One record at a time: 102. Electronic - Electronic

If you were to ask me, "What is your favourite album?" the answer would sometimes be Electronic's eponymously titled debut. 

I have two copies of the vinyl: an original pressing from 1991 and the 2015 180g version. Whilst both sound good, I prefer the original. This preference is not only due to the quality of the audio but also because the original presents the album in the way the artist intended. All subsequent pressings of the LP include "Getting Away With It" and this track was most definitely not on the album when it was released. Adding non-album singles retrospectively might give the public the hits they crave, but it also bastardises the album a little for me.

"Idiot Country" is a great opening track and one that I have always appreciated. One reason I admire this song so much is that it manages to use the "Jamisen" preset from a Roland D-110 and make it sound good: this is no small achievement. There's no dip in quality as the pounding TR-909 kicks combine perfectly with Johnny's guitar in "Reality". In my youth I didn't appreciate "Tighten Up" as its featured so much guitar that it sounded a bit "indie" to me, but in the intervening thirty years I have grown to like it. 

Whilst Pet Shop Boys collaboration "The Patience of a Saint" isn't as successful as "Getting Away With It", it still remains an impressive track. I'm not a massive fan of the weak Roland CR-78 drum samples or the pad sound Chris uses for the chords but there is a great melody. Side One finishes with the majestic "Gangster". Personally I find it unfathomable that some people regard this track as the low point. How can you resist a line like, "I don't need a doctor telling me I'm full of juice"? Yes, some of the orchestra hits sound a bit dated but the TR-909 beat is amazing and I love almost every second of the backing track.

Side two opens with the short instrumental "Soviet" featuring Roland JD-800 piano, strings and not much else. "Get The Message" features amazing guitar work which is underpinned by a driving double bass. The catchy chorus meant this was always an obvious choice for single release. "Try All You Want" sees the TR-909 brought front and centre and we are treated to something that could have been included on "Technique Part II". Whilst the dance beats continue, "Some Distant Memory" is a little more wistful and even features an oboe 'solo'. The final track is the immaculate single "Feel Every Beat" which is the perfect combination of melody, groove and vocals. A rave piano is given a good workout as Bernard doffs his cap to the emerging house sound. An immense album. 5/5

One record at a time: 101. Electric Light Orchestra - The Very Best Of

We finally reach the end of my ELO vinyl with a double album "The Very Best Of". I seem to have purchased the vinyl of this album in 2018 and it is in really good condition.

This is a curious compilation released in the nineties by Telstar. The material here is from the Jet/Epic/CBS recordings of 1974 to 1986 which means "Showdown" and "10538 Overture" aren't included. "Roll Over Beethoven" is represented, but rather than the original single version we are furnished with a live recording of unknown origin. 

Whilst the early hits may not be present, this is one of few compilations to include tracks extracted from the Xanadu soundtrack. I presume licensing difficulties led to the title track being omitted but there are a number of cuts from the purely ELO side of the record.

Things kick off with "Mr Blue Sky" and the first side is front loaded with top ten hits from the bands commercial peak. Side 2 is a little more eclectic and draws on more recent material that didn't chart quite as highly.

There is a misprint on my copy of the sleeve which labels track 4 as "Out of My Head" - suggesting a whole new meaning to the song. This error is corrected on the label but a new faux pas is committed with the title "Civil Woman". The Discogs listing for this compilation shows corrected labels, so someone must have noticed the error for subsequent pressings, but the sleeve was never changed. These kind of issues wouldn't have mattered to the casual listener but they clearly represent a lack of attention to detail to a fan.

The second record continues to focus on songs derived from the latter half of the bands career and singles such as "Ma-Ma-Ma Belle" don't get a look in. Curiously, the sleeve indicates the parent album for most of the tracks but randomly omits the information for eight of them. 

