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Post by Chippa on Jul 10, 2016 6:25:24 GMT
Ok, let's have some reviews of some of the lesser known songs which Jeff Lynne has either produced, written, or both.
Here we go....
From the 1974 sessions Jeff did with Del Shannon, it's Distant Ghost. Featuring ELO members Jeff Lynne, Bev Bevan, Richard Tandy and Mike De Albuquerque.
From 1978, Helen Reddy doing the Jeff-penned Poor Little Fool
Jeff Lynne produced this Dave Edmunds cover of The Four Tops song Something About You
Here's an interesting one from the band Sumo Giants,called Tower of Babel. Curiously, Jeff Lynne produced this song but later had his name removed from the credits for some reason.
From the Tom Petty Full Moon Fever sessions, the b-side Down The Line
A track Jeff wrote and produced for saxophonist Jim Horn..Work It Out
A very rare song which Jeff co-wrote and produced for the French group Et Moi Moi, called Drole De Vie
From 1997, Jeff produced this song for Dave Morgan, who was a part of ELO's touring band for a few years. God's Good Time
From 1999, Jeff produced this song for British singer-songwriter Jimmy Nail..Blue Beyond the Grey
Jeff produced a trio of songs for Canadian singer-songwriter Rossif Sutherland(brother of actor Kiefer Sutherland). This is one of them, called In The Clouds
Jeff produced and played on the theme for former Monty Python member Eric Idle's BBC radio show Infinite Monkey Cage
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Post by 88keys on Jul 10, 2016 20:24:59 GMT
I played all of these at once and it was a wall of cacophonous beauty. Alright, now individually. Distant Ghost by Del Shannon….Yeah this song is haunting, which is appropriate given its title. It’s similar to ELO’s Everyone’s Born To Die. Poor Little Fool by Helen Reddy…..I like the melody, but I don’t dig her voice. It grates on me, and I’m not sure why. Something About You by Dave Edmunds….A little too techno for such a soulful song, but I like what they did with it for the majority of the song. Tower Of Babel by Sumo Giants…..What’s the story of Jeff Lynne having his name taken off the credits? This song is awesome! It’s different while retaining some comforting familiarity. Down The Line by Tom Petty……Those horns are badass! It’s so uptown funky! My favorite, so far. Work It Out by Jim Horn…..More horns! This song is a little bit lacking, but I can’t hate it. Drole De Vie by Et Moi Moi…..Whoa, so unusual! It sounds like maybe it was originally part of a soundtrack. I like it because it’s so strange! God’s Good Time by David Morgan…..It’s like a Brian Wilson song with weird church influence. The lyrics are naïve, but I enjoyed the overall song. Blue Beyond The Grey by Jimmy Nail….It’s a little on the country side with some very positive lyrics. The Jeff Lynne techniques are so apparent here, it almost sounds like it could be one of his own songs! In The Clouds by Rossif Sutherland…..What a sweet little understated song. I love it a lot. Infinite Monkey Cage by Eric Idle…..Just like everything the Python crew does, this is clever and funny as hell. I think Jeff is playing the ukulele! It brought a smile to my face so that’s what matters. Good collection, Chipz!
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Post by Chippa on Jul 11, 2016 17:20:23 GMT
Tower Of Babel by Sumo Giants…..What’s the story of Jeff Lynne having his name taken off the credits? This song is awesome! It’s different while retaining some comforting familiarity. It's a mystery. Here's what one of the band members said about it, courtesy of The Jeff Lynne Song Database :
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Post by queenofthehours on Jul 14, 2016 18:01:06 GMT
There's some cracking gems here I can't wait to hear them all again. My special favourites at the moment are the Helen Reddy track, which has a beautiful melody, and the Infinite Monkey Cage theme because I only heard it on the radio the other night!
