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Post by fourlittlediamonds on Apr 21, 2016 22:29:08 GMT
.....that then went so right 15 years later?
If you think about it the circumstances were very similar: Jeff decides to reactivate ELO on his terms, records a new album by himself, hires a group of top session players to be the new band (including Richard Tandy) does a high profile tv appearance, lots of media and then boooks a huge tour......and it all collapses leaving Jeff to wander off wounded and believing that it's all over this time for ELO? Fast forward 15 years and this time the critical goodwill and and fan euphoria produces a hit album,5 star reviews huge media interest and a triumphant return on a sold out tour.
I dont believe that the fans just were not around or that interested back in 2001 as ELO always had a very loyal following and the music was still,loved and picking up plenty of air play. Was it just that Zoom wasnt very good and didnt connect with fans or that the whole "Guilty Pleasures" thing that ELO were erroneously included in and the nostalgia boom hadn't quite yet got going? I remember at the time an interview with Jeff in which he was asked how was Zoom an ELO album and not just a Jeff Lynne solo album? To which he abruptly replied: "Because it's an ELO album!"
Was the decison to launch the whole thing in the US rather than the UK the biggest mistake? It's strange because something happened in the intervening years to peoples attitudes as this time AITU has done well on both sides of the Atlantic and the renewed media and public interest in the US is as palpable now as it was seemingly absent back then. Or was it just simply the wrong place and time and it would take a while longer for people to realise just how much they really loved and missed the band and how important they were?
Lets just be thankfull we did and Jeff saw it too.
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Post by wilko on Apr 21, 2016 23:12:02 GMT
It's difficult to call as Zoom was an excellent album IMO. Perhaps the difference was the Hyde Park gig - it put Jeff in the limelight again and reminded the general public just how damn good he is.
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Post by BSJ on Apr 22, 2016 0:33:13 GMT
".........the nostalgia boom hadn't quite yet got going?"
Agree. Now there is a good mix of fans who are in, or near, retirement (Jeff's generation), and fans who are empty nesters (there about). Sweet spot. Nostalgia + Money.
And a Genius with a hell of a PR firm that has taken him in hand.
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Post by jackpunch on Apr 22, 2016 5:49:28 GMT
Chris Evans, that is the main difference. 10m Radio2 listeners being told Jeff Lynne is a genius. Plenty of ELO songs played to remind everyone how great they were.
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Post by soonerorlater on Apr 22, 2016 8:39:16 GMT
Chris Evans, that is the main difference. 10m Radio2 listeners being told Jeff Lynne is a genius. Plenty of ELO songs played to remind everyone how great they were. I certainly agree with this but I've always felt that, even in the 'wilderness years' Jeff could have played a show in one of the Birmingham Arenas or perhaps the Albert Hall and comfortably sold it out. I remember my frustration at the cancellation of the US Zoom Tour because I believed then (and now) that he should have started it in the UK. It's been no surprise to me that this year's tour has started here and that the US tour has been unveiled in small chunks. I really hope that he can expand the US Tour and meet with the same response as he's getting in Europe.
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Post by queenofthehours on Apr 22, 2016 14:19:09 GMT
I can't speak much for 2001 because I was very Jeff-negative back then which in itself perhaps says enough. I only remember Zoom coming out and getting reasonable and encouraging reviews in the magazines I read. I also remember seeing and hearing nothing of the music nor ELO. That's the difference, this time around there has been much more exposure.
The magic this time around is that the BBC were involved and the whole thing was very slow burn taking four years. Starting with the MBS doc, then the Children in Need performance, Chris Evans and One Show interviews and Hyde Park. Add to that the steady stream of albums and you get a magic formula.
How did the Beatles for example become the biggest band in the world? Nobody could pick out a single element - this was all a mystic collision of many forces at the right place, right time and with the right people. Jeff's whole career has been like this as well and so too was his re-emergence.
There was nothing like this back in 2001. In fact I'd say there were negative forces in those days - the whole chart was rock oriented. But now pop seems to be the prevailing sound paving the way for Jeff to fit right in. Either that or music today is so bad people really need him! I know I do. More than ever.
A word that fits ELO and Jeff is "Resurgam", Latin for "I shall rise again". Could be his motto.
