Track Listing

1. Turn To Stone
2. It's Over
3. Sweet Talkin' Woman
4. Across The Border
5. Night In The City
6. Starlight
7. Jungle
8. Believe Me Now
9. Steppin' Out
10. Standin' In The Rain
11. Big Wheels
12. Summer And Lightning
13. Mr. Blue Sky
14. Sweet Is The Night
15. Whale
16. Birmingham Blues
17. Wild West Hero
18. Wild West Hero
19. Quick And The Daft
20. Latitude 88 North

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7067 in Music
• Released on: 2007-02-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Limited Edition
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

CD Description
1977 is remembered as both the year of punk and the year ofdisco. At the time, though, it was the year of Fleetwood Mac's RUMOURS and Electric Light Orchestra's OUT OF THE BLUE, two albums that were simply inescapable. But where overexposure made RUMOURS feel somewhat stale and dated, OUT OF THE BLUE sounds as fresh now as it did at the time. This is due in large part to the obsessive insularity of Jeff Lynne's aesthetic. He seems not to be ignoring musical trends, but to be simply unaware of them. Lynne's mid-period Beatles fixation combines with his love of lush orchestrations and pristineproduction to create some of his strongest music, includingthe enormous hits "Turn to Stone", "Sweet Talkin' Woman" and "Mr. Blue Sky". However, the autobiographical "Birmingham Blues" suggests that Lynne was tiring of the rock-star grind, which might explain ELO's lowered profile after this release.

Customer Reviews

A Wasted Opportunity
Before you decide to buy this reissue you should consider whether you actually need it, and if it offers anything that makes a re-purchase worthwhile. In comparison to the reissued 'A New World Record' this release offers very little new material, the three 'new' tracks offer little of any consequence (a demo version of 'Wild West Hero', a short instrumental track 'The Quick and the Daft' and an entirely forgettable 'Lattitude 88 North') adding little to understanding the development of the album. This perhaps explains why most of the effort has gone in to the presentation and packaging which house the disc, including an 'model spaceship' (which most collectors and completists will leave untouched) and liner notes written by Lynne.

This is frustrating as 'Out of the Blue' warranted so much more. It would have been wonderful to have heard the early versions of the songs contained in the album, to have heard just how the orchestral music and other elements were brought together in such a magnificent way, all prior to the advent of editing suites and computer software available now. One suspects that Lynne considers the album complete, not requiring an exposure of the 'inner workings' of the material. After 30 years Lynne has very reason to be proud of the record, but if such material was not made available for this release one wonders if it ever will be.

This release has apparently been remastered, and here I would sound a note of caution. A direct comparison with the earlier issue 'Out of the Blue' does appear to reveal a slight 'thinning' of the sound on the new issue, particularly noticeable with the bass underpining many of the songs. To these (subjectively of course) ears the new issue appears to have been robbed of the warmth and solidity that can be heard on the original vinyl and earlier cd issue.

So - do you buy? If you are a completist then of course this question is redundant, but if you have the previous issue on cd I would strongly suggest that there is no pressing reason for you to buy another copy. And if you do not already own this record (on any format) then consider it as being an essential purchase - and consider looking around for the earlier cd issue which will now be available at a ridiculously cheap price.

The four stars have been awarded for the music - but for the actual treatment of the music (not the packaging) and the decisions taking regarding bonus material I would award two stars. In this respect this release represents a wasted opportunity.

One Of The Truly Great Albums.
"Critical reappraissal is due".

Couldn't agree more, like ABBA, it's time to look past the supposed "cheesiness" factor and appreciate this great band for what they were.

They weren't just Beatle rip off merchants, they weren't just trying to fuse Rock and Classical music, they weren't a "Progressive Rock" band.

I grew up with E.L.O. and they first came to my attention when I heard a performance of a song called "Evil Woman" on Top Of The Pops and heard a short section of string playing in the middle that was so bizarre, that it blew my young musical mind..I decided to keep track of this band.

The next thing I knew was that everyone seemed to be raving about an album called "A New World Record", which produced a number of very catchy, big selling singles.

I bought the album and almost wore it out, wondering how they could get such a polished, big sound, especially the drums.

While many were raving about Queen's innovations, I was captivated by what Jeff Lynne was doing, instrumentally, harmonically and vocally.

For me, "Out Of The Blue", shows the man and his band at the peak of their powers, though I disagree with many who claim that it was all down hill from that point on.

There are marvellous moments in all of the subsequent albums, though I think only "Time", comes near to the overall consistancy.

People complain that the songs on "Out Of The Blue", and indeed all other ELO albums all "sound the same", nothing could be further from the truth.

Yep, Lynne has a few favourite chord progressions and his backing vocals can follow predictable paths, but there are so many original diversions, in so many of the individual songs that I'm not too concerned about that..

I'll highlight just three:

1. The section in the middle of "Turn To Stone"..
2. The section towards the end of Summer And Lightning,where Lynne echoes the chord progression of Spector's "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", and builds to the climax in much the same way.
3. The "static" area, over a repeated bass riff, in "Birmingham Blues", where he sings "across the world I've seen, people and places, could be the same", and the almost frozen nature of this section is a musical reflection of the lyrics.

There is some very clever musical thinking going on here.

However, on top of all the song writing skills, it's the production skills of Jeff Lynne which still stand up today.

I think it's this contribution which marks this man out as a genius.

Like Spector and Steinman, it's easy to know when a work has the "Lynne" mark on it, and the later works of Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and George Harrison, all of whom went back to him time and again, shows how much they respected his skills.

And, it's kind of poetic, for me that the people who he's always accused of "ripping off" came to him in order to get them to bring John Lennon "back to life"..

And, his skills are in full view on "Out Of The Blue", the huge amount of work that went into this album, is hard to fathom.

All in all, I believe this album to be one of the all time greats, not just of that era, but along with "Rumours" and "Hotel California", of all time.

All killer - no filler
This album needs to be in every collection - borrow it from your Nan - it'll be in the box of albums your mum left there before she married your dad. Beautifully packaged gatefold sleeve with cut out and keep space ship! This has tunes and melodies to die for - everyone a classic and so soaked into everyones consciousness that we don't know they are there. Jeff Lynne is too talented for his own good. Forget his Beatles fixation and wallow in the strings and multi tracked vocals of a master tunesmith at the top of his game.Each track is a masterpiece of AOR and transatlantic poprock.One word of caution - don't let your mum hear this or else she 'll want it back! Led the way for Cheap Trick and The Feeling. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! Critical reappraissal is due - at last it's cool to dig ELO.