Out Of The Blue

stage 1: this album is how long? stage 2: okay jeff, we get it. you like the beatles stage 3: this album is HOW long?? stage 4a: the edibles hit stage 4b: the whale stage 5: the lights are off and the sun went down an hour ago stage 666: a c c e p t

Extra AF. Good album with a ton of interesting sounds and ideas. But man, it feels like Pink Floyd got bedazzled and thrown onstage at broadway. Overall enjoyable though, so don't get me wrong. True feelings: 3.6/5

This album feels like driving 65 in a 65 speed limit zone. There is some really fun instrumental stuff in Across the Border. Jungle has got a totally different feel and I dig it, but only kind of. This music just feels like corporate and soulless and sterile to me I guess. There’s no heart here.

Side three of the release is subtitled Concerto for a Rainy Day, a four-track musical suite based on the weather and how it affects mood change, ending with the eventual sunshine and happiness of "Mr. Blue Sky". This was inspired by Lynne's experience while trying to write songs for the album against a torrential downpour of rain outside his Swiss Chalet. "Standin' in the Rain" opens the suite with a haunting keyboard over a recording of real rain, recorded by Jeff Lynne just outside his rented studio. Also heard at the 0:33 mark of the song, which marks the beginning of The Concerto, is thunder crackling in an unusual manner voicing the words "Concerto for a Rainy Day" by the band's keyboardist, Richard Tandy. At around the 1:07 mark, the staccato strings play a morse code spelling out "ELO". The band used the song to open their 1978 World Tour Out of the Blue concerts. "Big Wheels" forms the second part of the suite and continues with the theme of the weather and reflection. Apart from its inclusion on the Out of the Blue album, the song has never appeared on any of the band's compilations or as a B-side until 2000, when Lynne included it on the group's retrospective Flashback album. "Summer and Lightning" is the third song in the suite. The raining weather theme is continued throughout the track though the mood and lyrics are more optimistic. "Mr. Blue Sky", an uplifting, lively song celebrating sunshine, is the finale of "Concerto for a Rainy Day" suite. Again, the Vocoder is used at the end of the track where, at the 4:54 mark, one can hear "Please turn me over" as it fades out. It is the only piece from the Concerto to be excerpted as a single.

This will be…interesting. Ha. First off, this album is LONG, over an hour—20 minutes longer give or take than everything else I’ve been fed from this list so far. ELO clearly have a deep and abiding love for pop songcraft but I can’t stand their sound. God so much fucking falsetto. I don’t know anything about ELO but I’m willing to bet this band is mostly the vision of one person—going to check now. I was right! Jeff Lynne. Good for him. Bad for me. It’s taking everything in me to finish this album and I’m three songs in. I bet if I listened to this four times in a row or if I grew up listening to it I would love it. But that is not the case. Every time there’s a verse I like the arrangement gets more complicated and overwrought—Big Wheels being a good example of this. I do think a lot of it is just the big slick production that’s putting me off, it makes it hard to “hear” the songs with so much instrumentation and just Jesus it’s so fucking smooth and even. I also can’t stand the strings. Also listening the Mr Blue Sky for the millionth time (but for the first time on headphones!) makes me never want to listen to music again. God fuck this album. Objectively it’s very well done and blah blah blah but fuck. Fuck this album. Maybe it’s me but I want to kill myself more and more the longer I listen. Seriously. Stone cold garbage. Those stupid strings. Stupid stupid stupid strings. It’s like they got some Ok songs and made a sandwich but then put a big thick layer of mayonnaise on it and so all you taste is mayonnaise. And mayonnaise is fine but. You know. IT HAS ITS PLACE and that place is not in my ears. I seriously might not listen to music for the rest of the day after listening to this album. It’s too long, too coked-out, too ornate, too fucking obnoxious. If it was 2/3 the length my opinion would probably be different. It’s like watching someone masturbate and they just won’t stop. Think they’re done? Nope! Too bad. Jeff Lynne just keeps on wankin’. And wankin’. And wankin’. Anyways. Self-indulgent twaddle. 1/5 for overstaying its welcome.

I’m sure there were a lot of innovative sonic qualities in this album for ‘77, and in a way I like the orchestra integration, but overall this album just really doesn’t do it for me. Not sure what it is, but it kind of all starts to blend together after a while and not many songs really stuck out for me. Not bad by any means, just nothing overly special. And I know that’s a crime considering Mr. Blue Sky is on this album but 🤷🏼‍♂️

This is what the Beatles would sound like if they replaced John Lennon with Freddie Mercury (or what Queen would sound like if they replaced Mercury with Lennon)

electric light orchestra. I hardly know her.

More like end my life orchestra.

Perhaps the most enthusiastic ensemble you will hear—a genuine triumph.

Ahh 1977. I was more into punk than this shite. Spikey hair, ripped jeans and sucking off wheelies in alleyways was my game. ELO can fuck right off.

I love ELO and this album is not an exception! Good rock with various styles, ranging from classic to prog, and some really good instrumental songs.

The first album I ever bought was ELO. This one remains a favourite of mine, despite the decades they spent languishing in the mire of critical scorn. I'm glad they've undergone a minor re-evaluation, because Jeff Lynne owned the purest pop ears since Paul McCartney. The songs here feel liked they're beamed in from a softer, sunnier dimension; and it's a small marvel at just how meticulous some of the arrangements are. Lynne has the sensibility of a jeweller where creating pop is concerned - one of my favourite albums, of any genre, ever

Anyone who doesn’t put a 5 deserves death

Somehow this is bland mashup of McCartney, Queen, and Pink Floyd. Massively overproduced and twice as long as it needed to be. A couple memorable songs but mostly I just wanted it to end.

