Out Of The Blue

Mehhhh

I've seen a million second hand copies of this record, but have never heard it. Within 15 seconds it sounds like 10CC - which came first? As we progress it feels highly influenced by John Lennon and the Smile project by the Beach Boys. No Heroes & Villains, no Out Of The Blue. Quite a few good songs, but instantly forgettable, plus lyrically so-so. Mr Blue Sky is still a belter, and Jungle seems to have been a very direct influence on the Rocket From The Crypt b-side Tarzan. Overall, this feels like the purest essence of BBC Radio 2 for a 40 year spell.

Didn’t listen to a whole lot. Got the vibe and it’s not for me. Some good songs but meh overall!

Another album that I have always been aware of, but never really given the chance, as it isnt my type of music. After listening fully... I was right. It is not for me. Dull. Before listening, I was ready to give it a 3. I cant see going back and listening though. Solid 2.

meh

So it turns out I just might not like ELO all that much. There are some good moments throughout this album and Mr. Blue Sky is still a great song, but it honestly felt a bit overdone by the time I got to it. Overall, listening to over an hour of maximalist prog classic rock is exhausting.

Заставка американских ситкомов. Очень сложно переносить балладный жанр и рок-оркестр. Попытаюсь быть обоснованным. Хор в этом альбома является центральным элементом так как цепляет все внимание на себя. Сама музыка показалась чересчур перегруженной и переполненной ее точно можно было сделать чище и проще, что придало бы целостности звучания композиций и выдержанность. Этот максимализм иногда пропадает например в sweet talking woman, которая кстати является одной из самых прослушиваемых песен группы. Есть непонятные композиции вроде believe me now очень короткая прямая с жутким роботизированным голосом, что может и является для того времени чем-то уникальным или популярным с точки зрения звука, но не отменяет того, что сейчас это звучит мягко говоря странно. Хороший пример эксперимента на альбома это песня the whale, например меня она поразила -музыка без слов которая явно показывает и рассказывает о ките, ты это реально слышишь и чувствуешь. Очень свежо даже спустя почти полвека. Какого однозначного четкого вердикта ставить не хочу, это сильно не моя музыка, например хотя зная этот альбом я представил себя пьяным в вагоне поезда и смотря на закат я бы хотел чтобы пару песен из этого альбома заиграли. Оценка 4/10.

A poor version of what they are

Not really sure about these guys. They are kind of like a cheesier version of Pink Floyd. There are some great elements, but then a lot is over the top. It's also very long. 2/5

Beatles vibe, good but feels too old for me

I was ready for this to be over. I know this album is (at least a few songs of it) are considered to be wildly popular but to me i felt like i was held hostage for an hour by generally, the same sound. Every dong just kind of devolved into the same harmony? It all blended together to me into one long commute.

Electric Light Orchestra. Now with MORE Orchestra.

4/10 - late 70s album could have been from any time in the 60s, meh

Like eating an entire birthday cake for breakfast.

muy largo, la música no está mal pero tampoco me parece genial

Je m’attendais à une dinguerie et j’ai été bien déçu

pas fou hormis la pub sfr ;)

Corporate rock sucks but it’s still better than Mariah Carey’s bullshit.

It was ok but not my thing

This was a bit of a struggle for me. I don't even like Mr Blue Sky. Can't quite put my finger on it - I find over produced, too much surface, too perky , too much going on , too many harmonies.

Never been a ELO fan. Lots of synth and a meh voice

A couple of good songs...but 2.5 stars.

Really really really long… I understand why it’s memorable but it’s just a bland album, no song captures you the whole time. Other than that, production is amazing and the “orchestra”. But I just didn’t enjoy it as much, it feels like Jeff just really wanted to get an album out

"Teenage nostalgia, although objectively I would never play this album. As background music, it reminds me of my formative years, but it shouldn't see the light of day today"

meh, was expecting something better, every song the same

I didn’t like it

Horrible

Sur le papier, tout était réuni pour que ça me plaise (violons, choeurs modulations), mais les morceaux que je peux compter dans cette catégorie se comptent sur les doigts d'une main (pas pleine).

Not my scene. Bombastic yacht rock. Over the top pop synths. I get why some of them are classics but I’ll pass.

It reminded me a bit of Queen. Some songs are bangers but are a little dated.

I just can't stand ELO. Not sure why so much. Something about it is corny.

Get this into a hospital fast because man it is sterile. Also very long. Chop a half-hour out of this and you might have something that reaches okay! I don’t even like the alleged classic “Mr. Blue Sky” all that much—just annoying, pounding piano so overproduced it hurts my ears, although the song does have a great ending. “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” and “Turn to Stone” are pretty good, too. Jeff Lynne was certainly a skilled songwriter and producer, but for some reason ELO’s style at length (this album is over an hour long!) just becomes unbearable. Best track: “Sweet Talkin’ Woman”

Still struggle to warm up to ELO, long and inessential to me

Stick to the greatest hits. This double album is mostly a tedious waste of time. The band is great live (it’s the prettiest concert I’ve ever attended, thanks to the lights—go figure) because, well, they stick to the greatest hits.

I thought I liked ELO from the songs I knew (Telephone Line, Livin’ Thing, Mr. Blue Sky, etc). But through listening to this album all I could keep thinking was “so bombastic, yet so ploddy”. And the lyrics from a song of a totally unrelated band: Dry Cleaning… “Do everything and feel nothing”. Also I think there’s a point to be made that the most common low effort small talk is about the weather, and there’s a disc side suite dedicated to just that on this. Pretty good production though.

Yeah, some great tunes but overall a but underwhelming

473/1089 - If the Beatles said they'd sound like ELO if they kept making music then I'm glad they broke up. All of the pop and none of the weirdness.

Lush to a fault. The production is undeniably rich, but it borders on overcrowded—layers pile up until the songs feel a bit suffocated.

Overly long and a lot of the same sound effects throughout the album. If album cut in half think would have been a more enjoyable experience, as some nice songs but a lot of filler and songs that merge into one.

