Disc 266 is...Out of the Blue
Artist: Electric Light Orchestra
Year of Release: 1977
What’s Up With The Cover?: This album brought to you by the makers of "Simon". This is the second use of the game of "Simon" by ELO, as it was also featured on their "Discovery" album (reviewed back at Disc 134).
Seriously, does the spaceship have to repeat the pattern of blinking lights before the docking bay opens? As over the top as this album cover is, it pales in comparison to the inside of what was once likely the double record fold-out. Check out this groovy shot, which looks like a screen shot from "Masters of Orion II". If this were a screen shot from MOO II, I would be colonizing the planet on the left over the one on the right. But I digress...
How I Came To Know It: I believe I bought this album for Sheila, thinking she'd like another ELO album. Sheila loves music like I do, but isn't quite so...er...fervent...in her desire to own all the albums of bands she likes. Consequently, this record receives very little airplay.How It Stacks Up: We have three ELO albums, so this is will be my final review of them (unless I buy more, which I don't see happening). Of the three we have, this is far and away the worst.
Rating: 2 stars
I've waxed poetic on previous ELO albums about how they may be seventies synth pop, but they surprise me with how good they are. I usually enjoy Jeff Lynne's production, and the songs are both catchy and well written.
Well, there is always room for an exception to the rule, and "Out of the Blue" is it. This album truly annoyed me. All the seventies pop sensibilities are there as before, but what is missing is anything deeper. Apart from finding a hint of cowbell on "Night in the City" very little stood out on this record.
If anything, it sounds like a bad Beatles album, or empty doo-wop from the sixties, with a synth modulating the vocals every now and again. I don't like the Beatles all that much, but at least they're - you know - the Beatles. Jeff Lynne may be a gifted producer, but the Beatles he is not.
Later ELO albums find their own niche. 1979's "Discovery" works in a disco sound, that when combined with the doo-wop and synth gives ELO a very unique and listenable sound. "Discovery" also benefits from superior songwriting.
1981's "Time" is an ambitious concept album that successfully delivers its own unique sound.
By comparison to these, "Out of the Blue" sounds painfully generic. I felt like I might as well have been back in the seventies, listening to AM radio. AM radio was not good in the seventies, nor has it aged well. These songs are sleepy, and indistinct, and even the 'hits' ("Turn to Stone" and "Sweet Talkin' Woman" aren't particularly interesting.
Worst of all, as you'll note the cover of the disc advertises this is a "2 - Record Set on 1 Compact Disc". O, the joy. Just what I needed, twice as much of this forgettable top forty schlock.
The worst sin "Out of the Blue" committed was making me see the other two ELO albums in a different, lesser light. This is too bad, because these guys are capable of making some good stuff, but this one didn't do it for me. I'm only keeping it because Sheila likes a couple of the hits and pleaded for clemency.
Because I've heard worse, and some of the songs are serviceable if you aren't paying close attention, I am going to give this record a bare 2 stars, and then I'm going to get back out in the Maelstrom and hope for something better at the next port of call.
Best tracks: umm...I'll go with "Summer and Lightning"
By comparison to these, "Out of the Blue" sounds painfully generic. I felt like I might as well have been back in the seventies, listening to AM radio. AM radio was not good in the seventies, nor has it aged well. These songs are sleepy, and indistinct, and even the 'hits' ("Turn to Stone" and "Sweet Talkin' Woman" aren't particularly interesting.
Worst of all, as you'll note the cover of the disc advertises this is a "2 - Record Set on 1 Compact Disc". O, the joy. Just what I needed, twice as much of this forgettable top forty schlock.
The worst sin "Out of the Blue" committed was making me see the other two ELO albums in a different, lesser light. This is too bad, because these guys are capable of making some good stuff, but this one didn't do it for me. I'm only keeping it because Sheila likes a couple of the hits and pleaded for clemency.
Because I've heard worse, and some of the songs are serviceable if you aren't paying close attention, I am going to give this record a bare 2 stars, and then I'm going to get back out in the Maelstrom and hope for something better at the next port of call.
Best tracks: umm...I'll go with "Summer and Lightning"
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