To kick off our latest groovy blog series, we’ll be honouring the 45th anniversary of one of Electric Light Orchestras greatest albums of all time... ‘Out of the Blue’. We wanted to start off with an album so studded with tunes that we get you dancing out the gate!
Electric Light Orchestra (ELO for short) is a British rock group that was formed in 1970 from members of another British band by the name of, The Move. They are known for their bright, futuristic and iconic Beatlesesque sound.
ELO debuted their first self titled album in 1971 which landed them in the UK charts followed by a shift in the members of the band and second self titled album ELO II which took them back to the charts once again. Then in 1975 they released Face the Music, with songs like ‘Evil Woman’ & ‘Strange Magic’ which went gold.
The group relied heavily on their elaborate stage design for live performances and are famous for the spaceship imagery that accompanied their music, even performing under a flying saucer made of lights. If you’ve seen any live performances by Aussie band, Tame Impala, you may have noticed that they were inspired by the ELO space ship set.
‘Out of the Blue’, the true star of this blog, was the groups last major record to leave a lasting impact and the most lavishly produced album that ELO ever recorded.
'Out of the Blue' was recorded in 1977, the album which is home to classics like ‘Mr. Blue Sky’, ‘Turn to Stone’ and ‘Livin Thing’ is a perfect time capsule of the late 70’s. Filled to the brim with classic 70’s rock digressions and whimsical futuristic heavy synth and vocals by Jeff Flynn, reminiscent of John Lennon and The Beach Boys.
It wouldn’t be an ELO album without the unique factor of the orchestral sounds bringing it all together to make one of the greatest rock albums of all time!
Play our Album of the Month on our Spoitfy here:
