Electric Light Orchestra

192 versions on HD Tracks too.

And for everyone from that era the new album Alone in the Universe is available on Vinyl.

Anybody listen to them last night on Radio 2... it's on iplayer if you missed it, good mixture of old and new.

Dont forget next years tour.It should be pretty awesome

ELO. What a great band, especially for pop singles. And Jeff Lynne, what a profound figure in the world of rock music and production. I've wondered why the band has not had a stronger legacy these days? I very rarely hear any replay from them on my local classic rock radio stations in Seattle.

Looking at the blurb on the HMV web site it seems to imply that Jeff Lynne is the only surviving member of ELO on the new release.

I remember that one of the former band members ( I think it was the bassist) was tragically killed by a freak accident.

He was driving past a field of hay bales when one rolled down the hill onto the top of his car and killed him instantly.

p.s. I stand corrected ; it was the cellist Mike Edwards.

Good sing-along stuff for myh family in my teens.

Running down the av-e-nue / huh-huh-huh

quite  a few cds have.been released this week in Japan in blu spec2, in replica  lp sleeves,  2007 mastering.  will report on sound quality when i receive  next week.

Our tickets are booked for Birmingham next year - looking forward to that. We were slightly too young in their heyday so thought we would never see them.  We did see ELO Part II many years ago with Bev Bevan and Mick Kaminsky and they were fab.  My only criticism of the BBC concert was that Livin' Thing really missed Mr Kaminsky's virtuosity on the violin.  

I watched a few tracks on iPlayer, good with the old tracks ,not too impressed with the new.Might just as well play the original albums IMO.

Hadn't realised that there was only one member of ELO

'Pray silence please, for The Electric Light Orchestra'.

ELO were a bit Beatles-lite but had a few guilty pleasures in their canon.

The pre-ELO 'The Move' and 'The Idle Race' are well worth checking out.

I like the new album. It is what it is. Not a fan back then except for 'Out Of The Blue' which I still enjoy as a 'pleasure'. I did catch some of the Radio 2 concert and wasn't hopeful but the record is much better.

I saw Out Of The Blue was out but didn't realise more of the back catalogue was released. Nice. Just need ELO2 to complete my collection which stops at A New World Record. And I've given Qobuz's administrators a bit more money into the bargain!

Showdown: Pretty close to pop perfection.

John Lennon felt that it was a natural progression from where the Beatles had left off.  The influence of I Am The Walrus is clear - "this is a beautiful combination of I Heard It Through The Grapevine by Marvin Gaye, and Lightning Strikes Again - Lou Christie, and it's a beautiful job, with a little Walrus underneath..."

Fed up of Valhalla here. ELO tickets? Hen's teeth are more plentiful. 

The new offerings all sound very good.

It can be difficult after all these years to appreciate how left field Wood and Lynne’s original project was when conceived within The Move (and the reason Jeff Lynne consented to join The Move in the first place). It had a (continuously increasing) cult following enthralled for years. We just couldn’t wait to hear what they were going to come up with next. For me it was all pretty much over by Face The Music although I struggled on for two more albums, and saw the famous Flying Saucer concert at Wembley.

Although their storming performance at The New Vic a couple of years before had a lot more aggression and energy that the later, more commercially successful smooth style and output. This was topped considerably when Roy Wood was still with them, and they played a medium sized local provincial venue in IIRC about 1971. The first ELO album was out and The Move were still in the charts. About half way in, a power failure halted proceedings. The crew got a practice amp working, presumably by running a long extension lead somewhere, and they told jokes and sung quartets for over an hour. When the power came back on they did the whole set from the start, then did a load of Move stuff until the police turned up at 1.30am and halted the proceedings for the second and last time. True pros.

I was one of the not untypical left behind early adopters when your favourite unregarded band goes stratospheric, but I always smiled when I heard them and I thought Lynn deserved every bit of adulation he earned. Thanks to Qobuz I’ve been happily reliving my yoof this week and perhaps unsurprisingly I have been reminded of how clever and original Wood and Lynne were, sometimes pushing into confrontational and later Lynn and Tandy all be it without the raw edge. It has become fashionable to speak about ELO in the same sentence as The Beatles and this has always been encouraged by Lynn because he was such a huge admirer and imitator – and of course he later worked with them post Lenon. But back in the early days, from ELO1 to On The Third Day I’d put them as more aligned with (but not the same as) the kind of edgy and whimsical originality that was The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and A Saucer Full Of Secrets. 

ELO were one of the reasons I got into hifi when I was around twelve years old. 

One of my mates dad had just bought Out Of The Blue and one day my mate invited me to his house no parents in to hassle us then I remember my mate sneaking into his dad's 'listening' room which housed a lovely Marantz separates system and a Goldring TT. On went the first disc and I was hooked by the fantastic wide sound coming from a massive pair of Tangent floorstanders. 

I've loved ELO ever since and some time ago I bought the remastered version of OOTB and a rather good three disc sort of best of (compiled under instruction by Jeff Lynne) and it sounds very good indeed. 

Most of ELO's early cd releases were terrible but there are some better cd's out there now as well as hi res releases too. 

Jeff Lynne should be awarded with some sort of gong in my opinion. He's made a huge contribution to music in this country and overseas. 

Ah Travelling Wiburys...

Has anyone purchased any ELO hi res albums ? If so are they any good?

oh and I've already got my tickets to see ELO in Liverpool next year.

Mike..

Ditto Mr Paws, I had a friend who was 'cool' and who had a stereo system in his bedroom, one of those flat ones with turntable, cassette and radio, which I yearned for but which was well out of my parents financial reach.  He introduced me to Out of the Blue, along with Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell and The War of The Worlds and I drifted from my parents music to rock music.  Its ELO's fault I've spent the rest of my life chasing albums and going to concerts and obsessing with music and the kit to play it on. 

Hi Davejay, Sounds like we had similar experiences back in the day eh messing around with cassettes and all that. 

I dont know about you but I distinctly remember how that ELO album sounded at the time on that particular day. I do have a good memory for things like that but I suppose it was such a poignant moment the sound was so good and I even remember the fine details from the vinyl which don't seem to be there now on digital. 

Mike..

Yes and yes, as posted earlier. All good. Based on the quality of purchases so far I also ended up getting Out Of The Blue which I'm off to listen to now.

I'm not getting any 192 version because HD tracks won't let me due to some rights issue. 

Can one get around this ?

I use an IP blocker for my HDTracks purchases. But I doubt there's anything worth having over 96K - although I don't know.

Just listened to Concerto For A Rainy Day and a few other selected tracks from Out Of The Blue (Qobuz 24/96) and it sounds like a remix. Highly recommended although the top has not been tamed - so at least it sounds authentic.

Yes and yes from me too Mike. I downloaded Time in 24/192 the other day from HDtracks. I have only had one listen to it but its very good and so I will probably go back in for some more of their earlier albums.