ELO II Music Cd

Electric Light Orchestra - ELO II

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ELO II      Artist : Electric Light Orchestra      List Price : $11.98 USD        Your Price : $11.98 USD      ProductGroup: Music      Release Date : 2006-03-28      Studio : Sony      Label : Sony      Avg. Customer Rating : (13 reviews)

Reviews Customer Reviews for ELO II      A lost masterpiece.....      Rating:      This is one of my favorite Electric Light Orchestra albums. It is also the first album with Jeff Lynne solely at the helm. Roy Wood had left the band in a power struggle with Lynne, and Lynne took over the band as songwriter and leader (a position he has held ever since). Most longtime ELO fans know they started as a prog rock outfit before going pop in their later albums (which isn't a bad thing, necessarily). This is the most epic, prog rock album they ever did, with a mere five tracks, all with extremely long running times. The best song here is Kuiama, which runs just over 11 minutes. Lynne's vocal is quite moving, and the lyrics, while occasionally preachy (it's an anti-war song), are very good. Despite the length of the song, it's never boring. It has an excellent violin solo in the middle of the song that's got a touch of free jazz to it. I wished that ELO had one more prog rock album before going to shorter, tighter song structures. Mama is excellent, but I really like the long version of Roll Over Beethoven. Now, reportedly the version on the reissue of this album is 30 seconds shorter than the version released on the original LP. Supposedly, this was according to Jeff Lynne's wishes. I have the original LP with the long version on it, and if there are people interested in hunting down the original version of the song on CD, try finding ELO's first box set, Afterglow. It has that song (and three other songs from this album alone). One has to express the wishes of the artist, but not necessarily agree with them. He should have included both versions. This album is a must for any ELO fan, and it should be required listening for prog rock fans, as there is much to enjoy here. ELO was just as ambitious as any prog rock outfit during their time. Their later albums are great (and there are some masterpieces), but this is a fascinating time capsule, and it's really good music as well. It's probably the least known of ELO's albums, which is a shame, as it's very, very good.     Customer Reviews for ELO II Cd      What a bummer about "Roll Over Beethoven"      Rating:       I know there are versions of ELO's "Roll Over Beethoven" that are about 4 and a half minutes (45 RPM), but there are two longer versions that are out there too. The original "full version" is 8:09. But this CD of "ELO II" gives us the shorter long version that clocks in at 7:04. This is very disappointing to me because I've always had the longer version on vinyl. Since, the age of the CD, the eight minute version is harder to find. Especially since they don't list the time lengths on the outside of the CD jewel box. I have gotten the eight minute version of the double CD of "Strange Magic: The Best of Electric Light Orchestra" and in my Rhino box set of "Supernatural Fairytales: The Progressive Rock Era". However, the rest of this album is very cool. ELO was going through some transitions early on before they really hit it big on pop radio. Their first album was lead by Roy Wood who left the band right after their first album "No Answer". You wouldn't know that you were listening to ELO when you play this album but I still love it. It's a dark, progressive album and very unique from beginning to end. Jeff Lynne became lead on this album of "ELO II" which was an FM rock favorite for the more adventurous rock stations back in the early seventies. By the time ELO made their fourth album "Eldorado", this is where they enjoyed some charted pop success with "Can't Get it Out of My Head". Their fifth album "Face the Music" is probably their more important album. This is the one album that got me hooked on FM Rock radio. Because, no longer was I just listening to and buying pop 45's. I was now hearing, not only longer hit songs, but even non-hit tracks from albums that made me look at the work of the artists more than just some "one hit wonder" that use to be all that radio was (although I do miss those innocent K-Tell Hell novelty pop years now). I've collected all of the Electric Light Orchestra's albums from 1971 to 1984. With the exception of one. Oddly enough, ELO's highest charted album is one that I just can't stand. I hated and I still can't stand ELO's 1979 album "Discovery". This was the wimpiest, crappiest music ELO has ever done. With the exception of "Don't Bring Me Down", the rest of the album just totally sucks. I've got "Don't Bring Me Down" on a "Best of" collection, so "Discovery" is totally dissed by me. And yet, strangely enough, their next two albums afterwards* ELO's "Time" and "Secret Messages" from the early eighties were totally awesome! It's very hard to mix up all of ELO's work because they really have had some extreme changes in their sound over the years of their career together. But, ELO is great. I never get tired of their albums. On this album of "ELO II", there is a bonus track called "Baby I Apologize". It's a fabulous lost gem. *Olivia Newton John and ELO's 1980 album "Xanadu" really isn't worth mentioning as an ELO album. I give that album to Olivia.