I have to admit that I really like this song and is probably my favourite song ever. I know that the band were from the 1970's (I think) but who were they and where were they from? More importantly, where are they now?
Tom in NO From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 7194 posts, RR: 40 Reply 1, posted (8 years 3 months 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 921 times:
Superfly From Thailand, joined May 2000, 38597 posts, RR: 79 Reply 5, posted (8 years 3 months 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 904 times:
Christa:
You live in the UK and are asking us about the Electric Light Orchestra?
They are like the best band out of the UK.
OK 2nd. to the Beatles!
I have every E.L.O. LP from 'No Answer' (1972) till 'Balance Of Paower' (1986).
Also members from E.L.O. formed a group called Electric Light Orchestra Part II.
I have two of there CDs (1991 & 1993) and they are not good.
Jeff Lynn (ELO founder) was not a part of that.
Mr. Blue Sky is on the Out Of The Blue LP. (1977)
That is part IV of Concerto For A Rainy Day. The piece is all of side three.
That's my favorite LP by the band and the album cover is one of my all time favorites.
The first pressings of this album were blue see through LPs.
The album also comes with a Space Ship that you had to put together yourself and a poster.
Christa From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 6, posted (8 years 3 months 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 897 times:
Yeah, I am. I'm 16 years of age.. and I've never heard of this band before today, seriously. I'd heard this song before, but I'd never known the bands name!
Christa From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 8, posted (8 years 3 months 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 886 times:
Quoting Superfly (Reply 7): Christa:
You're never to young to expose yourself to great music from the past.
I also forgot to mention that E.L.O. is from Birmingham U.K.
Very true, indeed. So, they're from Birmingham.. about an hour and a half drive away from me. If anybody is interested I am just about to purchase the greatest hits album off Amazon UK
Superfly From Thailand, joined May 2000, 38597 posts, RR: 79 Reply 9, posted (8 years 3 months 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 880 times:
Quoting Christa (Reply 8): I am just about to purchase the greatest hits album off Amazon UK
Good move.
I am courious as to which 'greatest hits album' it is. When bands get old & washed up, there record labels tend to scamble up there songs and put them on various greatest hits or best of albums.
Other albums from there peak you want to consider is:
Eldorado (1974)
Face The Music (1975)
A New World Record (1976) Out Of The Blue (1977)
Discovery (1979)
Xanadu Soundtrack (1980)
Time (1981)
Jeff Lynn went on to make solo albums and became a Travelling Wilbury with Tom Petty, George Harrison and Roy Orbison.
Tom in NO From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 7194 posts, RR: 40 Reply 10, posted (8 years 3 months 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 868 times:
TriStarEnvy From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 2265 posts, RR: 4 Reply 12, posted (8 years 3 months 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 860 times:
Lynne has always maintained his hatred for the soundtrack for "Xanadu". He claims that album killed the group. The fact that they seemed to have trouble landing tunes in the Top 40 after 1980 in the US, may prove his point. The original group went bust in the mid to late 80's. He went on to produce for George harrison, The Wilbury's and others.
NONE of the released tracks from "Xanadu" are included on "Afterglow". However, there IS an unreleased versuion of it on an album called "Flashback", so maybe he got over his bias!
I missed a chance in the late 1970's to see them at "The Summit" in Houston. They would tour with a huge "spaceship" for a stage prop, and their shows were the stuff of legends, I hear....
In the summer of 1977, a freind of mine and I would run errands for his dad's company between Houston and Galveston, in a 1974 Olds Delta 88 convertible, w/top down and ELO in the...gasp....8-track player!!!
"Sherman, set the Wayback machine for 1977!"
[Edited 2005-03-16 21:04:43]
If you don't stand for SOMETHING, you'll fall for ANYTHING.
Superfly From Thailand, joined May 2000, 38597 posts, RR: 79 Reply 13, posted (8 years 3 months 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 842 times:
Quoting TriStarEnvy (Reply 12): I missed a chance in the late 1970's to see them at "The Summit" in Houston. They would tour with a huge "spaceship" for a stage prop, and their shows were the stuff of legends, I hear....