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Post by jrmugz on Jul 15, 2016 21:54:00 GMT
OK, here is my review of the lesser known Jeff-Lynne-related selections. 01. "Distant Ghost" - Del Shannon - Really like it, seems like a great Roy Orbison song, but sung by Del Shannon. Very sincere and heartfelt. 02. "Poor Little Fool" - Helen Reddy - I like it a lot, and unlike 88, I actually DO dig the voice! Cool Jeff Lynne tune I did not know! 03. "Something About You" - Dave Edmunds - A decent cover song, with the Edmunds-Lynne touch. Similar to "Full Moon Fever" production where Jeff puts his hand on it, but doesn't overdo it, except for a synth touch here and there. 04. "Tower Of Babel" - Sumo Giants - A decent 80s song, but sounds a little bit too packaged to meet a formula/era. 05. "Down The Line" - Tom Petty - Decent J. Geils flavoerd Stax Records type of song, like "Don't Do Me Like That", which he was going to give to J. Geils Band at the time, incidentally. 06. "Work It Out" - Jim Horn - Cool groove, reminds me of something the E. Street Band would do for "The River". 07. "Drole De Vie" - Et Moi Moi - Decent, but doesn't do much for me. Needs a good lyric and vocal to it. Then again, it does stand pretty strong on its own. 08. "God’s Good Time" - David Morgan - Meaningful song, inspired performance and production. I really like this one. My favorite so far. 09. "Blue Beyond The Grey" - Jimmy Nail- Like 88 says, the "...Jeff Lynne techniques are so apparent here, it almost sounds like it could be one of his own songs!" Sounds like it would fit in perfectly on "Alone in the Universe". Like the deep lyrics, and the Harrison-like guitar touches. Very beautiful chorus. 10. "In The Clouds" - Rossif Sutherland - Great inspired song, definitely with Bob Dylan influence fully intact! Bob Dylan meets Barry McGuire! 11. "Infinite Monkey Cage" - Eric Idle - Good spirited performance; but since not my brand of humor, I'd say it deserves some better lyrics. ha ha Star Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Prime Cuts: "Distant Ghost", "God's Good Time", "Blue Beyond the Grey", "In the Clouds" Bottom Line: A strong collection of songs that all, among their other unique qualities, showcase Jeff Lynne's ability to bring songs and artists to their full potential. Thanks Chippa, I really enjoyed playing this great collection of songs that were unbeknownst to me up to this point. I'll even forgive you for the Eric Idle one, ha ha. I'll put you down as a tentative for the next open spot, as I realize you expressed how you're busy, and may not be able to participate as much in the future. Like I say, never any pressure, either it's 100% fun or bust. ha ha Jim
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Post by unomusette on Jul 16, 2016 20:23:21 GMT
All of these songs are new on me and I'm partial to the producer so really looking forward to giving them a spin: Distant Ghost - You wouldn't guess at all that Jeff had been involved with this - whenever I hear a song he's produced that does that I always mentally applaud the artist for resisting the trademark sounds. I really like the strings and the trumpet on this, and the vocal is gorgeous. It's also great to know that Jeff was working with one of his absolute heroes and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. Poor Little Fool - Found this elsewhere as the posted vid wasn't available. I've always liked Helen Reddy's voice and her choice of songs with interesting lyrics rather than straight up love songs. Much more of the Lynne influence here than on the previous track especially with the strings, I'm not sure if it suits her particularly as an artist though, she seems to be mixed down a bit quietly and the rest of it threatens to drown her out at times. Something about you - Aww, I thought it would be a cover of the Quo song, bet he could do a great version of it though. Once I found a version of this that would play for me I was immediately reminded of the whole Balance of Power era, the sound is very clattery and the keyboards are very '80's . Strangely though it seems quite modern for an artist like Dave Edmunds. I can't blame him for trying something new but I can see how he might have preferred to go back to his more classic rock roots, I'm not sure this really suits him. Hearing how he had the cheek to later criticise Jeff for his part in their collaboration though was most annoying, this is what you get when you hire the Lynne-meister and if you can't live up to it that's really your problem not Jeff's. Tower of Babel - I really like the twangy guitar on this, it has the same BoP type sound but I think it works better for this band and I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. It's totally fluffy and bouncy (like their hair ) and it tiptoes along the boundary with Planet Parody (those earrings!) with complete confidence, best song so far. I don't understand why Jeff chose to distance himself from it and will have it out with him when we next meet. Down the Line - Tee hee, Tom's vocal is hilarious from the get-go, is he mocking Mr Dylan here? Sneaky little Michael Jackson guitar twiddles are cute, in fact the whole thing sounds like they were trying to cram in nods to other artists and genres. This is lots of fun and it ends far too soon for me. Work it out - I do love a bit of saxophone and who can resist a backing vocal from Mr Lynne himself? The lack of a main vocal is odd though, it sounds unfinished without one. Drole de Vie - Absolutely classic Lynne sound here, the intro is far