Love me some ELO. I remember listening to this album as a kid (thanks to my older siblings who were ELO fans). Those opening notes of Turn to Stone bring back memories and it's still a great song. ELO is one of those bands where I enjoy everything I hear but have never dug deeply into their catalog. Jeff Lynne is awesome and I appreciate him more every time I hear anything he's involved in. Mr. Blue Sky has been played a million times in my house since my kids got into Guardians of the Galaxy, but it never gets old. Stuff like Sweet Talkin' Woman is very 70s, but still great. Favorite non-hits - Jungle (fun track), Believe Me Now, Sweet is the Night. Basically, there isn't a weak moment on the album, which is even more impressive since it's a double album. Great stuff, easy 5.

There might be some good songs here but sheeesh they're hard to find under the bright, overwrought production. Like Brian Wilson on steroids, the studio effects just keep coming with little relief in sight. Somewhere under all the orchestral flourishes and choral singers and unnecessary sound effect is some good old fashioned rock songs....I guess. I wish someone had said to him; "Jeff, why don't you take a break?" 2.5 🌟

MR. BLUE SKY!!!!!

If you look up the word 'Fun' in the dictionary, you'll be shown a picture of this album cover.

God I love ELO

Used to spin this on vinyl often over a decade ago. It was a pleasure revisiting an album I haven’t thought about in quite some time. So many delicious melodies. Jeff Lynne bringing fun symphonic pop to the masses. This is prog rock stripped of a lot of the pretensions.

One of the easiest 5s I could ever give. The singles are so incredible and memorable and catchy it's unreal. As a record, it has a real love and reverence for all genres, leading to its massive planetary scope. Jeff Lynne is absolutely one of the greatest underrated songwriters of the last 100 years. I understand it's nowhere near as cool as the punk that surrounded it in the 70s, but if John Lennon said this is the band the Beatles would become, then I have nothing else to say. 19/08/24

Catchy, memorable, inventive. One of my all time favourites!

album so well composed i want it injected in my veins

“Hey Paul! It’s your cousin Leroy McCartney. You know that new sound you were looking for?!” “Jungle” was a highlight for me

Fantastical

Classic double album that seems shorter than its 70 minutes. The suite on Side 3 is perfect.

This album is pure magic. Puts me in a great mood every time.

Jeff Lynne perfected pop

я в нереальном восторге,то самое состояние находишь вещь которая будто всегда была частью тебя я знала только несколько хитов ELO,и невероятно рада что предоставилась возможность послушать этот альбом,теперь он один из моих любимых вообще,обязательно послушаю другие

Great album

Excellent album

La pochette était intrigante et je n’avais entendu parlé ni du disque, ni du groupe. Ça part fort avec « Turn to Stone », un bon disco entraînant. Rapidement, on fait des parallèles avec Queen , autant dans les harmonies vocales, que dans la voix du chanteur, que dans les orchestrations. Puis on arrive à la 3e chanson « Sweet Tallin’ Woman », avec des arrangements intéressants de cordes et des passages plus électroniques à la Daft Punk. Ensuite, des orchestrations de cuivres et de cordes pincées surprennent dans « Across the Border », et on croit entendre des cloches à vache parmi les guitares électriques et les samplings de sirènes dans « Night in the City ». Et on continue d’être étonné par la difficile à classer « Jungle », à la fois beatlesque, belafontesque et électro-futuriste, avec même un petit intermède de chorale gospel. Les influences des Beatles et de Queen reviennent tout du long, mais avec une sauce éclectique et originale. Disque ambitieux, dense, mais franchement réussi. Très belle découverte pour ceux et celles qui aiment les orchestrations touffues et lourdes.

This was the first album I bought and I still love it today. It's 110% full-on from the word go with orchestral rock-n-roll pop-driven tunes and not a quiet introspective moment in 4 sides. Jeff Lynne is a genius for arrangements and tunes and it flows along with a multitude of classical and electronic tricks. I can understand how some people can't stand the whole vibe but it's so hooked into my memories I can't but love it.

Such a warm, melodic, creative, and carefree expression of sound. Almost childlike in their approach to music, the whimsy is exceedingly fun - I wonder why there hasn't been an ELO musical yet. Perhaps there has been and I just don't know it. If they had gone with approximately 75% less robot filter on the voices I think this could have been a 5 star album.

This is incredibly cheesy but you'd have to either be a miserable bastard or a desperate try hard to not enjoy it.

Much as a philosopher proposed for Jonathan Richman on this here website, Jeff Lynne looked at The Beatles and said "I can do that"; from time-to-time, he would succeed. You might think I am an ELO's Greatest Hits kinda guy, and you would be correct (apart from Discovery, which I love for nostalgic reasons). This one is too much and too long (often both at once), but when it gets it right it hits hard. "Sweet Talkin' Woman" and "Mr Blue Sky" are always a pleasure, and kudos also for inventing Daft Punk. I'm too old for double albums that are not particularly varied throughout, but I probably would have loved this if I discovered it 35 years ago. I'll be kind

The Disco Beatles. Sorry, I just call ‘em like I see ‘em…

If I was a teen when this was released I have no doubt that I’d have been obsessed with it. The songs are poppy and sound BIG…almost too big because after a while they all sound the same The production still sounds epic. I once read a quote from John Lennon stating that had the Beatles not broken up, they would have ended up sounding just like ELO. I can hear that. Lots to love here even if some of these songs are over played on classic rock radio.

