Jeff Lynne's ELO

Mr. Blue Sky is out with a new record and it's pretty good. Funny, calling himself "Jeff Lynne's ELO," but I think that's to differentiate himself from the various fragment bands by former ELO members living off his body of hit tunes.

The standout track is "One Step at a Time," a soaring, shimmering, proper Electric Light Orchestra tune. The whole album is very good, His voice having mellowed since ELO's heyday, but still great.

There's a tour of Britain and Europe that's just been announced; US dates should be released soon.

How big a deal is this? It seems Lynne has gotten a lot of attention in the last year or so, and is perhaps as popular as back in '78. As a huge Jeff Lynne fan, though, it's hard to tell if normal people are interested, as it's all over my Facebook feed. Jeff Lynne's ELO

Not the ELO I was expecting when I entered this thread.
edit: NM. I'm an idiot, was thinking Elio

In reply to Clarty:

Great to hear. I'll have to pick that one up!

Cool. Always dug their rendition of Roll Over Beethoven.

Been a fan since the 70's!

The guy has some crazy producing (and other of course) talents. There was a documentary about him out not to long ago. I believe it was called Mr Blue Sky.

https://www.amazon.com/MR-BLUE-SKY-STORY-LYNNE/dp/B00FW956IA?_encoding=UTF8&Version=1&entries=0

I actually met Jeff in Paris in 99. Good story, but long.

Always loved ELO. I do get a little bristly when I see "Jeff Lynne's ELO." Having been in the oldies/doo-wop scene for many years, it was full of old woppers who were trying to push their name in some pathetic attempt to be like, "look at me, I was important once." The Vogues became "Chuck Blasko and the Vogues" and things like that.

Its like if Phil Collins gets back together with Mike and Tony, would he call it Phil Collin's Genesis?

I'm not suggesting that Jeff Lynne is doing that, but when artists rename things like that it just has the whiff of desperation.

I bought "Out of the Blue" a while ago at a second hand shop, simply because I liked the cover art. I mean look at this:

HELL YES.

Now my usual music preferences are more modern but I do really enjoy a bit of good, dramatic, over-the-top prog rock every now and then. So I figured with a cover like that this has to be amazing right?

Well... The music on the album bored me to tears. It's mind-numbingly slow, uninteresting, and completely unmemorable. No single track ever gets over about 70 BPM and there's apparently no dynamic or energy to any of it at all. It was like listening to a yogic lullaby. I assume it was composed & performed while inspired by a E36 M3 ton of weed but I can't even imagine that would make it interesting.

I even double-checked to make sure I wasn't playing a 45 at 33 RPM but no, I heard it how it's supposed to sound.

Is this what you guys consider "soaring and shimmering"? NOT what I would call it.

At least I got some pretty badass wall art for my $2, but yeesh.

I, too, love the album art of OOTB, perhaps because it reminds me of the great album inside. Very few songwriters can produce an album of decent material, but Jeff Lynne wrote this double album and there isn't a bad song on it.

Critics trashed ELO back in the '70s for not being the Sex Pistols or Iggy and the Stooges, but taken for what it is, the music is staggeringly good and has stood the test of time.

"Mind-numbingly slow and uninteresting" is the last thing I would call this music. It's lavishly orchestrated and complex, with a lot going on all the time, and I think it's melodically inventive, as Jeff says, "I like to write tunes the postman can whistle."

Jeff Lynne was never into drugs. I've read speculation he may have had a puff of weed at a party in 1980, but ELO were pretty clean-living by rock star standards.

Out of the Blue presents Jeff Lynne and ELO at the zenith of their popularity and ambition, in their most grandiose form ever. It is the definitive ELO record. And my 5-year-old daughter really likes ELO!