This is a bit of a scatter gun approach to creating a compilation and it focuses too heavily on the bands eighties output for me. I don't know if Telstar tried to license material from EMI or MCA but somehow I doubt it. Everything about this compilation feels lazy. 2/5

One record at a time: 100. Electric Light Orchestra - Greatest Hits

For some reason my ELO compilation albums have been stored out of chronological order which means "ELO's Greatest Hits" becomes the 100th record I am listening to. This compilation focuses on material recorded between 1973 and 1978 for Jet Records with "Showdown" being the only track licensed from EMI/Harvest. This means early singles "10538 Overture" and "Roll Over Beethoven" are omitted. 

I acquired my vinyl in 2017 from eBay and whilst the sleeve is in remarkably good condition the vinyl has 'seen some action'. The CD of this album was one of the first I owned back in 1989.

The first track is the superb "Evil Woman" which is marred by a scratch that runs through it and half of the second track "Livin' Thing". As I listen to these tracks I am taken back to when I heard the album for the first time and I am fairly sure I was sold by the time "Can't Get It Out of My Head" started. The main driver for me purchasing a CD player was feeling very frustrated by the background noise from vinyl and yearning for the clarity offered by a CD. As this record progresses that feeling is returning.

Side two begins with "Sweet Talkin' Woman" and a slight improvement in the audio quality. We rattle through the hits "Telephone Line", "Ma ma Ma Belle" and "Strange Magic" before we reach the daddy of them all "Mr Blue Sky". In the modern era of 'career defining' box sets and extensive compilation playlists, an album of 11 track seems remarkably short. But this is a succinct and perfectly formed collection that that focuses on the bands commercial peak. Whilst the curious will be rewarded by exploring the greater riches in the back catalogue, everyone should start here. 4/5

One record at a time: 99. Electric Light Orchestra - Balance of Power

1986 signalled the demise of ELO and "Balance of Power" looked to be the last ever ELO album. I acquired my copy of the vinyl in 2017 from eBay, but I had bought the remastered CD in 2007.

I never quite knew what to make of this record. The artwork couldn't look any more eighties if it tried but, despite some contemporary motifs, this music was still firmly entrenched in a seventies rock tradition.

Jeff's continuing obsession with recording homages to Roy Orbison or employing rockabilly chord progressions weren't likely to interest the people buying "West End Girls" or "Broken Wings" in 1986. The music scene had moved on and contemporary rock albums such as "Invisible Touch" or "So" sound more innovative than "Balance of Power". As a swan song, this was a forlorn effort. Yes, it sold relatively well but you can tell Jeff was simply trying to complete his contractual obligations whilst maintaining some credibility.

The best track on here is "Calling America" and "So Serious" also deserves an honourable mention. "Heaven Only Knows" is a worthy addition to the back catalogue but there is little else of interest. I dislike "Endless Lies" intensely and "Send It" is very weak. ELO seemed to die out with a whimper. 2/5

One Record at a time: 98. Electric Light Orchestra - Secret Messages

I have to admit that by ELO album number ten, I'm growing a little weary. Unfortunately I think the band were also experiencing the same weariness by the time they came to record "Secret Messages" in 1983.

Tellingly this album features much more studio technology than its predecessors and includes the first use of a drum machine on an ELO record (the distinctive hand claps of the Obeheim DMX being especially prominent). Unsurprisingly, drummer Bev Bevan was less than impressed with these developments and labelled the results 'soulless'. Jeff's new found affinity for technology also signalled the final straw for bassist Kelly Groucutt who left during the recording of the album. 

Whilst the emergence of technology was often branded as an artistic concern during the late seventies and early eighties, the worry in our household was purely pecuniary. My father was a professional musician during this period and his music case had a big yellow sticker which read: "Musicians' Union says Keep Music Live!". With the benefit of hindsight it's easy to regard this attitude as a bit hysterical (I never went hungry as a child) but it was a real concern to many in the music business during the early eighties. Whilst I prefer the consistent timing and unerring accuracy of machines, I do have some sympathy for musicians who feared they could be replaced by machines.

