STACK NZ July 2016 Issue 75

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F or a man who loved the Beatles and
whose band Electric Light Orchestra
located itself on the axis of Sgt Peppers
and Magical Mystery Tour, Jeff Lynne was
handed a gift and a curse by his favourite group
in the early 90s.
When longtime Beatles' producer George
Martin declined to work on three proposed
singles using home demos by the late John
Lennon – he begged off saying his hearing
wasn't good enough, but most thought he'd
heard just how unusable those demos were –
Lynne got the invitation at the insistence of his
friend George Harrison (who he played with in
the Traveling Wilburys).
Given the demos which became Free As a
Bird and Real Love (the proposed third never
eventuated when Harrison dismissed it out of
hand) were just on cassette tapes and out of
tempo, neither was going to add to the Beatles'
legacy. But as a fan and being up for a challenge,
how could Lynne resist?
It's ironic then that working with the late
Lennon and the remaining Threetles (McCartney,
Harrison and Starr) should now just be a
footnote in Lynne's career — which has had
another push upwards with his highly acclaimed
recent ELO album Alone in the Universe.
From new ELO – essentially his solo project
— back through Beatles and Wilburys, Lynne's
had a fascinating career as a musician and
producer: There's knob twiddling for Brian
Wilson, fellow Wilburys Tom Petty, Roy Orbison
and Harrison, for Ringo, McCartney and many
others on his CV.
Lynne's career began before ELO in the 70s
with a band largely written out of rock history
books. But they enjoyed seven top 10 singles in
Britain between 1967 and 1972, recorded four
albums, were in the vanguard of promo films
(what became known as video clips), had riotous
stage acts (they blew up a car 15 years before
the Plasmatics) and played bills with Cream, the
Who and other greats of the era.
They were The Move out of Birmingham.
Admittedly singer/multi-instrumentalist Lynne
didn't join them until 1970 – two years before
they split — but, with the band's Roy Wood
and Bev Bevan, Lynne realised a masterplan
for a Beatles psych-pop-cum-classical merger.
Barorussian submarine que'n'roll if you like.
That band was ELO and when Wood left to
formWizzard during the recording of the second
album that left Lynne as the capable helmsman,
and he steered the ensemble with its ever-
changing line-up to chart success with singles
like Evil Woman, Strange Magic, Telephone Line,
Livin' Thing, Turn to Stone, Mr Blue Sky, Don't
Bring me Down . . .
Right now the 2005 compilation All Over the
World: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra
album has reappeared on double vinyl (you'll be
surprised how many hits they had) as well their
multi-platinum 1979 album Discovery on single
vinyl.
As a band which successfully straddled prog-
rock with pop-smarts, and rock guitars with
arrangements for cello, ELO can be a major
discovery. These albums are well worth checking
out.
And by happy chance The Traveling Wilburys
Collection (on LP, or CD with a double DVD) has
also appeared, and although they were very
much Dad-rock, they are a guilty pleasure to be
shared.
But wait, there's more Jeff Lynne . . .
because an expanded double-CD version of
The Move's excellent Looking On from 1970
(remastered, extra tracks, live BBC sessions)
has just been released. And their final album
Message from the Country – which Lynne
co-produced with Wood and co-wrote half the
songs for — has also appeared on vinyl. This
was recorded when they were morphing into
ELO.
For this album The Move – a singles band in
an album era — still had most of their power-
pop, post-Beatles, radio-single sound intact and
many critics regard it as the Great Lost Move
Album... because ELO was just around the
corner.
It certainly hasn't been easy to find (no
reissue, not on streaming services) so if you
have a record player — and you really should
have — this might also be a discovery for you.
And the common thread in all this is a plain-
spoken, modest Brummie who was so admired
by his peers Bob Dylan, Harrison, Petty and
Orbison they invited him to join the band.
Must be pretty cool to be Jeff Lynne, huh?
For more interviews, overviews and reviews
by Graham Reid see:
These albums are well
worth checking out
visit MUSIC FEATURE
22 JULY 2016
MUSIC
Graham Reid considers the
remarkable career of Jeff Lynne.
The Travelling Wilburys:
Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty,
Roy Orbison, George Harrison
The Move
Electric Light Orchestra