Customer Reviews

No Answer (Exp)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As I'm not an "audiophile" or professional sound engineer, I'm not going to get into the merits of "lack of tape hiss" or "bad EQ" or the engineering expertise of EMI's Peter Mew. What I will say is that as a long-time ELO fan, I'm very impressed with what I hear on this disk. If you weren't fortunate enough to get the original "First Light" 2-disk UK edition of this album (probably only for die-hard early ELO fans to be honest), then this CD is definitely the next best thing, at a very reasonable price. This is the original concept of ELO, conceived by Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne. Very experimental pieces of music, most of which work beautifully. The magnificent "10538 Overture" is the template for all that went after, even during the "hit-making" years. Roy Wood's contributions are some of his best work - "Look At Me Now", "Whisper In The Night", and "First Movement (Jumpin' Biz)". "The Battle Of Marston Moor" is probably a hard listen for those who loved "Discovery" and "Xanadu", but an interesting example of the sincere attempt to meld classical and rock together in one piece of music. The bonus tracks are also interesting insights into the creative process that went into making this album.

If you like this, you should also check out the EMI remastered edition of the Move's "Message From The Country", which was recorded simultaneously with this album. In fact "10538 Overture" was originally intended to be a Move "B-side".

It really doesn't matter what the technical aspects of the remastering process are if the music isn't good - so if you're into progressive, experimental music with an early 1970's English pop music basis, you should check this out.

I've listened to ELO since before I could speak. My dad was into them from the start so I've grown up listening to his CDs and LPs. I always thought "No Answer" had some funky sounding stuff on it, but it's unbelieveable how much better (and it's already an amazing album to begin with) it is on the newly remastered edition. And the extra takes on 10538 Overture, Mr. Radio, Nelle Takes Her Bow, and Battle of Marston Moor (always thought that one was kind of freaky actually) are absolutely amazing. What is this whining about noise reduction? Discounting the live DVD of the "Zoom" concert in LA, I've never heard ELO sound better than in the new remastered series, especially "No Answer" and "ELO II." I highly recommend the entire remastered series, including "No Answer" and "ELO II."

HERE IS THE NEWS

Thanks to Epic/Legacy, we now have the continuation of the long-awaited, much-needed re-mastering of The Electric Light Orchestra's historic, vital catalog. This, ELO's very first album, is presented in this release with a much richer and cleaner sound, improved graphics, and eye-opening alternate mixes included as bonus tracks.

Thus spake ELO founders Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne, and Bev Bevan in 1971: "We want to pick up where the Beatles left off on 'Strawberry Fields' and 'I Am the Walrus.'" Roy was the leader of the amazingly popular band, The Move, while Jeff was the leader of an up-and-coming group called Idle Race. When personnel problems created an opening in The Move, Roy invited Jeff to join he and drummer Bev Bevan. Jeff consented, provided that he and Roy could work on their side "orchestra rock" project...an experimental and daring melding of classic rock with classical orchestral instrumentation and arranging.

In 1971, the Electric Light Orchestra was birthed out of The Move with a lumbering single called "10538 Overture," which quickly ascended the charts in England. Little did they know then that this accompanying album, NO ANSWER, would be the herald of one of rock and roll's most enduring success stories.

THE SONGS

"10538" is essentially a Move single, and as such is wonderfully quirky, melodic, and mysterious...it's edgy, and punched along by the sound of sawing strings and rumbling guitars. At points, it sounds like a herd of elephants tromping through the jungle, and it even threatens to fall apart rhythmically, before grudgingly swinging back into a cohesive march. It definitely resembles the aforementioned Beatles tunes, and definitely takes them a step further.

"Look At Me Now" is a very nice-yet-urgent Roy Wood ballad, with an interesting arrangement and instrumental curios. Wood's voice can be high, keening, and plaintive, and conveys a tremendous amount of emotion. The accompanying strings and woodwinds are fairly spare and unadorned--this is like a more rustic version of "Eleanor Rigby."

Up next, "Nellie Takes Her Bow" sounds like Jeff Lynne gone vaudeville, and is very effective, though perhaps overly long. It's a fairly gentle track, suddenly interrupted by a jarring martial instrumental break, which actually might have fit better in the following cut...

..."The Battle of Marston Moor (July 2nd 1644)." This is primarily an instrumental, preceeded by a stirring battle speech. It's very cinematic, albeit rough and tumble...but it ain't what some would call "rock and roll." Do check out Bev Bevan's snazzy, tricky percussion work here--it's brilliant. Overall, this song earns ELO points for trying, but it is not, at the end of the day, extraordinarily listenable.

