Jeff Lynne's ELO to release new live album 17.11.17

Most people would say "Who?" You're giving people on the street way too much credit. Please don't take that as a criticism, but you'd be disappointed to know how little people know about music/musicians...even name of groups and song titles.

 

I'd be interested to compare the official audio with audience recordings to see if camera angles have been strategically edited to hide any overdubs that don't quite match up with the original footage, as I seem to recall Jeff flubbing a few lines during this concert... On the other hand, I received a virtual slap on the wrist from one of his camp's representatives for similarly analysing previous shows on the same tour, hence my reluctance to say too much openly anymore.

 

you can buy the vinyl version in Australia at a good price $105 Australian Jeff Lynne's ELO - Wembley Or Bust (180gm Vinyl)

 

Really??? Please, tell us more!

 

I have previously explained in another thread, and I can't really say any more. Sorry for being so vague, but it's for the best - especially considering who occasionally posts on this forum...

 

Totally respect the position you find yourself in, at the same time calling out the ridiculous behavior of the "camp's representatives" who feel it so necessary to guard the fragile egos and "smoke and mirrors" of certain situations to the point of fomenting the very speculation they wish to curtail...you can bet they won't turn your money away when you purchase their latest heavily-doctored live package...

 

Did you go to Wembley? To be honest I was surprised by the lack of mistakes. There's usually a handful of blobs that JL makes so I guess there must have been but I honestly cant remember any.

 

interesting.....

 

I wasn't at the Wembley show, but from what I've heard online, it seems as if the last batch of rehearsals* definitely paid off. Apart from Jeff not making as many mistakes as before, there doesn't appear to be a fraction as much reliance on pre-recorded elements. While I can appreciate that even the best quality audience recordings aren't going to compare with properly mixed soundboard audio, you can definitely hear a difference in the samples from Wembley Or Bust that have been released so far. According to one inside source, we might have a certain Mike Stevens to thank for ensuring this additional effort was put in - at least he didn't misinterpret constructive criticism from a small core of ELO's fans as simply being a knock on the current line-up's professionalism! (Can I get away with saying even this much? We shall soon see, I'm sure...)

*These took place after Richard's departure, not that I'm suggesting he was responsible for wanting the group to lean on "canned" help, though at least he had a valid excuse if the rumours of a serious health problem are true.

 

It was, been a fan since the late 70s and I never thought I would get to see them, fantastic night, pre ordered this afternoon

 

I must have misunderstood, apologies as I thought you were saying that JL had made quite a few mistakes.

 

From what I've heard of Turn To Stone from the Wembley concert (and I just finished comparing several different audience recordings with the newly-released official mix in preparing to write this post), it seems as if Jeff made a few small mistakes, but nothing too major that appears to have required correction - I'm surprised to hear that his brief hesitation after the fast section was kept in, which makes a huge difference after the Hyde Park show, where I could detect a lot of post production in contrast to the live webcast audio feed that I personally captured. As I said before, I really do hope that lessons have been learned. Thankfully, even though the overall mix still sounds more sterile than other shows I could think of, at least Wembley Or Bust doesn't seem to be affected too badly as a result of excessive compression... Jeff really needs to back off from this aspect of his production approach to let the professionals make his work under the ELO name shine in a way it deserves. After the promises from Rob Caiger that we'd be getting new all-analogue transfers of the group's back catalogue, my heart sank when I finally got to hear the HDtracks editions of Time and Secret Messages issued at the end of last year. Indeed, these proved to be so disappointing that I didn't even bother with the rest of the titles I'd been hoping to upgrade, so I'll gladly stick with the 2001-7 remasters as compiled in the Classic Albums Collection boxed set.

 

That's great. Thanks, smartiepants!

 

Just a page or so back and someone has commented that it sounds compressed to holy hell ....or something like that. I'll wait til I get the CD/DVD before I comment.

 

I was lucky enough along with 7 mates to use my employers hospitality box, A free bar & with no one behind us to tell us to sit down (or behave) we were all slightly over hydrated and had a right good old sing song, one of the best nights I have had at Wembley (both as a freebee & a paying punter) jezz we couldn't care less about what was or who was missing or what was wrong or over analysing it that has so far been topic of this and other threads we just went and had a bloody great time as did 60,000 other people

 

What's happened with Richard? Have he and Jeff had a falling out? When did this happen?

 

As someone who long since (mostly) accepted Jeff's use of compression, I didn't think the sample heard so far of Wembley Or Bust was any worse than usual, though I'll also be waiting for the whole package before passing judgement...

Jeff's been saying that Richard will return once he's up to performing again, which ties in with a rumour that he underwent surgery - possibly to repair damage caused in his wrists from arthritis - at some point before ELO was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which explained his absence for that occasion as well. On the other hand, it's also been claimed that Richard either left or was pushed because of disagreements about how little he contributed to the group's sound, with "evidence" suggesting his vocoder part and perhaps even piano wasn't always live. Note that I'm being very careful with my wording, though I'm inclined to believe Jeff, since there is footage out there showing Richard in visible pain at times, plus health issues would explain why he's been forced to reduce his playing. Whatever the case, I really do hope that he's able to make a comeback, even if the band's overall sound has improved somewhat following past criticisms of such quality musicians using canned elements in their performances.