My dad had this album when I was a kid. I remember holding it and thinking the colors were cool and the space shuttle pulling into the giant SIMON game was neat. It was “old people music” to me then and it’s “old people music” to me now. The melodies are contagious and the lyrics are often thoughtful, but unless you were born before maybe 1970 - it’s probably not that interesting. It’s quintessential 70s radio pop - complete with too much production and it’s overly layered with orchestral strings and vocals. Dancing with my mom in the living room to Mr Blue Sky is a happy memory.

Something doesn't sit right with me. Mr. Blue Sky is a classic I guess. Too fucking long. The mixing throughout sounds off, vocals seem drowned out by the most stereotypical 70's pop quasi prog rock imaginable.

honestly I feel bad I just wasn’t able to get into it

I'm not a fan of the vocoder, it is clearly a sound but not for me.

Whimsical drama music

приелась манера исполнения очень быстро. Звучит одинаково и инструментально и вокально. Достаточно послушать mr blue sky и остальной альбом имаджинировать на основе этого. Оркестр только потому что у них есть струнные инструменты в треках мде. Переслушивать не стану 2.7

un po’ troppo rumoroso e confusionario

I do not like the overproduction. I don't like the doowop/Macca/BWilson roller skater ripoffs. "The Whale" is a pretty dope instrumental though.

Like abba but I didn’t want to dance

I’m struggling to write a coherent review on why I didn’t like this album. I gave up so I’m just going to share my unedited listening notes. It sounds like they’re trying too hard to make what they think should be good music. It sounds like some weird 70s vision of what they thought futuristic music might sound like. It doesn’t sound sincere or connected - like they’re using a musical formula to write the songs and they’re just going through the motions. All the songs sound the same. Sounds like Temu Queen. Too fucking long.

The musical equivalent of a guy trying too hard to be cool.

Don't care much for this sort of rock/pop, sounds like Queen

not really my vibe. esto le gustaría a mi cuñado and i dont like that

Not my bag - I just am not that interested in this prog-post disco noodly stuff.

The meanest piece of music criticism I’ve ever heard was someone describing the Travelling Wilburys as “four geniuses and Tom Petty”. If you’re going to single anybody out, it’s gotta be Jeff Lynne.

Heard the most popular songs from it before and they're probably the best ones on the album. The rest just feels so, idk, bombastic and bloated? It goes on for ages. It's not a bad album, I'm just not vibing with it all that much 2/5

Really didn’t vibe with this. Far too OTT in all the wrong areas. Those chorused harmonies à la Queen are not something I enjoy at all and was used far too willingly here. Didn’t really get anything about what it was trying to say here and found even though it was lobbing everything including the kitchen sink in, easy to pass me by. Mr blue sky seems rather out of place on the album (except the outro which makes a little more sense in context).

Well this is a random album suggestion. Giving the Beatles/ queen. I was swaying to « its over » so I guess it’s a good song. Big wheels made me want to sing « proud Mary » instead. The whale is weird af for the first 1:40. I like the Birmingham blues. Album overall good work album cause I can zone out and not listen to it (yes it’s a backhanded compliment)

Vem orkar lyssna på ett helt album från en sån här artist? Det är på bee gees nivå av larvighet, men man kan lyssna på några stycken

siento que quiero bailar escuchando este álbum, no importa si era a solas o en el medio de la calle

Me gusta su estilo característico pero es demasiado monótono y largo para disfrutarlo

I understand that the band is supposed to be great, however it didn’t impress me that much. Sometimes it sounds like an old-youtube mashups of The Beatles, Queen, and Pink Floyd. The album is so long and at some point it feels like one bland, long song playing (and I’m not hating on prog rock here). Apart from mr blue sky enjoyed some songs, like Turn to Stone or The Whale. I can see it being a good album, it just didn’t grow on me yet, gonna give another chance at some point but for now it is 2.5/5.

Haven't been familiar with ELO except for 2-3 popular songs. The combination of orchestral and 70s rock is unique but it gets really repetitive really fast. They sound as if they were bittter they couldn't score Flash (the movie) and made a career out of it. I know they were a thing long before Flash. It's not all lost, but the ones i liked i couldn't pick out. Sorry ELOers, not for me.

Not my thing. Objectively would say it was somewhere between average to good.

Like a discount version of queen where Freddie mercury has been replaced by a swarm of bees. Exhaustingly cheerful.

Good music for Tupperware parties. If you know what that is then you have a sense of how timeless this record is.

Yeah, fine, interesting ideas, nothing grabbed me though.

So cringe. So camp. So Nah.

I listened Friday and now I can't remember it.

Some decent rock and roll, mostly run of the mill. But some songs have nice use of instruments besides the standard guitar/bass/drums. There's some strings, harmonica, etc. It's Over, Across The Border, Believe Me Now, Big Wheels, and Sweet Is The Night all have that. Sweet Talkin' Woman and Birmingham Blues were a lot of fun. Steppin' Out was really great. Best song: Steppin' Out

I dreaded this because I’ve been having a Heavy Emotional Time the days leading up to this one. “Turn to Stone” was a great song, has the 10cc thing of sounding quite stupid but with some great melodies under the stupidity. A lot of the rest was just stupid, but in kind of an awesome way. I learned from wikipedia that there is an ELO historian called Barry Delve. A lot of it was shite Beach Boys or shite George Harrison, a lot of the surface zaniness without any depth. I did enjoy a lot of the dumb noises though, reminded me at times of that incredible bizarre Corey Feldman album. The strings are awful as is the vocal delay everywhere. Lynne seems like a megalomaniac but him writing this whole thing in two weeks is sort of inspiring in a “who cares about anything” kind of way. I was really dreading the advent of Mr Blue Sky but for some reason spotify skipped it - I wasn’t so bothered about fidelity to the project.

Yes, Mr Blue Sky is fun and uplifting song, but take that out of the equation and it's just a prog record with pop hooks.

Symphonic-Sachen haben es meist schwer bei mir.

Way too lite. ★★

Found a copy of this on vinyl in the attic when we moved in. Never listened to it, didn't miss much.

