ELO's last performance for several years occurred on 13 July 1986 in Stuttgart, Germany playing as opening act to Rod Stewart. ELO performed at the Heart Beat 86 charity concert organised by Bevan in the band's hometown of Birmingham on 15 March 1986 a hint of Lynne's future was seen when George Harrison appeared onstage during the encore, joining in the all-star jam of "Johnny B. The band was then rejoined by Kaminski, Clark and Morgan, adding Martin Smith on bass guitar, and proceeded to perform a small number of live ELO performances in 1986, including shows in England and Germany along with US appearances on American Bandstand, Solid Gold, then at Disneyland that summer. However, despite being a 3-piece, much of the album was made by Lynne alone, with Tandy and Bevan giving their additions later. The album lacked actual classical strings, which were replaced once again by synthesizers, played by Tandy and Lynne. Though the single "Calling America" placed in the Top 30 in the United Kingdom (number 28) and Top 20 in the States, subsequent singles failed to chart.
So Lynne, Bevan and Tandy returned to the studio in 19 as a three-piece (with Christian Schneider playing saxophone on some tracks and Lynne again doubling on bass in addition to his usual guitar in the absence of an official bass player) to record Balance of Power, released early in 1986 after some delays. Lynne and Tandy went on to record tracks for the 1984 Electric Dreams soundtrack under Lynne's name however, Lynne was contractually obliged to make one more ELO album. He also composed a track for former ABBA member Agnetha Fältskog's 1985 album Eyes of a Woman. That same year, Lynne moved into production work: having already produced two tracks for the Dave Edmunds album Information, he would go on to produce six cuts for his next, Riff Raff in 1984, and one cut on the Everly Brothers reunion album EB 84. While Secret Messages debuted at number four in the United Kingdom, it subsequently performed poorly in the charts, with a lack of hit singles (though "Rock 'n' Roll Is King" was a sizeable hit in UK, the US and Australia) and a lukewarm media response. ĭrummer Bevan moved on to play drums for Black Sabbath and bassist Groucutt, unhappy with no touring income that year, decided to sue Lynne and Jet Records in November 1983, eventually resulting in a settlement for the sum of £300,000 (equivalent to £994,300 in 2018). Lynne, discouraged by the dwindling crowds on the Time tour, CBS's order to cut Secret Messages down to one disc, and his falling out with manager Don Arden, decided to end ELO in late 1983. The album was a hit in the UK reaching the top 5, but its release was undermined by a string of bad news that there would be no tour to promote the LP. Jeff Lynne wanted to follow Time with a double album, but CBS blocked his plan on the grounds that a double vinyl album would be too expensive in the oil crisis and not sell as well as a single record, so as a result, the new album was edited down to a single disc and released as Secret Messages in 1983 many of the out-takes were later released on Afterglow or as B-sides of singles. Historyġ983–1986: Secret Messages, Balance of Power, disbandingĮLO performing in 1986 (Jeff Lynne and Richard Tandy pictured) For their initial tenure, Lynne, Bevan, and keyboardist Richard Tandy were the group's only consistent members.
After Wood's departure in 1972, Lynne became the band's sole leader, arranging and producing every album while writing nearly all of their original material. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangements with futuristic iconography. The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan.
0 kommentar(er)
