Out of the Blue [30th Anniversary Edition]
Out Of The Blue
The last ELO album to make a major impact on popular music, Out of the Blue was of a piece with its lavishly produced predecessor, A New World Record but it's a much more mixed bag as an album. For starters, it was a double LP, a format that has proved daunting to all but a handful of rock artists, and was no less so here. The songs were flowing fast and freely from Jeff Lynne at the time, however, and well more than half of what is here is very solid, at least as songs if not necessarily as recordings. "Sweet Talkin' Woman" and "Turn to Stone" are among the best songs in the group's output, and much of the rest is very entertaining. The heavy sound of the orchestra, however, as well as the layer upon layer of vocal overdubs, often seem out of place. All in all, the group was trying too hard to generate a substantial sounding double LP, complete with a suite, "Concerto for a Rainy Day." The latter is the nadir of the album, an effort at conceptual rock that seemed archaic even in 1977. Another chunk is filled up with what might best be called art rock mood music ("The Whale" , before you finally get to the relief of a basic rocker like "Birmingham Blues." Even here, the group couldn't leave well enough alone -- rather than ending it on that note, they had to finish the album with "Wild West Hero," a piece of ersatz movie music that adds nothing to what you've heard over the previous 65 minutes. In its defense, Out of the Blue was massively popular and did become the centerpiece of a huge worldwide tour that earned the group status as a major live attraction for a time. [Out of the Blue was reissued in 2007 as a 30th Anniversary Edition with new photos, liner notes and three bonus tracks, including "Quick and the Daft," "Latitude 88 North" and a home demo of "Wild West Hero" ] ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
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Credits »
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford - Reissue Coordination
Jeff Lynne - Producer
Jeff Lynne - Author
Jeff Lynne - Orchestration
Jeff Lynne - Reissue Producer
Jeff Lynne - Photography
Jeff Lynne - Memorabilia
Jeff Lynne - Choir Arrangement
Louis Clark - Conductor
Louis Clark - Orchestration
Louis Clark - Orchestral Arrangements
Louis Clark - Choir Arrangement
Robert Ellis - Photography
Mack - Engineer
Joseph M. Palmaccio - Mastering
Joseph M. Palmaccio - Reissue Mastering
Richard Tandy - Orchestration
Richard Tandy - Orchestral Arrangements
Richard Tandy - Choir Arrangement
Richard Tandy - Effects
Richard Tandy - Sequencers
Ryan Ulyate - Engineer
Kosh - Art Direction
Kosh - Design
Ria Lewerke - Art Direction
Ria Lewerke - Design
Barry Plummer - Photography
Laurence Stevens - Reconstruction
Jeff Magid - Reissue Producer
Shusei Nagaoka - Cover Illustration
Michael Bryan - Portraits
Rob Caiger - Liner Notes
Rob Caiger - Reissue Coordination
Tim Fraser Harding - Reissue Coordination
Bladys - Dancer
Spratley's Dancing Academy - Dancer
Bladys Turvis - Dancer
Goreen Turvis - Dancer
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