Today I'm gonna be talking about Electric Light Orchestra (commonly known as ELO, which I'll be saying to save time).
ELO is a fair bit different from the music I usually listen to. As I've mentioned before, I like a range of things- most of it is essentially blues turned to heavy rock, then evolved from there (for instance, Jethro Tull, who started as a blues band and became a progressive rock group). ELO, on the other hand, sounds more like some of the Beatles' more progressive stuff (which, it's worth saying, I quite like but don't often listen to), but with a lot of electronic sounds and funkier bass lines.
With ELO's music, I'll normally get a song in my head, listen to it, and then not want to listen to anything else for a week or two. Usually I'll listen to a few other songs on the side, but there's always that one song specifically. I remember a few months back having Living Thing stuck in my head. Over Christmas I had Hold On Tight, and now it's The Diary of Horace Wimp.
The Diary of Horace Wimp is a very interesting song. Lyrically, I can relate to it (or at least, the first verse), and musically, it sounds a lot like a song from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but with an added electronic voice. In particular, the vocal part has a very Beatlesey feel to it, and the simple four-chord progression at the end, paired with all the other things going on (horns, strings, vocal pieces, etc.) sounds like it could literally be from Sgt. Pepper's.
Hold On Tight is probably a bit closer to the normal stuff I listen to- it's largely based on a blues progression, and has less of the electronics and strings that are characteristic of ELO songs (I mean, "electric" and "orchestra" are both literally in the name of the group). I first heard the song on a music station over Christmas, and my dad asked if I could name it. It took me a bit- it was very different from the few ELO songs I'd heard by that point, and some parts of the singing sounded like Freddie Mercury, Robert Plant, or even a cross between the two sometimes. I'm not sure what it is about the song, but it seems to be infinitely uplifting- no matter what, I can't listen to this song without getting really hyped up and cheerful.
Turn To Stone is another of those songs that I couldn't stop listening to for a while- it's got a very unique chord progression. Every bar sorta alternates between happy and sad (major and minor, perhaps? Or maybe there's more to it than that). It's a bit vague as to how it's meant to be interpreted- on the one hand, there are some rather sad chords in there, and the lyrics aren't exactly cheerful, but on the other hand, it's pretty upbeat and driving.
The last song I'll be talking about is Telephone Line. This one is quite mellow (especially when compared with some of their other stuff), and really has a lot of emotion in it- probably the combination of the way Jeff Lynne sings with the instrumentation, though the lyrics do help as well. I don't know how else to describe it with just words, but it's got a certain sad quality to it that not many songs can pull off without seeming pretentious.
Anyways, that's gonna be it for today- I've got some stuff to do, so I can't write too much. I will be posting a comic later though. Hopefully you enjoyed it regardless!
