Customer Reviews

Elo 2

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sadly overlooked, even by many E.L.O. fans, "E.L.O. II" is Jeff Lynne's rock masterpiece (let's face it, "A New World Record" is a pop album). A quarter century after its release, it's still the closest anyone has come to producing something that can be called "classical rock" with a straight face. From the Move-like 'In Old England Town,' to the raveup of Chuck Berry's 'Roll Over Beethoven' (a Top 40 hit in the U.S.), to the majestic 'Kuiama,' "II" is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow chased by Yes, The Moody Blues, Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, Genesis, and others. The playing on the album is downright virtuostic and Lynne's production is top-notch as usual. You wonder after your first listen to the album why the band didn't explore some of the ideas on "II" further ("On The Third Day" bares no resemblance); on your second listen you realize they didn't need to.

Electric Light Orchestra II was a transitional album for ELO as Roy Wood departed in mid-stream (though he plays uncredited on the two "Boogies.") It's wildly experimental, at times rough and barely listenable, but it is a brilliant and stirring piece of work. (As has been noted, this album is entitled "II" by the ORIGINAL Electric Light Orchestra; it is not the self-titled debut of "The Electric Light Orchestra Part Two.") That settled, we can say that the 1973 album "II" by ELO is a masterpiece, albeit somewhat flawed by later ELO production standards. It was here that ELO truly became Jeff Lynne's band, and he makes the most of it. "Mama" is a lovely pastoral Lynne ballad, with a memorable instrumental break. "From the Sun to the Sun to the World" is an orchestral rave up and showcases new keyboardist Richard Tandy, who rocks his socks off here. Jeff contributes a memorable, smoking guitar solo. "Roll Over Beethoven" is the perfect marriage of orchestra with retro-rock and struck pretty big on the charts. It remains popular today, and is the definitive version of that oft-covered tune. "Kuiama" is a very ambitious prog-rock tune that lumbers along at times, soars celestially, and ultimately breaks your heart. It's unlike anything ELO has done since, and bears repeated listenings. Kudos to Bev Bevan for his perfect drumming on that tune and througout this entire album. Wilf Gibson's violin solo is stunning on "Kuiama." The album's lead-off track, "In Old England Town (Boogie #2)" is somewhat of a mis-step. Instrumentally interesting, it contains one of Jeff's harshest vocals ever. Check out the instrumental version of this song on EARLY ELO, which I greatly prefer. Still, ELO gets points for trying. This whole album has a very experimental air, and saw the band stretching its legs like never before or since. If the only ELO you know is from pop radio, you might give 1973's "II" a spin; it contains some really fine progressive rock. (Also look for the UK import expanded edition THE LOST PLANET which contains two discs with contributions from the Move's Carl Wayne and T. Rex's Marc Bolan.)

NOTE: On this page, we should be discussing an album entitled "II" by the ORIGINAL Electric Light Orchestra, not the self-titled debut of "The Electric Light Orchestra Part Two." That settled, we can say that the 1973 album "II" by ELO is a masterpiece, albeit somewhat flawed by later ELO production standards. It was here that ELO truly became Jeff Lynne's band, and he makes the most of it. "Mama" is a lovely pastoral Lynne ballad, with a memorable instrumental break. "From the Sun to the Sun to the World" is an orchestral rave up and showcases new keyboardist Richard Tandy, who rocks his socks off here. Jeff contributes a memorable, smoking guitar solo. "Roll Over Beethoven" is the perfect marriage of orchestra with retro-rock and struck pretty big on the charts. It remains popular today, and is the definitive version of that oft-covered tune. "Kuiama" is a very ambitious prog-rock tune that lumbers along at times, soars celestially, and ultimately breaks your heart. It's unlike anything ELO has done since, and bears repeated listenings. Kudos to Bev Bevan for his perfect drumming on that tune and througout this entire album. Wilf Gibson's violin solo is stunning on "Kuiama." The album's lead-off track, "In Old England Town (Boogie #2)" is somewhat of a mis-step. Instrumentally interesting, it contains one of Jeff's harshest vocals ever. Check out the instrumental version of this song on EARLY ELO, which I greatly prefer.

Still, ELO gets points for trying. This whole album has a very experimental air, and saw the band stretching its legs like never before or since. If the only ELO you know is from pop radio, you might give 1973's "II" a spin; it contains some really fine progressive rock.

Just for "Mama" alone - a song with lush, sweeping strings, and a poignant, honest, heart rending vocal from Jeff - this album rates four of five starts. A simply stunning song, is "Mama." But this also has the BEST EVER cover of ANY Chuck Berry song - in fact, ELO's recording of "Roll Over Beethoven" is the best version period of any Chuck song, even counting his own versions of his stuff. "Roll Over Beethoven" on this album is the perfect definition of what rock and roll is, and what it should be.

"From the sun to the world," "Kiuama," and "Down in old England Town," are all fantastic cuts in their own rights, also. Only 5 songs here, but they average over 8 minutes each in length.

Nothing here is similar in style to what would come on FACE THE MUSIC, OUT OF THE BLUE or TIME, but you can difinitely hear the seeds on this record. A great strength of this band is that their sound changed dramatically every two albums. ELO is one of the very few artists EVER (Zeppelin, Floyd, & Hendrix, among others, failed to achieve this) to score BOTH ten Top 40 albums and twenty Top 40 singles on the U. S. charts. From 1974 to 1986, these guys moved largely to their own beat in creating superlative and memorable music. Does ELO stand the test of time? Well, at least eight separate eBay auctions from April, 2001, for the ZOOM album, two months before it's to be released, all ended at over $75.00. 15 years after Jeff docked the space station, fans still have ENORMOUS cravings for ELO's particular & wonderful sound.

This isn't their first album, or the best, but it is their first of many GREAT albums, and is easily one of the all time top 10 under rated rock albums in history. If you like ELO, this is a great album to get, despite the fact that it didn't produce all the U. S. radio hits the subsequent disks would. Easily rates 5 of 5 stars!

I was really surprised at how raw and proggy the music on ELO II sounds - this is certainly light years away from the pop music of their late 1970s output and I would place ELO II (1973) alongside the good follow-up album On the Third Day (also 1973). For prog rock fans such as myself, both albums make for a fun listening experience, although On the Third Day has a tiny bit more in the way of pop tunes and straightforward songwriting. Speaking of which, my only (minor) complaint with ELO II is that the band does not commit 100% to the prog rock "vibe" - much like Kansas; 72-73 Styx and other bands that mixed English progressive rock with other styles, e.g. pop, hard rock etc. This nitpicking is overshadowed by the creative arrangements on the album and the good playing however - in fact, this may very well be ELO's most "out there" album and the one that prog rock fans might like the best. Indeed, this album was represented on the 1996 progressive rock box set "Superatural Fairy Tales" put out by Rhino.

The lineup on this album includes Jeff Lynne (electric guitar and lead vocals); Bev Bevan (drums and percussion); Wilf Gibson (violin); Mike Edwards (cello); Colin Walker (cello); Mike Albuquerque (electric bass guitar); and Richard Tandy (harmonium; acoustic piano; mini-moog synthesizer; and guitar). I really enjoyed the playing on this album and the multi-tracked string parts really contribute a lot to the distinctive sound of the music. As a prog fan, I loved the sounds Richard got on the moog synthesizer - which adds a lot to the "prog factor". The quality of the ensemble playing on this album is very good.

The five tracks on the album range in length from 6:54 to the 11:19 closing track Kuiama. Of the five tracks, the proggiest include In Old England Town (Boogie #2) (6:54), the superb From the Sun to the World (Boogie #1) (my favorite) (8:22), and Kuiama. The opening track is very heavy and features wonderfully harsh textures on Jeff's vocal parts; From the Sun to the World has some of the nicest piano playing I have heard from the band and boasts some great tone colors on the moog and good ensemble playing; and Kuiama just works very well from a composition perspective. Mama (7:03) is a softer, dreamier piece, with some great string parts and nice vocals by Jeff. For me, the only track that does not work very well is the bands' 8:10 minute adaptation of Chuck Berry's 1950s tune "Roll over Beethoven". This track opens with snippets from the first movement (allegro con brio) of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 (played on the strings) and then launches into a blistering section right out "Roll Over Beethoven", complete with pounding, "boogie-woogie" piano playing and screaming guitar lines. The remainder of the song alternates Chuck Berry with classic English progressive rock. My initial gut reaction to this track was that it was like combining ketchup with vanilla ice cream, although after repeated listens the track has grown on me. Admittedly, the proggier sections are pretty cool and feature some really interesting (albeit brief) string arrangements. By the way, this is the track selected by Rhino for inclusion on their prog rock box set.

This version of the CD has not been remastered, although the sound quality is OK. A remastered version of the CD is out there, but folks have complained about the sound quality and the shortened version of Roll over Beethoven. I have not listened to the remastered version, so I can not comment on it.

All in all, this may very well be the proggiest album ELO released and is recommended to open-minded proggers along with On the Third Day.

This is a great album,despite the fact it only has 5 songs. It's those 5 songs that make this album great.The songs are almost erie in a way, just like the preceding album and the move's albums too.I suggest you pick up this album if you like the move and the Idle race's style of music like I do.