Believe Me Now

did YOU know rock can ORCHESTRA? did you KNOW orchestra can ROCK?? they try so hard to be grand and flush but they just dont have the songwriting or arranging chops for it. actively grating for a lot of the 70 minute runtime. generous 2

Fave track: Summer and Lightning Least Fave: Mr. Bluesky

Just wasn’t for me.

A successful double album of string ladden ELO pop.

If your favorite thing *ever* is a well crafted pop song, you'll probably love this. On Out Of The Blue, ELO occupy the same space as something like Boston or Steely Dan, where you have a band that has gotten their studio wizardry down to a science in a really incredible way. But they just keep using that studio wizardry to make the most clean-cut, sunny, and at times, almost generic sounding pop music possible. There are some moments where they play with cool effects, but even these aren't especially interesting, considering that the experimentation here is relatively tame, all things considered. Keep in mind that I didn't dislike my time listening to this per se, its just a lit of relatively similar sounding pop songs which are all well crafted, but which ultimately have little that really excites me or draws me in. Even Mr. Blue Sky, (and fun song, for sure) is never one I've ever really fallen in love with. Compound this with the fact that this is like an hour and 10 minutes long, and things start getting a little trying. I personally think that the runtime overstays it's welcome by quite a bit and that this would have been better as a tighter experience. I can only take so much pop that's *this* big and sunshine-y. While I don't hate this, I didn't really enjoy my time all that much.

The first few tracks seemingly posed the question "what if The Beatles were bland and milquetoast"? Things improved slightly, but not to the point of ever feeling like there was a track that I enjoyed the entire way through. In fact, there were quite a few songs that I strongly disliked and found it quite tedious to make it through all of them. I had hoped that things would improve closer to the end, as Mr. Blue Sky had a disproportionately large number of streams compared to the other tracks. Yet it was just as insipid as the rest.

Mr. Blue Sky is a banger but surprisingly long. I think in general the album went on a bit long and felt a bit dated.

Another one I feel like I should like more than I do. Something irritates me about the vocals. Lots of Beatles similarities but not clicking with me. Even the songs I know from just being alive when it came out aren't as good on a closer listen.

First? 2,5/5 Again? 1/5

I usually listen to these albums a couple of times, but it was tough with this one being a double album and it being a Saturday so it only got one. Looking at the plays on Spotify there was a track near the end with far more than any other, so I thought that might bring things together and explain the album's inclusion on the list. But alas, no.

Não me fascinou, não consegui acabar de ouvir

Asså jag vet inte vad jag ska säga om detta album, I was not feeling it alltså.. Det är dock ett ljud som är så unikt och igenkännbart att det är just ELO. Mr Blue Sky är ju en classic men resten av låtarna satt inget avtryckt för mig, kändes ganska meh. Kan uppskatta produktionen men bortsett från det så meh. 4.5/10

Meh

There is something about ELO that just rubs me up the wrong way. I think it is the combination of playfulness and overwroughtness. I don't mind playfulness, and I can sometimes tolerate music that is overwrought if I can feel the passion behind it. But the two things together? No. No. No There are snippets that were alright. 'Believe Me Now' almost felt sincere for eighty seconds. And I can enjoy the sillness of 'Mr Blue Sky' for its duration. But a double album of this stuff is way too much for me

album is too long and the best song was the only song I'd already heard 2 stars

ClSsico

Another one that I am sure people love but it's not for me

the sound feels like a mix of other popular bands yet still not original enough, with the songs being pretty much the same. i tried to like it but i just couldn't plus mr. blue sky makes my ears bleed

Ripetitivo

Decent album but not a fan of ELO

This album really annoys me. I feel like I should like it but it's such 'fake happiness.' I just get the sense that they're trying to be all elated and happy but they're actually miserable as sin. Additionally just irritates me with the stupid synth voice. We get it, you discovered a way to make yourself sound like a robot. STOP IT! . Reminds me of a kid who has found the DJ button on a keyboard.

Kills me to give ELO a 2 but I think this is the most uninteresting of their albums

Pristine engineering, but sounds very like an homage to the Beatles to me. 10 years too early, or 10 years too late?

Honestly, not entirely for me. Some songs are incredibly nostalgic, and I'd say musically important, but I think I get too lost in the repetition of a lot of the songs, and the length of the album itself. Did love Starlight and Believe Me Now

3 It sux

This album I have heard before, and of course it contains the famous Mr Blue Sky. I guess ELO picked up the baton dropped by the collapse of the Beatles, but leavened with mid-70s disco & prog rock (which, after all, is the continuation by other means of Abbey Road). Feelgood music for singalongs and driving. It'd be churlish to dislike, but overall it's a bit too much even for me - and I like pompous white rock music - a bit sickly sweet.

Liked the classics but the fillers were a bit samey.

Oh good, more 70's space rock

It’s a great feel good album. A double album is never easy to keep someone engaged, most actually drag for me personally. This however, has all the engagement I needed need to listen to the 100 minutes of ELO. (just) I like how this still has still kept its rock n roll sounds even though there’s a clear push for something a bit more commercial. Many artists lose their character, and especially by the time of their seventh album. I love the little breakdowns ELO do, one that specifically caught my attention was the breakdown in ‘Sweet Talkin’ Woman’, it’s so small and subtle but it’s 100% my favourite part of the track. It’s at about 3:15. I love the big dramatic segments in most of the songs, either the fast paced keyboards & piano, or the sound of Jim Keltners fast paced drumming to build tension in an outstanding display of music technical ability, especially them unmistakable high hat drum patterns. All the strings also play on point. Plenty of sing a long tracks. It’s a decent record, the hits are killer and the filler is alright music at the end of the day. I enjoyed the prog elements. It is however a little bit middle of the road for me, nothing that’s going to make me message my friends saying “check this out”, with the exception of ‘Mr Blue Sky’ which everyone has heard a million times before. Favourite tracks: ‘Turn to Stone’, ‘Sweet Talkin’ Woman’, ‘Night in the City’, ‘Mr Blue Sky’, ‘The Whale’.

