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Post by vinyldude on Nov 18, 2014 0:55:07 GMT
Just a little curious to know when and how you first heard ELO, and how y'all percieved them on first encounter.
For me, I distinctly remember (I was 3 mind you..) my mom going to what was known as The Warehouse (not sure if they are all still open) in Palm Springs, Ca. She bought two cassettes, one was ELO Classics and the other was the Beatles' HELP. Before introducing me to them, my uncle and family primarily played old-school hip-hop, funk, ya know...lots of cholo music (grew up in a lifestyle that contradicts my love for ELO..) but my mom had a soft spot for ELO and Beatles despite her rather rougher taste in music. Beatles was a given, I was mesmerized by the sweet melodies and...just BEATLENESS. But ELO was a bit different...to me it was weird, bizarre, totally foreign sounding, couldn't rap my head around it.
It also didn't help that ELO Classics is a very random compilation consisting of what I assume are selections of songs from their albums that stood out stylistically versus the rest of the album, every song was totally different but had this...lush, warm classic sound. Music was forever different. I knew both tapes by heart and can name off every single song in order to this day, even the lyrics. Needless to say ELO and Beatles sparked a strong need for music in my life; I keep it eclectic but I find ELO and Beatles the basis of my musical spectrum, they set the bar period.
Now, story time ladies and gents.
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Post by Helmut83 on Nov 18, 2014 2:33:43 GMT
Vinyldude, I remember this same thread on the old forum and it quite had a lot of posts. It's always great to hear those stories. I'll go with mine: I must have been around 8 (circa 1991) and I had an old turntable which had a cassette player/recorder on it. I used to listen to the radio during long hours with a cassette ready to record whichever song the radio aired and I happened to like. There was this radio which from time to time had a small segment called "Oldies but goldies" and I knew that when that segment came I had to be more aware than ever because since I was a small kid I already had a soft spot for music from previous decades. Well, one time they presented "Oldies but goldies" and this slow ballad starts playing. I listened for a while and thought "this is amazing, I'm going to record it" and so started recording it from the second verse. I can remember perfectly well how I was fascinated by that song since the very first time I listened to it. Once I finished recording it I rewinded it and played it over and over like 100 times. When my mother came I asked her what was that song, and she said "this sounds to Electric Light Orchestra". She was right. The song was "Midnight blue", but in those times there was no internet or anything and I was a small child so I couldn't even know the name of the song nor be sure if it really belonged to that band. Anyway, I listened to it like mad for some time and then I never knew anything else about that Electric Light Orchestra till I was in my teenage years (and even then I never really got into it until I was 28). And vinyldude, the Beatles were a huge pillar in my life too. My mother was a big fan so I was exposed to them since I can remember, but she liked the first era (until "Rubber Soul") much more than the last one, so when I grew up a bit and discovered "Magical Mistery Tour", the White Album and, most of all, "Abbey Road", I discovered them in their full dimension and loved them more than ever. So the two bands that set the bar for me were the Beatles and Roxette (an incredibly overlooked band IMO of which I'm a huge fan), until only a couple of years ago I discovered ELO, which came to be the 3rd pillar.
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Post by Rob 2095 on Nov 18, 2014 2:52:15 GMT
This isn't really a story, but:
I first heard ELO when I was 2 weeks old and bald as an eagle... not really. I most likely had been hearing ELO being played on radio stations during car rides in childhood, but it wasn't until 2002 or '03 that I discovered ELO as a distinct band that had a catalog to listen to. A handful of the hits sounded very familiar, and I was most taken with "Turn to Stone", a rousing track which gave me goosebumps at the time and now gives me Herpes for some reason.
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Post by Horacewimp on Nov 18, 2014 8:33:55 GMT
The first time I can remember hearing and noting ELO was when my brother who is two years older than me borrowed two albums from one of his friends. It would be around 1977, so I would be 14-15 years old, the two albums were one by The Who maybe Tommy and A New World Record by ELO. I heard him playing both albums liked both but loved ANWR, the music, the cover, the lyrics sheets I was hooked. At the time I had a reel to reel tape player and so recorded it so I could listen to it in my own room. Over the next year I became more ELO aware until I bought my first record Sweet Talkin' Woman on 7" and then OOTB on Blue vinyl, the rest as they say is history.
