Did Xanadu Destroy ELO's AOR Reputation?

I assume you forgot that "I'm Alive" is one of those songs?

Seriously, it's a great trio of singles, imo. Kind of makes me wish ELO made a full album out of it.

 

Yes, I think Discovery did the damage for their "rock" or "albums" audience and turned them into a pop band. It was certainly the first album that disappointeed me. I didn't buy Xanadu or see the movie, though I did pick up a couple of the singles (but not the title track). I never liked Time either, which I bought but just thought was silly. They won me back somewhat with Secret Messages

 

While Disco - Very started the slide from being an album oriented rock band to a pop oriented band (with shades of ABBA and the Bee Gees thrown in), IMHO Xanadu was the nail in the coffin. It is no coincidence that Disco - Very was the original band's last platinum album in the U.S. (Xanadu went platinum too, but ONJ was a big star in her own right both with music and movies (Grease)). Every album after that sold less.

Without Don't Bring Me Down, how would Discovery have done? Thankfully engineer Mack told Jeff that he needed a rocked out song on that album. That song went to #4 in the U.S. and helped the album go platinum, but it does really stick out among the slicker, disco pop tracks. A successful add - on, I would say.

 

Not sure what their reputation was before. ELO became one of my favorite bands when I first heard Can't Get It Out Of My Head on the radio back in '74. I've always considered Jeff Lynne to be a pop songwriter. One of the very best in fact.

 

I’m stunned anyone remembers Xanadu. It was a flop, unless I’m thinking of some other movie.

 

It certainly lost money but it was a very expensive movie. People still saw it. And wished they hadn't. Not the career end that Gene Kelly would have wished for. It probably made that Evel Knieval movie seem like a much better idea in retrospect.

 

No, I always thought I’m Alive was a bit weak. Not as bad as The Fall and Don’t Walk Away, but far from ELO at their best.

 

Xanadu had a renaissance of sorts with a Broadway musical. Maybe 5-10 years ago?

 

At least he changed it up a bit for Electric Dreams, Let It Run's got more of a bite even if it does give a little 'lyrical' nod to the Eagles.

 

Yeah I think there was a one line review of it that went: Xanadon't.

The truth is it made it as a bit of a camp cult film. It got turned into a musical and had a nice dvd release that included the soundtrack.

 

If anything hurt my love of Jeff Lynne and/or ELO, it was this piece of total crap that followed the "Time" album ...

 

Oh ... and this bit of almost forgotten drivel ...

 

Oh Jesus. Yes, there was an Evel Kneivel movie. Forgot about that too.

 

I had completely forgotten about that song, movie, and video. Wow. Years later Lynne would say that he lost his way during the 1980s....this is Exhibit A.

This is still in the public domain and we can't get a proper release of Beatles Forever? BF is miles better than this abomination of a song.

 

I bought the 45 for this song. And promptly threw it out. Yikes.

 

Heh, I wonder what the movie did for the career of The Tubes?

 

Only because I'm a fan, I still own the 45 rpm and the 12" of "Doin' That Crazy Thing". If Jeff would have cut out about half of his over-produced ideas in this single and kept it down to the simple interesting groove with that electronic synth bit, it MIGHT have been a worthy song?

 

I'm on the opposite spectrum on this one, Love the Video 12 inch- instrumental and it's b Sooner or Later.
BF I thought was pretty cringeworthy, almost embarrassing.
With a big enough catalog, enough to pretty much please anyone

 

Never heard this before. It’s 3 years after the Time album, but it does seem like something Jeff fished out of his ‘songs for Time’ bin.

 

No but Don't Bring Down (Bruuce) did.

 

At least BF came on the heels of ELO's Lennon Medley during the Time Tour (which is a fantastic medley if we could ever get THAT properly released - I have it on a bootleg, at Koln). Video has no connection to anything remotely important, except that it has a reworked part from BF.

 

This one, "Heavy Head ", the flip-side of the Jeff Lynne produced Bev Bevan one-off JET 45rpm release (yes it's Jeff, Bev, Kelly and Richard all playing on this one), is clearly their WORST moment ever ...



I should add that my wife and I love the songs from the campy "XANADU". The movie is over the top silly and the lead actor (also in "The Warriors") was a horrible actor, in my opinion, who offered little to either movie. His acting was just flat.

 

Or would have predated Xanadu or Discovery....

 

I know ELO was still selling records and had hit singles, but by 1979 they had kind of stopped being in heavy rotation on the FM rock stations I listened to. I think Out of the Blue was the end of their heavy AOR FM radio run that began with Roll Over Beethoven but really solidified with the Eldorado LP.

 

It DID predate BOTH of those by two years of "Disco VERY" and three years of "Xanadu"