Gonzo’s Gems: “The Strange Magic" Of The Electric Light Orchestra
By Sam “Gonzo” Gonzales
One day in the summer of 1979, I walked into McMahan’s Furniture Store with my mom. She pointed to the stereos lined up to the left of the store’s entrance and asked, “If you could have one, which one would you pick?” I looked over the eight or so stereos and pointed to the one with the $99 price tag. “Do you want it?” she asked. I practically passed out with shock, but managed to mumble, “Yes.” And just like that I had my very first stereo and my lifelong quest and love of collecting and listening to all genres of music began. Thanks mom!!
I was so proud of my stereo. Now I had to get my hands on some albums. Which ones? There were so many to chose from. After giving it some thought, I bought a couple of greatest hits albums. They had more bang for my buck I reasoned. One of the albums was “ELO’s Greatest Hits”. Electric Light Orchestra was all over the radio airwaves around that time… and now… they were on my turntable. Needless to say, I spent many moments listening to ELO‘s greatest hits, and especially my all time favorite Electric Light Orchestra song, “Rockaria!”.
Electric Light Orchestra came to be one day as Move members Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood worked on a Move track in the studio. With Jeff playing big guitar riffs and Roy overdubbing cello to the track, they created a sound that closely resembled an orchestra. It was the sound they had been looking for all along. That track, infused with classical overtones, immediately became the blueprint of the Electric Light Orchestra sound. The track was “10538 Overture” and it became the first Electric Light Orchestra song ever written.
Now it was 1971 and ex-Move members Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood and Bev Bevan formed the primary core of Electric Light Orchestra. Effectively employing the use of violins and cellos, they recorded and unleashed upon us “No Answer, a rock album with a very classical sound. The album, of course, contained the song that started it all, “10538 Overture”. It also contained a quirky sounding song entitled, “Mr. Radio”, which was intentionally made to sound like a recording from the 20s.
Unforeseen, Roy Wood bailed out and left Electric Light Orchestra after the “No Answer” album to form Wizzard, but Lynne and Bevan soldiered on and released their second album, Electric Light Orchestra II in 1973. The album presented us with the beautiful and sad song, “Mama”, about a lonely young lady. And what a stroke of genius by Jeff Lynne and company to cover the Chuck Berry rocker, “Roll Over Beethoven”. Starting out classically and then morphing into a rocking Gem, it clocks in at whopping 7 minutes 49 seconds.
Electric Light Orchestra continued to draw heavily from the Beatles, releasing “On The Third Day“ in 1973. With a Lennonesque tenor, Lynne sang the hits “Showdown” and “Ma-Ma-Ma-Belle” perfectly, giving this album a much more confident sound than their previous albums. Electric Light Orchestra had found their sound and now they were really ready to crank out more big hits. Even John Lennon, during an interview, stated how much he liked “Showdown”. “Ma-Ma-Ma-Belle” found both Jeff Lynne and Marc Bolan playing the main riff together in a very big way.
Next up in the spotlight was 1974’s “Eldorado”. Up to this point Jeff Lynne had been tracking up two cellos and one violin. That ceased. A 30-piece orchestra and choir were hired for “Eldorado” and produced the classic hit, “Can’t Get It Out Of My Head”. “Midnight, on the water, I saw the ocean’s daughter, walking on a wave’s chicane, staring as she called my name, and I can’t get it out of my head…” The song is beautiful and catchy enough that after a few listens you won’t be able to get it out of “your” head.
The hits were coming quick now. “Face The Music”, released in 1975, gave us the hit singles, “Evil Woman”, which was written by Lynne in a total of six minutes, and “Strange Magic” which was written on many different pianos throughout various locations in England while on tour. Lynne sings the obscure yet beautiful lyrics, “You’re sailing softly through the sun, in a broken stone age dawn, you fly, so high, I get a strange magic…”.
It was 1976, and a friend and I were driving down the road in his truck, listening to his new 8-track tape of Electric Light Orchestra’s “A New World Record”. I enjoyed the two first cuts: “Tightrope”, a song about being in trouble and looking for help, and “Telephone Line”, a song about yearning for a lost love. The new release sounded pretty good thus far. Now “Rockaria” came on. The track opened with a female opera singer singing in true operatic fashion. “What the hell is that?” was my initial response.
Suddenly, and without warning, the song morphs into a straight-out rocker and Jeff Lynne belts out, “Just got back from a downtown palace, where the music was so sweet it knocked me right back in the alley, oh baby…” I practically fell out of the moving truck. I stared at the 8-track player as if it held some type of magical powers. It was a song about a rocker intent on showing an opera singer how to rock and roll, to convert her into a true rock ‘n’ roller. The remaining standout tunes were “Livin’ Thing” and a re-working of the Move’s “Do Ya”. But the true Gem is “Rockaria!“ Its still my favorite Electric Light Orchestra song.