Just enjoyable and very post-Beatles-pre-Queen-ish? Would be more appropriate if this is released in1967 rather than 1977, but sure it does give that 70s prog pop; symphonic rock vibe. Very smooth to the ear, it's the kind of music I can listen to all day but not every day (gets dull if you listen too much). It's an overall enjoyable journey listening to this album. The little keys are very cute, I love them. An outstanding music album, deserve a decent 4/5.

unsurprisingly enjoyed!! perhaps a bit too long but I would listen again - jungle, across the border and obvs mr blue sky as highlights 8 out of 10

would give 3.5 if I could, it’s a pleasant listen that overstays it’s welcome just a little bit so i’ll be nice and round up. can definitely tell they like the beatles but who doesn’t ? also shoutout to jeff lynne for being part of the legendary prince “while my guitar gently weeps” rock HOF performance

Amazing space/rock opera. 4/5

Alright, chipper but a bit too Beatles’-sounding

Rocking prog rock classic. Tasty jams that everybody loves.

cool rock and synthy fun. I've never heard of ELO before but I enjoyed this quite a bit. Sweet Talkin' Woman got me hooked. also unrelated to the music, I absolutely love the cover art, weird 70's sci fi does it for me. great energy throughout, it gets a little too bombastic here and there but man was this fun.

So many songs, but so many highlights. I really enjoyed this one. It was a strange mix of prog and pop that works incredibly well. Great arrangements. Key tracks: Turn to Stone It's Over Sweet Talkin' Woman Mr. Blue Sky

Great prog pop. As usual, a double album could probably be an even better single album but there is something about it being too long that is appropriate to the genre. Several tracks such as "Stepping Out" would be at home on an alternate universe Let It Be album - down to the overblown arrangement.

Like I wouldn't be mad if someone played this in an elevator.

(5/5) Everything that ELO made always strikes me as joyous and triumphant. It's probably a trick of the arrangements where there's always some amount of orchestral accompaniment, but it just makes me smile. "Mr. Blue Sky" NEVER fails to make me smile no matter how many millions of times I've heard it. Even the slower, deep tracks on this album feel light and brilliant. That sort of unfiltered joy keeps this in the low '5s for me no matter what. It *IS* kinda long, and it is very 'one trick pony' in it's variety, but it's damned amazing how often that keeps working for me..

This album changed my fucking life Late 6th grade like around may I don't know why or how but I heard the song Mr. Blue Sky and I loved it, I listened to it on repeat, that was the 1st song that changed my life, went from shit music taste to the expansion to rock and pop rock that would come, after finding a couple more of the extremely popular pop rock songs I listened to the whole album (this being the first full album I heard) I liked the whole thing, from the instrumentation of Across the Border, to the chaos of the jungle, to the build up in Big Wheels, to grand ending of wild west hero. This is easily my most relistened to album of my whole life, ELO was the first band I got into, shortly after I heard Time and Discovery and Face the Music, eventually I got into other bands like the Beatles or Pink Floyd, grand works so phenomenal that it almost brushes everything off. From the great early 70s prog era to the mid to late 70s prog pop era to the 80s synth era and even the random bullshit Jeff Lynne did afterwards, ELO proved its place to me, a place that I will never forget. Music makes up much of me as a person now, and if it weren't for Out of the Blue I truly don't know where'd I end up. This list needs more ELO representation

Day523 - if your complaint is that too many of the songs sound the same then you’re probably right but anything with mr. blue sky is awesome

Love ELO! They have such great energy, and they create music that's big and interesting and super fun. Love all the different instrumentation they use and the variety of sounds they create. I've always been a big fan of their hits...Sweet Talkin' Woman is my fave on here, and Mr. Blue Sky was my special song for my late sweet kitty cat. Favorite 'new to me' songs are Summer and Lightning (so freaking good!) and Across the Border, but this is full of other terrific tunes too. A double album delight, and not a song to skip in sight. I had a fabulous time listening, easy 5!

A relentlessly positive album - even where the actual lyrical content may reflect a less than happy subject, it still has the sound of a good day. I’ve never been upset to hear ELO - they have such groovy harmonies layered through every track that it really does sound like some bizarre future orchestra playing a composition. This feels like music made by people who really love making music.

I bought this when it came out, I was 11 and practically wore out the grooves on my blue vinyl copy! Absolute pearl of an album, Jeff Lynne was a pop song writing God! Epic!

I’m gonna tell it straight. I don’t care that this album is over an hour long. I don’t care if the final few tracks were objectively weaker than the rest of the album. I don’t care if some of the songs sound weird. This is the shit. They’re something about this album that just pulverized my g-spot. Nearly every song put me in a high. It isn’t just Mr. Blue Sky. It’s either peak 70’s pop with a touch of disco in the likes of Turn to Stone and Sweet Talkin’ Woman (every time the phrase “slow down” is sung, it sends me places) or slow impactful tunes like Big Wheels and Starlight. It did lose a little steam at the end, but fuck it. Making a hour album not feel like a chore is a fucking achievement is its own right. Thanks in part to the production bringing out the O in ELO and the more unique elements such as the backing vocals and the Electronic elements, this is a double album that could have gone for hours and I would have still loved it. Favorite track: Mr. Blue Sky Favorite track that is not Mr. Blue Sky: Sweet Talkin’ Woman Other hits: Turn to Stone, It’s Over, Night in the City, Starlight, Big Wheels, Sweet is the Night

Of course I knew some ELO songs earlier but listening to the whole album is a whole another experience. Every single song made me say 'wow, this one is great!' so in the end there's none that stands out, because all of them are so extra.

