Published on May 1, 1998
Electric Light Orchestra, led by Jeff Lynne, is most popular for
their pop-sounding records, like “Turn To Stone”, “Evil Woman”, and
“Can’t Get It Out Of My Head”. But if you observe their album
tracks, you will notice that they have experimented with orchestral
and classical music. Their second album,
Electric Light Orchestra II, has that experience, more ways
than one.
On that topic, one thing I have always emjoyed about ELO, is how
they used instrumentation in various songs. One song in particular,
is “Fire On High”, from their 1975 release,
Face The Music. This song was heavily used for introductions
to various radio and television programs. Like this song, the
opening track from
ELO II, “In Old England Town (Boogie #2)”, is anything BUT a
boogie. The beginning of this song is heavily instrumental, and
could be easily used for a mystery/horror flick. This piece has you
sitting back and visualizing something from such a movie.
“Mama” also has instrumentation of an orchestra-type fashion,
which has been heard in the band’s most popular songs. Using
cellos, violins and strings, this song is a typical ELO song, a
slow-paced tune in the standard pop vein.
Probably considered the only well-remembered song from this
album is their cover version of Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over
Beethoven”. What makes this version so great, is that ELO mixes
rock and roll with classical music. Since Beethoven was a popular
classical music composer, the beginning of this song sounds like
basic classical music, as ELO begins playing Beethoven’s 5th
Symphony. Then, they rip into the familiar opening guitar riff
Chuck Berry used in his song. Throughout the song, it’s rock and
roll, as they use the familiar riffs from Beethoven’s 5th Symphony.
This is a great way of experimenting with two different sources of
music.
“From The Sun To The World (Boogie #1)” starts out with
synthesizer keyboards that are just too sweet. When the vocals
kicks in during the first minute, this song features orchestration
with strings and keyboards heard in any popular ELO song. But
during the third minute, it’s all classical music. Then, in its
fourth minute, it takes another turn: It’s piano-and-orchestra
boogie. The vocals return in the fifth minute, as heard earlier,
and ends throughout with the ‘boogie’ music.
The album ends with “Kuiama”, another typical pop-rock ELO song.
Like The Beatles, this song has similarities to the fab four’s
later albums, like
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,
Magical Mystery Tour and
Abbey Road. The ending of this song is somewhat psychedelic,
yet it has that ending effect as in The Beatles’ “A Day In The
Life”.
Each song on this album is long. The shortest song is clocked in
at 6:54 and the longest at 11:19. Still, this album clearly defines
how a band can experiment with two different sources of music, both
classical and rock. This album is not to be ignored. Most fans of
music recognize Electric Light Orchestra for their AM radio pop
rock favorites in the Seventies and early Eighties. But you’d be
surprised in listening to their many album tracks, as they use
orchestration in their music. Here you’ll see why the word
ORCHESTRA is used in their name. In fact, some of their music could
be compared to the instrumentation of such groups as Emerson, Lake
& Palmer, and King Crimson. But ELO’s music is much more styled
in the pop category as compared to ELP’s and King Crimson’s
music.
ELO II is an experimentation, and an excellent one. Where
one may just focus on a band’s popular songs heard on the radio,
many may want to hear the other songs that didn’t make it regularly
on the airwaves. In experimenting with that, you maybe just
surprised as I was in what you hear. A second look at a band that
may just be famous for their easy-going pop tunes, has more than
enough talent to explore the boundaries of popular music. ELO just
does that, as they feature orchestration with both rock and
classical music. Classical music is another source of music that
most rock fans seem to ignore. After hearing
ELO II, not only would some of these rock fans take another
look at ELO’s music in another sense, they just might do the same
for Classical Music as well.