ELO's Zoom....stinks...

First, I MUST say that, "ARMCHAIR THEATRE" is my favorite Jeff Lynne or ELO album ever! While he broke no real new ground on it, he did finally show the tender and slightly less dramatic, side of what made me love the whole ELO sound, to begin with! An absolutely wonderful listening experience from start to finish, IMO!

As for "ZOOM"...I was sooooooooo pumped when this album finally got released, that I couldn't help but be positive about it. I got the "BLUE" covered promo, a few weeks before release and ended up buying the Japanese CD, with the bonus track "Long Black Road". "ZOOM" was a decent album, with many great songs, that mirrored Jeff's solo album "Armchair", much more than it sounded like an actual new ELO album! HOWEVER, the many problems with "ZOOM" start at the fact that, most of these songs were already rejected by Reprise Records as the beginnings of the second Jeff Lynne solo album! Somewhere between that rejection and them finally cutting Jeff loose from REPRISE, he decided to "finally" allow the initials E.L.O. to come rolling off his tongue again, as somebody probably talked him into this huge ELO revival. Reissues, tours, a new album...it all sounds pretty good to THIS ELO fan! Another problem for me personally, was when I found out that the tickets that I had just bought to see ELO in Cleveland, were going to end up worthless, as the demand was much smaller than everyone, including me, expected! To add to that fire, it was quickly becoming clear that Jeff had a completely new band, with exception to Richard Tandy on keys! I honestly didn't know then, all the termoil and bad blood that had gone on between Bev, Kelly and Jeff. ELO without Bev, at the VERY least, was already sounding bad on paper. We all know know that, outside of that "ZOOM" DVD, there never was a tour and deep down inside, it was probably all for the best, when I look back now! It would have been fun, but only for a moment. Since this whole "ZOOM" album and tour dropped like a led balloon, it has been one delay, after another, to sort out whether or not, ELO still has ENOUGH fans, to warrant the reissues of their great past catalog. I hope so..."IF" and that's a HUGE, "IF", they can start doing them right. So far SONY/LEGACY U.S. has left "THIS" ELO fan wondering , if they ever should have even bothered mentioning these reissues, let alone, actually releasing them! Let's all hope that things go smoother from here on out!

Chris C

 

I love the album. I generally agree with daved64's assessment, only differing on "Stranger On A Quiet Street" which I absolutely love. "Easy Money" is just not very good. "All She Wanted" has George Harrison on slide, but it still isn't a very good song. "In My Own Time" has it's moments, but isn't great. Everything else is pure sugar to me.

 

Hmmm...

ZOOM is okay. I'm the biggest ELO fan in the world but ZOOM is kind of "iffy" as a concept. After years of hearing Jeff whine about how much he couldn't wait to rid himself of ELO and how the last 3 albums (which are 3 of my favorite) were only done as contractual obligations and that he didn't particularly like them, he comes out with an ELO album without ELO. Armchair Theater felt like a fresh new chapter. Zoom sounded too solo to be ELO and too ELO to be solo. The songs by and large are fine but it seems to be looking back too much productionwise, yet not enough at the same time. The whole ZOOM thing seemed like an uncomfortable compromise for Jeff. He had new music but nobody wanted to release a Jeff Lynne album. So he got the name back, and instead of doing what was exactly right for his songs, he spruced them up to sound a bit more ELO-like and basically sold out. I like the album but there's just something not quite right about it all the way around.

It ain't no Time or Secret Messages, that's for sure.

When they announced the tour, I adimently decided not to go. For one thing the tickets were $130. But more importantly, Jeff has always whined that he hated playing live. I didn't want to pay to see someone who didn't even want to be playing for me. I figured I'd be doing him a favor by not be one of the masses that contributed to making him do something he hated so much.

 

While 'ZOOM' is not my favorite ELO album, I still love it, and if it were to be remastered with bonus tracks, as rumored, I'd buy it in an instant.

Just as 'Secret Messages', 'Balance of Power', and 'Armchair Theatre' were not initially to my liking, over the years the more I've listened to them, the more I've grown to love them. Same thing with 'ZOOM'. Give it a chance, I think in the long run, you'll be happy you did.

 

Zoom is one of my fave recent albums, period - solo Jeff? Sure; feels like a fairly logical follow-on from Armchair Theatre, with cellos added for ELO-truth-in-advertising. Very Beatle-esque, with actual Beatles on it.

Cheers
Bruce

 

Remastered SIGNIFICANTLY quieter I'd hope...

 

I agree. I thought this was one of the better pop/rock albums from that year, and a wonderful return to form for Lynne.

 

Except for the sound quality, I like the Zoom CD, but to me the songs work better as ELO when performed on the Zoom DVD.

