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Post by lawrev on Sept 29, 2021 17:58:23 GMT
This is an interesting trend.....get regular fans to do your social media work so as to avoid hard questions from long standing / knowledgeable fans.
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Post by Horacewimp on Sept 29, 2021 18:05:54 GMT
Fancy wearing unofficial t shirts on an official post, also how did Bev’s book sneak into shot.
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Post by Timeblue on Sept 29, 2021 18:48:14 GMT
Fancy wearing unofficial t shirts on an official post, also how did Bev’s book sneak into shot. That's what I was thinking too!
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Post by erchie on Sept 29, 2021 21:01:11 GMT
As part of the 50th celebration (or not), the complete studio version of Indian Queen has popped up on Youtube recently.
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Post by ShardEnder on Sept 30, 2021 8:05:20 GMT
Not bad, but it's also not quite complete, either. The actual full version - sourced from an acetate dated 9-18-1974 - opens with a bit of nonsense from Jeff and doesn't fade out. Instead, it descends into a cacophony of him blowing raspberries and singing a drawn-out expletive. (Think one of the early working titles for Ma-Ma-Ma Belle...)
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Post by dillwyn on Sept 30, 2021 10:29:03 GMT
sounds like bits of this ended up in Bluebird on secret message to my ears
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Post by fernandoamado on Oct 2, 2021 0:10:40 GMT
As part of the 50th celebration (or not), the complete studio version of Indian Queen has popped up on Youtube recently. Every time I heard this song, it reminds me of "I Can Feel Music" by The Beach Boys.
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Post by BSJ on Oct 2, 2021 16:20:07 GMT
I thought Beach Boy sound as well.
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Post by Grroosss on Oct 5, 2021 10:10:37 GMT
Saying that, what's clearly rubbing a few people the wrong way is how Jeff's social media team continues to issue posts celebrating odd and frankly inconsequential anniversaries, yet has managed to somehow completely ignore the existence of Time. I've been ridiculously busy with school so I haven't been around recently, but it did cross my mind to make some witty comment about how I was surprised that there was no announcement commemorating the 2nd anniversary of From Out of Nowhere's release as a single the other week At moments like this, I really wish there was someone who could at least engage directly with the fanbase or be held somewhat accountable. Instead, it feels as if ELO under Jeff's new approach has become a one-way street where choice information and products flow out, but there doesn't appear to be any logic to how social media accounts are handled. Competitions, random anniversaries and posts that regularly mix up commemorating various milestones by using the 2012 remakes. Of course, we had precisely this for over 20 years, only now we've "evolved" to a confusingly wide range of platforms that have traded substance for cohesion. While that could easily be seen as a good thing, it's clear the emphasis is on catering to casuals whose interest doesn't extend past the contents of your average hits compilation. Should you seek anything beyond that, you're totally on your own to explore further, and it's not always clear what's out there. Do we know if there's been any change in the social media team since 2018/2019? Not that the social media accounts were a stellar source of fan engagement back then either, but imo things seemed more cohesive (maybe just because it was during the months leading up to a tour?), and at least the Trivia Tuesdays were mildly entertaining for a hardcore fan...
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Post by soonerorlater on Oct 5, 2021 10:51:13 GMT
It's October and 2021 is drawing to a rapid close. I thought I'd revisit the original statement made by Team Jeff in February of this year, just to make sure that I haven't misunderstood their original intentions for the year. It reads as follows: 2021 marks 50 years of ELO. We’ve been all over the world and have so many incredible memories to look back on, and more to create! Throughout the year, we will be sharing special 50th anniversary surprises with you. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter & Facebook @jefflynneselo to see what we have in store!So.... 2021 does indeed mark 50 years of ELO. It wasn't 2020 and it's not going to be 2022 - that's very clear, in fact it's the only moment of clarity that we've had. Where are the "special 50th anniversary surprises"? Do the random and sporadic references to the anniversaries of this song or that album (while of course completely ignoring others) count as surprises? I think not. What about the 'fan memories' interaction? To date it's been a very short series of clips featuring American-men-of-a-certain-age (absolutely no offence towards them intended, they were chosen by the site hosts) talking about how they met their wife/best friend/gave everything to their daughter because of ELO and, it's already become predictable and stale. In fact 'stale' is the word to describe the state of ELO's 50th anniversary year, particularly when you consider: - The above represents all that has happened, i.e. virtually nothing
- The News section of Jeff Lynne's ELO website has just two entries for the entire year - the above announcement early in the year and, a plug for the Wembley book that a) many of us already have and b) has also been pushed back a number of times. That's all
- The 50th Anniversary merchandise has been found (by some) to be defective. Posts about this on the Showdown website were quickly removed but it's out there if you want to see how the patterns have practically worn off already! Symbolic perhaps?
- The FTM website has disappeared and it's been too long to simply blame technical problems, surely?
- The JLELO Facebook page is reduced to hundreds of comments about what a great song the chosen anniversary song is and when are you coming to Australia? It has no substance any more whatsoever - or is that just Facebook in general?
Phew, got that off my chest! I feel so bitterly disappointed in what should have been a glorious year of celebration. All the ground made by two new albums and several years of touring seems to be slipping away and no-one outside this forum seems to care. That's heartbreaking to see, particularly as I continue to spend money on the many box sets and archive releases (many of them also 50th anniversary releases) that other artists with labels who care are putting out there.
In a sense I feel disloyal for being so critical. I've followed this band for four years shy of the whole fifty. But, it's that statement that they put out (above) that got this ball rolling and sadly, the ball has barely moved an inch.
