Electric Light Orchestra on Track

By Barry Delve

2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the first Electric Light Orchestra album.

   The ELO story is one of continued success for over 50 years. From inauspicious beginnings in 1971, where live audiences barely reached double figures, ELO would become one of the most popular bands in the world by the end of the decade, thanks largely to the songwriting and production talents of Jeff Lynne. There were hits such as ‘Evil Woman’, ‘Mr. Blue Sky and ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’; multi-platinum albums like Out Of The Blue and Discovery, and, of course, their spectacular stage shows. Although ELO finally called it a day in 1986, they re-emerged in 2014 as Jeff Lynne’s ELO, playing a triumphant comeback concert at London’s Hyde Park. Since then, they haven’t looked back, releasing further albums to critical and public acclaim, culminating in ELO’s biggest ever live show at Wembley Stadium and 2019’s chart topping album, From Out Of Nowhere.

   As well as examining all of ELO’s recorded catalogue, the author has spoken to many people who have been involved with the band over the decades, uncovering along the way previously unseen photographs and new information about the group and their recordings, making this one of the most comprehensive guides to ELO ever published.

 

Barry Delve is an author and artist. He is acknowledged as the foremost ELO expert in the Chilterns, if not the whole of South Buckinghamshire. He is married and has managed to hold down a job as a graphic designer for most of his working life. He lives in Buckinghamshire, UK.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sonicbond Publishing
• Release date: Aug 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781789522242

Book preview

1.png

Sonicbond Publishing Limited

www.sonicbondpublishing.co.uk

Email: [e-mail]

First Published in the United Kingdom 2021

First Published in the United States 2021

This digital edition 2022

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:

A Catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Copyright Barry Delve 2021

ISBN 978-1-78952-152-8

The right of Barry Delve to be identified

as the author of this work has been asserted by him

in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from Sonicbond Publishing Limited

Typeset in ITC Garamond & ITC Avant Garde

Printed and bound in England

Graphic design and typesetting: Full Moon Media

Acknowledgements

Firstly I’d like to thank Stephen Lambe of Sonicbond Publishing for his continued support and patience, and also for taking a chance on me in the first place. Not for one moment did I think that when I innocently emailed Stephen to enquire whether he had plans for an ELO book in the On Track series, I’d end up writing it myself!

It has been quite a journey, and I’d like to thank my friend John Draycott for his continued enthusiasm and encouragement, and also Paul Lipscombe, who would have done the same had I told him about this book. John and Paul were with me at the start for that first concert back in 1978, and we did it all again in 2014 at Hyde Park. I could not ask for better friends in my life. Thanks also to my wife and daughters, who have been incredibly supportive throughout; who gave me the space and time I needed to complete this book, and whose relief is a bit too palpable, now being able to listen to something other than ELO in the car.

Additional thanks to Rob Caiger, Bob Catania, Ryan Corey, John Elton (keep looking for those photos, John!), the very patient Hag, John Kehe, Kosh, Mark Larson and Roger Williams – who all went above and beyond, and managed to hide any irritation they might’ve had with my relentless Columbo-style ‘Just one more thing’ questions, very well indeed.

Contents

Introduction

The Electric Light Orchestra (US title: No Answer) (1971)

ELO 2 (1973)

On The Third Day (1973)

Eldorado (A Symphony By The Electric Light Orchestra) (1974)

Face The Music (1975)

A New World Record (1976)

Out Of The Blue (1977)

Discovery (1979)

Xanadu (1980)

Time (1981)

Secret Messages (1983)

Balance Of Power (1986)

Zoom (2001)

Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra (2012)

Alone In The Universe (2015) (Credited to Jeff Lynne’s ELO)

From Out Of Nowhere (2019) (Credited to Jeff Lynne’s ELO)

Appendix One: ELO Part II

Appendix Two: Compilations, Live Albums and Video Releases

Appendix Three: Solo Discography

Introduction

ELO got there first. Had I watched it a week or two later, it would’ve been Queen, but Saturday 4 December 1976 is where it all began.