I enjoy the sound, it's unique! But the only songs that I really enjoyed / that stood out to me were Turn to Stone and Sweet Talkin' Woman.

Album starts strong but slowly fades. Mr. Blue Sky was the lone highlight of the back half for me. If you cut the run time in half by pick the best 8 songs it would probably be a high 3 star low 4. Favs- Turn to Stone, Mr Blue Sky Worst- Jungle, Standin’ in the Rain

Layered synthy sunshiney haze, reminds me of Freddie Mercury and also floating in the sky

meh

When people say dad rock this is what I think of. And I'm 41.

Un album cu un sunet foarte bun pentru perioada lui,totusi mult prea lung ,dar aparitia instrumentelor clasice este un boost.

Reviewing from a rammed aircoach in Baltic -2 Dublin which has probably influenced the score abit here but outside of a few stand out tracks “Birmingham Blues, Jungle and Sweet is the night” I found this is pretty tedious, over long and vocally poor. A light 2

Ugh

Okay alt rock but I really thought it was going to be electronic.

I’m not sure what has ever possessed an artist to record and release a double album. It really is just a bit much. Knowing that Mr. Blue Sky was on this record, I felt like I was anticipating it constantly, especially with recurring motifs which popped up early in the record. Usually I enjoy things like this; musical clues scattered throughout a record to encourage front-to-back listening, but by the time Mr. Blue Sky came around, I was sick to the back teeth of the noises, the dense instrumentation, and (in my opinion) the poorly-placed (in the mix) vocals, not to mention to generally poor backing vocals which manage to find their own way of treading all over everything after every second word. I wanted to enjoy this, but I will probably not listen again.

This is a strong 3 stars for me bust since this was a double album (which I loathe) it was docked a star.

pop rock where every song sounds like it was deliberately crafted to appeal to the largest possible demographic. that makes it hard to really love or hate it. i do like Turn to Stone though and Mr. Blue Sky is definitely a song that deserved to be their most popular one. (2.5)

Was it for me? No. Was it was too long? Yes. But Was it fun? At first and at some points. It was hard not to enjoy it at times and you could hear the Beatles influences at times. But at other times so much waffle and over the topnoss

Only a %age of 70's music stuck for me, and nothing involving ELO was a member. Only guitar stranglers need apply. 50 yrs later I gave this a listen, gave it a chance to grab me, but alas I'm afraid I must pass. This is not a diss on the players, they're good, but overall the material is a bit over produced, eh?

Shocked at how familiar this record was. Never listened intentionally, but I knew several songs. Mediocre, and went in too long, but still!

meh idk man some of these songs are like good and catchy but i just don't like the beetles and they aren't queen enough to make a lasting impression on me personally. Mr blue skyes reminds me of despicable me i am so sorry.

Camp and cheesy. Far, far too long but a few catchy tunes. Favourite track: Birmingham Blues Probably not one to revisit. 2.5/5

Feels like a worse version of many bands that already exist. Not absolutely terrible, but I did not finish.

The Beatles are great because Paul McCartney is the gas and John Lennon is the brakes, whereas Jeff Lynne doesn't have anyone to keep the cheerfulness in check 🤪

Sounds like Queen but.. worse. Couldn't make it to the halfway point on this album.

Oh dear if you’d asked me before this i’d have said this was a really good if not great album, however outside of sweet talkin woman and mr blue sky it’s just a bit overblown and samey for me. I should caveat this by declaring i was not in the best mood when listening to it, but this did nothing to change that. Big wheels feels at times like a first draft of Mr Blue Sky, which would be bad enough if MBS was two tracks later.

I appreciate the craft that went into this, I'm astonished that Jeff Lynne wrote the whole thing in three weeks, but I couldn't wait for it to be over. I feel like a lot of early punk bands cite ELO as a perverse inspiration, the embodiment of bloated '70s rock that had to be destroyed. They weren't wrong. But this is all harmless if occasionally cringe ("Jungle"). And hey, I respect Lynne's iconoclasm for releasing this when disco ruled the world.

Middle of the road.

If I was on psychedlics and I had a lot of time, I'd be into this

MR blue sky song is so good but the rest of this is easy elevator listening

I appreciate the craft that went into this, I'm astonished that Jeff Lynne wrote the whole thing in three weeks, but I couldn't wait for it to be over. I feel like a lot of early punk bands cite ELO as a perverse inspiration, the embodiment of bloated '70s rock that had to be destroyed. They weren't wrong. But this is all harmless if occasionally cringe ("Jungle"). And hey, I respect Lynne's iconoclasm for releasing this when disco ruled the world.

Såhär kan också symfonirock låta. För per definition är det ju faktiskt just vad det är, även om det inte alls låter som Yes. Jag har alltid varit svag för ELO. Kanske för att det var nåt min pappa spelade väldigt mycket när jag va liten. Men garanterat också för att det finns en osviklig popaspekt hos dom (annars hade inte min far spelat det, han var gravt popskadad). Hur symfoniskt det än är, hur överdådig produktionen än framstår så är det alltid regelrätt pop någonstans. Jämförelsen med ABBA är inte långt borta tycker jag och då väljer jag ELO alla dar i veckan. Singlarna är ofta utmärkta pophits. Man får lyfta på hatten till Jeff Lynne för det. Naturligtvis blir ett dubbelalbum alldeles alldeles för mycket att tugga i sig och det finns rejäla dikeskörningar här. Dessutom är avsaknaden de där starka singlarna påtaglig. Det är väl bara inledande "Turn to stone" som uppfyller de popkriterierna. ,"Mr. Blue sky" var en stor hit men saknar det där riktigt popigt gôttiga. Som album betraktat är det inget vidare faktiskt. Det finns roligare ELO-album att hitta. Som efterföljande discoinfluerade "Discovery" t.ex. 9 låtar lång inklusive den underbara "Last train to London". Det är ett utmärkt album, haffa det om ni hittar det i nån 30kronorsback istället för det här.

Svårt att sätta ord på vad det är, men nått är det doningen får det att stämma. Möjligtvis symfonirocken, det svulstiga kompet, musikalvibbarna. Det klickar helt enkelt inte. Några få undantag finns som t ex Starlight som är en helt okej poplåt med soulig touch. Men nån dutt här och där gör inget album.

