Are they good? Man! They were just inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame! YES They're Good!
I only got interested in ELO when, while working in a record store and attending
college classes, I found an ELO album. I don't remember which one, but I saw a
picture of Jeff Lynne on the album and thought "This guy is what a cool rock and
roll guy should look like."
We were to play new releases over and over again, which I didn't mind, because
even though I because interested in music later than most kids do, once I got
interested that was it! At one time in my life I had nearly 10,000 albums. (Yes, you
read that right - ten thousand albums). A small percentage of those LPs were
ELO - about nine LPs, to place an approx. number.
They had a way of putting out a song that rocked you or cradled you (notice that
there's still rocking involved) or amused you or frustrated you... All this while
setting the backdrop of some musical soundscape that fit that exact mood.
Several tunes from each LP were very good. Occasionally, one of those LPs
would produce a masterpieces in addition to the really good songs.
I switched to CDs sometime around 1988/89. That meant weekly drives for my
wife and I to a college town about an hour away from my residence. We'd load up
the back of our vehicle with whatever albums I had deemed expendable at that
time. Most of the ELO releases went around that time as well.
I didn't want to do it. It first started as a simple result of... Well, moving 10,000
albums every time you move (summertime in 107° heat and in the winter in -10°
cold - rain and/or snow - wind or not) got very very VERY old. I hated to part with
them but such is life.
It's sometime in the coming months after trading beloved albums that you begin
to notice that you're now missing some of the most imporatnt stuff you had!
Yes, the stuff I had by the Electric Light Orchestra was near the top of the list of
things I was missing badly. Then I find this CD. I don't give a great grey rats'
rump if I don't have anything to trade for this masterpiece! I'm buying it HERE
AND NOW!
So I did (and I apologize for putting you through all of the previous life story - but
it DID do a nice job of setting up my story, right?)
I have the CD of A New World Record! I also had the LP, but you know what
happened there by now. Just look at the track listing on this dude;
Tightrope
Telephone Line
Rockaria!
Mission (A World Record)
So Fine
Livin' Thing
Above The Clouds
Do Ya
Shangri-La
...and then there are six bonus tracks on the CD.
Telephone Line - with a different vocal
Surrender - as a bonus tune
Tightrope, Above the Clouds, and So Fine as early instrumental rough mixes,
and then an instrumental version of Telephone line.
Generally, as soon as I receive an ordered CD, even if I've heard someone else's
copy elsewhere, I open the CD, pop it into the PCs CD drive, rip the content so
I've always got a backup, and then make sure everything appears in my music
database software (Collectorz Music) before anything else happened.
I was fortunate with this one as I was the only one home when it came in the mail.
Deciding to forego the 'bookkeeping' tasks I popped that bad boy into the CD
player on my PC and cranked the whole CD - start to finish.
So great to time travel back to a happier time. A time before Bush and Clinton
and Obama and Clinton and Trump. Back where just a damned good CD could
simply make you feel damned good!
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned