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Post by lawrev on Nov 5, 2022 22:57:52 GMT
Hi All,
I just purchased Arden's book that came out quite a while ago - middle 2000s - and bookmarked the areas where he discusses ELO (though I need to go back and go through it more thoroughly. Has anybody here read it? I already have noticed that several dates are 1-2 years off, so I don't know the quality of the fact checking and editing.
I hope to read those sections more thoroughly starting the end of this coming week.
Jim
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Post by BSJ on Nov 5, 2022 23:31:18 GMT
No. Have not read it. A disappointment Arden's facts are suspect.
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Post by lawrev on Nov 6, 2022 0:03:09 GMT
He has a co-author. I spied 2-3 paragraphs on ELO Part II too. I can tell he has good things to say about JL.
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Post by theunwokenfool on Nov 10, 2022 18:18:04 GMT
I read the book earlier this year. Makes for a good read. Don Arden is most certainly not my type of guy but he appears to revel in his reputation as a hard man so it is quite refreshing to hear somebody talk so candidly about their less than perfect behavior.
Ultimately, he’s a manager who judges success purely on sales rather than artistic endeavor. To this end, Jeff proved a valuable commodity and he does talk about the wealth that came off the back of ELO’s success although it does rankle when he seems to try and take personal credit as if he almost wrote the songs himself!
All in all though a decent read for anyone interested in ELO
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Post by lawrev on Nov 13, 2022 18:24:07 GMT
I haven't had time to read the entire book in depth yet, but I did page through it and note the pages/sections where The Move/ELO/Post-ELO are mentioned. Here are just a few observations for discussion: 1. Don Arden (DA) said that he sold his final interests in Jet and ELO in 1993. I thought his divesting happened in the mid/late 1980s. There is some mention of ELO Part II and their successful short tour with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra in the UK. Highly complimentary of those expensive to produce gigs. 2. After BOP was released in 1986, DA said that JL put ELO on temporary hiatus - but knew in his heart that Lynne wasn't coming back. 3. When the ELO Part II idea was conceived, DA said that he couldn't get JL interested and JL didn't want the rest of the guys to restart the band. Thus the idea of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra to partially hide the fact that JL was not in the new version. 4. Little mention of the band's troubles between 1980 and 1986 - just that JL started to produce others. Certainly no mention of JL recovering $4M from DA. Most of the early 80s timeline covered his family, Sharon, Ozzy, Ozzy solo, Black Sabbath (although there was mention of BB joining Black Sabbath). 5. Loved the quote that Sharon Arden (later Osbourne) said that managing ELO on tour was like hanging out with "Old Women." They were that boring. 6. The last night that RW and JL played a Move gig was in Italy - and they were fighting over who would go on second to last (leaving the "big dog" to go on last). After that gig RW left the band. Talk about egos!
Given that ELO was the biggest and most lucrative act of his career, I was expecting more detail. But there is enough interesting info about other bands and managers that DA crossed paths with to make this an interesting read.
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Post by Horacewimp on Nov 13, 2022 20:48:30 GMT
Interesting items, thanks lawrev
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Post by fourlittlediamonds on Nov 14, 2022 22:44:53 GMT
Did it mention Arden going around to Robert Stigwood's office and dangling him out of a fifth floor window when Stigwood tried to sign The Small Faces away from him?
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Post by lawrev on Nov 14, 2022 23:57:04 GMT
Did it mention Arden going around to Robert Stigwood's office and dangling him out of a fifth floor window when Stigwood tried to sign The Small Faces away from him? Yes, and in general Arden was quite proud of his "unorthodox" methods of management.
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Post by janne on Nov 16, 2022 16:51:45 GMT
5. Loved the quote that Sharon Arden (later Osbourne) said that managing ELO on tour was like hanging out with "Old Women." They were that boring. When I saw this, for some reason it made me think about a picture in Bev's book, where he writes that they are "having a terrible time in a Munich beer garden".
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