I expected more prog and better depth.

There's some great sounds and orchestrations in there but maybe not some great _tunes_ you know? It's very listenable and pleasant but won't be going back to it just yet.

kinda generic classic rock

Boring but not bad

Too easy listening for me

1970's symphonic rock at its core.

just went on too long

this band obviously influenced ‘of montreal’

großer name, aber hat mich nicht umgehauen...c

Too repetitive for my taste, I really was just kinda exhausted and I wanted it to be over. The highs are really high, but I can’t justify listening past this. Favorites: Turn to Stone, Mr. Blue Sky

Classic soft rock. I recognized a lot more than I expected, but not in a good way.

Inoffensive at best. A couple of listenable tracks, but mostly just similar sounding songs that are either about needing to chase/find a girl, or being depressed/upset (usually about a girl). Far too long for what it is.

So polished, so long, so boring.

Just because a person has access to every synthesizer ever made up to the point to when this album was made doesn’t mean that they have to use them all. This album was just a big complicated mess.

The Beatles in space right? That isn’t a compliment to The Beatles or space. I feel like this album should be good but it just isn’t. Same song for about an hour.

Nice

I'll get to it later but I have this at a 2.9 off a few listens. Don't wanna fall behind on the albums. My guess is people rated this at 3.5.

I like classic rock from the 70s but this is too disco for me because of the orchestration and background vocals.

Me tardé 2 semanas en terminar el álbum :/ 2/5

If this kind of theatrical and Symphonic Rock is for you then I couldn't be happier, but for myself it was just a bit too much for me to enjoy here. While I can respect the effort to make such interesting Progressive Pop that feels so mystical with the blend of electronics, I can't say I found this album to be very compelling or even up my alley in terms of taste. The only real standout here is Mr. Blue Sky as that song alone is both one I've had plenty of time to digest but also understands how to make a Progressive song much more Pop-y than normal. Everything else here feels like a watered down version of the Alan Parsons Project albums I have previously covered. The songwriting here is also just decent and doesn't help the case of this album just dragging itself out way too much. This album obviously has its' own set of fans and I am okay with not being one of them. I am glad I gave it a shot though and tried my best to see eye to eye with what ELO had to offer, but Out of the Blue was just not my cup of tea. Nuff said.

While Mr. Blue Sky is a banger, the rest is a trifle meh. I remember being so disapointed that the group that did that awesome song came back with Wild West Hero, which is a dirge. Not a plus or minus, but a lot of the songs do start very quietly...

Far too long. Perfect for your 1970s vacation home on the beach, seducing a lady on the shag carpet with a jug of pink wine.

This is a sound it would take me a long time to get into. There are moments that I start to get it, like "Mr Blue Skies," but so much feels corny to me.

I’m proud of myself for getting as far as I did in this album without giving up. I think I would like this if married to a great movie or TV show.

I've never made it through an entire ELO album. I hear "Mr. Blue Sky" and think I would be able to find my way in, but something about his voice or the sheen or just the lack of any depth at all grates on me quickly.

Not bad

Okay, geht aber auch in Richtung Rock und ist nicht ganz mein Geschmack.

Some classic songs on here but equally some that I find unbearable. I know it’s well reviewed but I can’t get into it.

Pretty, lifeless. Pretty lifeless. Overlong and lacking urgency, Out Of The Blue is a vocoder tapestry without a pulse. And yet it's a template for indie music in the aughts — or at least I hear echoes of it in bands like The Arcade Fire and others.

Meh, never been a huge ELO fan. Couple of stand out tracks though

Some great melodies, obviously very Beatles-y. But too peppy and clean production for my taste.

All the songs sound the same.

2- Stars (4/15)

I really like Mr Blue Sky so I was excited to listen to this but I honestly found it extremely underwhelming and somehow a bit boring? Shame.

Electric Shite Orchestra

Music that is remarkably sanitised and uniform. You can walk into a room and after a second you can recognise its ELO from any of the tracks in this album or any other.

This was a weird one - every song comes out swinging with a unique and different and cool opening. I’m intrigued and primed to like what’s coming. But then as soon and the vocals kick in it devolves into like, idk, The Beach Boys? Super bland and boring falsetto vocals. And then even the instrumentation which was cool a minute ago is now super boring and basic. Idk this baffles me and I didn’t like it.

ABBA for dudes

This has a very 70s sound. It also strangely sounded a bit like The Beatles or Queen, two bands I like a lot, but yet I didn’t really like this very much.

Oh dear, I find this irritating.

I liked Wild West Hero. Nothing else really stood out to me though. And this was too long.

Wanted to like this more but just didn't hit as much as I thought when I first heard the synth.

Overblown

It's well executed but it's soft cheesy dad rock ang I got sick of it after the first few songs.

Not really my jam.

Tämä levy oli mielestäni tosi mitäänsanomaton ja tylsä.

It’s orchestral, alright. And it’s heavily informed by soft rock, synths, the vocoder, and prog, and even by The Beatles’ whimsical senses of harmony and melody and The Bee Gees’ take on disco. A quintessentially 70s mix to be sure. Then there’s the cinematic sci-fi of “Believe Me Now,” which sounds like a precursor to the band Air. But the whole thing sounds a little overstuffed, like a soundtrack of bloated show tunes, and the vibes just don’t hit for me. Neither do the lyrics, which seem to celebrate good weather (“Mr Blue Sky”) or other mushy subject matter. Also, were ELO and Boston in direct competition over the right to commandeer flying saucers that resemble jukeboxes for their bands’ respective brands or something? Just asking.

I don't think ELO has ever really been for me. This is largely inoffensive, but it's not super interesting either.

ELO is doing too much. This album has so much going on in each song - instrumentation, effects, vocals - it is exhausting after about 10 minutes. Mr. Blue Sky is a great song, and one of my favorites, but if I had to listen to an hour of this before I heard it, I never would have made it. Self-produced albums are so easy to spot.

