Feature photo: Album cover excerpt Out of the Blue (1977)
If you're no longer single, you'll have to adjust your listening habits for better or for worse; I feel the same way. Originally, I could play my stereo system whenever and however I wanted and sometimes only had to be considerate of the neighbors who were already hard of hearing. In the meantime, however, that was about 30 years ago. With the reinstallation of my stereo system and my own hearing loss, as well as the fact that I now have time again to be able to enjoy music a little more often, I have already noticed several times that I can enjoy my music not only with my better half, but also with have to coordinate better with one or the other neighbor.
Things are currently going quite well with the Electric Light Orchestra, known to those of us who are a bit older as ELO. ELO was a notable rock band in the 1970s and 1980s. However, I only noticed them with their album Discovery (1979) and after listening to Out of the Blue (1977) I personally rated them as always worth listening to.
With Balance of Power (1986) the topic of ELO was over for me and only last year I realized to my surprise that there have been new ELO albums since 2015, namely Alone in the Universe (2015) and From Out of Nowhere ( 2019). What's more, I was very surprised that there are obviously still people who enjoy ELO's music today — at least my better half and my neighbors haven't vetoed it to this day.
My ELO listening pleasure, at least at the moment, takes into account the slightly older ELO albums, although the first two mentioned and the album A New World Record (1976) are still my favorites.
For the sake of completeness, I'll list all the ELO albums I know of:
- The Electric Light Orchestra (1971)
- The Electric Light Orchestra II (1973)
- On the Third Day (1973)
- Eldorado – A Symphony By The Electric Light Orchestra (1974)
- Face the Music (1975)
- A New World Record (1976)
- Out of the Blue (1977)
- Discovery (1979)
- Xanadu (1980)
- time (1981)
- Secret Messages (1983)
- Balance of Power (1986)
- Zoom (2001)
- Alone in the Universe (2015)
- From Out of Nowhere (2019
The Electric Light Orchestra was founded in 1970 by Bev Bevan, jeff lynne and Roy Wood founded. Wood left the group again in 1972, so that jeff lynne became the main protagonist of the group. 1972 already came Richard Tandy with added. These four band members are probably the best-known ELO musicians to this day.
ELO disbanded as early as 1986, tried unsuccessfully to restart from 2000 to 2001 and from the second restart in 2014, now as Jeff Lynne's ELO, was increasingly noticed by old and new listeners alike.
For now I'm curious if ELO-2 will survive COVID-19, but until then I have enough old ELO albums to listen to over and over again; at least until my better half raises an objection.
If you want to get a quick impression of ELO for yourself, I recommend the album All Over the World: the Very Best of ELO from 2005.
"I've got a ticket to the moon.
ELO, Ticket to the Moon (1981)
I'll be leaving here any day soon."
