I don't know how far away Birmingham is from Liverpool. (I could probably look it up, but I'm too lazy, and I want to keep this "brief.")(Ha!) But, the music coming from those four guys in Liverpool weighed heavy on the music scene in Birmingham.
There were several budding rock groups playing around Birmingham with varying degrees of success. At some point some musicians from several different bands combined together to form one "super" Birmingham band. The called themselves "The Move," the name signifying their "move" from other bands into one.
Roy Wood was the chief songwriter and bottle washer for the group. (I have no idea if that is accurate or not. He may have washed bottles. He might not have washed bottles. But, he did write songs.) Bev Bevan was the drummer. Carl Wayne would most frequently take the lead vocals. And Trevor Burton and Ace Kefford were around to do Trevor-ish and Ace-ish things, like play guitar, or bass, or sport a poofy blonde afro.
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| Back Row: Bev Bevan (and his ascot), Roy Wood Front Row: Blonde afroed Ace (or Trevor), Carl Wayne (and his ascot), Afroed Trevor (or Ace) |
The Move started releasing singles and placed several songs on the British charts. Songs like "Flowers In the Rain," "Fire Brigade," and "Night of Fear." They finally reached all the way to #1 on the British charts with "Blackberry Way." Unfortunately, none of these songs even made a dent on the US charts.
As The Move was enjoying their British success, another group started milling about the Birmingham scene. The Idle Race was led by a young lad who was chief singer, songwriter, guitarist, and piano player. (He was not, however, a bottle washer. He never washed a bottle, and still hasn't to this day.) This lad's name was Jeff Lynne.
The Idle Race put out a couple of albums with some really good songs on them, like "The Birthday," "Girl At the Window," "Come With Me," "On With the Show," and "Lucky." But, the Idle Race had about as much success on the British charts as The Move did on the American charts: none.
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| The Idle Race, featuring some guy, some guy, Jeff Lynne and his 1960's afro, and some other guy. |
Meanwhile, there was some moving going on at The Move. Despite (or because of) the success of "Blackberry Way," Trevor and/or Ace didn't like the direction the band was taking, thinking they were being a bit too "pop"-ish. (Sorry, but I get Trevor and Ace confused. Two skinny white guys with afros. My apologies.) In any case, both were soon out of the band.
Jeff Lynne spurned at least one offer to join The Move, but eventually he made the move to The Move. (Probably due to the lack of sales of Idle Race albums.) Also joining The Move around this time was bassist Rick Price. (Don't worry, you don't have to remember his name because it won't be on the test.) (Probably.)
While Trevor and/or Ace were complaining about the band becoming too "pop," singer Carl Wayne was pushing to go even softer than that. Wayne fancied himself a crooner. (Whether he fancied himself a fancy crooner I cannot say.) Apparently, he wanted to be Englebert Humperdinck. (Don't we all!!!) I've seen pictures of Carl Wayne wearing ascots. I'm not sure how frequently he wore an ascot, but the fact that he ever wore one probably contributed to his desire to croon. I just don't know if the crooning led to the ascot wearing, or the ascot wearing led to the crooning. (I wonder if Freddie from Scooby Doo ever had the desire to croon?)
Wayne contributed to The Move's album "Shazam!" But, by the time the next album, "Looking On," came out, he was on the outside looking in.
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| M: Carl Wayne O: Roy Wood V: Rick Price? E. Bev Bevan |
As he began singing more, Wood relinquished some of his grasp on the songwriting duties. (He even let Rick Price do some of the bottle washing.) The album "Looking On" was almost evenly split between songs written by Wood and songs written by Jeff Lynne. (Even drummer Bev Bevan managed to write a couple of songs for the album.) Lynne took lead singing chores on his own compositions, and Wood sang the rest.
The Move's next (and final full studio) album, "Message From the Country," also saw the songwriting duties and lead singing split between Wood and Lynne.
They both played around with different instrumental experiments in their songs, most notably Roy Wood's rock and roll oboe on the song "It Wasn't My Idea to Dance." The two talked about trying a sound with full or partial orchestration, citing the influence of "Strawberry Fields Forever" by The Beatles.
As they pounded out a few more singles for The Move, Wood and Lynne worked on this side project idea. (One of those last singles The Move pounded out was a Jeff Lynne song called "Do Ya," which turned out to be the only song by The Move to ever chart on the American Billboard Hot 100, climbing all the way up to #93.)
Finally, The Move's side project, called the Electric Light Orchestra, featuring Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne, and Bev Bevan, was ready to be unleashed upon the world! The world didn't really care too much. Response was tepid. (Or, as the kids today would say, "meh.")
The album's name, like many debut albums, was supposed to be the self-titled name of the group, "Electric Light Orchestra." (Personally, I can't stand or understand this trend. Come on! You are creative people! You have a finite number of albums you'll be able to name over your career, please think of something clever!) But, because of a mix-up on a missed call and a message, the album ended up titled "No Answer" in America. (Which, in my opinion, is a much better name than just rehashing the name of the band.)
Like the last two albums from The Move, there was a pretty equal split between Jeff Lynne songs and Roy Wood songs, "10538 Overture" and "Mr. Radio" representing the best of the Lynne stuff, and "Jumpin' Biz" and the bombastic "Battle of Marston Moor" being the best by Wood.
As they made the album and spent much time in the studio dubbing and over-dubbing the violins, cellos, oboes, and such, Wood and Lynne came to the conclusion that there were "too many cooks in the kitchen." Everything I've read makes it seem like it was a mutual decision. Roy Wood left the band, leaving ELO to be Jeff Lynne's baby. (With Bev Bevan on the drums.)
Roy Wood put out a few solo albums and formed his own band, named Wizzard (and later "Wizzo.") He had a few minor hits in England, but nothing on the level of his success with The Move, and certainly not in line with what would happen later with ELO in America and around the world.
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| Not someone you want to meet in a dark alley. |
That's not to say Roy Wood wasn't influential. His use of face painting pre-dated KISS by several years. And, early Rob Zombie sure looks like a Roy Wood wannabe.
Out of the Woods
The Electric Light Orchestra's second album, titled "Electric Light Orchestra II," (come on, Jeff! Show a little creativity!) was all Jeff Lynne all the time. (Almost.)
It's mostly forgettable, except for three songs. "Mama" is a nice ballad. The eleven-minute long anti-war screed "Kuiama" is actually pretty good. And then there's "Roll Over Beethoven." Chuck Berry's old hit was the perfect song to show the world what Jeff Lynne was trying to do with ELO. It was a masterful blend of orchestration and rock and roll. And, people finally started paying attention! "Roll Over Beethoven" actually got some play on American radio stations! This weird experiment just might work.
The next album, "On the Third Day," was musically excellent, even though most people still didn't grasp it yet. (They might have been turned off by the silly let's-point-at-our-belly-buttons album cover.) "Showdown" was a moderate success, and the instrumental "Daybreaker" also charted. What I don't understand is how the rock and roll gem "Ma-Ma-Ma Belle" failed to catch on. What is wrong with you people?
Their fourth album, "Eldorado," further emphasized the marriage between orchestra and rock and roll. It was sub-titled "A Symphony by the Electric Light Orchestra," and included an incredible opening overture arranged by conductor Louis Clark. And, ELO finally had their first Top 10 American hit in "Can't Get It Out of My Head."
Next came the album "Face the Music," and an even bigger hit, "Evil Woman." Another hit, "Strange Magic," explored the dreamy pop sound that Jeff and the gang were perfecting.
The next album, "A New World Record," featured more Top 40 hits, with "Telephone Line," "Livin' Thing," and an ELO-ified version of The Move's "Do Ya." But, perhaps just as importantly, it also featured the new ELO logo: the juke box inspired spaceship.
It's an old cliche when something is unsuccessful to snidely chide, "Who's the marketing whiz who came up with this one?" Well, in this case I'd honestly like to know who the marketing whiz was who came up with the ELO spaceship logo, and I'm not chiding snidely! The brilliantly designed spaceship, cleverly and colorfully based on the form of an old juke box, did a lot to sell ELO to the masses. In a time near the height of the popularity of Star Wars, it gave the band an iconic image much more vibrant than their not-so-flashy songwriter/lead singer. (Yes, the afro and the goatee were somewhat distinctive, but as a showman Jeff Lynne was no Elton John.)
The cover of the next album, "Out of the Blue," further exploited the out of this world motif with a fantastic fold-out close-up of the spaceship. It helped that the music was incredible, too! "Out of the Blue" was a double-album overflowing with excellent songs, including the hits "Turn To Stone," "Sweet Talkin' Woman," and "Mr. Blue Sky." (And while "Mr. Blue Sky" wasn't ELO's biggest hit at the time, it is probably their most recognizable and influential song, and the one most identifiable as the "ELO sound.")
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| Awesome spaceship! (Thanks, marketing whiz, whoever you are.) |
Spurred by the success of "A New World Record" and "Out of the Blue," ELO embarked on a big world tour with a massive spaceship stage. Apparently, it was quite a sight to see. Unfortunately, I was 12 years old, had no money, and lived in Idaho. I didn't see the spaceship tour.
ELO's hot streak continued with the next album, "Discovery." (Get it? Disco-Very. Simple, but still much more clever of an album title than "Electric Light Orchestra II.") The album featured the hits "Don't Bring Me Down," "Shine a Little Love," "Confusion," and "Last Train to London," plus the fantastic "Diary of Horace Wimp." But, it was also the first ELO album without full orchestration. (The first sign of trouble.)
Twilight: I Only Meant to Stay Awhile
"Hey, let's do a movie musical with Olivia Newton John!" said John Travolta. And Jeff Lynne. The soundtrack to "Xanadu" was a bit of a strange arrangement. Side 1 was all Olivia Newton John, and Side 2 was all ELO, except for the last song, the title track, which combined ONJ with ELO. (ELONJ?) "I'm Alive" and "All Over the World" were Top 20 hits for ELO, but they didn't do as well as Olivia's songs. (A movie musical? The second sign of trouble.)
You know what's a sure sign of trouble? (In this case, the third sign of trouble for ELO.) A concept album. Concept albums are often the result of creative boredom. Artists will often try to jolt their own creative juices by doing an entire album based on a particular theme or story. Sometimes it works, (see Pink Floyd's "The Wall,") but more often it doesn't (see Queen's soundtrack to "Flash Gordon," which, aside from the title track was immediately forgettable.)
Concept albums can vary greatly in their subtlety. Billy Joel's "An Innocent Man" was a fairly subtle concept album. Apparently, "Paradise Theater" was a bit too subtle of a concept album for Styx, so Dennis DeYoung went super-batcrap-crazy concept for his next album, "Kilroy Was Here," complete with scripts, stage names, and robot masks.
ELO's "Time" wasn't quite that concepty, but it was very, very, very much a concept album, featuring a story about a guy who is trapped in the future. There are some good songs here, like the Top 10 hit "Hold On Tight," and Bev Bevan's extraordinary drumming on the underrated "Twilight," but overall as an ELO album it relied too much on the "E" and was light on the "O."
Each successive album was getting less and less satisfying. "Secret Messages" has several nice songs, but no real cohesion as an album. The one hit, "Rock 'N' Roll Is King," is little more than a stripped down clone of the previous album's "Hold On Tight."
ELO's final album, "Balance of Power," hardly seems like ELO at all, full of bitter break-up songs and saxophones. (Saxophones? I believe Billy Joel put it best when he asked the musical question "Where's the Orchestra?")
And then, ELO broke up. And that was the end of ELO. Or was it?
The Guys Not Named Jeff
Over the years a lot of musicians plied their trade in ELO, and they liked making music, too.
Up to this point I've only mentioned the founding members of ELO, Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne, and Bev Bevan. Wood left after the first album. From there, many musicians entered the fold. Some stayed briefly; others were in it for the long haul.
The most consistent other member of ELO was keyboardist Richard Tandy. He joined early and stayed to the very end. Kelly Groucutt played bass and contributed backing vocals. (By the time of the first non-orchestrated album, "Discovery," ELO was credited as a four-man operation of Lynne, Bevan, Tandy, and Groucutt.)
Violinist Mik Kaminski and his trademark blue violin was a solid contributor. Other string players included Hugh McDowell and Michael de Albuquerque. And, while never officially a member of the band, conductor Louis Clark helped provide orchestral arrangements.
After they left the group, some of these folks continued to make music that was clearly ELO-influenced.
One of the earliest was the group Violinski, featuring Mik Kaminski and his blue violin. This group had a minor hit in England with an instrumental called "Clog Dance." The album featured the fun, fast-paced song "Caped Crusader," and a very memorable, truly bizarre song called "Cow." "Cow" was musically intriguing, but the lyrics seemed to advocate domestic violence. Sure, it's good advice to "don't call your lover a cow," but I really don't think it's wise to advise listeners to "just smack her one in the face," or "kick her all over the place." (When Violinski's two albums were re-released as a compilation retrospective CD in the 2000s, the song "Cow" had been changed to "Princess of Darkness," and all of the lyrics had been removed.
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| Congratulations! It's a three-pound baby-blue violin! |
Bass player/back-up vocalist Kelly Groucutt release a solo album, cleverly titled "Kelly." (Oh for crying out loud, people!!!) I actually remember Kelly appearing on the outstanding television show Solid Gold to perform his single "Am I a Dreamer?" I don't think I ever heard it on the radio, though. The album has a few decent songs on it, most notably "Dear Mama," "Old Rock and Roller," and the very ELO-esque "Sea of Dreams."
Later in the 80s, Groucutt and Kaminski teamed up to form a group called OrKestra. (Yes, that's like "orchestra," but with a capital "K" in the middle.) They put out an album or two. But, they had so little success that I, a self-professed ELO lunatic, didn't even hear of their attempt until over ten years later. (Eventually a retro-CD came out. Similar to the earlier work by each of the men, the songs were decent but not great. "Beyond the Dream" is probably their best song.)
As important as Kaminski and Groucutt had been to ELO, neither of them were there for the whole ride. Bev Bevan was. He was a founding member of ELO. There came a time when Bevan wanted to make more ELO music, but Jeff Lynne didn't. And the two didn't exactly see eye to eye on the subject.
Eventually, Bevan formed a new band. He wanted to continue to call it the Electric Light Orchestra, but Jeff Lynne didn't. Lawyers became involved, and eventually Bevan's group settled on the name "Electric Light Orchestra Part Two." ("ELOPT?") Five words would make a pretty concise sentence, but for a band name it's about three or four too many. Eventually most people (or at least the relatively few who even knew they existed) would refer to them as "ELO II," which isn't confusing at all because that also happens to be the name of the original ELO's second album.
In fact, the first time I ever knew of the existence of Electric Light Orchestra Part Two, I was at the Budget Tapes and Records store in Pocatello, Idaho when I saw the cassette version of their album in the "Miscellaneous E" section of the store. The album by the group Electric Light Orchestra Part Two was titled "Electric Light Orchestra Part Two" because heaven forbid they actually use their damn creative minds to actually think of an actual damn album title!!! When I first saw the album, I wondered if it was a repackaged re-release of the original ELO's album "Electric Light Orchestra II."
(It was all very confusing, and all the confusion could have been avoided if either group had been forward thinking enough to give their album a title different than the name of the group!) (Morons!!!)
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| Nice spaceship! (What spaceship? I don't see any spaceship.) |
Eventually I realized it was a new album, so I bought it. When I listened to the first two songs, "Hello," and "Honest Men," I was blown away. Both songs sounded like ELO songs, with the wonderful orchestration that had been missing from the final four or five ELO albums! ELO was back!!! Except, they weren't. After that initial wave, the rest of the album generally sucks, with only a couple of other songs sounding even remotely like ELO.
When Bevan originally formed ELO II, he didn't bring in any other former members of the original ELO. It was mostly just a bunch of forgettable guys. The lone exception was a songwriter/singer named Eric Troyer. Troyer had toiled for years as a back-up studio session singer. He had sung on albums by the likes of Billy Joel, Elton John, and Bonnie Tyler. His songwriting and singing were definitely the bright spot of the "Electric Light Orchestra Part Two" album.
It didn't take Bevan long to realize that his new ELO group would be better if it actually included more former ELO members. Before long, Kelly Groucutt and Mik Kaminski came into the ELO II fold, as did former ELO conductor and arranger Louis Clark. (Clark, as the conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, had a good hit in 1981 with the medley "Hooked On Classics.")
With Eric Troyer and Kelly Groucutt splitting the lead singing chores, Electric Light Orchestra Part Two released a second album, titled "Moment of Truth." It started and ended with nice instrumental orchestration pieces written and conducted by Louis Clark. Several of the songs were filled with lyrics that were thinly veiled jabs at Jeff Lynne, like, "I'm so glad you're gone! I'm so glad you said goodbye!" The album as a whole was much better than the first Electric Light Orchestra Part Two album, but it still wasn't as good as any album by the actual ELO (except for maybe "Balance of Power.")
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| Truthiness!!! |
During this time Electric Light Orchestra Part Two was doing a lot or touring, and they even released a couple of live albums featuring one or two of their own songs plus the hits of the original ELO. Neither the touring nor the live albums sat well with Jeff Lynne. In promotion materials for the tours, often the "Part Two" part of the name of the band would be left off, which greatly irked Lynne. Lawyers were frequently involved. Also, whenever ELO Part II would release an album, a wide variety of re-issues and strange compilations of ELO cds would appear, seemingly to confuse the buying public as to what was a new release by the "new" group and what was just old rehash from the original group.
After a while, Bev Bevan grew tired of the fight. He quit ELO Part II and sold his rights to the ELO name back to Jeff Lynne. The other members of the band weren't ready to hang it up yet, though, so they got a new drummer (Gordon Townsend), a new guitarist/singer/songwriter (Parthenon Huxley), and a new name for their band.
The name they chose for their "new" old band was "The Orchestra." On the surface, it seems like a good name. It brings to mind the Electric Light Orchestra without any annoying legal battles with Jeff Lynne. Unfortunately, the band didn't really take into consideration internet search engines when deciding on the name "The Orchestra."
(Newcomer Parthenon Huxley had had fleeting success as a solo artist and as a member of the group "P. Hux." His solo album "Purgatory Falls," written about the death of his wife, is one of the most beautiful and sad pop-rock albums you'll ever hear.)
In 2001 The Orchestra released an album of (almost) all-new songs, titled "No Rewind." It is a fantastic album!!! (I still refer to it as my favorite album of this century.) Parthenon Huxley and Eric Troyer wrote and sing most of the songs, all of which are power-pop gems. I can't say enough good things about the songs "No Rewind," "Jewel and Johnny," "Can't Wait to See You," "Over London Skies," and "If Only." The album also contains an entertaining slow-fast cover of the classic rock song "Twist and Shout."
Unfortunately, the album is pretty obscure and only known to a relatively few hardcore fans. (When I first heard of the album I had to mail-order it from England in order to get a copy for myself!) It's too bad, because it is just a phenomenal album. (Did I mention that I like the album?)
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| The best album of this century!!! (Unfortunately, it's a "Limited Edition" because not many people bought it. |
To the best of my knowledge, The Orchestra has not put out any new music since "No Rewind," but they have continued to tour. In the interim, Kelly Groucutt passed away. He was replaced by Glen Burtnik, who spent some time in the rock group Styx.
In July of 2014 I was fortunate enough to actually get to see The Orchestra in concert in Park City, Utah. (It says something about the band's lack of promotional skills that I, undoubtedly one of their biggest fans in Utah, didn't hear about their scheduled nearby concert until just a few days before the performance, and even when I did hear about it, it was pretty much a lucky fluke.)
Despite the fact that Louis Clark had to use a walker to get to his spot behind his keyboard, it was an excellent concert. They played all of the greatest hits of the Electric Light Orchestra. The crowd loved it, and so did I, even though I was one of the few there who would have liked for them to play a song or two of their own.
I still hold out faint hope that someday they'll put out another album of new music.
Jeff Did Some Things
Meanwhile, after the break-up of the original ELO, Jeff Lynne didn't just sit around pouting on his couch watching reruns of Dr. Who. He actually stayed pretty busy.
Before the break-up of ELO, Lynne had started a side career of producing and writing for other acts. He did those things for Dave Edmunds on his albums "Information" and "Riff Raff." He also worked with George Harrison on "Cloud 9" and Roy Orbison on "Mystery Girl."
Lynne then wrote and performed with the super-group the Traveling Wilburys along with superstars Harrison, Orbison, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty. The group release two albums and had a few nice hit songs.
Lynne then worked his magic on the Tom Petty album "Full Moon Fever," which produced hit song after hit song and undoubtedly represented the zenith of Petty's career. Lynne also worked on Petty's follow-up album, "Into the Great Wide Open."