If we look at ELO going all the way to the mid '70s, Jeff has always used some level of pre-recorded material to augment the players on stage, so it should be as natural to established fans as his tendency to go overboard with a compressor. Besides, few went after contemporaries such as Queen for doing the same on their opening and closing tracks on most tours, never mind the fact they'd run the entire middle section of Bohemian Rhapsody from tape while changing costumes. Although both bands relied on the same method to hide technical limitations, one seized the opportunity to create an effect out of this, while the other started off pushing the boundaries of what could be done with conventional rock and more classical instrumentation, first overcoming amplification issues then having to face various other obstacles in their efforts to recreate what could be heard on the actual studio albums. At this point, I'd just like to state these are two of my all-time favourite acts, and as something of a perfectionist myself, I can't begrudge my heroes the same in their own chosen paths, even if it sometimes may seem like I'm simply complaining about such aspects for the sake of it.

Sorry for that unexpectedly lengthy response, but I'm deep into editing a book on ELO that has given me an even greater appreciation of what exactly Jeff Lynne wanted from this musical evolution of The Move. I could never understand why Roy Wood abandoned the project he co-founded just months before, only now it's clear to me that he felt diverse enough to achieve with Wizzard, which he quickly did. By contrast, ELO was obviously the perfect vehicle for Jeff to marry strings with pop in a way The Beatles only laid a basic foundation for. Over the course of the '70s, he took this approach to its logical conclusion and was validated with the title track to Xanadu, which became ELO's first number 1 hit single here in the UK. Sure, the backlash to his embracing of disco and involvement with the aforementioned film may have caused some damage, but Jeff was then able to reinvent himself with the last three contractually required ELO albums, developing a new style that served him incredibly well as a producer to such major names as those who'd eventually form the Traveling Wilburys until he came full circle and actually got to produce The Beatles. After such an incredible career trajectory, it's great to see him recognised for being the pilot behind ELO's iconic spaceship for so long, and I certainly didn't expect he'd return to playing live or releasing new albums this late in life. As many of us continue to mourn the recent loss of a fellow Wilbury and collaborator in Tom Petty, it really is great to have Jeff doing so well. Any perfectionism or excessive use of compression is absolutely forgiven as far as I'm concerned, especially when there are far worse examples out there I could think of!

 

Thanks for providing that update on Richard (and the other insights). Much appreciated.

I hope that - if it is health related - Richard is able to rejoin Jeff for some future work/projects.

 

If we ignore the acoustic performances recorded at Bungalow Palace, the most recent studio project to feature Richard was Zoom all the way back in 2001, and even then his lone contribution was an electric piano overdub added at the last minute to Alright, which became the album's lead single. In terms of live involvement, it's incredible to think that he's been the only other member to be with Jeff ever since the very beginning of ELO, or at least until now. Whether he returns or not, I really do hope that he's well...

 

Hang on though.... who has also claimed RT left because of a disagreement? .The only person who has ever claimed that is you as far as I'm aware. The only info in the public domain is that RT is ill. There's info being posted here without foundation that simply suits your agenda and quite honestly looks pretty poor.

 

One of my sources about the possibility of there being a disagreement between Jeff and Richard (over the use of tapes) was someone with official access, plus there was talk of this over at the Horace Wimp fan forum... or at least that was until the moderators started deleting whole threads, supposedly at the request of Lynn Hoskins, administrator of the Showdown mailing list. In more recent times, I've been a lot more careful as to what I disclose here and on other message boards, so I can't blame your worries about it looking as if I'm the only person pushing that particular agenda. On the other hand, I'm surprised we still haven't got anything beyond Jeff's claims that Richard has been unwell - despite him now being absent from the touring version of ELO for several months, we're no closer to knowing what the problem is, not that anyone owes us such information, to be fair.

 

I'm on the HW forum mate. I've pulled you up there as well previously. No issue whatsoever with what you say other than there's simply no evidence to back it up. After all, I could say my sources say that RT has fallen out with JL over a dodgy chicken curry and there's no way anyone on this forum can disprove it.

 

You have indeed "pulled me up" on that forum as well, and the problem is that any evidence is quickly pulled. Well, except for audience recordings from shows on the Alone In The Universe Tour, which remain freely available for those who are interested enough to compare elements of certain tracks with their remade counterparts from the Mr. Blue Sky album, not that I'll be providing any further links or timestamps to the most obvious examples - I've definitely learned my lesson not to point out such things openly! Curiously, there doesn't appear to be any further explanation as to why Richard fell out with Dave Morgan outside a brief comment made online (that can still be found if you know where to look), and their reunion came to an end soon after they got back together for a promotional campaign intended to help launch the 2011 remaster of Earth Rise. ELO isn't exactly a band known for providing its fans with straight answers, leaving us to give it a shot based on what does make it out...

 

But that proves nowt man. Loads of live bands play to a click track with keyboards bits, effects etc fired in occassionally. Christ, I've played in pub bands that have done it. You make it sound like vast lumps of the 2016 tour was mimed. Remind me which gigs you attended on the tour?

 

To be honest, I've always had very little interest in watching Jeff perform live* (outside the occasional video on YouTube, which is normally just for the sake of curiosity)... He's always been honest about his dislike of touring and even releasing concert videos or albums, though I won't begrudge him playing to fans - especially as it's clearly helped him to realise just how beloved ELO's catalogue remains to so many. While quite a lot of bands do indeed rely on technical help, I much prefer Jeff's studio work, and it's been so fascinating to go through his classic material to study in great depth all of the fantastic sounds he created. Unlike so many of their contemporaries, you rarely hear stock keyboard presets in ELO tracks, with the mostly digital experimentation carried out back in the early '80s something I've gravitated to as a favourite period for this very reason.

*I once possessed the Zoom Tour Live DVD, but I'm not in a hurry to replace this after losing my only copy. If for nothing else, I only have an earlier version of the Wembley '78 show for the Discovery video album, though I'd love for a more complete set of ELO's promo clips to be one day released, though I'm going off-topic.