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Post by soonerorlater on Nov 8, 2015 20:55:24 GMT
While I've been thrilled to see so many positive reviews of Alone In The Universe coming in from all directions, I've noticed that a fair few reviewers have also played the usual card of summing up what Jeff Lynne's been up to over the past 20-odd years. To my annoyance, part of that process seems to involve having a dig at Zoom and the resultant tour-that-never-was. Record Collector called it 'unloved' and today's Mail On Sunday, a 'car crash moment'. There's also been the odd ill-informed suggestion that Jeff's heart wasn't really into the recording of Zoom, a mirror of the same accusation that some made about Secret Messages and Balance Of Power in the 1980s.
I find all of this very unfair. There's a lot of love on this site for Secret Messages (rightly so) and I feel that Zoom deserves better as well. It did after all feature two of the Beatles (including some of George Harrison's last recorded work) and another member of the classic ELO line up in Richard. AITU may turn out to be a more consistent album but for me, it will do well to match In My Own Time, Ordinary Dream and A Long Time Gone.
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Post by thewordsofaaron on Nov 8, 2015 21:28:42 GMT
well i thought it was a great album...so count me in....i think what you are saying for Zoom can also be raised for Armchair Theatre, which, although it was a bit more of a mish-mash album, there were some really strong tracks on it. Awkward moment coming up....Armchair Theatre also had the added bonus of other people playing on it. By that I mean Jeffs drumming has, at times, been....well....not great....this is something ive said before on here and in other places....
As for the tour...well...Sony did nothing really as far as i can tell in pushing that or the album.....i said on another thread that i think they were relying on the name of the band to sell it all and probably hadnt really thought through that Jeff had basically been 'away' for some considerable time producing other people.....
perhaps if this album and tour are succesful, and i really hope they both are because Jeff deserves so much credit that he has truly never received....he has been a diamond in the british music scene over the years...he has produced some stunning artists and works and written a few tracks along the way (understatement!!)....
if Jeff gets his moment in the sun, which he surely deserves, then maybe Zoom and Armchair Theatre may get a little reflected glory. Both are due that glory and Zoom was packed with good stuff.....
I will add, as i have clearly remarked about Jeffs drumming, that for the new album as well as Bryan Adams album, he has done some amazing drumming and can clearly rock it with the best....still...
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Post by unomusette on Nov 8, 2015 21:40:07 GMT
I like both Zoom and Armchair Theatre a lot. But I don't think Zoom should have been put out as ELO, it's more like a solo album to me (there's a whole other thread about this somewhere)
At least this new album makes it plain it's mostly Jeff and can't be mistaken for a comeback from the classic lineup.
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Post by BSJ on Nov 8, 2015 22:22:48 GMT
AITU may turn out to be a more consistent album but for me, it will do well to match In My Own Time, Ordinary Dream and A Long Time Gone.
Keeping fingers crossed soonerorlater.
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Post by ShardEnder on Nov 8, 2015 23:21:16 GMT
There's also been the odd ill-informed suggestion that Jeff's heart wasn't really into the recording of Zoom, a mirror of the same accusation that some made about Secret Messages and Balance Of Power in the 1980s.
I find all of this very unfair. There's a lot of love on this site for Secret Messages (rightly so) and I feel that Zoom deserves better as well. It did after all feature two of the Beatles (including some of George Harrison's last recorded work) and another member of the classic ELO line up in Richard. I've got plenty of love for Secret Messages, and despite his complaints about the '80s ELO albums being contractually obliged or his heart not really being in their creation, I don't ever recall Jeff explicitly pointing out any songs (apart from Beatles Forever). In fact, didn't he describe Take Me On And On as one of his personal favourites a few years ago? Sure, he's spoken of annoyed with the record-tour cycle forced on him by Jet, but in hindsight it's clear the label was in financial trouble and couldn't be blamed for wanting to milk its most lucrative cash cow while this was still relatively popular. Also, Jeff has called this era "push button music" produced at a time he felt more like a typist or secretary than an artist, which isn't exactly unfair considering the increasing reliance on technology. However, once again, it seems as if he was happy with the actual songwriting quality, the sheer wealth of outtakes proof that he was still pursuing his usual high standards as opposed to phoning it in, so to speak, which is more than can be said of the few live appearances he made in 1986, though much of his disinterest came from personal issues and any band camaraderie rapidly disintegrating by that point. Moving onto Zoom, I don't get the impression this was anything except another polished product that went through his usual refinement process. Jeff was under contract to deliver a second album for Reprise after the release of Armchair Theatre, and while sales of that title or its singles didn't exactly set the world alight, he pressed on with recording its follow-up. From what I can tell, it was delayed throughout most of the '90s, with the fan club mailing list confirming that Jeff had the project complete by September '97, its prolonged gestation likely caused by commitments to other artists, his second marriage falling apart then finally his permanent relocation to Los Angeles. I've never seen confirmation of this, but I'd be very surprised if nothing from the aborted second Reprise album survived, either heavily reworked or carried over intact for what became Zoom. More recently, Jeff has revealed that little of the album he'd been working on prior to his triumphant Hyde Park concert has found its way onto Alone In The Universe, presumably destined to forever remain in the vault or to be drip fed out as bonus content in the future. Finally, it's not really fair to use Richard's fleeting cameo on Alright as something that could be promoted to give the impression of Zoom being a group effort, since his electric piano overdub hardly makes a significant difference when compared with the earlier mix. Even during what there was of the scrapped tour in support of this album, Richard's role had been massively reduced, with his most prominent contributions being a few piano solos, a small number of keyboard parts and just two showcases for his vocoder, though it's hard to say how much he might have been given an opportunity to cut loose if things hadn't turned out so negatively. Saying that, he's not done a lot more on the latest batch of live ELO shows, and I certainly don't anticipate him receiving more of the spotlight. The truth is that Jeff has moved away from the approach where Richard is featured as prominently as he once was, although I can imagine a few of the new songs perhaps allowing him a chance to be more like his old self again, providing the reason for his diminished presence isn't something he chose himself. For example, it's been claimed in the past that Richard suffers from pretty bad tinnitus, not to mention he's now surrounded by other musicians who take up a lot of the slack, meaning he doesn't need to multitask as much anymore.