I am myself surprised how it grew on me during the first listening. I love how homogenous and still internally varied this album is. Instruments are magnificent, vocals are great. That is one of the album that makes me still listening 1001.

Y'know what I just love ? Y'know, what I really fancy myself a bit of sometimes? Overproduction. Now that's typically a bad word in talking about music, but for my own money... Oh, goodness, there's just nothing like it. When you take what coulda been normal, average songs and just pump them up with so much until they become larger than life, and then some. That's why I like OUT OF THE BLUE as much as I do. Front-to-back, every song sounds like a grand adventure. Even the shorter or more lowkey ones, it doesn't sound like there could be anything bigger. Like, it hardly matters to me if these songs are "soulless" or if there's way too much cribbed from The Beatles or whatever. The mere fact that for a while there I would put on the third side of the record, "Concerto For A Rainy Day," every time I woke up to find it was raining outside should tell you how much I don't mind either of those things. Besides, it's not like I have a problem with bands wearing their influences on their sleeve; as long as they can still sound unique in spite of that, it's all good. And, well, even acknowledging the fact that Jeff Lynne would go on to produce two Beatles songs 20-some years later, I don't think I'd mistake ELO for another band, y'know? It doesn't even matter to me that this album is as long as it is. It's one of those 60+ minute albums where I feel like it truly justifies its runtime. The songs, to me, are really just that consistently solid and carry the pace so well that it hardly even feels like it's that long. Accepting the "Concerto" as a different, mini-album in the middle of this album helps, too. Honestly, if there's anything I'm down on, it's the fact that I was kinda, like... Extra-tired today when I heard this? Which gets to me, 'coz this is an album I wanted to pay the fullest of attention to. And I feel like I paid enough, don't get me wrong, but... Ehh, I just had this feeling of "tired" behind my eyes ever since I woke up two hours later than I wanted to, I'unno. But that's besides the point, and hardly impacts my enjoyment of this album. For me, it's a full 5. Jus', goodness me, so many great songs and moments. Like, that rapid-fire breakdown in "Turn To Stone"? Goodness me. All the way to the grand closer of "Wild West Hero". Which is actually how I closed my 2023, by the way, after the album had also opened that year. (Huge shout-outs as well to the "PLEASE TURN ME OVER" at the end of "Mr. Blue Sky". I've always loved that. Really, the whole outro of that song... Goodness.) Now, I'll be 100 and admit that it's not actually an album I've put on too often. Like, outside of the "Concerto," I think I've only played this album in full four times (contrat with the **53 times** I've played the "Concerto"). If there's any commitment I wanna make after this review, though, it's to listen to this album way more. It really, truly deserves it. It's a masterwork of 70's overproduced pop — which, yeah, is absolutely not for everyone. But if no one else, it's for me. Jus'... Goodness. I don't even know what else to say. Go listen to "Mr. Blue Sky" — I mean, chances are you already have, but go listen to it again. You hear how happy it is? That's me when I play this album. Nothing but clear, blue skies and sunshine as far as the eye can see.

I don't even need to relisten to this to know that I'm giving it 5.5 if that were possible, but I will anyway because ELO is one of my top 5 bands of all time and deserve even more praise than they have already. But getting back on topic, this album just has so many essential tracks in their discography that it's almost absurd, alongside deeper cuts that could have been hits if they were released. Turn To Stone. Sweet Talkin' Woman. Night In The City. And don't even get me started on how absolutely magnificent the Concerto For A Rainy Day is. It starts strong, keeps up with the usual excellent orchestral work, and just becomes basically perfect when the one ELO song everyone's heard comes on. Mr. Blue Sky is just perfection, front to back. And again, this is a 5.5 star album, maybe even a 6 if I'm in the right mood for it.

That’s obviously a 5. This is my first time listening to this album in full – obviously, I know Mr. Blue Sky, but that’s about it, really. My experience with ELO as a whole is super minimal – maybe an occasional thing heard on the radio, but the big thing, other than Mr. Blue Sky, is reading once that John Lennon reportedly said the Beatles, had they stayed together, would’ve likely sounded like ELO. That sentiment rings pretty damn true here: this feels like a Beatles album, in a very good way. Perhaps there’s a bit more bombast and synth, but in terms of the overall compositions, vocal styles, and just the underlining intangibles… yeah, this feels like where they all could’ve gone. Admittedly, I’m not quite sure how to describe my overall thoughts here – I think this is just fantastic across the board, from top to bottom, but I wonder how much of it is simply a factor getting really into the zone with this general style. This clicked extremely well with me; just about everything I like in this album can be traced back to every style present in the genre around this time. There’s some jukebox U.S. rock influence ala Boston or Kansas, there’s obviously the Beatles, there’s occasionally a dip into some Zeppelin/Stones style stuff, the piano feels sort of Elton John-esque at times, and the synth/vocoder work blends in part of what was making disco, pop, and R&B work incredibly well at the time. I do wish there were a few more chances to have me, as the listener, breathe a bit within the songs themselves, as some of these go at a breakneck speed without much of a pause, but I kinda love the rollercoaster feel. It’s an album that feels tailor-made to me, which makes it all the more baffling that I’ve never really interacted with it until now. It also makes it sort of baffling that, once the experience of the album wore off, it almost felt like the cracks started to pop up, oddly enough. Again, this is a great album, it’s easily deserving of a 5, and I loved everything here, but… I couldn’t help but get a lingering sense that maybe, just maybe, the album’s bombast overstays its welcome and creates just a bit of a homogeneity that stops some of the tracks at an individual level from feeling as memorable. That is to say, I kind of found it hard to remember why I was super into stuff like Turn to Stone, Sweet Talkin’ Woman, Across the Border, Night in the City, etc – those feel incredible in the moment, and they work cohesively and brilliantly within the album, but until I went back to listen to them again, I couldn’t really place why I had liked them after I was done listening to the album. Perhaps it’s just a “first time listening” thing. Ultimately, though, this is just too damn good to let little cracks or perceived imperfections get in the way of what this is, at its core: 70 minutes of blistering rock, that maybe sometimes goes a little too fast for its own good, but it more than makes up for it with the orchestral instrumentation, the huge variety of influences, and a very distinct style that clicks extremely well with my tastes. Someone else can write about the nitty gritty of the compositions and really break down why this has all those intangibles that just work, but for my ears, good music is good music, and this is fantastic music. It’s an absolute highlight of the 1970s, and a crime that I haven’t heard it until now. Very, very easy 5.

