5 things to know about From Out of Nowhere by Jeff Lynne's ELO
Credit to Author: Stuart Derdeyn| Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2019 18:00:58 +0000
Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra | Sony Music
Formed in 1970, Electric Light Orchestra was essentially version two of The Move. The band included former members of that eclectic art-pop band Roy Wood, bassist Rick Price, drummer Bev Bevan and guitarist/songwriter Jeff Lynne augmented by a string section and keyboards. The idea behind the project was to fuse pop, psychedelia and classical sounds with distinctly Beatlesque melodies.
The membership of the band became fluid. Lynne was the only mainstay, and guided ELO into becoming one of the best-selling bands of the 1970s.
Lynne disbanded the project in 1986, going on to such supergroups as the Travelling Wilburys and establishing himself as a leading producer working with everyone from George Harrison and Paul McCartney to Tom Petty, Bryan Adams and Roy Orbison.
As cycles of interest in classic rock tend to go, ELO became a band that younger artists were name-dropping in interviews and covers of the band’s hits such as Mr. Blue Sky, Don’t Bring Me Down and even the soundtrack for Xanadu started appearing in DJ sets. Lynne reformed ELO as Jeff Lynne’s ELO for 2015s Alone in the Universe and the band toured extensively.
Now the band is back with another collection of new material showcasing Lynne’s signature cascading melodies and full-on rock ‘n’ roll. Here are five things to know about From Out of Nowhere.
1: The title track chorus. One of the great things about Lynne’s writing is his sense of bouncy choruses. From Can’t Get You Out of My Head to Telephone Line, his writing always echoes the Beatles but with its own distinctive rising key shifts. Those “let me go” cascades fit write in with any classic ELO track. The entire ten tune collection ranks with the finest moments of such back catalogue classics as Out of the Blue or Discovery.
2: Country ELO. All My Love has a guitar riff straight out of the California folk rock era married to a Beach Boys-style chorus that just won’t quit. If not for Lynne, it’s a new direction for ELO, as the band usually kept its pulse in rock as such gems as it’s version of Roll Over Beethoven demonstrate. But the song sets a tone for the record overall as it tends to be rather mellow.
3: Down Came the Rain. One reason that Lynne and Tom Petty paired so well was a mutual appreciation for the chiming guitar hooks in the Byrds’ music. The riff in this song is so perfectly Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, you can’t help but wonder if this might have been an idea that first surfaced back when Lynne was producing Full Moon Fever or Into the Great Wide Open.
4: Sci-Fi Woman. ELO pursued seventies concept album ideals with science fiction/space imagery right down to the band’s flying saucer stage set. This song is a straight-ahead old school rocker driven along with handclaps and cheesy synth riff until the lead guitar drops and sounds like a missing sixties blues band. The layers of background sounds, including pedal steel guitar, strings and Theremin are just funny to pick out.
5: Lynne makes it sound easy. The songwriting on From Out of Nowhere stands up to anything that Lynne has ever penned. He makes that clear referencing Telephone Line in the bridge of Time of Our Life. Where many would struggle to come up with the number of hummable melodies or lock-in-your-head chorus hooks, this album is packed with them. That’s hardly a problem, but a couple of louder rockers to replace some of the midtempo numbers would have broken up the flow a bit better. It’s a minor quibble.
Also out this week:
FKA Twigs
Magdalene | Young Turks
Beginning with an almost avant-chamber music track titled Thousand Eyes, the followup to this critically acclaimed artist’s breakout 2014 debut is full of introspection and experimentation. Having undergone both personal and physical setbacks over the past five years, FKA Twigs is in a more vocal mood this time around, with soaring choruses, haunting echo chamber orchestrations and less predictable beats than ever before. Holy Terrain f. Future might mark some of the rapper’s best work to date. The distorted koto sounds on the song are awesome. The album just oozes with invention and hypnotic grooves.
Nov. 2, Vogue Theatre. Tickets and info: $34.99 at eventbrite.ca
Hunting
Whatever You Need| Nevado Records
This project between songwriter/producer Bradley Ferguson, songwriter Dustin Bentall and vocalist Jessicka has changed focus on its second album. The majority of the material is upbeat, uptempo New Wave-inspired pop ditties like the super-catchy She Was or the groovy Whatever You Need radio-ready as can be. It makes for 10 tunes that showcase a band aiming squarely for a wide audience and all the pieces are in place for that to happen. It certainly helps that all the members have ample live concert experience to give their show professional polish. One to watch in 2019.
Album release on Nov. 5, Fox Cabaret. Tickets and info: foxcabaret.com
Lankum
The Livelong Day | Rough Trade Records
There has always been a subversive and underground tonality to traditional folk music. The drones, off keys and atmospherics that simple, non-amplified acoustic instruments and voices can create has been well-explored by such avant-garde/folk fusionists as Iva Bittova or Kimmo Pohjonen. Dublin quartet Lankum can be added to the list. The young band builds foreboding and doom into its 11 minute-long opening track the Wild Rover with nothing but voices, repetitive chords and a tortured accordion (or possible melodica). On Bear Creek, the solo violin that opens sounds like it’s on its final bows and then the song builds to a sparse reel.
Old Dominion
Old Dominion | Sony Canada
Twanging into its latest release with a celebration of living the good life in the face of adversity titled Make It Sweet, this hit making new country quintet doesn’t miss a beat. Absolutely everything on the album fits its format like a well worn pair of Boulets, right down to the tracklisting. This is a band that knows what works and they follow the proven formula of party-hearty country boys with big hooks and enough handclaps-and-singalong segments to make every song a winner driving in your truck. It’s not a thing you usually pick out in a country album, but the keyboards on this album are excellent. This packs plenty Doobie Brothers/Leon Russell style organ.