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Post by soonerorlater on Jul 26, 2018 15:56:41 GMT
I've been meaning to add my thoughts to this one for a while.
Many, many years ago (early 80s) I contributed to a fanzine poll of 'least favourite ELO songs' - yes, there was a sense of destructive cynicism before the internet! I can't remember my top ten (I seem to remember struggling to reach even ten) but behind the inevitable placing of Marston Moor at number one, I placed Down Home Town at two. I hated it. It was silly and it almost ruined side two of Face The Music. What was Jeff Lynne thinking about? I know that he'd hastily written Evil Woman to make sure that the album had enough material but was he really that short of ideas?!
Over the years, the pendulum has well and truly swung. I love Down Home Town and I'm not afraid to admit it! It's sharp, quirky and I think, a carefully crafted piece of satire. I can only marvel at a songwriter who has eventually worn me down into liking pretty much everything he's ever come up with!
Thank goodness Roy Wood wrote Marston Moor. It's been over forty years since I first heard that and it still ain't cutting it!!
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Post by orioles70 on Jul 27, 2018 1:26:29 GMT
I've read that Bev refused to play drums on Marston Moor. Anyone know if that's true? And if so - who did the drumming? At any rate, it's a near unanimous "worst" ELO song.
I really like the energy and anything goes spirit that Woody brought to early ELO - but in hindsight, he just couldn't keep up with Jeff's lightning speed at composing new material. Paul McCartney mentioned a nickname that the Beatles had for Jeff - "Jet Flynn". I always wondered - was it Jeff's Brummie accent or his jet fast songwriting that they were alluding to? Yeah, the record label was called Jet. But a good nickname has multiple meanings.
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Post by BSJ on Jul 27, 2018 3:12:38 GMT
Marston Moor is pure Roy. He played the drums and most of the other instruments.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2018 7:25:56 GMT
I fuckin' love this song, and its placement on FTM.
It shows that Jeff could have some fun, and it breathes a bit of levity into an otherwise quite serious/heavy album.
So Fine on ANWR provides a slightly similar flavour.
Jeff does happy/upbeat/fun songs as well as anyone.
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Post by janne on Jul 29, 2018 9:34:01 GMT
Marston Moor is pure Roy. He played the drums and most of the other instruments. He possibly overdubbed a few million oboes.
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Post by BSJ on Jul 29, 2018 16:14:32 GMT
At least!
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Post by queenofthehours on Aug 3, 2018 16:44:46 GMT
I like 'Down Home Town'. FTM is probably my favourite album and it adds a bit of extra colour. I love the strings on it.
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Post by BSJ on Aug 3, 2018 22:18:32 GMT
FTM is my second fav album. I tolerate DHT. I'm too lazy to press skip or move the arm. The strings are pretty good.
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Post by cleldo on Aug 6, 2018 16:35:18 GMT
I like the gospel effects that Jeff put into that song. He was experimenting and as usual he pulled it off well. at least the names of the backup singers on Down Home Town aren't lost to history: Wikipedia lists them Ellie Greenwich – uncredited vocals Susan Collins – uncredited vocals Nancy O'Neill – uncredited vocals Margaret Raymond – uncredited vocals the JL song database has a quote from Margaret <<Jeff let me do the small solo part that I came up with... 'Ooooo I feel you coming down now'. What a thrill. You can hear all of us on that track very well, especially the part: 'Wish I was in the land of Dixie'... on the end I am the first to sing 'Look Away'.>> Nice, forgot to look at Wikipedia. Ellie Greenwich is a well known name, as well as Susan Collins (who also, by the way, sang on Ace Frehley's solo album in 1978). I am afraid I'm not familiar with Nancy O'Neill or Margaret Raymond.
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Post by StrangeMagic on Sept 2, 2018 9:07:39 GMT
Nice, forgot to look at Wikipedia. Ellie Greenwich is a well known name, as well as Susan Collins (who also, by the way, sang on Ace Frehley's solo album in 1978). I am afraid I'm not familiar with Nancy O'Neill or Margaret Raymond. Marge Raymond is my Facebook friend. She still does gigs in the New York City area as a back up singer
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Post by trekkielo on Jan 24, 2019 6:09:58 GMT
Not in love with the female vocals, though. Cheapens it. I agree. Same as on Evil Woman, I dislike that lady's (was it Suzi Quatro's sister?) way of singing and screaming. I find it vulgar, anti-feminine. Wrong songs/album! Suzi's sister Patti Quatro, along with Brie Brandt, both of Fanny, and Addie Lee sang uncredited vocals, particularly the 'higher and higher' parts from "Livin' Thing", but you can really hear them on "Tightrope", all three are my Facebook friends, then also Marge Raymond.
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Post by StrangeMagic on Jan 25, 2019 4:33:45 GMT
I have an entirely different take on "Down Home Town." I am from Down Home Town in the Land of Dixie, and I have a pretty good idea about what prompted Jeff to write this song.
In the summer of 1975, ELO toured the USA, appearing in towns such as Asheville, North Carolina; Knoxville, Tennesee; and Forth Worth, Texas. I lived in or near some of these places, and I know what they were like in the mid-seventies. Redneck City. Gun racks. Pickup trucks. Cowboy boots. Fist fights. Yee-haw.
People with ELO's looks would have been greeted by the locals with taunts such as "Are yew a boy or a girl?" "We beat up quairs in these here parts." "Get out of town, hippies."
I am not exaggerating in the least. It happened to me and my friends dozens of times.
I feel strongly that Jeff wrote the song in response to an incident(s) such as this.
On a lighter note, don't forget "She Loves You Down Home Town" as a Beatles reference.
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Post by Grroosss on Jan 25, 2019 9:24:12 GMT
I have an entirely different take on "Down Home Town." I am from Down Home Town in the Land of Dixie, and I have a pretty good idea about what prompted Jeff to write this song. In the summer of 1975, ELO toured the USA, appearing in towns such as Asheville, North Carolina; Knoxville, Tennesee; and Forth Worth, Texas. I lived in or near some of these places, and I know what they were like in the mid-seventies. Redneck City. Gun racks. Pickup trucks. Cowboy boots. Fist fights. Yee-haw. People with ELO's looks would have been greeted by the locals with taunts such as "Are yew a boy or a girl?" "We beat up quairs in these here parts." "Get out of town, hippies." I am not exaggerating in the least. It happened to me and my friends dozens of times. I feel strongly that Jeff wrote the song in response to an incident(s) such as this. Although it’s a couple years too early for Jeff to have been involved, here is Bev’s support for this idea:
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Post by claytonm4500 on Apr 29, 2019 0:29:00 GMT
Would like to bump this to add my two cents. This is a track that I instantly liked the first time I heard it, probably because the musical style is solid in terms of what it was intended to emulate. Then you have the quirky lyrics, which I never mind so long as there is a balance of solid material, which there is. Face the Music contains a diverse set of songs, some more serious than others and Down Home Town is one of the sillier ones, but that doesn't mean it's bad. To me, the music is so polished and contains so many layers that it honestly seems like the band was having fun during the recording sessions. You can hear all band members on this track, including the string trio. They all really stand out here playing their own parts. While I never preferred the ELO sound of the first three (string-overdub) albums, I did admire them in that it was more of a group effort instead of the Jeff Lynne solo work of the latest albums. With Down Home Town, the strings in particular were really taken advantage of here and really add layers to the song similar to the first three albums, but this time with an authentic orchestral sound. It's great. I enjoy the silly lyrics and the female backing vocals too. It is a well-done track and I hope it stops receiving the hate that it always gets.
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