This is the best Electric Light Orchestra album since 1977's Out Of The Blue. The only problem with that claim is that ELO didn't make it. For lack of a better description, this is a Jeff Lynne tribute CD that features re-creations of the classic ELO sound from the '70s performed by a bunch of indie musicians that I've never heard of before now (Bleu McAuley, the Candy Butchers, Papas Fritas, Jellyfish). The songs are totally derivative but delightfully so. Also, the production is perfect. Somehow, the band was able to perfectly duplicate all of Lynne's characteristic sounds: strumming 12-string guitars, synth flourishes with "futuristic, outer space sounds", the overdubbed vocals panning left to right, and, of course, the ELO strings. In the end, I really don't care about who made or produced the music - I just like the album. If you like any of Jeff Lynne's work with ELO, The Traveling Wilburys, Tom Petty, George Harrison, or Roy Orbison, or if you enjoyed listening to AM radio in the '70s, you should check this out.
A note about the horrid album title: male alpacas make a sound when breeding. This sound is called orgling. According to the liner notes, some of this album was recorded at Alpaca Grove in Groveland, MD. I can only assume that's where the title came from. They did put a spaceship on the album cover, so at least they got that right.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart.
Tracks: my favorite cuts are Ya Had Me Goin (which pays tribute to Evil Woman), Distracted, Make Me, Nothin' Will Ever Change, and Private Line. There are only two missteps: The Ol' College Try, and the band's misguided attempt at a hidden track. And misguided may be an understatement: the final track is 42:28, of which the first 4:18 is the album's last song, Sukaz Are Born Every Minute (Sukaz instead of Suckers? Really, guys?). This is followed by over 35 minutes of silence, followed by a surprisingly mediocre and truncated cover of ELO's Don't Bring Me Down which starts at the 40:33 mark. Not only does that mar an otherwise good album, it made listening to the entire CD for this blog not as pleasant as it could have been. Fortunately, thanks to iTunes, I can just program the track to stop at 4:18 and fix the band's mistake.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Even though I just recently heard about this album, I can't remember how that happened. Much to the dismay of my children, this disc hasn't left my truck's CD player since Amazon delivered it about 3 weeks ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment