El Dorado --- Electric Light Orchestra --- 1974
ELO were the very first band I ever got fully into. My very first album ever was "Discovery" and I loved it, but for my birthday (don't ask what age I was, maybe 15) I got a three-box set of albums, and of those this was the one that impressed me most. Kind of my first ever concept album too, this was the first ELO album on which Jeff Lynne actually shelled out for a proper orchestra rather than try to do overdubs, and wow does it show! The glory and majesty of sweeping soundscapes like "Laredo tornado", "Poor boy" and "Mister kingdom", to say nothing of the title track and the overture and finale, the music just stirs your soul and makes you sit up.
Previous albums had been okay but kind of more based in a a rocky, blues-style manner and there was little of the "orchestra" part of their name, other than in the odd track. This felt like a symphony, and would of course lead on to one of their most successful album, 1978's double "Out of the blue". There are rocky moments on it too though: "Illusions in G Major" has Lynne really rock out on the guitar, while "Boy Blue" has a real country/rock feel to it. And then of course there's "Can't get it out of my head", one of their first big hit singles.
But like so many concept albums, "El Dorado" is best listened to in one piece. The music doesn't completely flow from one track to another but it very nearly does, and if you ignore the odd gap you can listen to it as one big symphony. Which is I think the best way to appreciate ELO. This album certainly made me a lifelong fan of the band.
TRACKLISTING
1. El Dorado overture
2. Can't get it out of my head
3. Boy Blue
4. Laredo tornado
5. Poor boy (The Greenwood)
6. Mister kingdom
7. Nobody's child
8. Illusions in G Major
9. El Dorado
10. El Dorado finale