Not a style I enjoy. Not objectively bad though

"Steppin' out" just blatantly ripped off part of the melody from John Lennon's "Imagine" at the end. The bass from Steve Miller's "The Joker" is replicated with only slight variation in "Summer and Lightning." There were many, many other moments on this album that felt distinctly familiar, and I'm sure if I cared to listen to the album again, I would identify other connections. (I wrote this and then finished listening, hearing a direct quote of "Rhapsody in Blue" on one of the last tracks.) Musical borrowing is fine and can be really interesting when done well, but hearing it over and over on this album made me wonder if ELO can actually come up with any good ideas on their own.

An album that offers some interesting ideas, has some memorable songs but suffers a lot from its long duration. And why would it suffer if it has variety? Keyword: 'some'. The majority of the songs felt almost the same, all following the structures of a typical opera/pop rock. It was kind of a chore to get to the end of the album

It's as if there's too much going on with this. They're all undoubtedly talented musicians, sure, but it's overdone, making it sound obnoxious and pretentious. The production is also too smooth, and some of the songs sound kinda the same too. Maybe my IQ isn't large enough to comprehend it I can see myself enjoying a couple of the songs, especially the slower stuff e.g. Starlight, but I can't do a full album, especially when it's over an hour long

Post Beatles / Faux Rock 'n' Roll / Watered Down Orchestral nonsense! The second star is for the last 60 seconds of the title track. Almost everything else is horrible. Overrated.

Mr. Blue Sky couldn’t save this from 2-star territory. I feel like this album tries to make you feel everything but I came out feeling like nothing. “Turn To Stone” was decent though.

Sounds like a natural continuation of the Beatles. A little more expansive, not quite progressive. Ultimately unremarkable to me fifty years on. 2/5 it's fine enough.

Very much "what if the beatles, but with no John". I don't really care for the music hall style tunes and arrangements. It's produced incredibly well and must have been mindblowing to listen to on headphones as a kid, but it all just felt strangely empty. Mr Blue Sky is a lovely tune, as are several others, but it just left me a bit cold.

Very 70,”’s

This is longer than it needs to be. Have tried going through an ELO journey before, and whilst I enjoy some of their psych music, the majority of it for me is just dull

2-3

Oldies, gives me stranger things vibes. 2.7

mehhh. Not my jam. Too orchestral for me.

Just not much going on here. Other than Mr. Blue Sky it's not that memorable. And this was a double album.

Some of it was good. A lot of it was ok. Some of it was meh. Minus a star for being entirely too long.

Again, super dated and not good anymore. Sorry.

Wanted to like it.

Kinda fun rock opera type album. No need to listen again, and the hits cannot be avoided on classic rock radio

Boooooring zzzzzzzz. I tried listening to this on my walk and I fell asleep! This is sleep walking music!

This is tough listen for me. Jeff Lynn is talented…. love him as a Wilbury! ELO falls into that REO Speed Wagon/ STYX era of music that that just doesn’t catch my ear. Thier sound is high and pitchy.That music is always FF for me. This album is a pass.

i didn't finish listening to it, and I'm not mad about that.

‘Hardly out of the blue when it’s your seventh album’…the harsh words of Len Houmous when he was annoyed that ELO did a tea run and forgot his order! 1.8

Essentially a 50-minute prologue and a 15-minute epilogue for "Mr Blue Sky."

There are undeniably pretty melodies and arrangements on Out Of The Blue. Where I struggle with it is the songs themselves. Many of them sound like a mix of disco and those out of place old-timey songs that The Beatles would drop on every album. If I was an English baby boomer I might understand the pastiche and appreciate it but it misses me. Overproduction and an overstuffed album length makes this a two-star record.

This list is entirely too eurocentric

Just not my cup of tea. I think if you halved the album and just picked out the good bits you could have something special, but it's just too long with too much filler.

It’s fine. Not amazing. Pretty bland. A lot of cowbells.

More "Beatlesque" pop. Listenable, if only because as a musician, artist, and music producer I respect intentional and competent production and arrangement. Definitely drags after a couple songs though.

This is gonna be so fun. One track in and it sounds the exact same as Mr blue sky and I have trauma behind listening to that a million too many times in the car. Also very repetitive, they thought up five whole lyrics for this song. Ok they sound totally fine actually, just an insane amount of falsetto. And for a listener from 2025 it feels very predictable and typical although that probably wasn’t true for the late 70’s. The songs mesh together and it’s crazy long but if you just gave me four of these songs randomly I might have rated this a three instead.

Another generic band from 70s

It's like a less campy Queen, but each song is packed full of sound effects and production tricks it feels like a movie or stage production. I guess Electric Light Orchestra is an apt name.

(listened once, doing a walk and some work at home) So that sounded a lot like The Beatles. I don't know how to feel about that. I've heard Mr. Blue Sky before and thought it was a beatle song I didn't know of, whereafter I was corrected. More synths and experimental instrumentals tho, like Pink Floyd. I didn't really like it to begin with, but the further I came into the album the more I enjoyed the songs. I think I could learn to like this band. Favorite tracks: Sweet Talkin' Woman (such a nice intro to that song) Starlight Steppin' Out Standin' in the Rain Mr. Blue Sky Sweet is the night The musicians and production quality is clearly very good. It also gave me musical-vibes. Like the songs could fit so well into a musical. But maybe that is just my love for Across The Universe-musical. Anyways, I'll give it two stars for now. And I will probably come back to see if I enjoy it more the second time around.

2,5?

Sounds a bit stuck in disco late 70’s rock for me and not age well.

