Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Last Train to Lynne-don?, March 23, 2001
Well here it is, the box set that the fans have been waiting for, with digitally remastered tracks, a few rarities and the odd B-side - was it worth it? - well, just about. While the inclusion of all the major hits in their full glory is definitely a big plus, some of the less well known tracks, could quite happily have stayed that way, especially the tracks at the end of Disc 3. As for Jeff Lynne's take on the "Xanadu", it's sad to admit but Olivia Newton-John really did lay down the definitive version of that track. But enough of the bad news!!ELO have been much maligned over the years from making pompous, Beatlesque music but a listen to their hits can not help but bring a smile to your face. Who couldn't help but be overcome with joy at hearing "Mr Blue Sky"? Force yourself not to sing along to the glorious verses of "Livin' Thing". And try to work out the unintelligible, yet magnificent middle lines of "Turn to Stone". Pop music is supposed to be about, quite simply, making you happy, and ELO delivers in spades. My personal favourites? - definitely "Secret Messages" with "Getting to the Point" a close second. Listening to these on a hot summer's day, cruising down the highway is sheer unadulterated joy. Burt Bacharach has recently undergone a revival as revisionists seek to put him up in the great pantheon of pop music. If anyone deserves to be looked at next, it is the unalloyed pop genius of Jeff Lynne.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Light shines brighter than ever!, November 28, 2000
To call this fantastic collection of the Electric Light Orchestra's finest works brilliant is truly a huge understatement! As the producer/director of the BMG DVD documentary Electric Light Orchestra pt.2: Access All Areas, I had the remarkable good fortune to work with the "part 2" members of this multi-platinum supergroup including (founding member of the original ELO and legendary drummer) Bev Bevan (1972-'86), blue violin virtuoso Mik Kaminski (ELO 1973-83), Louis Clark (ELO orchestral arrangements '74-'83) and bass player Kelly Groucutt (ELO '74-'83) from 1995-2000 and what a thrill it was. Over a period of 5 years I was treated to an up close and personal account of the music that Jeff Lynne (in all his genius) crafted so stunningly! And for a long time fan from America's wild west, the same kid who spent endless hours scanning every liner note and memorizing every ELO lyric, I can tell you, coming face to face with some of my teen years heroes, was a stunning realization of a life long dream! I have heard the hits included on FLASHBACK on every imaginable format over the last twenty plus years, 8-track, LP, cassette, half-speed master recordings and on compact disc (countless times) and in concert (minus Jeff's voice and guitar) nearly a hundred more, but nothing has ever captured the razor sharp edge of Jeff's musical wonders like this amazing, totally re-mastered collection. I literally could not believe my ears, it was as if I was hearing the music for the very first time! The songs on this collection are so crystal clear in fact I sent most of the ELO CD's I owned (including the 1990 box set Afterglow) off to my local used CD store. Quite honestly, there were times (on my first listening to Flashback) that I was startled by what I heard, I nearly had to grit my teeth at times waiting for the next surprise to pop out of the shadows! But what shines through brightest in the tracks is something the critics of Jeff's music have consistently missed over the years, his great sense humor and fun; they simply ignored or never really saw the madness in his method (I sight Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor as a prime example). Even in the midst of what first appears to be the over barring hand of a skilled technician flogging a wounded horse, is on closer inspection merely a wild and wonderful musical savant tossing notes at a canvas from ten paces and reveling in every single splash of colour! For the first time in so many years those same critics have the opportunity to hear what Jeff must have truly intended, as those great soaring and sometimes silly tunes poured out of his imagination, into the mixing console and onto miles of streaming black ribbons of analog tape. And the rest us are treated to new material, Jeff has only recently completed after sitting dormant for 20 years. The new version of Xanada (2000) with Jeff on vocals is a great addition, while the other brand new tracks including Helpless, Tears in Your Life and Love Changes All make you salivate for the upcoming and all new Jeff led Electric Light Orchestra project in April. My only regret (as Flashback swirled into ringing ears from headphones cranked to 11) was that I have never come face to face with the craftsman responsible for this stellar collection. As a goofy starry-eyed teenager hold up in my room dreaming big dreams with ELO's music as the soundtrack, he was one of my biggest heroes and in fact he still is. But as I continue to listen, there is consolation in the fact that I can FLASHBACK to a simpler time when the only care I had in life was how I would manage a few more dollars to buy the next ELO album. Thanks for the memories Jeff, your legacy is secure and it couldn't have happened to a more talented guy.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent for both obsessive fans and the uninitiated, November 22, 2000
Excellent stuff! This 3-disc box set gathers most of ELO's greatest hits with some noteworthy album tracks, as well as quite a bit of new stuff which has been hiding in the vaults since 1980 or '82 (and a mercifully brief demo recording dating back to '73). Jeff Lynne has personally remastered the whole set from the long-last master session tapes, resulting in a very crisp sound for many old favorites which have been savaged by the duplication processes of earlier compilations. Some songs, such as "Do Ya" and "Mission (A World Record)," are either edited or extended or completely remixed. "Love Changes All," "Helpless" and "Who's That?" are the highlights among the previously unreleased material, and my favorite B-side "After All" finally appears on CD. The big surprise is an all-new version of "Xanadu," sans Olivia Newton-John's vocals, sung this time by Jeff Lynne. With a new ELO album promised in April 2001 in the liner notes, this more than anything else is a tantalizing taste of ELO's future - though it's certain to spark lively fan debates on whether ELO is truly ELO when it's pretty much Jeff Lynne flying solo. An absolutely essential box set!
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by Electric Light Orchestra 