IMO the newer material works well with the old when performed live.

Just curious how all the bad blood between Jeff, Bev and Kelly ever got started.

 

Loooong story I'm afraid, but Kelly sued the band in 1983 and wanting 1/4 of the band's income. He was only a hired musician. The case was settled out of court. Bev wanted to re-launch ELO in 1988 but Jeff could not be bothered at that point. Then Bev started ELO Part II without Jeff...

 

A strange thing for me was that Zoom actually was the first ELO album in ages, maybe ever, to not include any major hit whatsoever. During the 80's ELO had somewhat fewer hits yet Time had "Hold On Tight". Secret Messages had "Rock N' Roll Is King" and Balance Of Power had "Calling America".

I'm not so sure about "Alright" was the right choise being the lead single of the Zoom album. I would have prefered "Moment In Paradise" myself.

 

As if that EVER would happen nowadays .......... by the way, nice sig you got there

Off topic, the last Oceansize Album could also use a fair amount of less compression or whatever it is, that makes some parts of songs nearly unlistenable.....shame really

 

Nice avatar you've got too

Yeah, each of their releases has got progressively more maximised. Still, it's nowhere near as bad as some stuff I've heard. At least with Oceansize it kind of suits the music whereas for Zoom it's totally inappropriate. I hope the third album doesn't end up any worse

 

My opinion exactly. They must have convinced him to market it under the ELO moniker in hopes of selling more copies. And hey, at least George and Ringo are on it!

Evan

 

The Japanese version of ZOOM has an extra track ("Black Limousine" I think it's called), but I've never heard it as I can't find a copy of the thing anywhere.

 

The track is called "Long Black Road".

 

Are you saying they are being pressed then dumped? What do you mean?

 

Just a guess, but it may be that many record stores still have the old CD pressings of "On the Third Day", "Face the Music", and "A New World Record" in stock (it certainly seems like Sony has kept these in print pretty much right up until the reissues are coming out, given that very recently I've still seen the old versions on store shelves), and these stores will start putting this old, outdated stock in used bins and sell off to make room for the remasters (or simply to avoid having two versions of the albums in the new bins). It does seem like Sony is on the ball enough from a clerical standpoint to stop making the old versions after the remasters come out, as it seemed like when the 2001 remasters came out, the old variations of those four albums disappeared relatively quickly.

 

The latest RECORD COLLECTOR has a "review" of the new remasters but with no mention of the bonus tracks or sound quality. I suspect they either got prerelease copies or are blowing smoke in anticipation.

 

I believe this "review" was mentioned on the ELO "Showdown" mailing list, and I think the consensus was that they were simply reviewing the albums and trying to make it seem like a review of the remasters, since, well, even a review of a remaster will discuss the music. Pretty strange review style, though. Might as well review the entire remastered Beatles catalog, the rest of the ELO remasters, and the Beach Boys "Smile" boxed set if all that is required of a remaster review is discussion of the music contained therein.

 

Re: ELO's Zoom....stinks...

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Quote:
Originally Posted by reb
Possible evidence is that mint copies of ELO cd's have been turning up in the "used bins". I know for a fact that the source for these is not customer trade ins.

I think Reb is referring to the deadbeat label execs who routinely dump free promo CDs into used record stores.

 

Magazines like "Record Collector" or "Mojo" are usually no help at all if you want to know anything about the SOUND. They can review entire remastered box-sets without giving you the slightest hint of the sound on these whatsoever. If they do mention the sound it will often be like; "Oh, by the way, the CD is remastered in 24-bit, giving it a new clarity". These kind of observations will of course not be good enough for us here at the forum. I rarely buy those magazines anymore.

 

The more I listen to this CD, I realize that as an ELO album, it, in most cases would probably be considered a weak outing by anyone other than a die hard ELO fan like myself. However, if I look at it for what it really is, a Jeff Lynne solo effort, then I think it's on par with 'Arm Chair Theatre'. Just my humble opinion of course.

Hopefully after all these ELO re-issues in the next few months, Jeff will release a new solo, or new ELO album.

 

Really? Eric Idle? I own the Zoom DVD but I don't remember Eric Idle on it. It's been a while since I've spun this DVD though I do enjoy it.
And just to weigh in, I never liked the album Zoom.

Deke

 

To be more specific: Eric Idle can be seen between the songs Alright and Lonesome Lullaby in the audience.

 

I can't remember if it was on the Face The Music website or in the Showdown mailing list, but ZOOM has already been deleted by Sony, and the rights have reverted to Lynne. Reportedly he will do an expanded version for release on his own label sometime next year, with plans to do the same for ARMCHAIR THEATRE.

BTW, I see Ed Begley Jr. in the second still not far from Idle.