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Post by Timeblue on Oct 5, 2021 11:16:13 GMT
I totally agree with everything you say,I've been critical of Jeff in the last year or so as everyone knows but this is getting embarrassing now (considering what other bands are doing for their anniversaries)
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Post by Timeblue on Oct 5, 2021 11:17:18 GMT
Hey,maybe it's all going to come out at Christmas!
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Post by whoman on Oct 5, 2021 12:51:53 GMT
One aspect to this that I feel prevents a decent re-issue programme is the perceived lack of sales. Even as a fan with cash waiting to be spent I have not bought many of the re-issues because they have been so minimum effort and lack-lustre. Only a sub-set of the albums are available on vinyl, the first two were properly re-issued some years ago by EMI with the correct artwork, inserts and record labels. Others have been re-issued without printed inners or even inserts and with non-original UK labels - who wants that? Of course, this would lead to slightly lower sales possibly and the conclusion “there is no demand”. Then the Secret Messages re-issue with Beatles Forever missing, zero effort on mixing the outro properly, no lyrics, no sleeve notes to speak of - a completely missed open goal and probably lead to “see, there is no demand”. Ironically, one of the best re-issues for me was the maligned singles box-set. Real effort went in to sourcing the correct mixes, some of which I had not heard before, the correct record labels and original UK sleeves. Then what happens? Stick these excellent singles in a zero effort box with modern JL ELO’s branding, no booklet, no notes, no alternative artwork and what about chucking in the Surrender 7” as a tempter? Nope, none of that leads to poor sales and “there is no demand”. None of this is rocket science and is really exasperating.
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Post by ShardEnder on Oct 5, 2021 14:33:28 GMT
If you know where to look, there are sites that can provide key information about what's in the pipeline for the industry's next quarter, and new ELO products are sorely lacking. Of course, this means nothing if you're simply reissuing material that already existed, as seen when Sony's Japanese division recently dropped those limited edition 50th anniversary releases without much fanfare or any kind of warning beyond a statement that was barely covered outside its intended market. Beyond the hardback edition of that book (which has already been circulating for months as an official digital preview version), the closest thing to anything new we've had in a while was that Adobe commercial featuring the previously unheard tag to Jeff's remake of Mr. Blue Sky, so is that an indication of this finally being due a full release, maybe as part of a larger set containing other tracks known to have received a similar treatment for a shelved follow-up to that first album back in 2012?
At some point, the goalposts were clearly moved. Afterglow and Flashback arrived in 1990 and 2000 respectively, yet there wasn't a similar 40th anniversary retrospective for 2010. Instead, the aforementioned MBS included what had been described at the time as a 40th anniversary reworking of 10538 Overture, so Jeff apparently now sees 1972 as when ELO began. Not to point fingers or suggest anything that isn't there, but all recent branding has combined both 50th anniversary celebrations with the JLELO brand name, so has he quietly rewritten the narrative again to suggest that what is now referred to as Jeff Lynne's ELO actually began when he took over leadership of the band in July 1972 after Roy's departure? This would throw into question Bev's legal status as a co-owner up through late 1999, though at this point, I think it's safe to say that like pretty much everyone else who was once part of the ELO narrative, Jeff hasn't got much time for what Bev may no longer be in a position to contest. So, maybe we should be keeping our eyes on next year, with the current reliance on social media celebrating often seemingly random milestones a way of simply maintaining fan engagement?
As for a few other questions brought up, let's see if I can't tackle those to a similar level... Secret Messages as it was released in 2018 almost entirely reflects the running order Jeff agreed on with Bill Bottrell in March 1983, with the exception of Beatles Forever being missing and a few less obvious slight differences that fan restoration efforts have since corrected, now providing listeners with something far more faithful to the originally intended tracklist as committed to a now-mythical set of acetates dated 3-11-83. (The only notable change made to this was switching out a remix of the title track for the more common version, since this was described by Bill as a failed experiment he later dropped.) Incredibly, while I have to agree that it's still a clunky transition, the way the end of Hello My Old Friend fades out, only for the album tag to fade in is how it was on the 3-11-83 assembly, though it should be noted there's a gap of roughly ten seconds, while this was trimmed down to virtually nothing for the official version.
Now for perhaps the most controversial matter of all: ELO's loyal online outlets Face The Music and the Showdown mailing list recently being thrown into a period of uncertainty. The latter may have jumped over to Facebook, but FTM seems to have disappeared under far more mysterious circumstances. Furthermore, those Japanese reissues adopting the Mini-LP paper sleeve format means they didn't need to include any research or liner notes from a certain archivist whose fingerprints were all over the 2001-7 expanded remastering campaign. Not for me to suggest there's any bad blood or anything, though it's odd that he was hinting on social media about being kept out of the loop for what amounted to a disappointing version of Secret Messages, even though he'd spent years openly promising various elaborate Deluxe Edition treatments, and then it looked as if he could potentially make up for this by being fully involved with ensuring that the complete Time - arguably the next great holy grail - wouldn't suffer a similarly underwhelming fate under his watch. Alas, it wasn't too long after that when things went deadly quiet on all fronts. Whatever happened, it's reached a stage where Jeff's current social media team doesn't seem as if it's in a position to even acknowledge Time. I have an idea of what's going on behind the scenes, yet I'll hit the pause button there for now.
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Post by trekkielo on Oct 5, 2021 14:39:40 GMT
If you're going to celebrate all of these anniversaries while you skipped over Time's 40th, at least use the audio for Electric Light Orchestra's Livin' Thing from 1976, not Jeff Lynne solo in 2012!
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