Nifty title eh?
Oh, oh well...
Firstly, I advise you read a review that gives the album a poor mark in addition so that you can compare the good comments to the bad. Right, I find this album to be in the ELO's top three. (alongside their debut, and Eldorado). It is my opinion that this is an underated album (not a classic though) which is shown in many other of the reviews written around mine. This is their second album, and was mostly written after the departure of Roy Wood. However he did contribute on several tracks, which is obviouse when listening to the two albums that surround it- the debut sounding very similar, the successor sounding completely different.
However this is straying from the point, the album contains five very good tracks, one being the famous cover of Roll Over Beethoven. I will give you a tip though. Buy the ELO 2: Lost Planet CD set as it has many other tracks as well as early versions of some tracks played here. (there are three versions of Roll Over Beethoven!). I also advise you to buy this set only if you are a hardcore ELO fan as it will hold little interest to any one else.
On the whole though, anyone who has other ELO's and likes them can get this with reasonable assurence of satisfaction (unless you only like the albums after Out Of the Blue) and the same goes for someone 'into' music who wants to give ELO a go, hey, that rhymes! I should be a lyrisist. After all I've greet speling...

1973's "Electric Light Orchestra II" was ELO's second album, and their first with singer/songwriter/guitarist Jeff Lynne firmly at the helm (after the departure of Roy Wood). The album is very good but a bit uneven, as it shows Lynne & the band still finding their way musically, with their trademark classical prog-rock still in the development stages, waiting to be fully flowered on their third album, "On The Third Day." Comprising of five long songs, there are three that definitely stick out: "Mama" is a beautiful, luscious tune, one of Jeff Lynne's greatest compositions. Then, of course, there's the band's amazing 8 minute treatment of Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven," complete with musical cameos from Beethoven himself. And finally, there's "Kuiama," an impressive 11 1/2 minute piece of melodic prog rock. The other two songs don't fare as well: "In Old England Town" sounds a bit ragged (and so does Jeff's vocals on it), and "From The Sun To The World" has it's bright moments, but doesn't gel too well as a whole. But hey, three out of five ain't bad. ELO still had some musical growth to do, but this album showed beyond a doubt that Jeff Lynne & company had the potential for bigger things, as time would definitely prove. "Electric Light Orchestra II" is not a perfect ELO album, but when it's good, it's darn good, and "Mama" alone is worth the price of admission.

If you've never listened to ELO before their Out Of The Blue album you might not recognize the band! Jeff strayed so far from the original intent of the band in ELO's later albums it's almost unbelieve it's the same band! I wonder how many people like both "eras" of ELO! I do, but I think I'm the exception most likely. The word for the early ELO music is "haunting"! Does any of his later music appear "haunting"? I don't think so! His later songs seems about as "friendly" and "comfortable" as anyone has ever written, with hooks all over the place! His earlier work such as this cd and On The Third Day was intent on injecting classical musical instruments into a rock format. If you like classical music used on rock music this is as good as it gets, and I do! You don't hear much classical music in rock anywhere else, maybe snippets in some other bands songs (One other band I have to mention that has alot of classical music in a rock format is Trans Siberain Orchestra, TSO, you might want to check them out!) So to conclude, if you like Jeff Lynne's voice, classical music, long songs (all are about 8 minutes), and nice music to "trance out" on, this album is for you! But don't expect Mr Blue Sky!

I think ELO was in a progressive rock mood when they wrote THIS album, because there's only five songs on it and they ALL are stretched out in time length compared to any other ELO album.

So does it work? Are there enough interesting ideas to suggest a prog rock album? The answer is yes, but not *always*.

First thing you need to know, is that every single vocal melody on here is highly melodic and contains that special kind of incredible magic that Jeff Lynne obviously has a talent for- writing memorable hooks. There's no problems there. This album has enough vocal hooks to keep your mind focusing on the music at ALL times.

Some of the strings though, sound like they were stolen directly from classical pieces and not used in a very creative way. In fact, some of these classical ideas repeat more than they should, which explains why the tracks are quite long.

However, most of the time there's some interesting arrangements hidden in the background that really makes you think you're listening to a very talented orchestra doing everything in its power to create mind-boggling jams and solos, and THIS is the kind of stuff that makes ELO II a pretty fantastic album, despite some flaws. The final track for instance, has an instrumental section that just floors me. It's so good.

Every so often, the band will come up with some musical idea that will probably surprise and delight you, so that makes ELO II an album worth owning.

I HAVE to mention how this version of "Roll Over Beethoven" absolutely RULES. It goes through a series of interesting orchestral arrangements, and even morphs into a 50's style rocker to give it a very unique sound. Great version.