Posted January 10, 20232 yr For my first album of the month, I have chosen the sixth album released by my favourite group, the Electric Light Orchestra. After buying my first cassette player in 1981, I was given this album as a birthday present along with Out Of The Blue and Discovery which were all part of an ELO box set called 'Four Light Years'. This was before I had bought any album with my own pocket money so A New World Record was the first album I listened to. I knew the singles but quickly came to love the rest of the album. A New World Record was the first ELO album to sell in large amounts both in the UK and the US. Up to this point, the Birmingham group had been much more popular in America. It's the first album to feature the ELO logo on the cover which went on to be used on most of the subsequent albums. As usual, Jeff Lynne wrote all the songs on his own before recording them with the group. The Montreal Olympics were going on at the time with "a new world record" often being heard when the band took breaks from recording to watch it and keyboard player Richard Tandy came up with the idea of that being the album's title. The first track, 'Tightrope', starts with a spacey keyboard sound, a gong, and then the strings and choir come in before the electric guitars. It's one of the best intros to any song. The rest of it as a rock/pop tune that would have been a big hit if it had been released as a single. It's followed by the ballad 'Telephone Line' which has one of Louis Clark's best string arrangements. That one got to number 8 as a single. The next track, 'Rockaria!' was also a top 10 hit. Featuring opera singer Mary Thomas, it's a rock'n'roll song which name checks Wagner, Beethoven, Puccini and Verdi in the chorus. Jeff has dabbled with science fiction a few times and the next song, 'Mission', is about an alien who lands on Earth and observes the goings on at a charity building for homeless people. 'So Fine' is a breezy pop song which segues into the next track with the key of the last note gradually coming down to the first note of the next track, 'Livin' Thing', which is the best known song here, giving the group their first top 5 single. Next is an understated two minute ballad, 'Above The Clouds', which is followed by the rock song 'Do Ya' which had already been recorded by The Move in 1972. Jeff decided to re-record it in the style of ELO. The final track, 'Shangri-La', is my favourite. It's a string soaked ballad with a beautiful coda which comes in just as you think the song is coming to a close. Jeff's production throughout the album is top notch with the orchestra and choir playing a big role and this is the only ELO album which utilises female backing singers. It's not my favourite album by them, that would be 'Time', but I've chosen this one as it seems to be generally acknowledged to be their best album. This is the Spotify link if anyone wants to listen to the album. It's only 37 minutes long so it won't take up too much time. Tell me what you think of it. I don't mind any criticism, I know ELO are not as cool as Leftfield.
January 10, 20232 yr Fab album. Certainly one of my faves but ELOs best? Out Of The Blue surely. Or Discovery. 😎👍Time is under rated as they flopped with awesome tracks like Twilight and The Way Life's Meant To Be after their final fab biggie Hold On Tight. The music scene changed in 1981 and they were uncool even more so until the 2010s. Not to me though i dont care what is or isnt in fashion 😆
January 10, 20232 yr I could try to make it, interested to hear what this is like Could we maybe do mine at the same time? Shouldn’t be too long for both? Happy for yours to go first though
January 12, 20232 yr Author The listening session will start at 8pm. I'll play the Leftfield album first so any latecomers will still hear most of it rather than missing most of the ELO album which is much shorter. I'll post the link nearer the time.
January 12, 20232 yr Thank you Rollo - I should be good to join. I appreciate you making up for my tardiness with a listen through last week!
January 12, 20232 yr We had the listen through this evening and I really enjoyed this much more than I was expecting to. It was quite a fun album with loads of flourishes and unexpected turns in production and a songwriting technique that felt a little like a tapestry of so many ideas. Having said that, my favourite was actually the closing track which was one of the more straightforward ones in terms of structure. I've added that to my playlist as I thought it was a really strong final song.
January 13, 20232 yr I had almost no idea at all what to expect from this one as ELO are largely a blind spot for me beyond 'Mr. Blue Sky' but this was also mostly an enjoyable album if not quite as up my street as the Leftfield one. My top 5 from this one: 1 Tightrope 2 Shangri-La - this top 2 are quite far clear of the rest so a really strong opener and closer! Seems like pretty clear Queen and/or The Beatles influence on both of these tracks (and a lot of the album really) 3 Rockaria! - the inclusion of the operatic vocals was a little clumsy but otherwise this was a really solid Slade-esque tune 4 So Fine - ELO coming through with a more authentic African inspired electronic section than Leftfield *.* 5 Telephone Line - very Bee Gees chorus Do Ya and Livin' Thing were decent too, don't think the latter really deserved to be the biggest hit from the album but hey ho!
January 13, 20232 yr Really enjoyed the last track (Shangri-La) and the 3 Top 10 hits (Telephone Line, Rockaria! and Livin’ Thing). I guess overall it was camper than I expected in a good way, with lots of energy and variety.
January 13, 20232 yr Author I'm pleased that everyone enjoyed the album and that my favourite track, Shangri-La, was singled out for praise.
January 13, 20232 yr Is it too late to get involved with this? I’ve never heard the album before but would be willing to give it a listen over the weekend sometime. :)
January 13, 20232 yr Definitely not too late - feel free to join in any of these Wardy We'll continue to do listen throughs for future ones but I'm sure both Rollo and I would love to hear what you think about either of our choices ^_^
January 13, 20232 yr Ok great! We did a listening session in the 2000’s forum this evening for James Blunt’s debut album Back To Bedlam in case anyone’s interested in the discussion. I shall definitely queue this ELO album, and I don’t really have any prior knowledge of this artist so really this will be my introduction!
January 13, 20232 yr I'd definitely be up for 00s ones too - albeit probably not the James Blunt album :P
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