Mid-morning on a cold winter’s day, and I’ve finished my homework, or at least I’ve convinced my parents it’s done. I’ve been learning how, as teenagers, our brains undergo rapid neurological development. The music we hear in our formative years becomes hardwired in our brains more tightly than anything we hear as adults. I’m on the cusp of my teenage years and I’m ripe for picking. No, I won’t practice my violin. I put the TV on. If I was at my nan’s, it would be Tiswas, but we’re LWT and we won’t be getting that here for another three years, so it’s Multi-Coloured Swap Shop: Saturday morning television done BBC style. There’s a feature called ‘Swap Of The Pops’ where pop stars come in, have a chat, take some calls and perform. I’ve not bothered much with this in the past. Mike Love and Jermaine Jackson have hardly set my world on fire for the past couple of weeks, and to be honest, I’d rather read my comic. But this week, it’s different: something grabs my attention. It’s a livin’ thing. It’s a blue violin. It’s a hairy guy with shades. Wait, there’s cellos! In a rock band? My mind is blown. ‘Livin’ Thing’ was my ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, my ‘She Loves You’, my ‘Starman’. My crest of a wave.

June 1978. My mate John has a spare ticket to see ELO, and asks me if I want to come with him and our friend Paul. It’s my first concert, and I have no idea what to expect. A giant spaceship lights up the stage, and lasers bounce around the hall. My second gig was XTC at Langley College the following year: Oh – not everyone has a spaceship then. New wave turned my head: my gateway to a collection of thousands of records and CDs. I pierced my ear and wore skinny jeans to the youth club disco, but I secretly stuck with ELO through thick and thin – mostly thin after the mid-1980s, it must be said.

From guilty pleasure to national treasure – ELO’s rehabilitation has been a long time coming. The three of us reunite in Hyde Park in summer 2014, after kids and chemo, love and loss – we sing ourselves hoarse and drink pints of wine. I’ll remember them this way.

In difficult or challenging times in life, some people turn to art or poetry; some to music. The songs have been there at weddings and funerals, good times and bad. ELO have always been there for me; it would be a terrible thing to lose.

What’s In This Book And What Isn’t

The ELO family tree has too many branches for a book of this size, even though to begin with, I was tempted to include detailed reviews of Jeff Lynne’s solo albums for completion’s sake. To do that but not include solo and extracurricular releases by all former ELO members didn’t feel right, so I’ve limited this book to only including all releases by bands that include Electric Light Orchestra or ELO in their name. Anyway, it soon became apparent that Jeff Lynne has done enough material outside of ELO to fill another book entirely!

I’ve included all officially-released material up to 2020 (and one song that hasn’t been officially released yet); although, some CDs – particularly compilations on the Harvest label – are now out of print.

Inevitably, it can’t be helped that Jeff Lynne is the focus of this book as he was responsible for writing and producing 99% of ELO’s output. But ELO – to start off with at least – were always first and foremost a working band and a tight one at that. I have tried throughout to give all members the recognition they deserve for their contributions. If I have failed to do this, then it was not intentional.

Sources

Since I first discovered ELO in the 1970s, I have amassed a large collection of cuttings and scrapbooks, which have proved invaluable in researching this book. In addition, Robert Porter’s www.jefflynnesongs.com is a fantastic resource that details every recording that’s had Jeff Lynne’s involvement. Also, www.worldradiohistory.com – a vast online archive of music periodicals stretching back decades – has proven to be indispensable. Martin Kinch’s www.cherryblossomclinic.x10.mx has some great interviews, and I thank Martin for letting me use some quotes from his site. Thanks also to Nicolas Guibert, who unselfishly shared documents with me from his vast archive and Patrik Guttenbacher who helped with the album release dates

A handful of books have been written on ELO over the years, but – with the exception of Bev Bevan’s The ELO Story – I have avoided using them as source material, simply because I wanted do my own research by going as close to the original sources as I could. And thank heavens for the internet, which has enabled me to play detective and get to the bottom of a couple of mysteries. My favourite piece of information I uncovered is small, and in the scheme of things rather inconsequential – I was writing up a piece for the song ‘Here Is The News’, and found a recording of a 1981 Australian radio interview with Bev Bevan. He mentioned the background chatter on that song, saying, ‘We employed an American newscaster to read some news on it’. A mystery! Why would an American newscaster be in Germany? – and maybe if I found him, he might have some unique memories to share! A quick search, and I found out that the American Forces Network were based just around the corner from the studios where ELO were recording. Then I found the name of someone working there at the time, and I sent an email. ‘No, it wasn’t me, but I’m in touch with a lot of the guys. I’ll ask around’. Within a couple of hours, I had my man and a quote. There are other discoveries, and hopefully, when you come across them, you’ll find them as interesting as I did.

A word on release dates: many dates given online, including Wikipedia, are inaccurate, particularly for the singles, usually using a release’s chart-entry date rather than the date it hit the stores. For this book, I’ve gone back to contemporary sources, including music periodicals and press releases, to ensure all release dates where stated are as accurate as they can be. The exception is the album ELO 2, for which I’ve been unable to find a precise date. I’ve pinned it down to one of two weeks, and I hope you will forgive me for making an educated guess.

