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Post by clouds on Feb 16, 2015 10:46:16 GMT
Just found this review of the album - and I couldn't agree more (apart from his thoughts on issues aside from the album) or worded it better myself!
"There was no good reason for me to ever listen to “Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra,” a 2012 album by Jeff Lynne. And now I'm sorry I did.
In his most recent studio encampment, Lynne recorded a solo album and re-recorded several of the hits he wrote for and performed with Electric Light Orchestra in the 1970s.
When Electric Light Orchestra was in its prime, John Lennon called them, “Son of Beatles,” and said had The Beatles stayed together into the 1970s, they would have sounded a lot like Electric Light Orchestra. (By the way, they never were and never will be “ELO” to me. That's what we fans called them. I didn't want them stealing that from us. Also, I liked them a lot less as they became “ELO.”)
Some of those albums, specifically “A New World Record”, and many of those hit singles are etched deep in my brain, to the point where if any piece of the song is out of place, alarms go off in my head. I loved the band, and will voraciously defend anything they recorded up to and especially including “Xanadu.”
Lynne said he re-recorded the songs because he'd listen to originals on the radio and think with his extensive experience as a producer, he could make the songs sound better. An eccentric exercise, perhaps. But unlike George Lucas and his “Star Wars” reworkings, Lynne is at least incapable of deleting the original versions. So the works all live in the same universe.
Perhaps for most people, “Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra” would be a fine purchase. Lynne remains in good voice, and doesn't dramatically rework anything. He's not slavishly reproducing, which is both a blessing and a curse. But most listeners won't notice and may be delighted by Lynne's new digital efforts.
But for me, some of the reworkings are awful. It's no coincidence that I dislike most the new versions of “A New World Record” songs “Telephone Line” and “Do Ya.” “Turn to Stone,” another favorite, literally drew a facepalm from me. Strings were out of place in the mix, falsetto backing vocals were eliminated or changed enough so I noticed, and Lynne occasionally emphasizes different words in the songs.
This is not to advocate that Lynne should have stayed away from the project. If he's happy, wonderful.
My ears, however, definitely should have stayed away."
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Post by jefflynnenut on Feb 16, 2015 13:15:11 GMT
I could not have said that better myself either!!!!! I bought this album simply to add it to my collection and have it as another jigsaw puzzle piece in the timeline of ELO/Jeff Lynne. I bought this, Long wave on Vinyl and C.D.! on the same day. I listened to the Vinyl pressing 4 times in a row then on C.D. and then I listened to the re recorded stuff........once!!! Never again. I thought it was awful!
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Post by bhabs on Feb 17, 2015 2:26:13 GMT
*sigh* once again, I'm in the minority I didn't think it was that bad. It certainly wasn't necessary, but I really liked some of the remixes! I think the Strange Magic, Turn to Stone and Showdown remixes all sound solid. Also, dare I say it...I think the new recordings of Evil Woman and 10538 Overture are better than the original. Also, his new rendition of Steppin Out is gorgeous. That being said, I also wasn't very happy with the remixes from ANWR songs...
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Post by Chippa on Feb 17, 2015 5:44:41 GMT
I liked some of the songs better than the originals. They sounded less muddy, and everything was much brighter.
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Post by Horacewimp on Feb 17, 2015 8:25:38 GMT
I think 10538 Overture was the best of the recorded songs Jeff did.
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Post by nickheynes on Feb 17, 2015 8:33:36 GMT
I like the new versions of 10538, Showdown and Can't get it out of my head. They're a lot more .......(thinks) sparkly! The rest just sort of pass me by.
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Post by nickheynes on Feb 17, 2015 8:35:24 GMT
Still could have been worse. Just seen a vid of Sting and Paul Simon butchering each others songs in front of a screaming horde of numbskulls!!
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Post by Southernman on Feb 18, 2015 10:42:26 GMT
I'm hyper-sensitive to different recordings/mixes etc too - any song I'm familiar with really, but especially Jeff's - but I don't think that makes them awful as such. However, I do agree that, whilst no doubt serving some purpose for Jeff, these recordings are unnecessary and I could have lived without them. I also agree I will rarely (if ever) listen to the whole album again, but I have parked these versions on my playlists along with the various other versions/remixes that have been released over the years. So I'm just as likely to play the re-recordings individually as any of those others. The thought of another volume of re-recorded hits does nothing for me, but if he was to tackle some of the lesser known album tracks I have a soft spot for (Dreaming of 4000 anyone..? ) now I would queue up for that one...
