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Post by tightrope on Jun 28, 2022 20:21:06 GMT
I have no opinion on the greatest composition. Technically, it might be Twilight. Most popular is definitely Mr. Blue Sky. I can't imagine All Over The World being even close. I base this on the number of plays in advertisements, films, cover versions etc. as well as crowd reactions in concerts. If you look at Spotify plays, Mr. Blue Sky is so far ahead of any other track - 685 million plays, with Don't Bring Me Down on second, with 201 million plays. Last Train to London has well over 100 million views on YouTube. I'm not sure if that makes it more popular than any of the songs you mentioned, but I wonder why it's ELO's most viewed YouTube video? Judging by the comments, LTTL seems to be wildly popular with latino's and it's easy to understand why.
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Post by tightrope on Jun 28, 2022 20:31:17 GMT
Jeff Lynne for me created great albums as tightrope said, you could put on their albums and not skip many tracks, however how ELO never had a solo number one is beyond me. It’s great that you found the music of ELO Lucyblue, I envy you hearing it for the first time. Good luck with the PHD. People knew they were going to buy the album based on ELO's track record so single sales likely suffered as a result. Only on a few occasions did I ever buy a single before an album release. Hold on Tight comes to mind because it had been 2 WHOLE years since the last proper album.
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Post by jackpunch on Jun 28, 2022 20:40:55 GMT
He writes pop songs, like lots of other people. Yep we love his melodies, chords etc but honestly they are no more complex, influencial or better than loads of other pop song writers. It's just down to what people like.....ELO are quite a long way down the streaming lists really currently.
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Post by janne on Jun 29, 2022 7:58:23 GMT
Regarding Jeff's contributions to music in general, well he is kind of McCartney Light, if we are honest. Still, he is I say he is up there among the best, still he can't compete with the absolute A names, such as McCartney or Paul Simon or Joni Mitchell. Couldn't disagree more. In my humble opinion Jeff can easily compete with the artists you mention, I believe he is even more talented. I love 99 per cent of the material released by Jeff Lynne. And Twilight is the best song ever by any artist. To personally like something is one thing. I love some artists who have 400 plays on Spotify, that doesn't mean they're objectively great. I love some artists who can barely tune their guitar. Jeff Lynne is undoubtedly both popular and admired by his peers. Still, I say he is one notch below the truly great ones. ELO has never done an album that is groundbreaking in popular music. They have done very good ones (Out of The Blue, A New World Record, Eldorado).
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Post by pelo on Jun 29, 2022 16:44:31 GMT
Couldn't disagree more. In my humble opinion Jeff can easily compete with the artists you mention, I believe he is even more talented. I love 99 per cent of the material released by Jeff Lynne. And Twilight is the best song ever by any artist. To personally like something is one thing. I love some artists who have 400 plays on Spotify, that doesn't mean they're objectively great. I love some artists who can barely tune their guitar. Jeff Lynne is undoubtedly both popular and admired by his peers. Still, I say he is one notch below the truly great ones. ELO has never done an album that is groundbreaking in popular music. They have done very good ones (Out of The Blue, A New World Record, Eldorado). Some people just don't realise how groundbreaking ELO's recordings were. Queen wanted to work with Mack because they were so impressed by ELO's Out Of The Blue. Bill Bottrell pointed out that the Secret Messages album was way ahead of its time. And as far as I am concerned "Time" is the most fascinating album ever. Tom Petty called Jeff the best overall musician he had ever met, Dave Edmunds considered him to be the most amazing thing he has ever seen in a studio. Jeff's outspoken love of the Beatles meant that ELO were regarded as Beatles ersatz, which didn't do them justice. To me, ELO invented a completely new sound and did a lot of things no one else had ever tried before. There is a difference between being inspired by another band and merely copying them. In fact, there is hardly a single melodic Seventies group who wasn't inspired by the Beatles to some degree. You are saying that Lynne is McCartney light. Which is nonsense in my opinion because Jeff Lynne has a very unique sound. There are a lot of differences between McCartney and Lynne. ELO's records often have more of a Lennon/ Harrison influence. But actually, there are a myriad of influences, not just the Beatles.
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Post by jackpunch on Jun 29, 2022 19:00:58 GMT
If Tom Petty thought Jeff was the best musician he'd me he didn't meet many
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Post by tightrope on Jun 29, 2022 19:55:33 GMT
Couldn't disagree more. In my humble opinion Jeff can easily compete with the artists you mention, I believe he is even more talented. I love 99 per cent of the material released by Jeff Lynne. And Twilight is the best song ever by any artist. To personally like something is one thing. I love some artists who have 400 plays on Spotify, that doesn't mean they're objectively great. I love some artists who can barely tune their guitar. Jeff Lynne is undoubtedly both popular and admired by his peers. Still, I say he is one notch below the truly great ones. ELO has never done an album that is groundbreaking in popular music. They have done very good ones (Out of The Blue, A New World Record, Eldorado). A New World Record IMO is the best album ever by any artist.