After all of this success working with others, it was finally time for Jeff Lynne to put out his first solo album. He released the album "Armchair Theater," and it was...okay at best. The single "Every Little Thing is a very good song, but it didn't catch on as a single, and sales of the album were disappointing.
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| Maybe Jeff should have gotten out of the chair and worked a little harder on the music. |
And, to be honest, as a fan of ELO the songs on "Armchair Theater" were very disappointing, too. There were only two or three songs that would have been worthy of making the cut as filler on even the least of ELO albums.
Lynne went back to work producing, working on the hugely successful "The Beatles Anthology," and the "new" Beatles song "Free As a Bird." He also worked with Paul McCartney, producing, writing, and performing on McCartney's fun album "Flaming Pie."
In 2001, Lynne decided it was time for a new ELO album. It was essentially another solo album, but he decided to release it as ELO instead of as Jeff Lynne, probably because more people were familiar with the name "ELO" than they were of "Jeff Lynne."
The album was titled "Zoom," and it was much, much, much better than "Armchair Theater." It featured two excellent songs ("Ordinary Dream" and "Moment In Paradise,") and three or four other good songs, including the single "Alright." Unfortunately, the rest of the album was pretty much just filler.
Lynne thought "Zoom" would be the catalyst to launch a big ELO tour, but album sales and ticket sales didn't live up to expectations, and most of the tour was cancelled.
Interestingly enough, the ELO album "Zoom" by Jeff Lynne came out the same year that "No Rewind" by The Orchestra did. Surprisingly, the album by the cast-offs, misfits, and no-names from The Orchestra is the far superior of the two. Go figure.
As the new millennium marched on, Lynne became a bit of a 21st century man, not because of his new music, but because of his old music. As kids who grew up on ELO music in the late 1970s started to become influential filmmakers, they began to reach back to their old familiar favorite tunes to use in their movies. "Mr. Blue Sky," "Turn To Stone," and "Don't Bring Me Down" began popping up all over the place in movies and movie trailers. ELO music was becoming popular again.
In 2012, Jeff Lynne released two "new" albums, although neither one of them were actually "new." The first, a solo album titled "Long Wave," contained covers of old classic songs.
The other album, released the same day, has a bit of a different story. It is an ELO album, titled "Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of the Electric Light Orchestra." For this album, Jeff Lynne meticulously re-recorded all of the greatest hits of ELO, and did so in a way that the songs are almost indistinguishable from the original versions to the casual fan. Lynne says he did this because, with the advancements in technology, he can make the songs sound "better" than before, or make them sound like he originally intended them to sound.
There are some cynics, though, who believe he re-recorded all the old hits so that when movie-makers asked to use ELO songs, he could have them use these new recordings, thus getting all the money for their use and bypassing all of his old band-mates. (If true, it sounds a little skeevy to me.)
But then, finally, in November of 2015, Jeff Lynne put out a new album of new music. It was released not as a Jeff Lynne album, and not as an ELO album, but as an album by "Jeff Lynne's ELO," just to clear up and/or add to the confusion.
The title of the album is "Alone In the Universe," and, in my opinion, it is by far the best album by Jeff Lynne, ELO, or Jeff Lynne's ELO since the breakup of the original ELO. (It's even almost as good as The Orchestra's "No Rewind!")
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| Ah, the triumphant return of the spaceship! |
The initial single, "When I Was a Boy," is nearly perfect. It has that classic ELO/Beatle-esque feel to it. The album also features three other great songs, "Alone In the Universe," "All My Life," and "The Sun Will Shine On You." And even the filler songs from the album are far superior to the filler songs from "Zoom."
The reception to "Alone In the Universe" has been much better than the reception for "Zoom," too. Jeff Lynne's ELO have made several television appearances, including The Tonight Show, and they have played a series of sold-out concerts as well. Hopefully this means Jeff Lynne will continue to keep writing songs and making music.
So, there you have it. The brief (ha!) history of the Electric Light Orchestra and the ELO family of musical acts. (I'm sure I've left a few things out, because this history has been rather brief.)
COMING UP NEXT: A brief (ha!) history of Chilliwack and the Chilliwackian family of musical acts.
