ELO Appreciation Thread

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During there 70's heyday, ELO were savaged by critics as a Beatles ripoff. There are a Beatles inspiration and influence for sure but that was pretty true for almost every rock band in one way or another back then. The Beatles might have broken up in 1970 but they remained ubiquitous for the remainder of the decade, not only the former members having hits, but Beatle weekends and a Beatle song played every hour on rock stations.

A sign of a great band is when year hear them no matter how varied their songs are you know the song can only come from that group. Arguably ELO and Queen fit that description in the for 70's hard rock/

IMHO the best version of "Roll Over Beethoven"


Strange Magic


Livin Thing


Can't Get It Out Of My Head


Turn To Stone

Sure, the ELO produced great music -- that much is undeniable.

Another undeniable issue is that the leaders of ELO 'fired' their back-up orchestra as soon as they became famous (or so I've been told).

Not a big ELO fan but this song

That's a shame, and pretty wrongheaded. To me they're sort of like the Beatles doing prog rock. I think every album is great, though I'd rate Secret Messages and Balance of Power as just good. Their singles were tremendously good, and they had great album tracks like "One Summer Dream" and "Nightrider."

I'd also throw in that "Ticket to the Moon" sounds like what the Beatles may have done if they were around in the 80s.

Don't forget "Mister Blue Sky", which is an ELO piece that has been featured in many films and TV shows.