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Post by queenofthehours on Feb 18, 2015 12:11:08 GMT
The thought of another volume of re-recorded hits does nothing for me, but if he was to tackle some of the lesser known album tracks I have a soft spot for (Dreaming of 4000 anyone..? ) now I would queue up for that one... I agree. I would be good to hear Jeff let loose on some lesser known and older tracks. I'd like to hear his modern take on the early ELO stuff which he recorded before he discovered his production "sound".
The MBS album doesn't interest me very much. I love Jeff to pieces and everything he's written or worked on but MBS doesn't excite me too much, that's why I haven't bought it yet. At the back of my head I'm loyal to the original recordings, the classics. The new recordings don't seem to have the oomph of the originals nor do they have the classic cast of characters - Bev, Kelly etc - on the tracks. It's nice to hear Jeff's new take on old tracks but I'd love him more if he spent the time creating more original music.
I'm not keen on musicians reworking old tunes - at least not full album's worth and then masquerading them as "new" LPs. Didn't Brian Ferry cover his own tunes in a jazz-style once? It seems everyone is at it, even, most recently, Texas www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/interviews/a629308/texass-sharleen-on-25-years-in-music-i-cant-believe-im-still-doing-this.html#~p4E9hEsWCDEUIF . Jeff's reworkings, though, I think are different because out of anyone who ever reworked a track he is the only one doing it for non-profit, artistic reasons. Everyone else seems to be doing it solely for an easy way to make money - even though they might say they did it for "a change". We all know Jeff is a stickler for perfection and for that he is forgiven his transgression into reworking because we love him for his foibles!
A lot of people (I know Procol Harum do) rework a track only for live purposes, to keep it fresh. For me this is the best kind of reworking but it wouldn't work for a studio man like Jeff. His changes are less for variety, more for mistakes only the writer of the song would grimace at.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2015 19:02:13 GMT
I read somewhere that if the record company has acquired some rights to to a songwriters songs, that re-recording/releasing them can cause the money to go back into the hands of the author. Not retroactively, but for future sales, radio and motion picture fees, etc. If that is true, then this could at least be some motivation for an artist to do that. He does have quite the extensive catalog and if he felt like going back and redoing them anyway...
Certainly a first.
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Post by unomusette on Feb 18, 2015 22:11:43 GMT
The MBS album doesn't interest me very much. I love Jeff to pieces and everything he's written or worked on but MBS doesn't excite me too much, that's why I haven't bought it yet. At the back of my head I'm loyal to the original recordings, the classics. The new recordings don't seem to have the oomph of the originals nor do they have the classic cast of characters - Bev, Kelly etc - on the tracks. It's nice to hear Jeff's new take on old tracks but I'd love him more if he spent the time creating more original music.
This. Exactly this.
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Post by BSJ on Feb 18, 2015 23:05:17 GMT
It's been thought he did these recordings to get rights back. Who knows? I would love, as southerman wrote above, that if he does more redo's, do the lesser known. Hopefully like a Steppin' Out. Eccentric is our hero, Jeff. As I wrote in a post waaaaay back, "Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock" Mr Lynne. New music please.
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Post by janne on Feb 21, 2015 14:59:52 GMT
Hate the re-recordings. Hate them. It's like someone took the person you love, and drew a moustasche on her.
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Post by kcabnrut on Feb 21, 2015 20:36:46 GMT
Hate the re-recordings. Hate them. It's like someone took the person you love, and drew a moustasche on her. I like this analogy....And aviators! I agree with the majority here. I bought it, just because I'd buy anything the man decides to release, but it definitely was not an improvement on the originals. I also read something about it being more of a financial/royalties/performance rights move, which makes sense. And, like a few have already mentioned, the only song I thought was better than original was 10538. And I love how he says "real submarine" in Showdown.
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