Amazon.co.uk Review
"Why do people need a
Beatles reunion", Paul McCartney once wondered aloud, "when they've already got ELO?" It was a fair question: Jeff Lynne's obsessive enthusiasm for the
Sgt. Pepper's-era Fab Four saw him appropriate entire harmonic and melodic structures from his heroes--carefully substituting sawing cello lines for guitar riffs and sweetening already-friendly chords with syrupy layers of strings. The double-album
Out Of The Blue was released the same year Britain was galvanised by punk--though you'd never know it. One could argue that Lynne simply wasn't aware of the tectonic shifts going on around him, such was his desire to craft his band's most definitive musical statement, including a four-part "Concerto for a Rainy Day"--precisely the kind of thing the Clash and the Sex Pistols wanted to abolish. Boasting a string of catchy, instantly memorable pop tunes, very much in the traditional ELO mould ("Turn To Stone", "Mr. Blue Sky"), it also saw, in "Sweet Talkin' Woman", a discreet acknowledgement of (gasp!) disco. How very modern.
--Andrew McGuire
From Amazon.com
ELO's fusion of Beatles-esque harmonies and melodic structure, coupled with their symphonic arrangements was just on the verge of wearing thin at the time they released
Out of the Blue. To argue that the double album went platinum because of the band's live extravaganza to support it--the band performed inside a flying saucer--is a premise worthy of consideration. Song for song,
Out of the Blue is not as strong as
Face the Music, but it still has some of Jeff Lynne's finest compositions ever recorded. "Turn to Stone" and "Sweet Talkin' Woman" are almost downright giddy in their deliveries; the former opening with a string riff, the latter with a minor key violin line, before boasting a choral background accompaniment. "Mr. Blue Sky" and "The Whale" are almost too hokey, yet still managed to work. "Standin' in the Rain," "Big Wheels," and "Summer and Lightening" are more memorable. But in the end, power cello riffs can only take you so far. Stick with a "greatest hits" or "best of" collection in this case. --
Steve Gdula
