line-up would have no cello players for the first time ever; instead they recruited Louis Clark (who had previously conducted the strings on their classic '70s albums) and Dave Morgan to play the string sounds on synthesizers; Mik Kaminski also appeared with his famous "blue violin", and "Fred the Robot" voiced the Prologue and Epilogue.
By 1983 it was becoming clear that band leader Lynne had grown tired of the project that he had helped to create thirteen years before, when he announced that there would be no tour to promote the new album Secret Messages. This was coupled with the news that drummer Bevan was to play drums for Black Sabbath and of bassist Kelly Groucutt's departure from the band. Rumours that the group was disbanding were denied by Bev Bevan. Sales of the new album were relatively slow and most music reviews further added to the problems. Secret Messages was originally recorded as a double album. However, the record company had different ideas, citing that it would be too expensive (due in part to ELO's declining popularity). Some of the songs that did not survive the hatchet job cropped up as single B-sides and on later box sets. However, the tribute song Beatles Forever is still unavailable. It has been reported that Jeff Lynne is embarrassed by this song, hence its unavailability. Shortly after this album, Kelly Groucutt sued Jeff Lynne, Bev Bevan, and ELO's management for alleged lost royalty fees. The matter was settled out of court.
With Bevan expressing a desire to join Black Sabbath permanently, Lynne and Tandy recording tracks for the Electric Dreams soundtrack under Jeff Lynne's name, and Groucutt having departed, it appeared that ELO were no more by 1984. But Bevan left Black Sabbath because of his objection to the band performing in apartheid South Africa, and Lynne needed to make one more ELO album to fulfill his contract.Lynne, Bevan and Tandy returned to the studio in 1985 as a three-piece (with Christian Schneider playing saxophone on some tracks) to record ELO's final album of the 20th century, Balance of Power, released early in 1986. Though the single Calling America placed in the Top 20 in the US (#28 UK), subsequent singles failed to chart. The album, jokingly called "Balance Of Payment" by Lynne, was totally absent of classical strings (except on the Secret Messages leftover track Endless Lies) and had minimalist album art, missing the customary ELO logo that had appeared on every album since 1976. Lynne re-formed the 7-piece Time Tour band (with Martin Smith replacing Groucutt on bass) for a small number of live ELO performances in England and Germany, including the Heartbeat charity concert (organized by Bevan) on March 15 in ELO's hometown of Birmingham and ELO's last performance (prior to re-forming) on July 13 in Stuttgart. A hint of Lynne's future was seen when George Harrison appeared onstage during the encore at Heartbeat, joining in the all-star (including Robert Plant and the Moody Blues) jam of Johnny B. Goode.There was no announcement made of ELO's breakup during the next two years, when Harrison's Lynne-produced album Cloud Nine and the pair's follow-up (with Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty) Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 were released to critical acclaim and commercial success. Only when Bevan approached Lynne to make another ELO album in 1988 was it declared that ELO had ceased to exist. In 1990, Bevan's version of the band, titled ELO Part II, released their debut album Electric Light Orchestra, Part Two.
[edit] Reformation in 2000
Jeff Lynne's comeback with ELO started in 2000 when he acquired full use of the ELO name as well as rights to the ELO Part II name from Bev Bevan. He then started work on a retrospective box set Flashback, remastering many tracks, most notably a new version of Lynne's only UK number one hit Xanadu. Also that year Lynne started to write new songs which would appear on the Zoom (album) in 2001. On completion of the album Lynne reformed the band with completely new members including his then-girlfriend Rosie Vela (a popular `70's/`80's Vogue model who had released her own album in 1986) and announced that ELO would tour again. Former ELO member Richard Tandy rejoined the band a short time afterwards for two television live appearances including a VH1 Storytellers and a PBS concert later titled Zoom Tour Live that was released shortly after the planned tour was aborted due to poor ticket sales. Zoom was made after Lynne had collaborated with the Traveling Wilburys and took on a more organic sound, with less emphasis on strings and electronic effects. Guest musicians included former Beatles Ringo Starr and George Harrison. ELO's back catalogue was re-released from 2001 to 2006, included amongst the remastered album tracks were unreleased songs and outtakes, including a new single Surrender which became a minor hit for the band some 30 years after it was first recorded.
