Hey I`m listening to the first album right now.......I always like to start at the beginning and I`m enjoying the first album a lot more now than I previously did. On the early albums Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood before his departure pretty much split singing and songwriting duties. The whole album has a strong baroque and cello feel (Roy Wood influenced) whereas the Beatles style influences come from Jeff Lynne. The album also strongly hints at the future ELO sound.

favourite single is probably Last Train to London - it's the one I heard the most and i have liked it since childhood

least favourite is Mr. Blue Sky cos Lynne's trying too hard to be The Beatles

One of the reasons I've always disliked ELO because Jeff Lynne said the goal of the band was to rewrite "I Am The Walrus" as many times as possible, zero creativity in my opinion.

Maybe it had been meant to be a very loose statement made by Lynne, I suspect there may be a little truth to it in some small degree.

The Beatles influence I hear in their music is very entertaining to me personally.

I am not a fanatic about ELO or anything like that. Their songs just take me back to that era/memory back in the 70s. ;)

Oddly enough you can hear "I am the Walrus" in most ELO songs:laughing:

i dislike ELO for their slick, overproduced extremely commercial sound. at least since out of the blue. and the vocals sound so processed and artificial

So I'm not the only one who has flashbacks to A Day In The Life on this track? I still like Mr. Blue Sky, though.

I remember getting a copy of A New World Record out of the dollar bin at my local record store, back when I was REALLY cheap and was just getting into vinyl. I had heard of ELO from a friend but I didn't know what to expect, but for a buck I took the risk. It was awesome, mostly feel-good music and was one of my favorite dollar bins finds for a long time.

I got Out of the Blue for 25 cents a while later and I think it sort of turned me off from liking the group too much. For every song I really liked on the album there was another I had no idea what to do with. I still have a copies of Discovery and Eldorado sitting around (more dollar bin purchases!) and I should listen to them...eventually. So I guess I only "like" ELO so far. Don't love.

I`d say Out of the Blue was their crowning achievement as a band and albums like A New World Record were just leading upto this. Discovery is a really average album but Eldorado is a great album and def worth the listen. The hidden gem though in the ELO catalogue is Time (its much more electronic based) and its an album I`ve always loved.

It's possible that I just need to listen to it more. I've only listened to it twice, maybe three times. It's biggest fault is that it didn't grab my attention and since it's a double-album it's so much more of a "chore" to give a serious listen.
Sounds interesting, at the very least. If it's a bit different in style from their other albums I'll consider picking it up.

Its like most double albums, theres a bit of filler but less than a lot of other acclaimed double albums of that time period and the quality is there.

A typical electronic based track off Time


ELO - Yours Truly, 2095 - YouTube