Customer Reviews

Face the Music

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

HERE IS THE NEWS

Epic/Legacy has now given us this stellar re-mastered edition of FACE THE MUSIC, and it's a real treasure. It's one of those documents that vividly illustrate why ELO leader Jeff Lynne is considered on of the leading lights in popular music history.

The original 1975 classic by ELO is a bracing collection of some pretty hot tunes; on this re-mastered edition, these songs sound better than ever, and the graphics are wonderfully expanded, with a booklet full of rare photos and insightful commentary by Lynne and ELO historian Rob Caiger.

THE SONGS

Here is a song-by-song review...

"Fire On High" is the ultimate progressive rock instrumental...Jeff Lynne packs more drama and punch and verve into this 5:31 minutes than many composers acheive in a lifetime. (Drummer Bev Bevan more than lives up to his "Basher" moniker here, with deft, speedy, and powerful work on the skins.) The drama builds majestically until it all finally explodes into a searing acoustic guitar riff--a symphony of guitars that dive and soar like a downhill skier.

"Waterfall" is the definition of "achingly gorgeous"--so pretty it almost hurts. The lyrics are sad, but cathartic, and the melodic vocal interplay is fantastic. It's a fine example of ELO's ablity to wash a song in strings without it all becoming sappy or soupy.

Then there's the decidedly funky "Evil Woman," one of the giant, enduring hits of the decade...that pounding piano motif is instantly recognizable and the background "hey hey hey's" stick in your brain long after the song ends.

One of ELO's better--but oft-forgotten--songs is "Nightrider," a clever little tribute to Jeff Lynne's earliest days in rock and roll, and it moves at a nice gallop. It acheived minor success as a single, and features some intriguing and engaging mood shifts, plus some fine vocal work from bassist Kelly Groucutt.

Another track that is sometimes unjustifiably overlooked is the rollicking "Poker," which is a dizzying duel between crunchy guitars and the swirling synths of Richard Tandy, and some amazingly Beatlesque harmonies. Why this was never released as a single is beyond me, but it's a real corker.

The band cools down for the massive hit ballad, "Strange Magic," which is beautifully atmospheric and engaging with mysterious imagery and yet more patented Lynne melodic brilliance.

The comedic country detour, "Down Home Town," is no joke musically--well-played, shifting rhythms and moods, and a sing-along chorus that--while humorous--remains memorable.

ELO always closes well, and "One Summer Dream" is no exception. It wafts along like a river flowing into Autumn, with some lovely chord changes and vocals and Bevan's deft drumming.

BONUS MATERIAL

In this re-mastered edition, we get an interesting alternate take on the intro to "Fire On High," plus the U.S. single edit of "Strange Magic," and the beautiful instrumental mix of "Waterfall." But the real attraction is a "stripped down" mix of "Evil Woman," with a great vocal from Jeff and energetic playing from the band.

Again, it should be noted that the restored and expanded graphics are topnotch and the liner notes are outstanding. Hail to Rob Caiger, Lynn Hoskins, and all of those ELO fans/historians who helped make this project happen! Well done!

RECOMMENDATION

There are days when this is my favorite ELO album. And while I generally rate it barely behind A NEW WORLD RECORD or OUT OF THE BLUE, I still believe it is one of the best and most important album releases of the 1970s--by any artist. It's not as "tied together" or cohesive as many of ELO's albums, but it is an outstanding collection of individual tunes.

In short, there are no weak songs here--only great songs, greater songs, and greatest songs. Somewhere on the radio right now, "Evil Woman" or "Strange Magic" is playing; and "Fire On High" remains the finest rock instrumental ever recorded by anyone.

Don't miss this re-mastered edition! If you already love ELO or have earlier editions of FACE THE MUSIC, you really owe it to yourself to hear the much-improved sound, check out the updated graphics, and enjoy it all over again.

FACE THE MUSIC would qualify as a BEST OF collection for most bands. Pick it up and discover why!