This is a mix of Supertramp and post Beatles Paul McCartney . What’s that mean? I don’t know. And the Bee Gee’s. I’m not feeling this. Being a late 70’s baby, I’d say this is parent music . Not my bag baby. But if you like mostly The Bee Gees and Supertramp, try this, it’s ok

Sounds like a cheap knockoff of Queen with synthesizers, this album only feels famous because of the only unique song on this album - Mr Blue Sky. Otherwise forgettable record and far far too long. It would have gotten a 3 due to song quality, but slapping this one with a minus 1 for wasting my precious time with boring ass deep cuts that wasted my time fuck you

This album is quite experimental. Which is usually down my alley. But this record doesn't resonate well with me. At times, you this happy beach boys vibe with string sections and then vocal distortions. Mr. Blue Sky sounds like a Queen rip-off... Or at the very least, a Freddy Mercury rip-off. This record tries to be epic but the songs don't hit that level. They're not bad songs.. But there isn't anything bringing me back to this record. Maybe Mr. Blue Sky. I'd give it a 4 for standing out as a record. But the replay ability is a strong 1. I'm stuck with giving this record a 2. I appreciate the things they are doing. Perhaps this is a pioneering album for the effects and style they've used in pop music that one still hears in today's pop music... But overly, it's just an ok. ELO-K.

Easy to listen to but didn't blow me away 2.5

Like rock'n'roll era Elton John had a baby with the Beatles and Queen. Omg Mr Blue Sky has 437M listens on YouTube music alone. Is this track played in nursing homes and shopping malls? And this album is so over-indulgently long. I can't even. Hold yourself back. Two stars.

que álbum loooooooongooooooo da porraaaaaaaaaaaaa

This felt like you put all the big 70s bands in a blender and this album was the result. It was interesting to feel like I was listening to the Electro-Beach Boys-Queen-Beatles album but I can't say I liked it.

Prog disco, dated but Mr Blue Sky is a great song

Milquetoast is the word that kept jumping up in my mind while listening to this album. It doesn't help that it is over an hour long, I feel like all that couldve been said musically was said in the first 20 minutes. Mr. Blue Sky is a nice song, though, but that is the only one that really stood out to me.

It’s better than I had expected. Maybe because it’s dad rock, and I’m a dad? I remember when I was a kid, I definitely did not like this type of music, so I had low expectations going into this. I get kind of a 70’s The Beatles vibe if they has never disbanded However, this is just waaay to long. I do get tired of it at some point

Personal enjoyment: 2/5 Relevance to this list: 3/5

Over produced American sounding pap. Hits good. But rest boring.

There's some good stuff in here, and plenty of fluff and stuff I'm just not into, but they get points for creativity. I think I'd this album were cut in half it would be a lot stronger.

Just too perfect. Mr. Blue Sky is a classic, but I just couldnt care about the rest of it

I didn’t know much about ELO other than a vague feeling that they were supposed to suck. Against those expectations, I thought it was pretty ok.

Solid mediocrity.

sounds a bit like Queen

Звучат прямо как Queen, ну либо Queen звучат как они :) Достаточно много миролюбивой философии, Stepping Out действительно выделяется для меня хотя судя по оценкам всем нравится Jungle. Космические миротворцы

Sounds like Queen

nem tudom, nem rossz zene.... de igy baszott unalmas. beatles typeshit alvos zene ez nekem sajnos... nem nekem talaltak ki track 15 vegre egy track ami rendben van

More like EL No

Turn to Stone Sweet Talkin' Woman Mr. Blue Sky

Not for me, bit camp

This was an extremely frustrating album to listen to. The songwriting at times is so infectious as to be unbelievable, only for the song to transition wildly into something incoherent, and then again to a third thing. I don’t pick up on the through line here. Stand out track is Mr. Blue Sky, obviously.

That vocoder drabble cost this at least one of my stars - just grating. I think this album when it came out drove me away from prog rock and on to punk and new wave when I first hear this back in 1978 and I don’t regret that one bit!!!

2.5

Boring and not original

Double meh

I confess that my heart dropped when I saw that this was a double album. I did listen all the way through, but after 20 minutes, my ears just couldn't differentiate between the well-produced, string-sweetened, mid-tempo, melodic yet forgettable rock songs. It's all over-produced songs with middling melodies and Beatle-esque harmonies, and all the songs sound exactly the fucking same. All the songs are between 60 and 90 seconds too long, and there are too many of them. They should have cut the 'suite' at the very least. Rolling Stone reviewed it as a "totally uninteresting and horrifyingly sterile package" and "all method and no madness: perfectly hollow and bland rock Muzak." Apparently, Axl Rose is a big fan, which explains Use Your Illusion. I couldn't possibly comment.

This was okay, I usually like them but all the songs sounded the same.

Out of the Blue is prog trying to dress itself up as something different, but unsuccessfully. It goes on for too long and it's only Sweet Talking Woman and Mr Blue Sky that stand out; the rest is a mix of okay arrangements with annoying synthesised twists to them, a singer who lives in a higher register that serves to annoy, and yeah, not good enough to warrant more than a 2.

Underrated band of the genre, monster album

Trop réalisé, trop produit. Trop long. Ça sonne parfois comme un spectacle de comédie musicale hommage aux Beatles/Bowie/Bee Gees.

This was a bit of a struggle for me. I don't even like Mr Blue Sky. Can't quite put my finger on it - I find over produced, too much surface, too perky , too much going on , too many harmonies.

Alright. Other than Mr. Blue sky nothing stood out to me and it will mostly be forgotten

This double album is very long probably didn’t need to be more than a single album. Just because you write a load of songs doesn’t mean they all have to go on the album. The songs either sound like The Beatles or The Bee Gees. 2 stars only for all the drunken times I’ve sung Mr Blue Sky

E L what

All these songs somehow sound like 70s TV theme songs

Boring dad rock, some interesting song but overall too long and lame.

pink floyd but without the drugs

Only know Mr. Blue sky. Don’t have too high expectations for this one. Guitar solo in mr blue sky needs is fun. Need that energy on the rest of the album. Just feels like cookie cutter drab 70s music thats only crazy when you’re cooked on acid. Not a fan. 2 stars

I really didn't like this one. Maybe if I had listened to the whole thing I'd think differently. ajr of the 1970s never really liked mr blue sky and the whole album was like that

You can sum up a lot of my reaction to this album with my reaction to the quote from Rhapsody in Blue which shows up in Birmingham Blues. It's arresting, it's surprising, it's... not actually saying anything. It sounds like it's supposed to be smart but it's just showing off. Without a doubt, there's good songwriting on the album and production which was undoubtedly novel in 1977. But the fact is, every time I hear ELO, I wish I were listening to Abbey Road or The White Album. Or if I'm going to listen to soft rock, someone who does it without pretension, like the Carpenters. 2.5, rounding down.

ah musica

Just not my bag, mr blue sky obviously slaps but then the rest all just sound the same to me :-/

Had high hopes but apart from the singles the songs were weak and meandering and a bit boring

Dreadful. Albums like this make me question if it's worth doing 1001 albums. I've never been drawn to ELO because I figured I knew what they sounded like (sort of 70s Disco Beatles wannabes) and now I've listened to a whole double album and just had my forebodings confirmed. Some of it is bearable in small doses and semi-ironically. But listening to a whole double album of this MOR bullshit made me want to become a goth or something. No wonder young people were desperate for punk music to come along and save them from this crap.