Note: unless otherwise stated, all songs are by Jeff Lynne.

The Electric Light Orchestra (US title: No Answer) (1971)

Personnel:

Roy Wood: Vocals, cello, oboe, acoustic guitar, bass, string bass, bassoon, clarinet, recorders, slide guitar, percussion

Jeff Lynne: Vocals, piano, electric guitar, percussion, bass

Bev Bevan: Drums, percussion

Bill Hunt: French horn, hunting horn

Steve Woollam: Violin

Producers: Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne

Thanks very much Roger and Pete for your great engineering and patience Recorded at Philips Studios, London

Sleeve design: Hipgnosis

Lamp by Ingo Maurer from Habitat London

Release dates: UK: 3 December 1971, US: March 1972

Charts: UK: -, US: 52

I suppose that the Electric Light Orchestra is meant to take up where ‘I Am The Walrus’ left off, and to present it on stage.

Roy Wood, Rolling Stone, 23 December 1971

The release of The Electric Light Orchestra album in 1971 marked the culmination of Roy Wood’s four-year dream to put together a working band with an integrated string section. Back in 1966, his band The Move’s first hit ’Night Of Fear’ had brazenly used Tchaikovsky’s ‘1812 Overture’ as inspiration, but it was during the recording of the band’s fourth single ‘Fire Brigade’ in late-1967, that Wood had the idea of an ‘electric light orchestra’: a rock band that incorporated classical instrumentation that would be able to reproduce on stage what couldn’t be done properly with three guitars and drums. Cut to January 1970 (you can plug the gap with James R. Turner’s book in this series: On Track … Roy Wood), and enter Jeff Lynne.

Lynne, a friend of Wood’s (The demo of The Move’s number-1 single ‘Blackberry Way’ had been recorded in the front room of Lynne’s parents’ home), had his own band – The Idle Race – who recorded two great albums with Lynne at the helm, but were unable to convert critical acclaim into chart success. Lynne was asked twice to join The Move – refusing in 1969, but eventually agreeing in January 1970, with the principal aim of helping Wood launch the Electric Light Orchestra. Days after Lynne joined The Move, Roy Wood told journalist Colin Malam of his plans:

The strings, woodwinds and piano would give us a lot more scope than we have with just guitars and drums ... It will be classically based original music. Jeff thinks along the same lines as myself and writes some good stuff. In the Electric Light Orchestra, we would learn from the classical musicians and they would learn from us.

In the meantime, The Move carried on – as they had a record contract to fulfil – with Lynne’s first contribution being to the ‘Brontosaurus’ single, followed by work on the Looking On album, which continued throughout 1970. It was that year that the first ELO song was recorded, when a track that was planned as a Move B-side, unintentionally became the first ELO song. In a 1997 interview with the ELO fanzine Face The Music, Wood explained what happened: ‘As the instrumentation built up, we could feel that this was probably turning into the modern rock orchestra sound that we wanted to achieve ... in fact, it sounded BLOODY MARVELLOUS...!’.

The song was ‘10538 Overture’. Wood and Lynne were ecstatic with the results (Lynne: ‘we just sat round playing it for days’) and pressed ahead with further ELO recordings, concurrently laying down tracks for the next Move album: Message From The Country, which would be their first on the EMI label. Songs for ELO and The Move were recorded during the same studio sessions, often appearing together on the same multitrack tapes (they are clearly cut from the same cloth; there are several songs – such as Wood’s ‘It Wasn’t My Idea To Dance’ – that could be equally at home on albums by either band), and as the number of ELO tracks built up, a meeting was called with EMI to see if they would be interested in a full album. The label had reservations about the project but agreed to fund an ELO album on the condition that Roy Wood, drummer Bev Bevan and Jeff Lynne carried on recording as The Move – essentially using The Move’s income to offset the costs of setting up ELO.

As work on Message From The Country wound down, the focus shifted to getting ELO off the ground, and in February 1971, the UK music press reported details of the Electric Light Orchestra’s first live shows: a 17-date UK tour commencing on 5 April 1971. However, with the ELO album nowhere near finished, this date proved to be wildly optimistic, and the proposed tour was cancelled within weeks. Throughout 1971 there were continued reports that live dates were imminent, but work on the album continued, which – combined with difficulty recruiting suitable players for the tour – meant it would be a full year before ELO could make their live debut.

