Nothing can top getting the 2lp directors cut of Secret Messages, but I look forward to giving Jeff more of my money for whatever he decides to release. A repress of Zoom would be nice.
No ELO record for RSD in ELO's "50th Anniversary" year. Missed opportunity to arouse some extra interest, or does no one really give a damn about RSD anyway and Lynne is keeping the goodies for later?
Would be pretty neat if we got some live audio from the 81 concerts but knowing Jeff that will likely never happen
I am wary of any collection that is from Jeff Lynne's ELO as he has been re-recording his songs to sound like the originals so he owns them and can make more money.
I don’t begrudge him making more money from his songs, but what the re-recording lose is the personality the Bevin , Tandy, Groucutt, D’Alberquerque brought to the songs. At the very least he needs to get someone who can play drums well.
I wouldn't be opposed to any artist owning their master recordings or making new ones of a suitable standard for advertising and which generally sound great. If someone wants the originals, they aren't being deleted. Also, what is really wrong with Jeff Lynne - a professional musician - making more money?
The question could really be: How many years was there a functioning ELO? Certainly not 50. Probably 24 or so if you count the original run and the more recent years. But 50 sounds more impressive from a marketing standpoint.
I'm all in favor of JL making a living. Heck, I paid $300 for the Wembley ticket in June 2017, so I am sure Jeff got a cut of that. And when the ELO Part II albums are re-released on vinyl in a few months, I'm certain Jeff is making money off those too.
Who really cares? The entity, in one form or another, has existed in periods for this time period, and people have been enjoying their music during the half-century. Quibble over the time period? Meh. More important things to do...like spin ANWR here in a moment.
Did they actually play live on that tour? I mean, there’s a reason there is no live album from their peak-popularity Out of the Blue tour.
I saw them first in May 1974 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium during the "On the Third Day" tour, before they hit big. Bev Bevan and Richard Tandy were amazing, The night before we had seen Todd Rundgren & Utopia at the same venue, I think it was their first tour, Todd performed the opening set solo with backing tracks before Utopia came out. I remember him saying "Someday everyone will be doing it" about using backing tracks!
Are you asserting that they didn't play live on the OOTB tour? Your statement was poorly drafted, maybe to be a bit snarky, I don't know.
It's not only my assertion. It's well documented (and I saw it happen in Providence; it was pathetic). Wrong Out of the Blue: Live at Wembley - Wikipedia Jeff Lynne Song Database - Electric Light Orchestra - Out Of The Blue / The Big Night Tour " The band was a subject of a 1979 lawsuit from Brass Ring Production, the promoters of the big shows with Heart at the Pontiac Silverdome on August 12th and 13th. This promoter tried to sue the band saying that he paid for a live show but didn't get one. In truth, the promoter was using this as an excuse to get back some lost money due to skyrocketing costs from shoddy local production support and softer than expected ticket sales. An ELO spokeman's response was, "anyone who knows anything knows that a lot of groups use tapes as part of their show."
In 1986 I saw the Peter Gabriel's So tour and half-way during the set there seemed to be a breakdown in the power and Peter comes to the mike and addresses the audience and says "This may not mean a lot to all of you but it does to the crew in the back, Tape" I'm paraphrasing, but apparently the computers were fried and they had tapes for all the background sounds they could'nt play live that were programmed into the computers. Bands had to use back-ups to recreate the sounds on the albums. Today everything is programmed into the synthesizers and computers they bring on stage. And this was the band: David Rhodes (guitar), Manu Katché (drums), David Sancious (keyboards), Tony Levin (bass, funk fingers, stick), later Youssou N'Dour (vocals), various members of Le Super Etoile De Dakar (percussion, talking drums, vocals) Imagine them miming their parts, I don't think so
^^^ But there have always been bands that truly play live. If they can’t exactly reproduce the record, so be it. (Or they add auxiliary musicians.) The ELO excuse that “anyone who knows anything” knows it’s part of a concert is just weak and so blinkered.
But, but...in response to a lawsuit against Heart someone with ELO in whatever context said some tapes were used often on shows so, yeah, those musicians mimed their parts. Lol. smile emoji. whatever. Did anyone else see the OOTB tour, Providence or otherwise, and think it was so "un-live" that it was pathetic? Did anyone see the last tour and think it was so "un-live" that it was pathetic? I was there (3rd row, center, Nashvegas) and nah, didn't think it was pathetic. But back to celebrating this wonderful pop group/artist, I scored an original sealed OTTD and enjoyed it immensely on opening and spinning.