1975's "Face The Music" was ELO's fifth album, and it remains my personal favorite ELO disc to this day. It was the first ELO album I ever bought, and it made me a lifelong fan. I was completely blown away by the album's most famous trio of songs that I kept hearing on the radio: the magnificent orchestral rocker, "Fire On High," and the instant pop classics "Evil Woman" & "Strange Magic." And I was equally thrilled by the album's other musical gems, such as "Waterfall," "Nightrider," "Down Home Town," and the dreamy album closer, "One Summer Dream." I love the band's Beatle-esque flair for melody, their fine musicianship & production, and the excellent singing, songwriting, and guitar work of leader Jeff Lynne. Great stuff all the way.Capturing the group right smack in the middle of the 70's, "Face The Music" is the Electric Light Orchestra at their most creative. I enjoy all of the band's albums, including other great works like "On The Third Day," "Out Of The Blue" and "Time," but "Face The Music" is the one that I have the most fondness for. Now, if only those folks at Sony Music would give this album a long-overdue remaster treatment....one can dream. :-)

This deluxe remastered edition of the album features a terrific sounding remaster as well as four bonus tracks. From the disturbing opening track "Fire on High" to the lilting "Waterfall" (one of Lynne's personal favorites)to "Evil Woman" the album shows Lynne in top form. The richest melody and ballad (although I love "Waterfall") (in my opinion) was the closer "One Summer Dream".

We get four bonus tracks. The original "Fire on High" early mix which lacks many of the overdubs on the final version. An stripped down mix of "Evil Woman" (Lynne in retrospect feels is superior to the album version. I would agree that rocks harder without the string and backing vocal overdubs and sounds equally as good)created for this release to mimic the early version without overdubs. We also get the single version of "Strange Magic" which has only appeared on import "Best of" collections to date and a lovely instrumental mix of "Waterfall" without the vocals.

The booklet features brief comments by Lynne on the songs as well as a brief recording history of the album, how it performed on the charts and photos of the various sleeves for the 45's issued from the album. We also get a pictue of the infamous electric chair billboard that promoted the album in Los Angeles.

I have the gold edition released by Sony 7 or 8 years ago and this sounds slightly better to my ears than that original edition. The cool back cover with the band's eyes darkened so it appears that they are staring out at you from the cover is replicated here. The original gold CD had a fold out sleeve that basically replicated the original inner sleeve with lyrics on it. Here it's presented as the much more user friendly booklet.

"Face the Music" became the big breakthrough album for ELO. "El Dorado" and "On the Third Day" set the stage for their largest hit album to date. With singles "Evil Woman" and the ballad "Strange Magic" ELO took the airwaves by storm. During the 70's there were lots of great singles on so-so albums "Face the Music" proved an exception to the rule with each song almost as inventive as the last. "Down Home Town" has always felt like a bit of filler but its melodic filler. The first album recorded in Germany with engineer Mack at the helm this would be the first of many recorded in that studio located in the basement of a hotel.

This has to be my favorite album from ELO. It shows their complete versatility and their coming of age. The whole band shines here, even though it seems that Jeff Lynne is prepared to steal the spotlight. FACE THE MUSIC finally had ELO on a multitude of radio stations from AM to AOR. "Fire on High" was even used by ABC's Wide World of Sports for years. Most people remember "Strange Magic" and "Evil Woman" from airplay in 1975 and 1976. Both were huge hits and allowed the band to breath a sigh of relief. The limelight was there and Lynne, Bev Bevan, Richard Tandy, and the others were standing firmly in it.

Beyond what you heard on the radio or TV, even though you may not of known it was ELO, is music that is very respectable. "Poker" is one of the harder rockers the band had done up to that time and it is my all-time favorite. With ELO you always get the great strings, keyboards, vocals, and harmonies; FACE THE MUSIC is no different, except it set the standard that they would have to live up to for the rest of their careers. Other great songs include "Nightrider" and "Waterfall". Not just another ELO release, this is the pinnacle of their success. The other perfect disc I would point to from them would be OUT OF THE BLUE. This is atypical 70's music, but is none-the-less great!