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Post by tightrope on Jun 29, 2022 19:58:03 GMT
To personally like something is one thing. I love some artists who have 400 plays on Spotify, that doesn't mean they're objectively great. I love some artists who can barely tune their guitar. Jeff Lynne is undoubtedly both popular and admired by his peers. Still, I say he is one notch below the truly great ones. ELO has never done an album that is groundbreaking in popular music. They have done very good ones (Out of The Blue, A New World Record, Eldorado). Some people just don't realise how groundbreaking ELO's recordings were. Queen wanted to work with Mack because they were so impressed by ELO's Out Of The Blue. Bill Bottrell pointed out that the Secret Messages album was way ahead of its time. And as far as I am concerned "Time" is the most fascinating album ever. Tom Petty called Jeff the best overall musician he had ever met, Dave Edmunds considered him to be the most amazing thing he has ever seen in a studio. Jeff's outspoken love of the Beatles meant that ELO were regarded as Beatles ersatz, which didn't do them justice. To me, ELO invented a completely new sound and did a lot of things no one else had ever tried before. There is a difference between being inspired by another band and merely copying them. In fact, there is hardly a single melodic Seventies group who wasn't inspired by the Beatles to some degree. You are saying that Lynne is McCartney light. Which is nonsense in my opinion because Jeff Lynne has a very unique sound. There are a lot of differences between McCartney and Lynne. ELO's records often have more of a Lennon/ Harrison influence. But actually, there are a myriad of influences, not just the Beatles. Excellent post! Thank you.
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Post by pointofnoreturn on Jun 29, 2022 23:23:35 GMT
To personally like something is one thing. I love some artists who have 400 plays on Spotify, that doesn't mean they're objectively great. I love some artists who can barely tune their guitar. Jeff Lynne is undoubtedly both popular and admired by his peers. Still, I say he is one notch below the truly great ones. ELO has never done an album that is groundbreaking in popular music. They have done very good ones (Out of The Blue, A New World Record, Eldorado). Some people just don't realise how groundbreaking ELO's recordings were. Queen wanted to work with Mack because they were so impressed by ELO's Out Of The Blue. Bill Bottrell pointed out that the Secret Messages album was way ahead of its time. And as far as I am concerned "Time" is the most fascinating album ever. Tom Petty called Jeff the best overall musician he had ever met, Dave Edmunds considered him to be the most amazing thing he has ever seen in a studio. Jeff's outspoken love of the Beatles meant that ELO were regarded as Beatles ersatz, which didn't do them justice. To me, ELO invented a completely new sound and did a lot of things no one else had ever tried before. There is a difference between being inspired by another band and merely copying them. In fact, there is hardly a single melodic Seventies group who wasn't inspired by the Beatles to some degree. You are saying that Lynne is McCartney light. Which is nonsense in my opinion because Jeff Lynne has a very unique sound. There are a lot of differences between McCartney and Lynne. ELO's records often have more of a Lennon/ Harrison influence. But actually, there are a myriad of influences, not just the Beatles. You bring up a couple of very important points. I was a teenager in the late 1970s/early 1980s and was listening to a lot of various types of music - many different groups and artists. Believe me, when an ELO record came on the radio it sounded COMPLETELY different than anything else that was being released in those days. Their music was incredibly fresh and new (and I was very familiar with The Beatles). I'm not sure that people who have discovered ELO relatively recently understand this. Now whether their distinctive sound was due to Jeff's production skills or the strength of the melodies I can't say, but I will state again they sounded like nothing else at that time. When I first listened to "A New World Record" in the spring of 1977 I was absolutely stunned. I had purchased a stack of records at the store and threw them on the turntable one by one. When ANWR came on I was hooked, and I still am. It's true that ELO was very ahead of its time, but sometimes we have to remember the time period during which these recordings were originally made.
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Post by janne on Jun 30, 2022 7:38:35 GMT
To personally like something is one thing. I love some artists who have 400 plays on Spotify, that doesn't mean they're objectively great. I love some artists who can barely tune their guitar. Jeff Lynne is undoubtedly both popular and admired by his peers. Still, I say he is one notch below the truly great ones. ELO has never done an album that is groundbreaking in popular music. They have done very good ones (Out of The Blue, A New World Record, Eldorado). Some people just don't realise how groundbreaking ELO's recordings were. Queen wanted to work with Mack because they were so impressed by ELO's Out Of The Blue. Bill Bottrell pointed out that the Secret Messages album was way ahead of its time. And as far as I am concerned "Time" is the most fascinating album ever. Tom Petty called Jeff the best overall musician he had ever met, Dave Edmunds considered him to be the most amazing thing he has ever seen in a studio. Jeff's outspoken love of the Beatles meant that ELO were regarded as Beatles ersatz, which didn't do them justice. To me, ELO invented a completely new sound and did a lot of things no one else had ever tried before. There is a difference between being inspired by another band and merely copying them. In fact, there is hardly a single melodic Seventies group who wasn't inspired by the Beatles to some degree. You are saying that Lynne is McCartney light. Which is nonsense in my opinion because Jeff Lynne has a very unique sound. There are a lot of differences between McCartney and Lynne. ELO's records often have more of a Lennon/ Harrison influence. But actually, there are a myriad of influences, not just the Beatles. You're entitled to your opinion. I don't agree. ELO was a pop group that didn't bring anything new to the table. A very good pop group, but still. And as far as their sound - they were generally six months behind ABBA... Jeff even went to ABBA's Polar Studios to try to capture some of the magic from there, on the Time album.