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Post by starlight on Apr 23, 2016 6:23:59 GMT
i agree with all of the above, I think Jeff assumed that his biggest fan base was based in the US (as it was in the beginning) and focused more of his attention there, PBS, storytellers etc. Maybe if he'd repeated this or started in the UK it would of made a difference? I would say that typically the age of the people at the concerts are those who grew and loved ELO from the 70s and 80s (including myself) and what Jeff has done now is reignite this mass of people who have always been there but have lain dormant for a few decades
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Post by Chippa on Apr 23, 2016 17:04:29 GMT
I think his lack of enthusiasm for touring, along with the fact that the album got very little promotion from Sony, contributed to the failed attempt at doing live shows.
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Post by Buttler on Apr 23, 2016 17:36:34 GMT
ELO - Zoom Jeff Lynne's ELO - Alone In The Universe Spot the difference
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Post by unomusette on Apr 23, 2016 22:40:42 GMT
I agree with all of the above, especially about it being kicked off in the wrong country. Plus it was around the time of 9/11 so US people were more wary about travelling.
The management also has a huge part to play, this time they got it right and having Chris Evans on board was a massive asset.
And it still could be that it wasn't quite the right time for Jeff to make a comeback. I can remember people like Jonathan Ross sneering at ELO years ago but more recently raving about them. The general public are so sheep-like they've obediently done the same.
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Post by queenofthehours on Apr 24, 2016 13:04:22 GMT
The Guilty Pleasures (www.esquire.co.uk/culture/news/a2167/qa-sean-rowley-on-six-years-of-guilty-pleasures/ ) movement of a few years ago has a lot to do with Jeff's comeback I think, especially as it came about midway between 2001 and now. It probably helped people admit to themselves that loving ELO was "acceptable".
I also think it was the fact that M&S chose 'MBS' as their theme song in 2005 that really sowed the seed (it did for me anyway) in people's minds for Jeff to flourish once again.
I've never liked the "guilty pleasures" tag on ELO, it insinuates there's something culturally cheap about them or something ephemeral that makes them too dangerous to love. But the tag is entirely false. Even when I didn't like them it wasn't anything to do with them being guilty I just didn't like them because I was young and ignorant. Plain and simple. Once you like something the guilt dissolves so "guilty pleasures" is really an oxymoron.
People like Jonathan Ross, sneering and then raving about ELO are all too common and they are the ones who maintain this "guilty pleasures" thing. Certainly, ELO has had it's share of haters even before the band ceased in the 80s. This clip is from, I think, '84 and shows just how "guilty" it was to own an ELO tape even then! Madness and the Eurythmics are "safe" yet ELO and Pink Floyd are bookable offences and hidden in the glove box! Even dear old Macca wasn't safe in 1984.
Tastes and points of view have changed and the main reason that ELO have succeeded right here and now as opposed to 2001 is, I believe, because in the last 15 or so years they have had more positive promotion than they ever had in the 15 or so years leading up to 2001.
I even think the band has left behind the detestable "guilty pleasures" tag now that Jeff has toured .
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Post by unomusette on Apr 24, 2016 19:21:25 GMT
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Post by mrelopne on Apr 24, 2016 21:10:18 GMT
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Post by fourlittlediamonds on Apr 24, 2016 23:28:27 GMT
I've never liked the "guilty pleasures" tag on ELO, it insinuates there's something culturally cheap about them or something ephemeral that makes them too dangerous to love. But the tag is entirely false. Even when I didn't like them it wasn't anything to do with them being guilty I just didn't like them because I was young and ignorant. Plain and simple. Once you like something the guilt dissolves so "guilty pleasures" is really an oxymoron.
I even think the band has left behind the detestable "guilty pleasures" tag now that Jeff has toured . Sean Rowley, the originator of the whole "Guilty Pleasures" thing has said he is horrified that ELO were included in it as he never intended that at all and apologised for it, (he had just happened to play an ELO track whilst discussing it) . Jeff was also asked about it and expressed his views, ahem, shall we say, rather bluntly!
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Post by orangefiltersky on Apr 26, 2016 13:15:28 GMT
I agree with almost all of the above. I guess it was a matter of zeitgeist: Firstly, ELO was completely out of fashion in 2001 and secondly, it was total mismanagement to book a huge tour in the US, leaving out Europe. It didn`t really matter that ZOOM was a great album (and I still love it, except the somewhat muddy mastering). Now in 2015/16 the tables have turned: Jeff Lynne was almost ubiquitous in the media, journalists for reasons yet unknown have started to like him again and Jeff Lynne`s manager Craig Fruin is a genius, he does all the right moves to reestablish Jeff Lynne and ELO. They book a row of concerts in Europe (yes, I view Britain as part of Europe :-) and just 3 nights in L.A. But they also have the aforementioned zeitgeist on their side. No one can control why some year`s guilty pleasure is another year`s genius.
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