Wood's "1st Movement" on the other hand, is a wonderful pastiche of guitar and string quartet, not unlike "Classical Gas." It swings along very nicely for approximately three minutes with a memorable and cohesive melody, sparked by some very fine picking.

Jeff Lynne takes his turn next with the beautiful "Mr. Radio," a sad, nostalgic, evocative tune that highlights Jeff's great talent for pathos, even at an early age. It's perhaps the closest thing to the later ELO sound on this album, as piano and strings blend sweetly together, wrapping Jeff's soulful vocal in a warm cocoon of comfort.

ELO goes instrumental again with "Manhattan Rumble (49th St. Massacre)," a jaunty-yet-ominous Jeff Lynne piano workout that chugs along like some eerie 1930s mob film. I love the little whimsical break in the middle...one can picture Edward G. Robinson, cool hats, tommy guns, and dancing girls all hanging out at some swanky Chicago speakeasy.

Picking up with the Beatles sound again, the band gives us "Queen of the Hours," which would have sat comfortably on "The White Album," perhaps. The gentle melody is offset by a jumping, jarring string counterpoint during the choruses and instrumental breaks, which adds a lot of drama before cooling down again during the verses.

One of the best ELO ballads ever is the sweet and stirring "Whisper in the Night," featuring Roy, a guitar, a few strings, and a prayer. It's a nice benediction for this album. Again, Roy's voice is so simple and unadorned--when he launches into a pure falsetto, it's genuinely moving.

BONUS SONGS

The alternate tracks offered here are interesting from a historical viewpoint, although they are not essential to anyone but the hardcore collector. Still, they provide interesting insight as to how these songs evolved and were constructed.

Perhaps the most intriguing tracks for me are "Mr. Radio" and "Nellie Takes Her Bow," simply to see a slightly different vision from what the band ultimately released. With "10538 Overture," we are reminded once more of The Move and their own stirring legacy.

RECOMMENDATION

I would love to start a campaign for Roy, Jeff, and Bev to do more work together. Until then, I'll give this CD and all of my Move stuff some more spins. If you're expecting the polished power pop of A NEW WORLD RECORD or OUT OF THE BLUE, you'll be surprised and maybe disappointed. But, if you approach this CD with an open mind, and a little patience, you'll find it to be ultimately a richly rewarding experience.

I would imagine it's difficult for some one to decide about buying this CD based on some of the other reviews. I can sum up my opinion this way: if you are a sound expert (for real or just self-proclaimed) you may have some difficulty with No Answer or ELO II. Clearly, in eliminating tape hiss, some of the high end sound is gone. But I'm not a sound expert so that's where my EQ analysis ends.

The fact is that both ELO remasters sound better than the US originals. There's really no comparison even if it's just the fact that CD mastering techniques have improved with time. It's worth updating your collection with these excellent new versions.

If I have any complaint it's that Sony had chosen to market these CDs as US remasters. They aren't. They are just re-reissues of the UK remasters of a few years back. Sony couldn't even be bothered to use the US cover of ELO II and from the looks of things to come the same goes for the reissue of On the Third Day.

The other complaint I have is the touting of these reissues as "Jeff Lynne approved" as if that really means anything. The fact that JL is involved at all probably hurts the reissues more than it helps... just look at the lack of fully unreleased songs. So, yes, these reissue are "Jeff Lynne approved" but... so what.

The bottom line is that No Answer (as it was named in the US) is a wonderfully strange album and this remaster is very good. It's not perfect but given that most of the CD buying public could care less about ELO we're never going to get perfect reissues. This CD is definitely worth buying.

I have waited years for ELO to remaster the older classic's like this one and am very pleased with what I hear. Compared to the originally released CD, this is a breath of fresh air. It has crisp brilliant sound and includes 4 bonus tracks which are alternate mixes of 4 of the songs on the album. I don't understand the negative reviews about the remastering on this CD. It must depend on what will please your ears.I for one am just happy to have a better sounding CD than the original and at an excellent price to boot! 5*'s in my opinion.

First let's deal with the issue that seems to be bugging people (at least one person). Peter Mew's done a fine job of remastering this. Yes, "No Noise" (a system that eliminates tape hiss but also clips a bit of the high end of recordings)can make a record sound "sterile", flat or "dry". I personally feel it benefits the album here because of all the overdubs done when this was recorded.