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Post by nickheynes on Nov 18, 2014 10:02:09 GMT
I first heard ELO when Roll over Beethoven was released. It was a revelation to me. Before that there was nothing as far as I was concerned. It was like The Big Bang. I was learning piano, I was about 8 I think. My music teacher was a bit sniffy about modern music but I was always asking to play new stuff; the stuff I liked.When she heard the intro she went bonkers!! ha ha hashe said it was a sacrilige . After that I just ate everything up. Here we are however many years later. I'm in Hyde Park. Jeff's playing Roll over Beethoven and my wife turns to me and says "How come you don't look at me like that"!
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Post by Platypus on Nov 18, 2014 11:24:15 GMT
I don't recall precisely, but I do know which song kindled my interest, it was Telephone Line, which started to get frequent radio play on the station heard at my workplace. Telephone hit the Australian charts in July '77, got to No 10 and stayed in for 18 weeks, so I'm assuming mid second half of '77 I bought A New World Record. In my third year of my first low-paying job by then, I could occasionally justify lashing out on a record, and I had built my own modest stereo to play them on.
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Post by Timeblue on Nov 18, 2014 12:04:52 GMT
First song that I noticed was Evil Woman on a British kids music show called 'supersonic' back in '75. The first song that I liked was Livin Thing in late '76 and the very first record I bought was Sweet Talking Woman in Oct 78 at the time when ELO were probably the biggest band in the world.
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Post by unomusette on Nov 18, 2014 20:54:55 GMT
It was Telephone Line for me too, I'd noticed ELO on radio and Top of the Pops now and then but they tended to blend into the background. Telephone Line hit me immediately with its yearning lyrics and interesting melody. Amazingly, we had neither record player or telephone in our house at the time, but I kept an ear out for more and as soon as my folks invested in a turntable I spent my pocket money on Wild West Hero. Wow! I loved that single to bits. I remember playing it for the umpteenth time, staring at the picture sleeve and realising I was seriously hooked. Plus I fell immediately in love with Jeff. It's a strange and wondrous feeling for a 13 year old. Still is for a 50 year old, actually
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Post by Helmut83 on Nov 18, 2014 21:30:20 GMT
It's a strange and wondrous feeling for a 13 year old. Still is for a 50 year old, actually Is that green object used for calling "Toots"?
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Post by BSJ on Nov 18, 2014 21:32:32 GMT
It's a strange and wondrous feeling for a 13 year old. Still is for a 50 year old, actually Is that green object used for calling "Toots"? Is that not great! lol
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Post by Helmut83 on Nov 18, 2014 21:33:27 GMT
Well, BSJ, you just appeared so it seems to work!
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Post by BSJ on Nov 18, 2014 21:35:51 GMT
Well, BSJ, you just appeared so it seems to work! Always there for my Snooks!
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Post by unomusette on Nov 18, 2014 21:46:02 GMT
I think the addition of that smiley is one of the single best things to happen this year *slaps self*
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Post by BSJ on Nov 18, 2014 21:51:35 GMT
Well, BSJ, you just appeared so it seems to work! Wait a minute! I'm Snooks and she Toots! I think?
I'm laughing so hard right now!
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Post by vlogdance on Nov 18, 2014 22:00:25 GMT
My story is a bit like Horace's... I'd heard ELO singles like Evil Woman and Showdown, but I got hooked when my brother (also two years older!) borrowed A New World Record from one of his friends, around 1977.
Incidentally, this friend, Lawson, told us that whenever he played ANWR at home, his Dad would burst into the room, shouting at him to "turn that jungle music down!" One wonders if this feedback ever reached the ears of the band, and if so, could it have inspired a certain track on their next album?
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