Next, 1977’s “Out Of The Blue” was a double disc offering with “Mr. Blue Sky”, “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” and “Turn To Stone” as the choice tracks. Jeff Lynne states that “Mr. Blue Sky” was inspired by being cooped up in a house in Switzerland for weeks writing music for “Out Of The Blue” and then suddenly having the sun come out and making everything look beautiful. “Sweet Talkin’ Woman”, originally called “Dead End Street“, was an early disco tune and a nod in the direction the band would take with their next album. “Turn To Stone”, my favorite cut from the album, has great chords, a great Moog bass line and a great feel to it. 1977 saw “The English guys with the big fiddles” playing on an enormous spaceship-shaped stage with fog machines and a laser light show. Quite the spectacle.
“Discovery”, or “Disco Very” as it’s been referred to, was released in 1979 and it showed a strong disco influence throughout the album. Though I am not the biggest fan of disco, the cuts on “Discovery” were still catchy songs. You’ve got to love the whimsical air of “The Diary Of Horace Wimp”, the upbeat attitude of “Shine A Little Love”, the haunting beauty of “Confusion” and the rocking heavy backbeat of “Don’t Bring Me Down”. Interesting note: “Don’t Bring Me Down” has “groos” in the lyrics… not “Bruce“. “Groos” was a word Jeff Lynne made up in the studio while recording the song. You people singing “Bruce” all these years… time to “groos” it up.
Electric Light Orchestra’s sound changed in 1981 with the release of the band’s science fiction concept album, “Time”. The string section was replaced and synthesizers played a dominant role throughout this and the following two subsequent releases. “Time” generated the band’s final hit, “Hold On Tight.“ 1983’s “Secret Messages” had “Rock And Roll Is King”, which was a sequel of sorts to Rockaria!”, and the Gem, “Four Little Diamonds”, a Beatles-era Paul McCartney-esque rocker. 1986’s “Balance Of Power” had “Calling America”, “Getting To The Point” and “So Serious”. An imminent split had been looming over the band for a while and now and after the release of “Balance Of Power” the band broke up.
Lynne had become a sought-after producer and his focus shifted from Electric Light Orchestra to producing other artists. Impressively, he produced numerous artist such as Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson, Dave Edmunds, Randy Newman, George Harrison and The Traveling Wilburys. His crowning achievement as a producer? He produced two songs, “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love” for the Beatles Anthology series with the three surviving Beatles using John Lennon’s vocals from tapes of unfinished tracks.
A decade and half later, a new Electric Light Orchestra album appeared out of the blue. “Zoom”, released in 2001, continued on with the classic Electric Light Orchestra sound and delivered us “Moment In Paradise”, “In My Own Time” and “Easy Money”. I’m a sucker for a great pop song and “Moment In Paradise” is just that. A pop song at its finest. “Easy Money“ and “In My Own Time” have the feel of 50s music. In “In My Own Time” Jeff sings, “Bye, bye, is that a tear in your eye, too late to cry, you and your precious disguise…”.
In recent times, Lynne has continued producing and some of Electric Light Orchestra’s music has been used in various Hollywood movies. “Livin’ Thing” appeared in the movie “Boogie Nights”; “Showdown” graced the movie “Kingpin“; and most recently, “Mr. Blue Sky shows up in the animated film “Megamind”.
With Jeff Lynne at the helm and serving as songwriter, lead singer, lead guitarist and producer, Electric Light Orchestra created fantastic pop/rock songs with a fusion of Beatlesque pop, classical music and a touch of quirkiness. Electric Light Orchestra racked up an amazing seventeen Top 40 hits between 1975 and 1981. If you get a chance, I invite you to check out my Gems: “Roll Over Beethoven“, “Rockaria!” and “Four Little Diamonds“… or even better find your own gems in the Electric Light Orchestra catalogue. Electric Light Orchestra’s strange magic is there waiting for you to discover for the first time… or re-discover it all over again.
(DVD) “Electric Light Orchestra – Zoom Tour Live (2001)”
(CDs) “A New World Record (1976)“ and “Discovery (1979)”
(Songs) Showdown, Ma-Ma-Ma Belle, Roll Over Beethoven, Mama, Can’t Get It Out Of My Head, Strange Magic, Evil Woman, Do Ya, Tightrope, Livin’ Thing, Telephone Line, Rockaria!, Mr. Blue Sky, Turn To Stone, Sweet Talkin’ Woman, Don’t Bring Me Down, The Diary Of Horace Wimp, Confusion, Rock And Roll Is King, Four Little Diamonds, Moment In Paradise, and In My Own Time
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