[edit] Personnel
[edit] Members
- Jeff Lynne - vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drums, cello, backing vocals, producer (1970–1986, 2000–2001)
- Roy Wood - vocals, guitar, bass guitar, cello, clarinet, bassoon, oboe, recorder, producer (1970–1972); formed Wizzard
- Bev Bevan - drums, backing vocals (1970–1986); [Formed ELO Part II]
- Richard Tandy - keyboards, bass guitar, guitar (1972–1986, 2000–2001)
- Michael d'Albuquerque - bass guitar, backing vocals (1972–1974)
- Kelly Groucutt - bass guitar, lead vocal, backing vocals (1974–1983)
- Steve Woolam - violin (1971); the most elusive member, playing only on the debut LP
- Wilfred Gibson - violin (1972–1973)
- Mik Kaminski - violin (1973–1979, 1983)
- Hugh McDowell - cello (1972) - [Joined Wizzard then returned] (1973–1979)
- Mike Edwards - cello (1972–1975)
- Colin Walker - cello (1972–1973)
- Melvyn Gale - cello (1975–1979)
- Bill Hunt - French horn, Hunting horn (1971–1972); performed on Electric Light Orchestra (album) before joining Wizzard
[edit] Guest musicians
- Rick Price - bass guitar (1970) - Electric Light Orchestra (album); involved initially with some early tracks; later joined Wizzard
- Carl Wayne - vocals (1972) ELO 2 The Lost Planet
- Marc Bolan - guitar (1973) On The Third Day
- Louis Clark - orchestral arrangements (1974–1979, 1983)
- Rainer Pietsch - string arrangements (1981) Time
- Christian Schneider - saxophone (1986) Balance of Power (album)
- Marc Mann - guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, cello arrangements (2000–2001)
- George Harrison - slide guitar, backing vocals (2001) Zoom (album)
- Ringo Starr - drums (2001) Zoom (album)
- Suzie Katayama - cello (2001) Zoom (album)
- Roger Lebow - cello (2001) Zoom (album)
- Dave Boruff - saxophone (2001) Zoom (album)
- Laura Lynne - backing vocals (2001) Zoom (album)
- Kris Wilkinson - string arrangements (2001) Zoom (album)
- Rosie Vela - backing vocals (2001) Zoom (album)
[edit] Live Lineup History
| 1972 Debut Tour Roy Wood's only live tour, left the band with McDowell and Hunt to form Wizzard also leaving this year were Craig and Smith. |
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| ELO 2 Tour New bassist Michael d'Albuquerque and cellist Colin Walker. Mik Kaminski would soon replace Gibson. | |
| 1974 Do It With The Light On Tour The return of Hugh McDowell replacing Walker. Kelly Groucutt replaced d'Albuquerqe later this year | |
| 1975 - 1978 Classic Lineup Edwards and d'Albuquerqe leave, replaced by bassist Kelly Groucutt and Cellist Melvyn Gale, The bands most successful period. | |
| 1981 - 1982 Time Tour Cellists Hugh McDowell & Melvyn Gale are replaced with 'Technology', Dave Morgan, longtime orchestral arranger Louis Clark and of course "Fred" |
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| 1986 Balance Of Power Tour Same lineup as Time tour except Martin Smith replacing Kelly Groucutt and no "Fred" |
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| 2001 Zoom Tour Featuring a whole new band save for Lynne & Tandy |
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[edit] Discography
For a full discography and chart placings please see Electric Light Orchestra discography.
[edit] Trivia
- In 1979, Randy Newman wrote The Story of a Rock and Roll Band, an ELO tribute song about "The English boys from Birmingham" and "I love their Mr Blue Skies, almost my favorite is Turn To Stone and how 'bout Telephone Line? I love that E.L.O.!", this song appeared on his Born Again album.
- In 1995, Michael Stipe imitated Jeff Lynne at an R.E.M. concert at Madison Square Garden on their Monster Tour, he wore a frizzy wig and sang Evil Woman before the show with Luscious Jackson playing the music.
- In June, 2003, from a Maxim (magazine) interview, Shania Twain said that she loves ELO!
- In 2005-2006, TV sitcom My Name Is Earl used Livin' Thing for the episode Quit Smoking, as well as Hold On Tight in the season one finale and Don't Bring Me Down at the beginning of season two's second episode.
- In July 2006, ELO had an entire two minute segment on VH1's I Love the '70s Volume II in I Love 1974 Volume II, the fifth episode of this series.
- In September 2006, Livin' Thing topped a Q magazine list of uncool tracks it is okay to love and Out of the Blue was 11th among albums.
- In 2006, the popular British BBC TV series Doctor Who featured, in the episode Love and Monsters, a character who was a huge fan of the band, and consequently presented ELO songs including Don't Bring Me Down, Turn to Stone and Mr Blue Sky, this last also used partially as incidental music to notable poignant effect.
[edit] Influences
- The Beatles
- Chuck Berry
- Del Shannon
- Jerry Lee Lewis
- Roy Orbison
- The Beach Boys
- European classical music
[edit] Contemporaries and similar artists
- A House
- 10cc
- The Alan Parsons Project
- The Beatles
- Camel
- The Cars
- Cheap Trick
- Fleetwood Mac
- George Harrison
- Paul McCartney
- The Moody Blues
- Queen
- Ringo Starr
- Supertramp
- Tom Petty
- The Traveling Wilburys
- The Tubes
- Utopia
- Yes
- Wizzard
[edit] External links
- www.elomusic.com
- Face The Music - official ELO and related artists information site
- Showdown: ELO Mailing List
- Rockaria.com - fan site with full history and discographies of ELO and the Move
- ELO Fans.com - discussion for fans of the Electric Light Orchestra
- The Official Mail List for the ELO Appreciation Society
- Unofficial Mailing List for fans of The Electric Light Orchestra
- Discovery - Jeff Lynne & ELO website
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