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Post by bhabs on Nov 9, 2015 3:00:43 GMT
I also like Zoom! It's got a lot of great songs on it. In My Own Time and Ordinary Dream are also favorites of mine. That being said, AITU is a more consistent album with more heart to it. Not saying that Zoom had no heart - just that Jeff seems much more inspired on AITU; he clearly had a lot of fun making it.
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Post by BSJ on Nov 13, 2015 20:47:11 GMT
macca92 You wrote in the welcome thread that you became a fan when you bought Zoom. What made you buy this album?
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Post by jennifer58 on Nov 13, 2015 21:33:55 GMT
Zoom is a very tight album and I guess I especially loved it cause I was having heavy Jeff withdrawal since he literally dropped out of the music scene for so long. I just had one request - on "In an Ordinary Dream.... - WISH THE GUITAR THREAD AT THE END LASTED LONGER, WAY TOO SHORT!!!!!
Jennifer ....
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Post by thewordsofaaron on Nov 13, 2015 23:09:33 GMT
Zoom is a very tight album and I guess I especially loved it cause I was having heavy Jeff withdrawal since he literally dropped out of the music scene for so long. I just had one request - on "In an Ordinary Dream.... - WISH THE GUITAR THREAD AT THE END LASTED LONGER, WAY TOO SHORT!!!!! Jennifer .... yes...he could have kept that going for another 4 or 5 minutes... lol
actually....Ordinary Dream is my favourite track from Zoom....loved it the moment I heard it...bit like When I Was A Boy....not really that bothered about what influence it has or what track it sounds like...I just love those tracks...
I know some people say it should have been issued under such and such a name not this name...but again...im not that bothered....what bothered me more was the collapse of the tour and in general, the album sales....
Its all being done so much better now, this time around.....
I overcame a lot of the withdrawal symptoms by chasing down artists he was or had produced, so in a way opened up chains of other artists, one leading to another....
I think Jeff has done a cracking job on Bryan Adams new album too.....! And really nice of Bryan to say that it 'was the album I should have done years ago'.....real compliment to Jeff for getting the sound right....I think its a real rocking album....
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Post by thewordsofaaron on Nov 13, 2015 23:11:11 GMT
Zoom is a very tight album and I guess I especially loved it cause I was having heavy Jeff withdrawal since he literally dropped out of the music scene for so long. I just had one request - on "In an Ordinary Dream.... - WISH THE GUITAR THREAD AT THE END LASTED LONGER, WAY TOO SHORT!!!!! Jennifer .... yes...he could have kept that going for another 4 or 5 minutes... lol
actually....Ordinary Dream is my favourite track from Zoom....loved it the moment I heard it...bit like When I Was A Boy....not really that bothered about what influence it has or what track it sounds like...I just love those tracks...
I know some people say it should have been issued under such and such a name not this name...but again...im not that bothered....what bothered me more was the collapse of the tour and in general, the album sales....
Its all being done so much better now, this time around.....
I overcame a lot of the withdrawal symptoms by chasing down artists he was or had produced, so in a way opened up chains of other artists, one leading to another....
I think Jeff has done a cracking job on Bryan Adams new album too.....! And really nice of Bryan to say that it 'was the album I should have done years ago'.....real compliment to Jeff for getting the sound right....I think its a real rocking album....
er....when I said bit like WIWAB I meant as soon as I heard that I loved it too...first play....
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Post by dillwyn on Nov 13, 2015 23:45:34 GMT
for me long black road is the missing track from album ...he made a big mistake leaving it off the general release. I think it is a smashing album and is certainly better than how it is being billed by snotty reviewers trying to fake some insight they clearly don't have.
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timr
New Member
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Post by timr on Nov 19, 2015 20:41:37 GMT
I like Zoom a good deal but AITU sounds much more like ELO to me. Particularly 1980's ELO. I do like Zoom, I just think they new album is pretty darn special.
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Post by starlight on Nov 22, 2015 11:07:25 GMT
I think Zoom is an equally great album, for me the main difference was the lack of PR, involvement of Chris Evans and not doing UK shows to match the PBS ones in the states, lets hope people start buying it on the back of AITU? I must have played alright 50 times in a row when I got hold of the cd single it blew me away
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