I had a lot of fun with my vinyl copy of this album when I'd get into arguements with people as to whether or not backward masking was used on records. I'd plop this record down on the turntable and run the "Fire on High" track backwards and you'd clearly hear "The music is reversible, but time is not...turn back...turn back...turn back." Also, at the beginning of the song Down Home Town they've got "Face the mighty waterfall" backward masked into the intro.

I won't repeat what everyone else wrote. I think most of us know where this album fits into the history of ELO and what the songs are like, but what we're wondering is whether or not to pony up the money to but another copy of it.

Well, I listened to this version through my computer on nice Sennheiser headphones and I can't tell where the improvement in sound happened. Perhaps I can hear it on some of the quieter passages.

However, I can say that the "stripped down" Evil Woman is very cool, especially with the additional verse that isn't on the original. Also, the Waterfall instrumental is great. The "strange magic" single edit is the same truncated and out-of-context version that I got rather sick of when it was played on the radio all the time. The alternative version of Fire on High sounds like the intro to an old Twilight Zone episode only it goes on and on and on. It was interesting but I'll probably skip it next time I listen to this CD.

So, should you but this again? Sure, there's just enough here to warrent spending the money. Of course, if you don't own it in any form then here's your chance to get a truly great 1970's progressive power-pop period piece that you'll find to be a lot of fun.

This has to be the ultimate classic work of ELO. Other following albums continued to add more of a mainstream synthesized sound while departing more from the hard but concise orchestra sound that Face the Music provides.

This album, although too short minuteswise, is my favorite of the ELO classics. Fire on High, Evil Woman, Strange Magic and One Summer Dream anchor this transitional album. The only weak song is Down Home Town, but it worth the oversight for the rest.

This was originally released on CD without the intros to Fire on High and Strange Magic. It also missed a string finale to Waterfall. A letter of apology from a Jet executive appeared in a Digial Audio magazine in 1987 because of it.

Someone did me a favor by stealing my earlier copy of this CD. I ended up buying another one from Amazon.com, and this time around is better than the first time!

While ELO was becoming a huge commercial success, but just before they quite figured out how to make a big orchestra rock and roll, that's when Face The Music appeared. The album had elements that would appeal to fans of ELO's earlier music (including the famous reverse-tracking intro to "Fire On High"), several songs that were clearly pop-oriented for mass appeal, and a handful of lovely but seemingly gratuitous short string interludes between songs.

The net effect was rather like meeting another family one time while on vacation somewhere. Afterward, overall, you may have vaguely pleasant recollections of them, if reminded of a few specific details about how the kids behaved or how the mother fixed her pasta salad or how the father loved to tell stories about his career in grocery wholesaling...but their last name just never springs to mind in the course of a typical day.

Face The Music is like that. There's no way you can ever forget hearing "Evil Woman" or "Strange Magic" or "Poker" or "Night Rider." But you may forget that they were all on the same album, along with other excellent material like the painfully beautiful "Waterfall" and "One Summer Dream." There wasn't a clinker in the bunch--with the possible exception of "Down Home Town," which must surely be an acquired taste.

So...why am I glad someone stole my first CD of this album? Because, for largely incomprehensible reasons, when CBS released Face The Music on CD the first time, they butchered it!

The intro to "Fire On High" was gone. So were those seemingly gratuitous orchestral interludes...which, once made conspicuous by their absence, actually turned out to be the glue that held the songs together as a unified whole.

Fortunately, between those Dark Ages and now, someone prevailed upon CBS Records to put back the missing material. It's now the same album as when it was originally released by United Artists way back in 1975, lovingly transferred to digital form. It's been made whole again!

