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Post by janne on Mar 12, 2016 11:10:28 GMT
I have been listening through the back catalogue lately, not least because I want to put Alone In The Universe in context. Still think it's a rather weak effort.
While listening through the older albums, I have come to this conclusion:
Aging well/timeless classics: Eldorado A New World Record Out of The Blue Discovery Time
Aging badly: On The Third Day Secret Messages Balance of Power Zoom
So-so: Electric Light Orchestrs ELO II Face The Music
Any other thoughts?
PS: Almost forgot Xanadu, and I guess that says all... DS
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Post by IvanDSM on Mar 12, 2016 13:37:21 GMT
I think the only ones aging badly are Secret Messages and Zoom. Haven't heard Balance of Power and prefer to stay that away. You think OTTD, No Answer, ELO 2 and Face the Music are aging badly? You're mad!
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Post by janne on Mar 12, 2016 15:10:25 GMT
I think the only ones aging badly are Secret Messages and Zoom. Haven't heard Balance of Power and prefer to stay that away. You think OTTD, No Answer, ELO 2 and Face the Music are aging badly? You're mad! On The Third Day has aged badly. Weak songs, in general. The others that you mention I put in the so-so category, meaning they are somewhere in between good and bad. The first and second album are clearly efforts for the band to find its identity. Face The Music have one classic song, a couple of decent ones and the rest are fillers.
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Post by jackpunch on Mar 12, 2016 21:00:38 GMT
First 3 albums suffer with poor musicianship tbh. Zoom is and always will be pretty ordinary. SM sounds ok to me. Time should be dated but is still brilliant.
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Post by Chippa on Mar 12, 2016 21:46:02 GMT
BOP suffers from that mid-80's EuroSynthPop sound. Good songs, but the production dates it badly.
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Post by wilko on Mar 13, 2016 0:07:05 GMT
Have to disagree about Discovery, Zoom & Face The Music. But otherwise you've got it just about right.
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Post by dillwyn on Mar 13, 2016 0:08:45 GMT
bleeding eck Wilco...you typed that about 3 seconds before i did...
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Post by livinthing on Mar 14, 2016 13:15:36 GMT
Time was before it's time,it doesn't sound old fashioned to me. I don't think Zoom would ever sound dated, it had an all round acceptable sound back in 2001 and quite a strong album IMO.
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Post by eldorado on Mar 14, 2016 20:43:49 GMT
Think Secret Messages is awesome on the whole. Really like that album for some reason.
Discovery hasn't aged well. It sounds like a disco album which I struggle with to be honest.
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Post by unomusette on Mar 14, 2016 22:09:34 GMT
I think some albums do have a sound which are of their time, such as BOP with the synth-pop, Discovery being a bit disco and On The Third Day being sort of 70's proggy. Doesn't make them bad though, for me they all have their own rightful place in the collection. Even Xanadu, nothing wrong with Jeff's songs on that as far as I'm concerned.
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Post by jackpunch on Mar 14, 2016 22:53:44 GMT
Listen to some of Queen's 80s stuff if you want hear dated !
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iopia
Junior Member
Posts: 23
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Post by iopia on Mar 15, 2016 0:09:26 GMT
I think the first three are just extremely raw. That doesn't mean they haven't aged well, they're just so extremely poorly recorded compared to Eldorado and beyond, and as someone else mentioned, the musicianship is weaker considering what they were trying to do (sawing strings, harsh vocals etc.). I don't think it's fair to say they've aged badly, they were tough, raw albums 40 years ago and they're still tough, raw albums to this day. Time hasn't changed that IMO. With that point made, I think that deciding on what has "aged well" and what hasn't is purely down to opinion. Sure, much of Discovery, Time, SM, and BoP sound extremely dated, but if you don't mind that many of the songs hold up to this day, as long as you go in knowing that the album you're listening to a product of its time, and a product of the situation Jeff/ELO were in. For me, I feel that OOTB will always be their most timeless album, and that it's "aged the best" out of all 11 original albums, but I recognise that to others, albums like Time or ANWR will have aged the best. I guess what I'm trying to say is that certain songs/albums definitely are more dated than others (ie. the elements used aren't popular today - eg. 80s synths and disco bass lines are no longer popular, while sweeping strings, acoustic guitars, and pianos are still used in modern music, therefore songs on OOTB will feel less "dated" than songs on BoP or Discovery (this is the definition of feeling "dated")), but that doesn't make them worse, and it doesn't mean that they've aged worse. Which albums have aged the best or the worst is purely dependant on taste, and I know it's a cheaty, boring answer, but that's what I think!
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Post by janne on Mar 15, 2016 5:31:40 GMT
There seems to be an opinion that "aging" for the ELO albums are a question of sound/production/arrangements.
That is definitely one aspect, but in my original post I was first and foremost talking about the quality of the songs. I think the production on On The Third Day is fine, but the songs are generally weak and not that memorable.
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Post by unomusette on Mar 15, 2016 20:54:18 GMT
I suppose the quality of the songs is down to individual taste too. Different people are moved by different aspects. Personally I'd only put The Diary of Horace Wimp down as a timeless classic from Discovery, but could choose more than one song from each of the albums in the "So So" and "Aged Badly" lists to put into the category. To other people though my choices would make no sense. Vive la difference, as the French would say
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Post by queenofthehours on Mar 29, 2016 20:56:29 GMT
I'd say On the Third Day is having difficulty aging but Time, Xanadu, Eldorado, Discovery and OOTB are all as fresh as ever. BOP has it's moments but you'd have to chose carefully to find a track not soaked in mid-80s-ness.
I'd say that if an album's singles get played on the radio a lot - it's aged as well as a good wine.
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