The first ELO album (recored at roughly the same time that Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood recorded the last Move album "Message from the Country"), this is a terrific mix of prog rock that pushes the boundaries. From the marvelous opening track "10538 Overture" (originally intended to be a B-side for a Move single)to the Mason Williams influenced "First Movement" by Wood "No Answer" proved that both Wood and Lynne had found a unique sound for their "new" band. The odd "The Battle of Marstop Moor" by Wood is unique, tuneful and challenging. It's answered by Lynne's tuneful accessible but just as unique "Mr. Radio" .

I should warn fans whose first purchase 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 signficantly after Wood's departure (he appeared on the second album as well before leaving to form Wizzard).

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.

You know, I always find it amazing the number of people who still--in 2006--complain about the sound quality of CDs, especially remasters, when digital sound technology has significantly improved over the last 20 years (cf. Fleetwood Mac's album Then Play On, originally released in 1969 and remastered for CD by Warners in the mid '80s but still loaded with tape hiss so bad it sounds as though someone was frying bacon in the studio--and still not remastered even now). Sony, to give credit where credit is due, has made a genuine effort at rectifying the mistakes they made in 1985 in rush-releasing a whole series of classic albums on CD just to get their share of the market. (Witness the Dylan remasters, redone in hybrid SACD 3 years ago, then also reissued as standard CDs the year after that--they sound a thousand times better than the original CDs did.) Yet these bozos refuse to give them any credit; a bunch of armchair quarterbacks if ever such existed. To them, I offer this advice--if you think you can do a better job, then I recommend investing the capital to set up a digital remastering studio, buy the rights to the tapes, and redo these CDs yourselves. Otherwise, do us all a favour and SHUT UP!!

That said, I don't feel that it's a big deal that Sony used the EMI-UK remaster as the basis for this reissue. That they even bothered with a remastered reissue of ELO's first 6 albums forgives a multitude of sins, chief among them being that they took this long to do it. I have played No Answer back on my $150 (at the time) Pioneer DV-563A, and I think it sounds fine. There is plenty of presence in the mix, and if it's a bit forward (i.e. loud), it's certainly not as bad as the original CD mix of Rush's Vapor Trails (which knocks you out of your shoes when the first track, "One Little Victory," comes in). And it's lovely to have these tracks available once again in what I feel is a significantly improved mix. My favourite features of No Answer include Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's liner notes (although I do wish Roy would say "Jeff and I" rather than "Jeff and myself"--admittedly, I'm something of a grammar Nazi, and context does matter).

This great band's early (pre-disco) material is finally getting the treatment it deserves. Kudos to EMI and to Sony, and a great load of thanks to Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne for approving these remasters. You lads have been missed. And to the 1-star people--stick with your original vinyl if you hate the way the CDs sound so much. Let the rest of us enjoy this.

Wow, right from the very beginning the seeds were planted for the classic ELO "commercial symphony" sound combined with dreamy and highly memorable rock and roll hooks. I'm really surprised the band was already showing major signs of life right from the start. Usually the first album gives the listener hints of what's yet to come, but apparently these guys were already perfectly aware of their style. Not nearly as heavy and muddy as those old Move albums either (which neither bothers or excites me- ELO is just something different).

"Look at me Now" sounds like it would fit in perfectly with ANY of the classic ELO albums from the mid to late 70's, and so does "Nellie Takes Her Bow" with its classical atmosphere. I love that song in particular.

"Mr. Radio" wouldn't sound out of place on an album such as Out of the Blue. I love it. This is a really solid album. These guys must have known that mixing pop hooks with classical influences and utilizing pretty violin lines had never been done before. A band that knew exactly which direction they were going to take their career. They were destined to be a major success, and that would prove true just a few years later. You really can't go wrong with this fantastic debut.

"No Answer," in addition to being the first, may be the single most intriguing ELO album. For pure listening enjoyment I can't rank it with ELO's greatest LPs (which in my opinion are A New World Record, Eldorado, and Face the Music); song for song it's probably not even as strong as "On the Third Day." Yet I find myself digging it out at least as often as any of them. It's this baffling appeal that prevents me from consigning this disc to ELO completists only.