I have always avoided this album, just incase I liked it and became condemned to listening to BBC Radio 2 for the rest of my life

I do not know if this is considered "yacht rock," because I'm not entirely sure what "yacht rock" actually is. But whatever this is, it *should* be considered yacht rock. Or the precursor to. It's really annoying and I don't like it at all. I'm only on the second song, so I don't yet want to doom it to a 1 star review, but I just looked and it has 17 songs and lasts for 1 hour and 11 minutes and I'm telling you now that is TOO MANY SONGS.

Too long for me, but I imagine that's a benefit for those that like this music. I didn't hate it, but this is not my jam. I guess this week's theme is stuff I just can't get into. 2.2

Liked ELO when I was a nipper in the 70's, not so much now though.

I don't know why but their tracks should like songs from other artists but the minute their vocals start, it's a whole other song. It kinda throws me out. Maybe others have covered the songs over the years but this just sounds so familar.

I feel llke must have heard this album a lot when I was a kid because my older brother had a copy and I heard all his listening choices by proxy. So, I was expecting at least a fun nostalgia hit but to be honest I only remembered the three big singles and the rest was a cheesy bland mush.

Det var helt ok. Några bangers, speciellt blue sky

Loved it more when it came out, but has not aged as well

The band that The Beatles could have been. Cheesy and overblown.

I came close to not listening to this. It looks SO bloated. I find it interesting how Jeff Lynne created a new genre - let's call it Pomp Bearded Brummie Rock - and then exported it to the hierarchy of classic rock. Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and all the way up to The Beatles. This was a fun listen for the first five tracks or so that I could be arsed with. It then became bubble gum rock and utterly ridiculous.

Out of the Blue is undeniably ambitious, filled with lush arrangements, soaring strings, and intricate production, which are trademarks of Lynne's style. However, many of the songs start off strong but then veer off into extended instrumental tangents that can feel self-indulgent and drag on. Tracks like Mr. Blue Sky and Turn to Stone have their moments, but they sometimes get lost in overly elaborate sections that disrupt the flow. While the album is packed with creative ideas and musical complexity, it can come across as overwhelming and meandering, especially for those who prefer Lynne’s more focused and concise work with other projects. Despite its acclaim, Out of the Blue might leave you wishing for more of the straightforward, tightly produced sound that Lynne has perfected elsewhere. NUMBER OF BANGERS - 2 STAND OUT TRACK - Summer and Lightning

ELO hat für mich einen grossen Hit welcher erst später erschien, diese Platte ist guter Pop aber bleibt halt auch Pop.

Uh. Some ok tunes. Some bad ones. Nothing great.

The Jungle is good. Summer and Lightning absolutely bangs. This album felt like the longest thing I’ve ever listened to in my life.

Gear: Grado Hemp Artwork: 🥏🌈🚀 Mix: 🤩🥴😐 Musik: 🥳🤔😮‍💨 Wertung: 🥏🥏(🥏)/5

I just don't love the progressive power pop genre. I can see how this could be appealing for others, but it doesn't do it for me.

It's music that you play in the background and then forget about it.

bood

i rate it so far :) nvm, ass

The singles still sound pretty sparkly, but the album felt long. They do what they do very well, but it goes on and on. . There was a claim that this was the first album to use a Vocoder - Kraftwerk's Autobahn beat them to that, in 1974

Seventies glam-rock? Reminds me of Abba. Not really my jam.

Fuck det er kedeligt

Sehr typisch - aber auch ganz schön flach. Würde sogar sagen: Echt langweilig. Für mich erstaunlich wie elektronisch die Musik 1977 schon war!

Beatles with effects. Not in the mood for this right now. Or any time, probably.

The Shitty Beatles

Electric Light Borechestra

Underwhelmed to be honest

Not completely horrible, but not very good either.

I don’t love this genre

I keep it short: overly self-indulgent pompous overproduced bore. Two points for daring. I hate it. Sorry.

Wow, this was not for me at all. I was really expecting better! It's hard to put my finger on what exactly I hated about this, maybe it's too commercial sounding, a bit souless? The best song on the album is undoubtedly Mr. Blue Sky, but it has become ubiquitous through its use in every advert imaginable - most recently the ads for the Irish National Lottery that make me want to throw the radio out the window. It's very well performed, but either there's just not enough humanity in there, or what is there is too clean cut. If I contrast it with the two Todd Rundgren albums I got earlier in this challenge (and loved), I think the difference is that Todd seems to take himself less seriously, and wasn't afraid to experiment. Whereas ELO seem to be taking the ultimate safe bet in trying to plot out a course based on the Beatles' abandoned trajectory.

Huh. There's something kinda cloyingly over the top to this music, and I'm someone who tends to like music that's kinda over the top. Not sure why, but it's not really working for me. Bit long at 17 tracks, too. It all started sounding really samey pretty early on. This isn't for me.

Omg some of these music types aren’t half self inducement. I was losing the will to live by the end of this

Fine background music. 2/5

Ja, ein paar Lieder waren hörenswert, aber für mich nicht das beste Album von ELO.

Love mr blue sky - but album ad a whole is uninspiring

Very 70s not bad I guess just not for me

It’s was groovy 🤪🤪