Jeff hits gold

A few years ago I lamented over the latest ELO/Jeff Lynne product "Mr Blue Sky" - this CD was a substandard set of re-recordings of ELO's greatest hits. What I really wanted was a new album and 3 years later I have what I wanted in the form of "Alone in the Universe".

First question raised by the appearance of this album is, given that Lynne resorted to the dreaded "covers album" for his last solo outing, can he still write a tune? The answer is yes. No, in fact it's "hell yes, this man can still write a tune". There is no new "Mr Blue Sky" or "Can't Get It Out of My Head" (my favourite ELO track) but the songs make it clear that Jeff knows what he's doing.

Next question is what sound has he gone for? Well it varies between the classic 70's ELO sounds of "When I Was  Boy", the distinctive rock of "Love and Rain", the disco of "One Step at a Time" and the Wilbury's sound of "Dirty to the Bone" - safe ground essentially. And it feels like home.

The whole thing is recorded by Jeff in his home and it is a stunning job. However some of the synth work, despite being very well programmed, does leave you longing for a real strings section (can't believe I just typed that). But this is only a minor criticism. Essentially Jeff has produced a record that will make his millions of fans very happy. Very happy indeed.

Post Script: for the first time ELO will be playing my home city on the upcoming tour associated with 'Alone in the Universe" - however, I won't be going. The 'cheap' seats are £88 rising to £121 if you want a decent central location.

Mr Poo Sky

Jeff Lynne seems like an affable bloke. He always comes across as a normal guy with a huge talent who has nothing to prove to anyone. He made the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) a phenomenon in the ‘70’s and rode the wave of stardom from the bleakest parts of Birmingham to the brightest lights of Los Angeles. He has written and produced some of the greatest pop songs of the 20^th century and has collaborated with The Beatles, George Harrison and Roy Orbison to name drop but a few.

So why in the name of god has he resorted to producing the cynical pony that is “Mr Blue Sky”? Is his Los Angeles mansion costing him a fortune to air condition and he can’t afford the electricity bill? Lynne justifies the existence of “Mr Blue Sky” in the same way Mike Oldfield defended the re-recording Tubular Bells: new technology and experience means the flaws of the original can be rectified and a long held dissatisfaction can be eradicated. But as with all such re-recordings, people love the original recordings so much that a modern version is going to have to be very special to even come close to matching the original.

I for one don’t like these new versions. The opener “Mr Blue Sky” is OK, but suddenly ends where the extended coda of the original took the song into a dream like fantasy. Sure, the song is Lynne’s to do with as he wants, but as he points out in his liner notes, “Who’s in charge, you or the song?” For me it’s the song; and Lynne is trying to wrestle back too much control. Most tracks rumble by as just flat versions of the originals with the exception of “Telephone Line” and “Showdown” which I single out for special criticism. The only track to be improved is “10538 Overture” which was aptly the starting point for the band and the end of this album. Let it be the end of ELO.