...and you are still kicking yourself in the @ss for missing that, right?
That was some show to see. I have video clips from it at Wembly. When they played the Los Angeles Coliseum, they caused a huge traffic jam on the Harbor Freeway (110) when the top of the spaceship rose out of the stadium.
Keep in mind that's also in the approach path to LAX.
When I was in 11th grade (1990), I had to write a paper on a historical event in which we could go back in time in revisit. Other classmates wrote about Moses, French Revolution, Noahs Ark, American Revolutionary War, Civil War and the Roaring 20s.
I wrote about the Electric Light Orchestra concert on the Out Of The Blue tour 1977-78.
I've heard Jeff Lynn on Rockline in 1990 when he released a really bad solo album (Armchair Theater). He was totally knocking the entire ELO experience as if he regreats it.
HELLO JEFF! Your solo stuff blows chunks!
TriStarEnvy From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 2265 posts, RR: 4 Reply 14, posted (8 years 3 months 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 832 times:
That banging sound you hear is me still kicking myself.
As I understand it, that set was so cumbersome and difficult to assemble they would only use it every other concert. Someone told me Houston was not going to have it, so that's probably why I missed it.
There was a special on VH-1 that had ELO perform, about a year or two back. He was with them, and they sounded pretty good. But nothing would beat an area sized show w/a symphony backing them up!
Well, ELO on a hot Texas July afternoon at about 90 m.p.h. cranked up, sounded pretty damn good, too!!!!
If you don't stand for SOMETHING, you'll fall for ANYTHING.
Tom in NO From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 7194 posts, RR: 40 Reply 15, posted (8 years 3 months 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 828 times:
Quoting Superfly (Reply 13): When they played the Los Angeles Coliseum, they caused a huge traffic jam on the Harbor Freeway (110)
The only other band I knew could do that was when Springsteen played the Coliseum in late '85. I flew from a conference in OKC back to LAX, went straight to the show. The ongoing gag on Rick Dees' radio show the next morning was that commuters driving up the Harbor to work could still hear the Boss belting them out.
"Xanadu" also marked the beginning of the slowdown for both Olivia Newton-John ("Physical" notwithstanding) and Cliff Richard.
Tom at MSY
"The criminal ineptitude makes you furious"-Bruce Springsteen, after seeing firsthand the damage from Hurricane Katrina
TriStarEnvy From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 2265 posts, RR: 4 Reply 17, posted (8 years 3 months 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 814 times:
Quoting Tom in NO (Reply 15): "Xanadu" also marked the beginning of the slowdown for both Olivia Newton-John ("Physical" notwithstanding) and Cliff Richard.
Seems that most everyone in that flick went towards obscurity!
ONJ went on to "Two of A Kind" (yech!) And married a co-star from "Xanadu" Matt Latanzi (Lucky bastard!)
Gene Kelly did an series or two, then retired, for good.
Michael Beck did "Megaforce" and some other forgettable stuff.
And the group "The Tubes" (The rock band that combines with the swing band in the movie) had a hit or two and blew up....
If you don't stand for SOMETHING, you'll fall for ANYTHING.
Tom in NO From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 7194 posts, RR: 40 Reply 18, posted (8 years 3 months 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 810 times:
Didn't ONJ also have a bout with breast cancer?
Tom at MSY
"The criminal ineptitude makes you furious"-Bruce Springsteen, after seeing firsthand the damage from Hurricane Katrina
Willo From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2003, 1352 posts, RR: 13 Reply 19, posted (8 years 3 months 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 800 times:
I saw the ELO "Out of the Blue" tour at Wembley Arena back in early '78. It was pretty amazing even in that soulless barn of a place.
Quoting TriStarEnvy (Reply 17): And the group "The Tubes" (The rock band that combines with the swing band in the movie) had a hit or two and blew up....
I also saw The Tubes back in about 1981. They were probably one of the best live bands I ever saw. They were wild, I remember them having loads of run-ins with the authorities for being lewd and generally outrageous. They were even banned in some towns. Who remembers Fee Waybills boots?