Despite the prodigious use of technology, this album is a bit drab to me. I think some of this may be attributable to Jeff's desire to create a double album which was then stymied by the record company and half of the material was dispensed with. 

There are a few standout tracks like "Four Little Diamonds" and "Bluebird" but there is much that is mediocre. My favourite song is "Take Me On and On" which has a brilliant synth refrain and conjurors up images of drifting through space. "Letter From Spain" is an enchanting and reflective song that employs a repeated backing vocal which I suspect is sampled into an AMS DMX-15 80 delay (I have no evidence for this, it is just a guess). All in all this is a more technically advanced album, it's just the tunes are a little lacking. 2/5

One record at a time: 97. Electric Light Orchestra - Time

Having sold his soul to the gods of disco on "Discovery", Jeff Lynne decided to win back credibility in 1981 by hitching his wagon to Star Wars. "Time" is a concept album for the eighties with its galactic theme and synthesiser driven landscapes. Here I am playing an original pressing that I picked up from eBay a few years ago.

As the needle falls, the slightly hokey vocoder prologue is followed by an Oberheim OB-X blasting out the opening bars of "Twilight". This album is clearly going to lean more heavily on the 'electric' than the 'orchestra'.

"Yours Truly, 2095" is a slightly cheesy vision of the future with its talk of hover cars and IBM robots all played at a canter. "Ticket to the Moon" is a slower piano driven ballad that has a good melody and fits nicely with the aesthetic of the album. However it is less obvious how the derivative Roy Orbison styling of "The Way Life's Meant to Be" support the concept. This isn't a bad song but it is a little incongruous. Side one closes with "Another Heart Breaks" which is a grossly underrated instrumental that sounds contemporary even in 2022.

Side two opens with "Rain Is Falling" which is an impressive ballad that features some fantastic synth work and the welcome return of the orchestra. We pull on our flares and get out on the dance floor again with "From the Sun to the World" and things go a bit reggae with "The Lights Go Down". The space concept is resurrected on the catchy "Here Is The News" and the John Lennon pastiche "21st Century Man". The album closes with the relentless rocker "Hold on Tight" and we are returned to earth by a short epilogue. This is a good record but the application of the concept is sporadic and some of the lyrics sound a little contrived to 21st Century ears. 3/5

One record at a time: 96. Electric Light Orchestra - Discovery

Having reached a zenith with their previous album, "Discovery" is where the wheels begin to fall off for ELO. There's an apocryphal story of keyboard player Richard Tandy saying of the album, "Disco? Very!" - and it is. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad album, but it feels like the emergence of disco drove Jeff to create something that fell awkwardly between two camps.

My copy of this record is a first pressing that includes a poster. The poster is in remarkably good condition but the same can not be said of the sleeve or the record which are pretty beaten up. I have no idea why the album sleeve features pictures based around an Arabian theme and they just seem to add to the confused nature of this album.

As the vinyl crunches along the disco tinged pomp of "Shine a Little Love" comes creeping out of the speakers. There's nothing wrong with this composition but the disco motifs mean it sounds dated today. With "Confusion" Jeff delivers his best Roy Orbison impression over the top of a disappointingly derivative backing track.  Things pick up a little with "Need Her Love" which feels like more familiar territory, but the gimmicks of "Diary of Horace Wimp" drag things back down. There is some nice vocoder work on this track but it does feel like ELO's "Yellow Submarine".

Side two starts with "Last Train To London" which is another disco romp that features some amazing bass by Kelly Groucutt. "Midnight Blue" revives the Roy Orbison pastiche with a little vocoder thrown it to add interest. By the time I have played the unremarkable "On The Run" and "Wishing" I am ready for the album to finish. However, "Discovery" has one last ace up its sleeve in the form of the Status Quo styled rocker "Don't Bring Me Down". The drum loop (yes, it is a loop) and the Groos/Bruce refrain on this track are great, but I can't shake the vision of teenagers with denim flares dancing with their hands in their pockets. God I hated the seventies. 2/5