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Post by soonerorlater on Jun 30, 2022 7:53:38 GMT
Going back to the line: I was channel flicking last night and came across Now 80's, which shows non-stop era videos based on a theme. The theme of that hour was 'Less Heard Hits From A List Stars' and the one that I stumbled into... All Over The World, complete with it's somewhat dated clips montage from the Xanadu film. I must admit that it seems like an odd choice, particularly as it was their third most successful single of the eighties in the UK, behind Xanadu and Hold On Tight.
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Post by lawrev on Jun 30, 2022 19:36:55 GMT
I remember Petty saying that Jeff was the best overall musician he ever worked with. But clearly that didn't include touring together since Petty and Lynne never toured together (Jeff joining Petty/Heartbreakers on stage for 2 songs in LA doesn't count). Yes, they did the Concert for George, which was one night only, and a great night that was, but it wasn't a tour.
I think we'd have more comparative history on Jeff's abilities had the Traveling Wilburys toured in the 90s - and in interviews I have read that Petty and Dylan would have toured, but that George and Jeff didn't want to. That would have been a great *comparative* opportunity for us to reflect on.
One final point. Jeff's production style is very layered in the studio - like building a cake. And with technology and 36 track machines and other technology tools, Jeff is able to build an album over a period of weeks or months or years. He hasn't had Don Arden to push him with deadlines since 1981. Building the cake in a leisurely fashion is entirely different than taking a band into the studio, like the Stones did with Blue and Lonesome in 2016, and record an album in 3-4 days with *minimal* overdubs after. I would be more convinced about Jeff being in the top tier if he pulled off a couple great albums in the mode of Blue and Lonesome, with ELO especially or anyone else for that matter.
Another thought - Jeff and Richard Tandy cutting an album of new songs in 3-4 days at Jeff's house. That is very intriguing!
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Post by tightrope on Jun 30, 2022 20:15:28 GMT
Some people just don't realise how groundbreaking ELO's recordings were. Queen wanted to work with Mack because they were so impressed by ELO's Out Of The Blue. Bill Bottrell pointed out that the Secret Messages album was way ahead of its time. And as far as I am concerned "Time" is the most fascinating album ever. Tom Petty called Jeff the best overall musician he had ever met, Dave Edmunds considered him to be the most amazing thing he has ever seen in a studio. Jeff's outspoken love of the Beatles meant that ELO were regarded as Beatles ersatz, which didn't do them justice. To me, ELO invented a completely new sound and did a lot of things no one else had ever tried before. There is a difference between being inspired by another band and merely copying them. In fact, there is hardly a single melodic Seventies group who wasn't inspired by the Beatles to some degree. You are saying that Lynne is McCartney light. Which is nonsense in my opinion because Jeff Lynne has a very unique sound. There are a lot of differences between McCartney and Lynne. ELO's records often have more of a Lennon/ Harrison influence. But actually, there are a myriad of influences, not just the Beatles. You're entitled to your opinion. I don't agree. ELO was a pop group that didn't bring anything new to the table. A very good pop group, but still. And as far as their sound - they were generally six months behind ABBA... Jeff even went to ABBA's Polar Studios to try to capture some of the magic from there, on the Time album. Didn't bring anything new to the table? Are you a fan or are you just trolling? ABBA was bubble gum pop at it's finest. It was made for the 13 year old female.
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Post by lawrev on Jun 30, 2022 21:33:42 GMT
I think John Lennon was correct when he said that if the Beatles had stayed together in the 1970s they would have sounded like ELO.
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Post by orioles70 on Jun 30, 2022 22:04:09 GMT
I'm more interested in how ELO would have sounded if one of the Beatles had joined Jeff after Roy departed? what would the best songwriting combo have been? John & Jeff (Lennon did a good job of keeping Paul from going too sappy), George & Jeff (worked pretty damn well on Cloud Nine and Wilbury's), Paul & Jeff (intense rivalry to write the best melody), Ringo & Jeff (no, I can't imagine a 2nd drummer in ELO)
or maybe Jeff just wasn't very good at sharing the songwriting role at that point in his career
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