one of the best

Love me some ELO! And Mr. Blue Sky is one of the happiest songs ever written. :)

Nobody sounds like ELO! All of these songs are so infused with life and charm. The hits are HITS and the rest of the stuff is all good fun. Shoutout to Wild West Hero. Unsung classic

A really fun ride, filled with unexpected chords progressions and sumptuous orchestrations. Loved it!

When the day is done and there's nowhere to run And the people of the city have all lost and won In your city dress you stand and stare And you smoke another cigarette and comb your hair And the light that shines Paints a trace of sadness On the street I wait But I can't seem to get to you. Well, you start to sway check your Cartier Cause it's getting late you can't afford to wait So you move along where it's going on And the people of the night are playing 'til the dawn And the sun that shines Paints a trace of sadness In your eyes that cry Wishing and hoping Oh Sweet, sweet is the night Now you are near Dark dark were the days They disappear Sweet sweet is the night Now you are near Yeah, this album is pretty fucking great. 5/5

Holy shit was this album great. I don't know if there was a bad song on it. I've only heard the ELO hits before and wow I need to keep deep diving. I'm blown away. The Whale was probably my least favorite track, but it wasn't bad at all Favorite songs: Mr. Blue Sky (obv), Across the Border, Sweet is the Night, Wild West Hero, Night in the City

Sooo many good tracks on this album.

brilliant.

Just a masterpiece.

Gonna listen more. Every song felt like an anthem. I love Jeff lynne

Loved every minute of it.

Great sound and songs.

Mr. Blue Sky es una de mis canciones favoritas desde hace unos años y sin embargo, nunca la había escuchado en el contexto de su disco original, y me encantó ahora oírla como parte de una cosa conceptual que está justo en medio del Rock y la sobreproducción del Disco que empezaba en esa época. Muy buenos solos de guitarra, sintetizadores, motivos que se repiten pero utilizados sutilmente, creo que el disco tiene de todo. Perfecta la coincidencia que, después de Blue de Joni Mitchel siguiera Out of the Blue.

Mr Blue Skyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

A bloated glorious mess. Loses a full mark for the pronunciation of "Birmingham" in Birmingham Blues; you're from Shard End, Jeff, you know you fucked up

Heard Before? Yes oh yes, my favorite album as a twelve year old. Notes: - forget for a moment what an irritating twit Jeff Lynne is. ok, a long moment. - also try and forget that the word "classical" was ever used in connection with ELO. whatever the sawbox brigade is doing here, it ain't classical. - the simple melodies and "insert-lyrics-here" help keep the focus on the overblown production. - I can't think of any other analogue album with this degree of production complexity that sounds so clear and beautiful. - part of that is the masterful arrangements that highlight just the right parts at the right times. - seriously I think the album started as a list of must-include studio tricks. I can’t imagine that these songs mean anything to anyone except jealous studio engineers. - so with nothing at stake emotionally, there's no real bad songs, only different flavors of cheese. - "jungle" did make me laugh, however. - more vocoder, Jeff. always more vocoder. Verdict: Glitz, glamour and excess. Too much of everything, which is here mostly a good thing. Disco-prog was a real thing, kids. Listen Again? Not the whole thing. A better pick for this list would be Discovery.

This feels like when your friends dad isn't very cool but thought he might have been with it at one point and is like, "hey, listen to THIS! THIS ROCKS!" but the only thing he'd ever heard that he thinks rocks is Paul McCartney. There's a lot going on here, but really like so much prog-ish stuff it's too much and it's not altogether good. Mr. Blue Sky has a GREAT beat so it seems like it might be good but really it's just fine. I don't love this album and I think it's too long but I don't hate it either, it just seems like it should get a wedgie.

Phew, at some point I introduced my younger brother, with whom I had to share a room, to this band. He became a fan. Since then, as it was his stereo system, I had to listen to all the band's albums that my brother could afford over and over again. It haunted me even in my sleep. In the meantime, I immediately turned off the music whenever any of their songs were played. I've become a little more lenient now. Nevertheless, I still find the overall sound too saccharine. 3/5

perfectly fine, for the most part, with some high highs and lovingly gooey hyper-intricate synthetic production. easy to space out to. (delightful jump-scare when the loop from the william maranci "Subterranean Homesick Blues" mashup showed up as the second half of "Summer and Lightning")

Going into this one blind, have never heard of Electric Lights Orchestra. Is this disco? This sounds like disco. It sounds like the side 1970s music I'm not particularly fond of. And boy is it long. This one may take a while to get through. Okay, so never took to it over the whole long album. A few spots were fulled with some symphonic rock that I almost enjoyed. The vocoder voice stuff would come in and ruin whatever good will had built up. Didn’t work for me.