I was an ELO fan through their first eight albums, finally dropping off after "Discovery." Throughout this period their music displayed a persistent, relentless evolution from prog to pop: the first two records (No Answer and ELO II) are much more symphonic prog with very little pop aesthetic; the next two (On the Third Day and Eldorado) aren't yet true pop albums but the hooks in their songs are so infectious that they nevertheless appeal to a pop music audience; by the time of Face the Music and A New World Record, ELO was a straight-ahead pop music band but with a lot of defining orchestral atmosphere. Come the release of Out of the Blue and Discovery, even this element was basically gone, and ELO's use of strings wasn't that fundamentally different from other acts (even disco acts) of their era.

. . . which means that the buyer of No Answer shouldn't expect a straight-ahead pop album in the manner of ELO's later releases. No Answer is further unique among their releases because ELO was then still a joint project of Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood. They split after collaborating on this album, with Lynne taking the reins afterward. Neither partner dominates this first record; each puts a distinctive stamp upon it. Wood provides much of the unusual sound of the album by personally playing everything from cello to oboe to guitar. Lynne's instrumental range was less but he contributed several of the album's more notable compositions.

First, let's talk about the unique sound: Lynne and Wood have said that their original intention was to take the next step beyond the Beatles' "I am the Walrus," and nowhere is this more evident than with this album. If you've ever listened to the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" album you'll recognize the unique ambience of songs like I am the Walrus, Blue Jay Way, and parts of Strawberry Fields Forever - all heavily infused with an unsentimental, rough cello sound, which in combination with pop guitars and unusual drumming created a strange, surreal, haunting effect.

That somber, unsettling sound is all over this record. A cut like "Queen of the Hours," for example, is quite easy to imagine on "Magical Mystery Tour," as is "10538 Overture." But No Answer has a less polished sound, more of a two-kids-fooling-around-in-the-basement feel to it, far afield from George Martin's (or Jeff Lynne's later) slick production. And much of this, of course, derives from the fact that Lynne and Wood were playing so many of the instruments themselves.

There are nine songs altogether on the record, five by Lynne and four by Wood. And though they're all pretty pleasant to listen to (Wood's ridiculous "The Battle of Marston Moor" notwithstanding), I feel clear distinctions between Lynne's output and Wood's. Wood's pieces, the latter of which are so obviously derivative of other musicians' work. "Look at Me Now" recalls "Eleanor Rigby" right on down to the little details -- including the minor key, the staccato quarter-note string accompaniment, the "Aah" beginning each chorus, and even the hanging melodic sixth in the verse melody. But that song is downright original in comparison with "Jumpin' Biz," which is so obviously a re-working of "Classical Gas" that one can't help but wonder about the legal implications of the similarities. Several people I've played it for actually thought it was "Classical Gas" until halfway through the piece. Wood's pieces are superficially enjoyable but such obvious derivation detracts from the listening pleasure.

Lynne's contributions are wonderful, though. He wrote five of the songs on this LP, and each is quite good. Three of them - 10538 Overture, Mr. Radio, and Queen of the Hours - are, in my view, terrific. The only real downside to his songs is that neither his singing nor the recording is as advanced as they would be on later ELO LPs. On "Nellie Takes Her Bow," for example - though quite a good song - his voice is really buzzy and distorted on the final verses. It's never been clear to me whether this is an intentional effect.

I absolutely love "Mr. Radio," with its surreal, backwards string passages, AM-static effects, and its evocation of 1920s jazz. But I probably listen to 1038 Overture and Queen of the Hours even more.

The original album's packaging also contributes to its intriguing atmosphere. Each song is illustrated by a black and white photo in old-time style, only accentuating the weird, haunted ambience of each piece.

All in all, I find myself more fascinated by this album than nearly any other ELO output, including my very favorite records among them. It's just a fascinating, surreal ride, experiencing those churning, sawing cellos, the raw production, and Jeff Lynne's stirring, infectious melodies. Highly recommended both for and despite its many idiosyncracies.

Besides the few naysayers at 1 star..really 1 star?..trolling I suppose.

This is probably the best standard cd re-master I have heard to date.
While it sounds great, I have hard time agreeing with another commenter
that does not seem to care if Jeff Lynne was involved or not.

These re-mastered cd's come off great because they obviously had great source/analog tapes to choose from. The great source material is probably due largely to Jeff Lynne to begin with. He wrote, sang, played most of the songs and is a great in-house engineer himself. He's involved whether you like it or not.

This is a great re-master for a standard cd. 5 stars all around
if your an ELO fan get it.. it was $7.98 on Amazon..I ended up buying the
rest of re-masters I did not have at that price.

I can only add one request..SACD Multichannel. Please... if there is any group that can make you, even after these re-masters, be amazed it's ELO.