Out Of The Blue

The Electric Light Orchestra's “Out Of The Blue” is the kind of record that many ELO fans never name as their favourite; like The Beatles' “Sgt. Pepper”, it's the kind of legendary album that is just so obviously good, people will automatically choose another title to champion as their personal pick. It almost goes without saying that it's one of the best pieces of work Jeff Lynne has written, performed and produced, but I'm not going to just assume people know that and, for the record, would like to happily state that I believe “Out Of The Blue” to be a work of genius. You only have to scan the titles of the songs to recognise more than a handful of massively popular hits (“Turn To Stone”, “Sweet Talkin' Woman”, “Mr. Blue Sky”, “Wild West Hero”), but, as this is a double album, you'd probably expect the vast majority of the album to be excellent if anyone declared it a work of genius, right? Well, “Out Of The Blue” meets all of these expectations in so many ways and, although there are a handful of tracks which perhaps fall short of greatness, the overall character of this work is one of overwhelming, remarkable prolific creativity. Indeed, although I believe “A New World Record” (1976) to be Jeff's most flawless work, “Out Of The Blue” is his magnum opus, his greatest achievement. He made excellent albums before and after this one, but his one and only double album has a worthy place in history as his most commercially and critically successful.At the start of the album are two of the most radio-friendly hits, the shimmering, catchy “Turn To Stone” and the gloriously overblown “Sweet Talkin' Woman”, with the grandiose piano ballad “It's Over” (also a single, but not a very successful one) sandwiched in between. The dramatic Richard Tandy piano on it is breathtakingly beautiful and, such is the emotional nature of the track, the fact it shares its title with a Roy Orbison song doesn't appear at all coincidental. With its driving tempo and energy-packed string section, “Across The Border” is an terrific rocker whereas the brilliant “Night In The City” has a trapped, intense feel to it, frenetic, edgy strings giving the track a wonderfully paranoid quality; both tracks could easily have been singles. The dreamy, lush “Starlight” evokes memories of those big American orchestral numbers from the thirties and forties (with a discernible ELO character, naturally) and “Jungle” is utterly charming, with an excellent percussion section and a ridiculously catchy hook. It's wonderfully silly, of course, but so much detail has been packed into four minutes, it's almost impossible to not love it.Jeff's love of dramatic, big, emotional music is evident on “Believe Me Now”, a reverb-drenched mostly instrumental track which serves as in introduction to “Steppin' Out”, one of the greatest moments on “Out Of The Blue”, being one of Lynne's heart-wrenching tear-jerkers, a remarkably beautiful composition full of both sadness and hope, masterfully augmented by Louis Clark's magnificent string arrangements. Arguably, the most artistically ambitious moment of the album comes on what was side three of the original vinyl double album, the “Concerto For A Rainy Day”, four songs that run together consecutively, starting with the adrenaline fuelled “Standin' In The Rain” and culminating in perhaps ELO's most loved song, “Mr. Blue Sky”. Inspired by Jeff writing music in a Swiss chalet and being interrupted by torrential rain beating on the door, it's actually difficult to hear this sequence of four songs without becoming rather awestruck at the sheer genius and accomplishment of Lynne's compositional ability. “Big Wheels”, for example, the second song in this concerto, is one of the most magnificent pieces of music on the album, arguably of of Jeff Lynne's greatest songs, and yet a casual listener owning only a greatest hits would never have heard it. The exuberant “Summer and Lightning” is no weak link either, with the breezy, summery melody drifting over blissful harmonies and sublime strings.What can be said about “Mr. Blue Sky” to do it justice? This irrepressible five minutes of wistful, sentimental, optimistic loveliness bounces along and makes the listener feel, for just a short while, that everything is right with the world. The chorus, the orchestra, the superb performance by Bev Bevan, adding little flourishes on ride cymbal... are there many moments in popular music more perfect than this one? It would be perfectly understandable if any track following “Mr. Blue Sky” on an album felt flat by comparison, but it is to Lynne's credit that the airy, romantic “Sweet Is The Night” is anything but and the close-knit backing vocals as well as Kelly Groucutt's crystal-clear lines all result in a swooning, caressing jewel of a song. “The Whale” is a pleasant, listenable, expansive instrumental, but it and “Birmingham Blues”, a likeable song about being on the road and missing home, both suffer from being on an album with so many better compositions and, so, give the double album the impression of tiring a little towards the end. Thankfully, the last track, the magical “Wild West Hero”, conjuring up childhood memories of watching westerns and dreaming of being the courageous, capable lead in such fantastical tales, finishes the album with a last piece of Jeff Lynne genius, featuring a superb vocal performance from the man himself and a dizzying honky-tonk piano solo from Tandy.Although “Out Of The Blue”, complete with its iconic artwork, isn't exactly perfect (some may disagree), it hit creative heights that Lynne had yet to reach before and, arguably, has never managed to repeat since. If you were asked to be completely objective and ruthless, you could trim down the album a bit and remove the slightly novelty aspects (“Jungle” and “Birmingham Blues”) and perhaps even decide that the track listing would have an altogether greater impact without “Starlight” and “The Whale”. However, it wouldn't surprise me if the majority of ELO fans would be horrified at such a suggestion; the supposedly lesser songs on “Out Of The Blue” are every bit as much a part of the charm of the album as the big pop songs and ballads. They provide character, texture and variety and even a little bit of comic relief to a piece of work dominated by grandiose strings and big, beautiful ballads. However, the price paid for this texture is that other albums in the Electric Light Orchestra catalogue have the appearance of being trimmer, punchier and perhaps even easier to listen to as a whole. That is the risk of double albums, of course. Even The Beatles' “White Album” provokes discussion by fans as to whether it would have been better off as a single disc. Needless to say, I believe “Out Of The Blue” to be perfectly imperfect, very much like the Fab Four's sprawling double album, but when you consider that the songs on The Electric Light Orchestra's 1977 album were written by just one person, the bearded bard of Birmingham, it makes Jeff's accomplishment here that much more impressive.