-There are a few bands Gen Z has embraced that just baffle me. ELO is one. This is such *dorky* music I cannot understand why people who are younger, and presumably cooler, than me enjoy it so much. -Yes, the Beatles are obviously the band they're reaching for. (Specifically Abbey Road-era Beatles, and I also hear A LOT of rhythmic motives pulled from the Pretty Things.) But more noticeably, most of these songs are very obvious plastic imitations of 70s r&b/soul. The synthesis of Beatles pop, prog rock, and ultra-square soul does nothing for me. -Too pompous and overblown. This is the kinda shit that made punk a necessity. -I have an immediate distrust of anyone who cannot take off their sunglasses. What are you trying to hide? There is a strong cocaine energy to this album. And if Lynne wasn't on coke, then he was surely manic. -There was a moment in the late 00s/early 10s where "Mr. Blue Sky" was in a cutthroat competition with "You Make My Dreams Come True" for most TV/movie sync placements. I actually kinda like "Mr. Blue Sky," but the shine wears off after you hear it 10 billion times.

Sweet swinging pablum. Just about everything I dislike about pop music is a characteristic of this album. Get some edge, guys!

This was a double disappointment as when the name and cover turned up, as my perma-daze simultaneously translated this into Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds soundtrack - which may be terrible, but I haven’t heard since I loved it as a pre-teen - and OMD, of whom I’ve heard enough to know I want to hear much more when I can be bothered to. Listened to this at work, started it with my first coffee of the day, finished it three more coffees later with a blazing caffeine hangover. Work wasn’t hard, sun’s been shining, I have had relatively fine sleep, so I can only blame this record, which confounds me by being both lovable and tedious. I understand the Beatles’ debt, but they are a frictionless version, too cuddly, slightly pantomime, and don’t have enough choruses with bite. Here’s a tip: I gave up a second playthrough to listen to Miles Davis’s “A Tribute to Jack Johnson”, which shreds. Maybe listen to that instead.

