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ELO didn’t garner much respect in the late 70’s onward.
Critical thinking had turned towards Punk and New Wave as
saving the moribund rock music genre from 1976 through the
early 80’s. Frankly ELO leader Jeff Lynne kept the band around
past their expiration date producing albums with increasingly
diminishing returns after “New World Record” and that tarnished
their early reputation somewhat. Bands need to know when to
call it quits (R.E.M. are you listening?). Music critics like
any other criticism are easily blinded by new “movements”
in music getting excited at style (look at the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s)
over substance. Usually after a couple of years they’ll revise
that opinion and pretend that all the superlatives they heaped
on something were never said. ***
All of that said Sony has reissued most of ELO’s catalog
on CD. Strangely Sony reissued “El Dorado,”“Discovery”, “Time”
and “Secret Messages” first in the U.S. and were surprised
when these poor albums didn’t sell all that well (it seems
that they had forgotten that with the exception of “Discover”
that these were not the band’s best selling (“El Dorado” did
chart well but not as well as the two succeeding albums did
and did spawn one hit with the infectious Beatlesque “Can’t
Get It Out of My Head”) and put the reissues on hold for a
number of years. We finally have ELO’s first three albums
and their two breakthrough albums (in terms of sales) available
in remastered deluxe packaging for fans of the band. I’ll
be discussing the first three albums here and deal with “Face
the Music” and “New World Record” in a separate review. ---
“No Answer” (legend has it that the title comes from an
oversight by a secretary who called EMI in the UK to find
out the title of the band’s debut. When they didn’t get an
answer the executive at United Artists took her comment literally)continued
on with the developments seen in the last two albums by The
Move Roy Wood’s band that Jeff Lynne had joined at the end
of their UK chart success. Lynne and Wood had always intended
to form Electric Light Orchestra but Wood was contractually
obligated to provide one more album under the successful moniker
of his band. So “No Answer” was actually recorded at roughly
the same time as “Message from the Country” the last Move
album. Wood and Lynne had wanted to integrate orchestral music
into rock much as The Beatles did with their mid-period psyc
hedelic songs such as “I Am The Walrus” (Lynne was often quoted
that ELO was designed to pick up where that particular song
left off). ---
Brimming with creative ideas, songs and playing the album
opens with “10538 Overture” a song originally designated as
a B-side for a Move single. Once multi-instrumentalist Wood
added his scrapping on his cheap Chinese made cello Lynne
and Wood realized they had truly found discovered the first
song for their next project. Lynne’s songs are certainly the
more melodic of the two of them but Wood’s are equally dynamic
and more experimental ( the exception is Lynne’s brilliant
Leonard Bernstein inspired “Manhattan Rumble”) providing a
nice to balance to Lynne’s songs. The albums single the nostalgia
t inged “Mr. Radio” which echoes music written and recorded
in the 20’s (even down the to filtered vocal by Lynne) received
considerable FM airplay at the time and although the album
didn’t chart well in the U.S. it did provide the fledgling
ELO an audience. ***
Wood’s “First Movement” was clearly inspired by Mason
Williams’ 60’s hit “Classical Gas” with its interplay of guitar
and sweeping strings. You can actually hear an echo of Williams’
song in the chord progression of the tune. It’s a nice tip
of the hat to that unusual hit single. Like all of Wood’s
material for the album it demonstrates his sharp wit and ability
to pick up just about any instrument and make coherent musical
sounds come out of it within a short span of time. While his
playing might not match the abilities of the classically trained
musicians who would join ELO upon Wood’s departure the playing
is nothing else inspired. ***
The album is supplemented by four bonus tracks all of
them alternate mixes or takes of album tracks. We get a shortened
aborted alternate take of “The Battle of Marston Moor”. It
highlights Wood’s string playing. “Nellie Takes Her Bow” is
an alternate mix of the final version. “Mr. Radio” is featured
with a different take that features an extensive violin introduction
by Wood. “10538 Overture” is the first take of the tune with
an alternate mix and runs slightly longer with a slightly
different vocal take by Lynne. All will be essential for ELO
fans. The booklet includes extensive information on the recording
sessions with wry and affectionate comments from Wood and
Lynne on their first collaboration as ELO. ***
I should warn fans whose first purc hase might have been
"On the Third Day", "Face the Music" or "A New World Record"
that the first ELO album is a bit different; although all
the basic pieces were in place the band's sound changed significantly
after Wood's departure (he appeared on the second album as
well before leaving to form Wizzard). ***
There has been a bit of a stink created about mastering
engineer Peter Mew’s overuse of Sonic Solutions “No Noise”
to eliminate the considerable tape hiss due to all the overdubs
done by Wood, Lynne and drummer Bev Bevan. While the sound
is a bit sterile with some of the high end clipped the trade
off of considerable tape hiss from the master recordings (which
were used for the first time in this transfer since the original
vinyl release) makes sense. T h e question is how much tape
hiss fans would have wanted eliminated. That’s going to be
up to the individual fan. I wouldn’t suggest trading in or
selling your earlier CDs until you hear the album in full
and decide if the sound appeals to you. ***
In a perfect world the high end of the sound wouldn't
be clipped and the tape hiss eliminated or, at the very least,
reduced. We don't live in that world quite yet. This reissue
sounds exceptional given the technology of yesterday and today.
It certainly improves on the previous CD issue with a lot
more detail evident in the recordings and better overall clarity.
Final Words:
"No Answer" sounds unlike anything else in the ELO catalog
with its sparse string parts (all played by Wood) but catches
Lynne, Wood and Bevan in full creative bloom. It's a pity
it took so long for this effort to finally arrive in the United
States but the album was worth the wait with the extensive
bonus tracks included. Although there aren't any major discoveries
(such as unreleased songs from the sessions) the bonus tracks
do provide a glimpse into the creative core of the group.
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