ELO’s debut album was finally released in December 1971 to overwhelmingly positive reviews from the music press; Melody Maker labelling it ‘magnificent’, and Disc going even further, citing ‘This in all sincerity, could be the sound and combination to take over where the Beatles left off’. The Hipgnosis group designed the cover – a lavish, textured gatefold complete with lyric insert – that was photographed in the main hall of the Banqueting House, London. The rear of the sleeve shows the ceiling – painted by Rubens – which was commissioned by Charles I and would’ve been one of the last things he saw as he was led through the hall to his execution on 30 January 1649.

The light bulb on the front was a table lamp sold through the Habitat stores and was based on an original 1966 design by Ingo Maurer (1932-2019). The lamp can be seen on the rear of the 1971 Habitat catalogue, and the original is now part of the San Francisco Music of Modern Art collection. If you look really hard, you can see Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan reflected in the centre of the light bulb. This perspective is reversed on the rear, which represents the bulb’s view of the band.

The album was released in the US on 9 March 1972 – three months after the UK – on the United Artists label. Unsure of the title, a UA executive asked his secretary to phone London and find out what the album was called. Unable to get a reply, she left a note for her boss, who was out of the office at the time, and therefore, due to a communications mix-up, the US release would be forever titled No Answer.

With the album finished, work could now start on recruiting suitable musicians for a touring band. On 16 April 1972, Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne, Bev Bevan, Richard Tandy (bass), Bill Hunt (piano and French horn), Andy Craig (cello), Hugh McDowell (cello), Mike Edwards (cello) and Wilf Gibson (violin) assembled at The Greyhound pub, Croydon, for ELO’s live debut. By all accounts, those first shows were shambolic affairs with extended gaps between songs and sound issues due to the way the strings were amplified – which was taking ordinary contact microphones and jamming them behind the bridges of the instruments – leaving Wood, Lynne and Bevan with bitter memories.

Because the rhythm section had been used to playing loudly, the string instruments could not match them volume-wise, and when the contact mics were turned up, they would hum and feed back, which meant that you couldn’t hear the sound of your own cello. We sort of tried to cope with it really, but it was still a pain in the neck.

Roy Wood, Face The Music, March 1997

There weren’t pickups in those days, so you had to have microphones on the cellos. And of course, they’d feed back, and you had to turn them off, and you wouldn’t hear the cellos after about five minutes – that’d be the end of them. So my memory of that early ELO stuff is horrible. Really grim.

Jeff Lynne, The Quietus, 2 November 2015

I don’t think the audience could believe its ears. No one could hear the cellos or violin, but just the thumping beat of the drums and guitars. Then the French horn would suddenly start and drown everything else with its shrillness. Roy insisted on playing cello, oboe, guitar and bassoon, and on each song there was a delay as he switched to a different instrument ... it was worse than even I anticipated.

Bev Bevan, The ELO Story, 1980

The Granada TV programme Set Of Six captured a live performance from this first lineup. ELO performed five songs, and in the controlled environment of the TV studio, they were able to put on a strong show, convincingly demonstrating the band’s potential.

The same week as ELO’s live debut, The Move’s final single, ‘California Man’ was released. The plan was still to run both groups in parallel, using money generated from The Move to fund ELO until self-sufficient and then wind down the The Move. But that all fell apart in July 1972 – just after the release of ELO’s debut single ‘10538 Overture’ – when, following a chaotic tour of Italy (where manager Don Arden was arrested for assaulting the local chief of police), Roy Wood abruptly left ELO to form a new band – Wizzard – taking Bill Hunt and Hugh McDowell with him. Such was the fallout, that the door was firmly shut on further Move recordings. At the time, the split was put down to tensions between Lynne and Wood, caused by the press focussing on Roy Wood while sidelining Lynne’s contributions (For instance, the very same Melody Maker review that branded the album ‘magnificent’, opened with the line ‘Oh Roy Wood, you’ve done it this time, you’ve really done it’, and there are examples of the music press at the time consistently referring to the band as ‘Roy Wood’s Electric Light Orchestra’). Even though, as far as the two of them were concerned, it was an equal partnership, it was Wood who was getting the attention: ‘At the time it was reported that I’d had a huge row with Jeff Lynne. That simply wasn’t true’, Wood told The Birmingham Mail in 2009, instead citing political disagreements with ELO’s management as the reason for his departure and that he left ‘with true regret’.

‘10538 Overture’

Not many bands manage to hit the ground running with their first recording, and compared to the rest of the album, it was maybe a bit of a false