Not bad per se, but hasn't aged well and annoys me

no me gustó

138. Out Of The Blue - Electric Light Orchestra (1977) 7.10.26 Variety: 4 Adequacy: 5 Listenability: 5 Uniqueness: 5 Emotionality: 5 = 4.8 rounded up to a 5 "And then I think there might/ Just be a better life/ Away from all we know/ That's where I wanna go" I love ELO. There, so it's going to be no surprise going in that I'm going to have a lot of good things to say about Jeff Lynne and his project. A lot of these songs were childhood staples that, unlike a lot of the "cheesier" 70s stuff, stayed very high up there for me. Even in my angry young man phases - grunge, punk post-punk, etc... I could never quite find it in me to write this stuff off. It was just THAT good. The stuff I value most highly in the best pop music - melody, the ability to craft excellent and numerous hooks, the dedication to providing a genuinely pleasant listening experience - Lynne does all of this and more. To quote Yngwie Malmsteen - "How can less be more? That’s impossible. More is more." ELO lived and died by this philosophy, but the excesses were always tempered by great craft and taste. It's arguable that Lynne colored outside of these lines occasionally ( Xanadu) but it was almost always done with a subtle wink. His stuff is not filled with the kind of sophomoric humor that 10cc or the like loaded up with, but instead a kind of casual unseriousness in the effect, despite being VERY try hard in the attempt. This is going to be a treat, and I'm curious how much ( if any) my opinion has changed on some of the deeper cuts as the big ones are all still in pretty regular rotation. THE TRACKS Side one "Turn to Stone" - That fade in is pretty iconic in my mind, and we're immediately swimming in a wall of sound with Lynne's perfectly pitched delivery as our only company. But what company it is. The echoey synths and bass drive us forward through a neon streaked night, and we cruise along at a speedy clip, never worrying despite the melancholy lyrical content about anxious codependency. The music is so joyous and lifting that the words barely matter. It's the kind of manic vibe that I love about so much of this music, turned up even more. The strings and the call and response self-backing chorus are features that we're going to get a lot more of, and I can see how this would make a very fine target indeed for all the punks and would-be "serious" musicians and critics of the time, but it only drives home in retrospect how the image conscious and desperate to be cool only look sad now. In an age where our pop stars sit at a default 11/10 on the outrageousness scale, ELO seem pretty damn ahead of the curve. "It's Over" - An underrated track to be sure, even though I think it got released as a single. The push and pull in this one between the sweetly sad contemplative verses and the accepting choruses where Lynne pulls off the neat trick of literally consoling himself at the same time as wallowing in his misery, with the melodramatic orchestral ending the icing on the cake. With B material this good, it's going to be hard to find a lot to criticize. Playing devil's advocate though, I guess the melodrama and overblown operatic nature of the thing might seem cringeworthy to some. And I might agree if there wasn't so much self-awareness already baked in to the whole affair. Our narrator here is cartoonish without being a cartoon, which I think is a fine distinction, and one which gives us a peak into that little bit of a wink Lynne gives in a lot of his stuff. He's serious while he's in it, but looking at it from a more omniscient pov, it's structured so that the listener can readily admit how silly an overreaction this guy is having, while recognizing this potential for internal melodrama is something we're all probably all if not guilty of, then certainly capable of. "Doesn't it sometimes feel like the world is ending when we suffer a loss?" the song asks. And this can simultaneously silly and true. "Sweet Talkin' Woman" - What a lovey opening, all violins and cellos. The robotic vocoder line doesn't spoil the mood one bit. Once upon a time this was my favorite track on the album, and still remains a high point in the catalogue for me, and is so deeply buried in my brain that I'm sure it'll be stuck again in there for at least a few days after listening. Confusion and desperation play equal parts in this tale of a man seeking to hook up again with a lost chance encounter, all floating around in between several all-time great melodies, a proto-disco beat, a chorus and doo-wop ( there's that wink again) backing vocals... This is a smorgasbord of hooks, and when the music drops out for just the beat, the vocals, and the guitar accent at around 3:13 for a few seconds - absolute perfection. "Across the Border" - Side one closes with yet another very solid deep cut. The sounds of a train pulling into ( or away from?) the station leads into a southwest-tinged tale of a man who just HAS to get down South to see his love. The melodrama is turned up even more here in the tense intro, and plays out again in the apprehensive bit before the second verse, with it's arch violin and vibrating synths. All of this over top of a boogie-woogie guitar line. And the plucked violins over top of the crunchy guitar is a great bit of juxtaposition. The blast of mariachi trumpets give less of a triumphant feel than one of a man running after and maybe never quite catching that train and we're left hanging with no resolution. And yet it still works. Side two "Night in the City" - Side two opens with echoes of Gerswin's "An American in Paris" with the bustling city noises a bit more literal ( though Gershwin did use real taxi horns apparently). We get what is almost an inversion of the previous track, this time with the object of the narrator's affection trying and failing to escape to some possibly less oppressive and chaotic place. Over all this is fine, but it lacks the cohesion ( if not the precision) of the best tracks on here, and leans a bit too much into the gimmick of the urban atmosphere. Also, try as I might the melodies in this one just are not sticking to my gray matter like I want. Of note are the very brief, Who-ish drum breakdowns throughout. "Starlight" - Things slow way down for a meditation on long distance relationships, and Lynne breaks out his crooning higher register, along with a decidedly more soulful ( as much as he can manage) beat. The descending little synth line and the theremin sounding bit add a lot to the whole cosmic theme, and we're left with a lovely, catchy little throwaway track that punches well above its weight. "Jungle" - More gimmicky sound affects lead us into this one, but right away we get into a bit of fun, catchy instrumention, that uses a lot of idiosyncratic percussion to achieve the effect. This one had me worried for a second or two, as I could not remember what direction he was headed in, but it ends up being a pretty PG nonsense chorus about finding some animals chanting in a jungle glade. His very English, orchestral pop take on "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" I guess? Innessential, but catchy nonetheless and maintains the festive atmosphere throughout. "Believe Me Now" - Operatic melodrama from the start here in a mostly instrumental track that seems to want to establish some sort of galactic-level bit of anguish. As interludes go, it's fine. "Steppin' Out" - A very pretty number that combines a bit of mourning about leaving the place you love for the unknown manages to still lean optimistic. As solid example of that bittersweet, anthemic mode that few can do as well as Lynne. The swelling, uplifting notes at the end sticks the landing and then some. Side three ( Concerto for a Rainy Day) "Standin' in the Rain" - Some heavy atmosphere with a music box playing as the rain comes pouring down and we get a suite of movements that take us through a tense and apprehensive interior monologue of another Lynnian sad sack, one among many who always seem to be under the thumb of some oppressive personified weather event. This feels very much like an interlude despite the 4:20 runtime, and we end on a bit of "Mr. Blue Sky" echoing backwards in time. "Big Wheels" - The storm is over and we're square in the calm after the chaos, but the rainy days are still fresh in mind as we're directed into a very pretty, but sorrowful look at love lost. The swelling bridge brings the rain back again though, with an almost onomatopoeic swirling, turning string section when those big wheels start turning. "Summer and Lightning" - When will this rain let up, guys. It almost feels like some sort of Pathetic Fallacy themed journey that's maybe leading towards some sort of musical catharsis. Hmmm... Well, until we get there let's enjoy this downtempo, but lively number where the rain and heat remind him of the better times rather than force him down into a deeper hole. Maybe those clouds are ready to part? "Mr. Blue Sky" - Yes, I think so. This one I think has grown ( especially in recent decades) to outshine everything else on this album, and has even replaced "Sweet Talkin' Woman" as my personal favorite. The "Penny Lane" in fluence is all over this, and not to its detriment as it breaks away and splits off into many different avenues, and even possibly some Bee Gees harmonic influences. The culmination of the last three songs, it works equally well on its own as it does the capper to this mini concept EP, buried within an already great album. The coda starting at 3:47 is burned into my brain, and serves as maybe the most epic endings to a song I can think of, maybe outside of a few Queen tracks. The bittersweet orchestration that it lands on is such a pretty piece that it rivals both "The End" and "A Day in the Life" in the ability to portray emotion with just instrumentation. An all time classic that belongs in the canon of great pop songs. Side four "Sweet Is the Night" - We return you now, to your regularly scheduled program, already in progress. Another pretty take on city life, this time with bit of comfort someone who feels beaten down, chewed up and spit out buy the urban rat race. The Sweetly swelling strings here are maybe as saccharine as they get on this album, but it's tempered by another wise bombastic pop rock base. Good stuff. "The Whale" - Purely an instrumental, this one doesn't bother mucking around in the metaphorical as right off the bat we get some actual whale song incorporated along with dreamy, wet synths and some faintly heard glossolalia to generate a soothing underwater vibe. Fine stuff, but more of a pit stop on way to the home stretch than anything else. It does make me want to listen to the entirety of Ween's The Mollusk though. "Birmingham Blues" - And we come to our final stop before we light out into the sunset. As, uhh... bluesy as Mr. Lynne can manage I guess, but that's almost the point here I think, with a VERY baroque and light take on the idea. The chorus and instrumental break are they draw here, as unlike the blues as even the tenuous nod in the rest of the song implies. We get a funny little story of a homesick guy who immediately upon returning to his old town is ready to set out again, maybe to warmer, much drier climes... "Wild West Hero" - This is one that has grown on me over the years, like some sort of insidious fungus that I noticed much too late had worked its way into my brain. Corny, unserious, and overdone were all ways I would have described this at various points in the past. But despite all that going on, I simply cannot deny how incongruously emotionally affecting it still is. Lynne pulls the same trick he did in "Sweet Talkin' Woman" where the music drops out momentarily, and the vocals carry the load, making it twist up all the more into the wistful mental state of the narrator. And that swelling outro almost just pushes through and bursts any little sense of decorum and groundedness that could possibly remain before stalling out and gently floating all the way back down as the vocals and strings fall with us to back to the reality of the cold, hard ground. The lyrics might specifically be about some goofy, movie-born fantasy, but the feeling is applicable to whatever hopeful flight of fancy the listener might also share, and so becomes a universal wish to get away from one's humdrum existence. An awesome, and thematically appropriate note to end on for an album that's been full of what ifs and escapism. HIGHLIGHTS - "Turn to Stone" - "It's Over" - "Sweet Talkin' Woman" - "Across the Border" - "Starlight" - "Jungle" - "Steppin' Out" - "Big Wheels" - "Summer and Lightning" - "Sweet Is the Night" - "Wild West Hero" MIDLIGHTS - "Night in the City" - "Believe Me Now" - "Standin' in the Rain" - "The Whale" LOWLIGHTS - FINAL THOUGHTS I once read ( I forget by who) a piece that claimed Lynne with ELO ( especially early on with Roy Wood, and the earlier more traditionally arranged and less synthy stuff) were the true heir to the Beatles legacy in the 70s, even more so than Lennon and McCartney themselves. A very bold claim, but I can see the bones of the argument making a kind of sense when you consider just how influenced the ELO project was by those guys. The lush orchestral pop rock sound was largely innovated by the Beatles and when they went their separate ways, was mostly tossed aside for more raw ( in John's case) and more cozy ( in Paul's case) takes on the whole ultra-melodic singer songwriter mode. ELO took stuff like "I Am the Walrus", "A Day in the Life" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" and expounded upon that orchestral, magpie approach, taking it to it's most logical endpoint. Embracing technology and trends as they unfolded before him, he incorporated the Beatles more theatrical tendencies into his core sound, while mostly avoiding becoming a pastiche or rip-off artist, or even a very good soundalike, the best of who - with greater (Badfinger) or lesser (Emmitt Rhodes) success - would still ultimately fail to pick up the baton. With that in mind, it's no wonder the whole ELO discography ( alas only represented on the list by this lone entry) absolutely drips with top tier melodies, and unique, interesting instrumental and vocal hooks. With this album in particular, Lynne's purpose seems to be to draw the listener in and let them soak in the bubble bath he's prepared, refilling it with piping hot water every time things start to cool down just a little too much. There's some fat on here to be sure, as there is with I think every double album I've ever listened to ( Beatles included), but when the fat has as much flavor as it does here, you still might chew on it for a bit before surreptitiously spitting it into your napkin. Glad I got to give this a full re-listen, and have to say I would have been hard pressed to think of a better selection than this ( A New World Record would have been a fine choice as well though). PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - Wouldn't change a lick FURTHER LISTENING - A New World Record by ELO - Mustard by Roy Wood - 3:47 EST by Klaatu - I Robot by The Alan Parsons Project - The Original Soundtrack by 10cc - Breakfast in America by Supertramp - Armchair Theater by Jeff Lynne