too long though...oh, hang on, it's an instrumental? Again it sounds like there should be more to it, sort of a waste of what could probably have been a good song. God's Good Time - Very Strawbs-esque so I like it straight away. Atmospheric and I like the distorted vocal. Blue Beyond the Grey - I enjoyed Jimmy Nail's brief musical career, he always chose interesting songs and he has a very distinctive voice. The sound of this is classic Lynne but I think it suits Jimmy really well. Some neat little bits slotted in too, such as the train sound, it's a treat for the ear. In the Clouds - Another distinctive vocalist, this is lovely and reminds me a lot of Mike Nesmith's work. Finishes well before I'm ready, I'll be looking for more from him so thanks for introducing me. Actually I later found he's not on Spotify, how annoying *troops off to scour Youtube* The Infinite Monkey Cage - Jeff's playing with his best friends again, to be honest you'd never know he was involved but it's a great song in the vein of George Formby who must have influenced his Idle Race creations. Eric Idle is a proven talent when it comes to snappy lyrics so the pair of them were sure to come up with something fab once they got together. It would be great on it's own but the joy of watching the Brian Cox puppet in the vid was the icing on the cake. Some of these songs I enjoyed a whole lot, others not so much. I think they prove that despite Jeff's undoubted production skills they still don't match up for every artist (well, to my ears anyway). But when they do, it's a total triumph. I'd give this bunch 7 out of 10, thanks for the opportunity to hear it Chippa
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Post by Chippa on Jul 16, 2016 23:04:52 GMT
Poor Little Fool - Found this elsewhere as the posted vid wasn't available. I've always liked Helen Reddy's voice and her choice of songs with interesting lyrics rather than straight up love songs. Much more of the Lynne influence here than on the previous track especially with the strings, I'm not sure if it suits her particularly as an artist though, she seems to be mixed down a bit quietly and the rest of it threatens to drown her out at times. Don't blame Jeff for the vocal mix;he didn't produce it, he just wrote it.
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Post by unomusette on Jul 17, 2016 21:35:06 GMT
Fair do's, I stand corrected
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Post by queenofthehours on Aug 4, 2016 17:04:39 GMT
Distant Ghost – I've aways loved this song. I like how the music seems both sad and beautiful which is a Jeff speciality and shows that he is good at music other than upbeat happy stuff. There's some lovely strings. It's a little bit country. I love the brass and the note changes. It seems to very much have an Eldorado/'One Summer dream' orchestration - epic. Great piano from Tandy and some very subtle guitar from Jeff.
Poor Little Fool – One of my favourite Jeff tracks made by another artist. I know both Jeff's and Helen's versions and both are very good. Jeff's demo is not very clear but like the Del track you still can get blown away with the melody.
Something about you – I know Edmunds well enough to guess at which parts here are Jeff's and he really does give Dave a different sound. Maybe still it's because he was still experimenting but it isn't like the production he gave George Harrison, this sounds more like BOP or 'Video'.
Tower of Babel – A bit different and a bit the same too. Still very 'Radio' and you can tell Jeff is just getting used to production for others and not found his "feel”. I'd never guess this was a Jeff production aside from how much it sounds like something off BOP. Very good production all the same.
Down the Line – Now we’re into proper Jeff production territory. You can hear how clean and classic it is. Nice saxophone - is it Jim? Work it out – Here’s Jim. A great tune, this is so Jeff musically that it sounds like an instrumental Wilbury track.
Drole de Vie – Very nice, very Jeff channelling the big 50s Orbison style production. Easy to guess who's behind it.
God's Good Time – Dave's stuff is always very good - Uglys, Tandy Morgan - he's almost been with Richard more than Jeff. Here's Jeff being a little less "traditional" here, leaving the production very subtle as it he's thinking that Dave doesn't need the full-on Lynne treatment.
Blue Beyond the Grey – Very Harrison/Orbison sounding here, this is so Jeff it hurts. It's the best Nail song I ever heard. I'm very surprised to know this is 1999 as it sounds very 1989. Could easily imagine Roy singing this.
In the Clouds – Very nice and proof Jeff can still do solid traditional production in his signature style when he needs to just like how he turned it on again for Bryan Adams. But why doesn't he do it for himself?
The Infinite Monkey Cage – Great! A rare example of a top writer and producer doing a BBC theme tune. Jeff is going back to his Idle Race roots here with humour. TIMC is a great show and I particularly enjoyed this week's episode www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07m5dz0 on Frankenstein.
Thanks for that Chippa , I really enjoyed your choices . Jeff's production is so distinctive, more so perhaps than his song writing. Maybe this is because he feels the need to make more of his stamp on the music because it doesn't have his name on it. I find I can tell a Jeff production easier than a Jeff-written song - not that there's many I don't already know!
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