The only drawback to the CD is that you can't truly play it backwards on average CD players, and thereby listen to the supposed secret message that seems to have so terrified the CBS executives.

For those who haven't heard it and don't have analog means of reversing the track, you're missing things like footsteps running backward down a hallway, and a pingpong ball eerily bouncing in reverse time. Then comes a warning--seemingly intoned by Peter Ford-Robertson, although not credited--that says: "The music is reversible, but time is not. Turn back. Turn back. Turn back." (Which is the meaning, from Greek, of the word "repent." Not exactly a satanic message, if I read my New Testament correctly!) And in the old days, of course, if you didn't turn back right then, the needle would drop off the end of the groove.

This CD is the best opportunity to hear Face The Music the way it was meant to be, and the way you remember it being. Just like traveling back in time to get reacquainted with those nice folks you met on vacation once upon a time...

A lot of people only know ELO from their later and admittedly oft-cheesy post-"Out Of The Blue" work and from the handful of their late-period upbeat pop tunes that get recycled in commercials and movie trailers. And these people probably regard ELO as a variant of Styx, but with occasional orchestral arrangements. But there was a time when ELO actually rocked out and brought a novel sound, and not always an uplifting and happy one.

"Face The Music" is, on the whole, a dark album. It kicks off with an unsettling intro with minor keys, backwards vocals (which apparently proclaim "The music is reversible, but time isn't...turn back..turn back...turn back.."), an ominous choir, and strange sound effects. (Mini-overtures of this type can also be heard on 1974's "Eldorado" and 1981's "Time".) We then leap into "Fire On High", a complex and musically quite interesting instrumental with high-speed guitars and what sounds like a harpsichord. Not often heard these days on the radio, this is one of ELO's best numbers.

The big hits from this album were, of course, "Evil Woman" and "Strange Magic". The latter is also one of the group's strongest songs in their entire repertoire, perfectly capturing a certain melancholy longing that makes it an ideal companion to "Can't Get It Out Of My Head" from the previous year's "Eldorado".

"Poker" is a high-octane tune with some clever lyrics, and "Waterfall" and "Night Rider" also have their merits. The weakest cut is "Down Home Town", which isn't precisely bad, but it's a bit odd to hear a bunch of Brits chanting "Wish I was in the Land of Dixie", and for most rock groups of this type, playing around with country music is generally a bad idea.

The album closes with the wistfully yearning "One Summer Dream". It's no secret that Jeff Lynne has often been accused of wanting to be the fifth Beatle, but I suspect these lusher and romantic ballads are equally close to his heart. (Lynne remains active to this day, by the way, having just produced the latest Tom Petty album.)

"Face The Music" is an impressive work and a great antidote to some of the saccharine excesses of their "Discovery". Not cheerful by any means, but happiness is overrated.

FACE THE MUSIC remains one of the finest album releases of the 1970s, and its sound is still fresh and daring, nearly 30 years later. "Fire On High" is the ultimate progressive rock instrumental...Jeff Lynne packs more drama and punch and verve into this 4:24 minutes than many composers acheive in a lifetime. (Drummer Bev Bevan more than lives up to his "Basher" moniker here, with deft, speedy, and powerful work on the skins.) "Evil Woman" and "Strange Magic" are wonderful, classic pop singles. "Strange Magic," in particular, sounds absolutely timeless and holds up superbly under countless listens, while "Evil Woman" is a kitschy 70s funky disco-esque classic. The rollicking "Poker" is as bracingly Beatle-esque as one could want. "Waterfall" is achingly gorgeous. "Nightrider" is a clever little tribute to Jeff Lynne's earliest days in rock and moves at a nice gallop. Lynne and Co. take a side trip into the comedic with "Down Home Town," a twangy spoof of a country jaunt. The stellar ballad "One Summer Dream" wafts along like a flowing river, and is the perfect closer. FACE THE MUSIC would qualify as a BEST OF collection for most bands. Pick it up and discover why!