Es demasiado bueno desde la primera canción 10/10

They definitely do not make them like this anymore! I’m an absolute mark for beach boys and Beatles style vocal harmonies so I knew I’d like this given I was already very familiar with Mr Blue Sky from college acappella. I just love the earnestness and ambition of so many of these songs, even when sometimes the cup gets overfilled and spills over into something so saccharine even I can’t rock with it. This is handcrafted music designed to put smiles on people’s faces and inspire family living room dance parties and that is a beautiful thing.

Genuinely one of the greatest of all time. Nothing else to say.

Its like if the Beatles wanted to go to space.

Just beautiful pop songs. Mr Blue Sky alone earns a 5, but the whole album is just sublime. Which is incredible given it’s also a lot of tracks. Almost a greatest hits at times…. Instantly transported back to my childhood by many of these songs as this album was everywhere in the late 70s. Love it - Jeff Lynne’s masterpiece

Sci-Fi-Pop at its best

Not sure why I hadn’t dived into ELO before this. If all prog were this fun or adjacent to this, it’d be a much better genre. This was oddly fun. Sweeping orchestrations, broad ballads, catchy synth hooks, and prog-adjacent hits packed into 3.5-minute songs. There is not a weak moment or note..uplifting and fun, weird and ahead of its time, so 70s and so timeless.

very nice feels like 80s

to jest peak

me re gustó !! muy divertido, no me pareció largo (vi que se quejaban de eso, para mí nada que ver), temazo tras temazo. 5/5.

When the robot war happens, I want this to be the soundtrack

Jeff Lynne's magnum opus. 4 stellar lps in a row conclude with this gem. I love every song, the rich melodies and textures shine throughout. Plus it starts with Turn to Stone. Amazing.

Loved this album before it was suggested!