I’ll tell you now, these new pressings are on good solid much thicker, heavier and flatter vinyl. The cover has been lovingly recreated exactly as the one I bought in 1977. The whole experience of taking the cellophane wrapper off and smelling the printing ink made me smile rather a lot. The manufacturer has managed to keep the music well away from the centre of the disc so mistracking and relative stylus / disc speed is kept at a decent level. So far so good. Now I’m not going to pan it, because putting a platter on and lowering the stylus into the run-in was very exciting and the overall listening experience was nice, but mainly because of the composition of this wonderful music, so full of memories and feelings. It’s just - in the words of Roger Hodgson - Not Quite Right! This album has had a bit of a tweak in the sound department, the mix is much the same but the digital sound processing they’ve used to ‘clean’ the recording and make it sound pristine has only served to render the audio clinical. It sounds rather like those first CDs which were sooo clear and never clicked or rendered any surface noise. There is a certain quality to the bass on the original which is missing here and a little warmth in the vocals is also muted. I mentioned previously the rather large runout which means the grooves are closer together than on the original pressing! This can only mean one thing - a cap has been put on the bass so as not to allow the big transients that could scupper the cuttings of old. Had I not known every single note of the original pressings, I would be extremely happy with this. There is nothing actually wrong with it and it’s probably technically much superior to the old pressings. It’s just slightly different than it was. I’d have no hesitation recommending any ELO fan to go straight to the basket and check out. I have seen reports that the picture disc doesn’t sound as good…. But they didn’t say whether it was not as good as a new black one or not as good as the original. Picture discs are very cool, but generally the vinyl isn’t quite of the right consistency so best avoided. Enjoy.. I did!

This is a faithful re-issue of ELO’s 1977 album – now on the Epic label rather than the Jet label. The album sleeve still contains the poster insert, albeit double-sided rather than single-sided as originally. These records are more robust, being made from thicker vinyl than before. If you like orchestral-rock, this is a fine example. Make sure you get ELO’s album “A New World Record” too.

Fantastic album.

All good thanks

Great double album from Jeff Lynne and company. Almost bought a used copy of this album while on vacation. After I was home I kept kicking myself for not getting it and I found the CD on Amazon and ordered it.

Nice listening

Begrijp me niet verkeerd, de muziek van E.L.O is prachtig anders had ik deze lp niet gekocht, de kwaliteit van de opname is echter bedroevend slecht, sterker nog, het is een van de slechts klinkende platen in mijn zeer uitgebreide collectie. Niet kopen dus!!!!Voor de goede orde, ik gebruik een pro-ject x1b platenspeler, een marantz sr7015 receiver en als front speakers de kef Q950, aan de apparatuur ligt het dus niet, vrijwel mijn gehele collectie klinkt echt prachtig op deze combinatie. Behalve dus deze uitgave van Out Of The Blue.Jammer, echt heel jammer.

Eigentlich ist den vorangegangenen Rezensionen nichts mehr dazu zufügen. Aber trotzdem auch von mir noch mal - was für eine wunderbare CD. Jedes Stück ein Traum und eine Erinnerung an gestern. Eigentlich wäre die CD eine Best of. Aber ab Eldorado sind im Grunde genommen alle! Best of CDs. Da ist nirgendwo ein langweiliges Stück dabei - einfach wunderbar!

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