There are absolutely no bands around these days that can hold a torch to them. Fabulous
TriStarEnvy From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 2265 posts, RR: 4 Reply 20, posted (8 years 3 months 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 800 times:
Correct, and a divorce from Mr. Latanzi. She remarried, not too long ago.
I watched an interview with her, w/a reporter from MSNBC a while back. The guy was about my age, and you could tell he was a fan. At the end of the interview, he said to her, "You know you are responsible for making a lot of American males of my age range interested in Australia?" She laughed, and said that was NOT the first time she'd heard it.
She was part of the ceremonies at the Sydney Olympic games in 2000, along with John Paul Young ("Love is in the Air")
If you don't stand for SOMETHING, you'll fall for ANYTHING.
Superfly From Thailand, joined May 2000, 38597 posts, RR: 79 Reply 21, posted (8 years 3 months 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 779 times:
Quoting Willo (Reply 19): I saw the ELO "Out of the Blue" tour at Wembley Arena back in early '78
I HATE YOU!
You are one lucky soul!
Quoting Tom in NO (Reply 15): Xanadu" also marked the beginning of the slowdown for both Olivia Newton-John ("Physical" notwithstanding) and Cliff Richard.
...and I thought Suddenly the wheels were in motion, and I...
alright I'll stop singing.
The guy who replaced Jeff Lynn in ELO Part II sounded like he went to Jeff Lynn's school of vocals. It's painful to listen to. The poor guy is straining so hard to sound like Jeff Lynn and John Lennon in some songs.
Quoting TriStarEnvy (Reply 12): In the summer of 1977, a freind of mine and I would run errands for his dad's company between Houston and Galveston, in a 1974 Olds Delta 88 convertible, w/top down and ELO in the...gasp....8-track player!!!
LY744 From Canada, joined Feb 2001, 5536 posts, RR: 11 Reply 22, posted (8 years 3 months 6 days ago) and read 748 times:
Ah, "Mr. Blue Sky". There's just something about that song isn't it? Even for a classic rock (and ELO) fan like myself, that song always hits a special note, so to speak.
Saintsman From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2002, 2065 posts, RR: 2 Reply 23, posted (8 years 3 months 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 724 times:
I would just like to add Roy Wood's contribution. As one of the founding fathers of ELO he did introduce the strings sound to the band which was one of ELOs distinguishing features.
Superfly From Thailand, joined May 2000, 38597 posts, RR: 79 Reply 24, posted (8 years 3 months 4 days 13 hours ago) and read 704 times:
Another interesting fact.
Electric Light Orchestra was the backing band for R&B singer Maxine Nightingale re: (Righ Back Where We Started From)
and the string section & producer Louis Clark worked with Ozzie Osbourne on Diary Of Madman, Blizzard Of Oz and a few other albums by him.
Bring back the Concorde
25 Dan-air: One of my all time favorite bands - ELO. I'm so old, I too got to see them at Wembley in '78, I had a fairly good seat for their first night there. To
26 Delta717: My most played song on iTunes and on my iPod!
27 Continental: Mr. Blue Sky by ELO was the song for the Volkswagen commercial a year or two ago. That's when I first heard about it and the band.
28 Superfly: My friend's ex-wife saw them at a county fair in Wisconsin in 1996. They played on a bandstand and performing older ELO tunes yet people were just wa
29 Jean Leloup: Dan-air; Based on your description, the concert you went to is now available on a live DVD (that I have bought), including the odd Tony Curtis introdu
30 Superfly: Jean Leloup: Thanks man. I think the ELO part II really ruined the name and many people probably didn't know that Jeff Lynne was back. Jeff Lynne spen
31 TriStarEnvy: Going to see any variation of ELO w/o Jeff Lynne would be like Wings w/o Sir McCartney.
32 Diesel1: Christa What you really want is the Cardiff link to ELO... ELO Violinist Mik Kaminski is the son of the guy who ran and owned (what is now known as) t
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