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Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Electric Light
Orchestra (ELO) was a successful rock music group from the 1970s and
1980s. The band, formed by Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne, and Bev Bevan in 1971
(the remaining members of The Move), used cellos and violins to give
their music a "classical" sound. Roy Wood left ELO shortly after the
release of their eponymously-titled first album (which produced the UK
hit "10538 Overture") and Jeff Lynne stepped up to lead the band. (The
first album was released with the mistaken title of No Answer in the
USA). The band went through a lineup change (as Wood took some
musicians with him to form Wizzard) and released ELO II in 1973, from
which came their first U.S. Top 40 hit, "Roll Over Beethoven". They
also released On The Third Day in 1973, and Eldorado in 1974, scoring
another U.S. Top 40 hit with "I Can't Get It Out Of My Head".
In 1975, bassist and
vocalist Kelly Groucutt joined, and Face The Music was released, from
which the major singles were "Evil Woman" and "Strange Magic", marking
a shift to a more "radio friendly" sound. The multi-platinum album A
New World Record was released in 1976 (with "Livin' Thing", a
re-release of The Move's "Do Ya", and "Telephone Line"). That was
followed by the double album Out Of The Blue, featuring the singles
"Turn To Stone", "Sweet Talkin' Woman" and "Mr. Blue Sky". The band
then set out on a world tour, with an enormous (and hugely expensive)
space ship set in tow.
In 1979, Lynne set
out to capitalize on the growing popularity of disco with the album
Discovery (or "Disco very" as he has been quoted). The album generated
their biggest hit "Don't Bring Me Down", along with "Shine A Little
Love" and "Last Train To London". Soon after, ELO was enlisted to
provide half of the soundtrack for the musical film Xanadu, the other
half provided by Olivia Newton-John, who starred in the movie along
with Gene Kelly. The movie bombed but the soundtrack did very well,
with hit singles from both Newton-John ("Magic") and ELO ("I'm Alive")
as well as the title track to the movie, performed by Newton-John with
ELO.
In 1981, ELO's sound
changed again, moving away from disco and into the 1980s, with the
album, Time (single: "Hold On Tight"). Their popularity faded, with two
more albums (Secret Messages in 1983, and Balance of Power in 1986)
before Lynne moved on to other things. With Lynne's agreement, another
version of the band (without him) was formed in 1990 by drummer Bev
Bevan, when "Electric Light Orchestra, Part II" was put together,
releasing an album that went straight to the bargain bins. A second
album was released in 1994 (Power of a million lights).
Jeff Lynne's comeback with ELO started in 2001 when he rejoined ELO keyboardist Richard Tandy and released the album Zoom.
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