Out of the Blue

1977 was of course the year of punk and also the year of disco, but two inescapable albums also appeared in that year: 'Rumours' by Fleetwood Mac was released in February 1977 and in November that year, ELO released the double LP 'Out of the Blue'.

I disagree with some of the negative reviews. 'Out of the Blue' is a superb album from start to finish, and one which has really stood the test of time, as it still sounds as fresh today as it did when it was released over 33 years ago. Written and produced and arranged in its entirety by Jeff Lynne, and recorded at Musicland Studios in Germany, this is an ambitious album with 17 extremely well crafted songs, including three of ELO's massive hits, 'Turn to Stone', 'Sweet Talking Woman', and 'Mr Blue Sky'.

The lush string and keyboards/synthesiser arrangements are faultless.

On the original vinyl release (now a single CD):
Side 1:
1. Turn to Stone
2. Its Over
3. Sweet Talking Woman
4. Across the Border
Side 2:
1. Night In the City
2. Starlight
3. Jungle
4. Believe Me Now
5. Stepping Out
Side 3:
Concerto for a Rainy Day
1. Standin' in the Rain
2. Big Wheels
3. Summer and Lightning
4. Mr Blue Sky
Side 4:
1. Sweet is the Night
2. The Whale
3. Birmingham Blues
4. Wild West Hero

All 17 tracks are superb and there is not a weak moment on the album. Pick of the bunch: 'Turn To Stone', 'Sweet Talkin' Woman', 'Night In the City', 'Starlight', and the four tracks that make up the 'Concerto for a Rainy Day'. These are absolutely brilliant and the rest of the set comes close to matching them. 'The Whale' is the best instrumental track ELO ever did and 'Big Wheels' is their finest ballad ever.

Without doubt this is ELO's best work, 'Face the Music' and 'A New World Record' are good but this is better. Its miles better than 'Discovery' and the band's later work. If you ever own one ELO album, buy this one.

The sound of the remastered CD doesn't have any major enhancements on the original CD, so if you don't want the bonus tracks stick to the original CD, although this is best heard on vinyl.

One not to be missed.

I'm 26 years old so this album was before my time, and I can't believe I may still have never listened to ELO if it wasn't for a random browse through my dad's record collection a decade ago (I was into Blur, Radiohead etc). Ten years later I would definitely say that Out of the Blue is is my favorite album of all time. There are only one or two tracks I'm not too keen on (ie Jungle); 50% of the rest are very good and the other 50% are stunning. Sweet Talkin' Woman was the song that blew me away at the time, but 'Standin' in the Rain' also really stood out; that must have been way ahead of its time. I would recommend ELO to anyone of any age, and this album is a great place to start.

"Critical reappraissal is due".

Couldn't agree more, like ABBA, it's time to look past the supposed "cheesiness" factor and appreciate this great band for what they were.

They weren't just Beatle rip off merchants, they weren't just trying to fuse Rock and Classical music, they weren't a "Progressive Rock" band.

I grew up with E.L.O. and they first came to my attention when I heard a performance of a song called "Evil Woman" on Top Of The Pops and heard a short section of string playing in the middle that was so bizarre, that it blew my young musical mind..I decided to keep track of this band.

The next thing I knew was that everyone seemed to be raving about an album called "A New World Record", which produced a number of very catchy, big selling singles.

I bought the album and almost wore it out, wondering how they could get such a polished, big sound, especially the drums.

While many were raving about Queen's innovations, I was captivated by what Jeff Lynne was doing, instrumentally, harmonically and vocally.

For me, "Out Of The Blue", shows the man and his band at the peak of their powers, though I disagree with many who claim that it was all down hill from that point on.

There are marvellous moments in all of the subsequent albums, though I think only "Time", comes near to the overall consistancy.

People complain that the songs on "Out Of The Blue", and indeed all other ELO albums all "sound the same", nothing could be further from the truth.

Yep, Lynne has a few favourite chord progressions and his backing vocals can follow predictable paths, but there are so many original diversions, in so many of the individual songs that I'm not too concerned about that..

I'll highlight just three:

1. The section in the middle of "Turn To Stone"..
2. The section towards the end of Summer And Lightning,where Lynne echoes the chord progression of Spector's "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", and builds to the climax in much the same way.
3. The "static" area, over a repeated bass riff, in "Birmingham Blues", where he sings "across the world I've seen, people and places, could be the same", and the almost frozen nature of this section is a musical reflection of the lyrics.

There is some very clever musical thinking going on here.

However, on top of all the song writing skills, it's the production skills of Jeff Lynne which still stand up today.

I think it's this contribution which marks this man out as a genius.

Like Spector and Steinman, it's easy to know when a work has the "Lynne" mark on it, and the later works of Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and George Harrison, all of whom went back to him time and again, shows how much they respected his skills.

And, it's kind of poetic, for me that the people who he's always accused of "ripping off" came to him in order to get them to bring John Lennon "back to life"..

And, his skills are in full view on "Out Of The Blue", the huge amount of work that went into this album, is hard to fathom.

All in all, I believe this album to be one of the all time greats, not just of that era, but along with "Rumours" and "Hotel California", of all time.