Search This Blog

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Album Review: Electric Light Orchestra - Face the Music (1975)

In thinking about what to expect from listening to this album, I must admit I was caught between two expectations - on one hand I was expecting it to be a dud, paling in comparison with the likes of A New World Record and Out of the Blue, both excellent albums and both among some of the best albums by any band or artist that you can expect to hear.  On the other hand, I was expecting some more of that Jeff Lynne magic that made the aforementioned albums so damn great.  The latter expectation quickly paid off, and what I'm hearing is remarkably good, bordering on brilliant, in fact.  If there was any one album that could best make the statement that ELO is an underrated band, it would certainly be this one.  No fillers, no boring songs, all good, sometimes very good numbers to be found here.  Weaker songs, yes.  But crap?  No.  Not by a long shot.  "Strange Magic" and "Evil Woman" are the big hits here, and as good as they are, I'm gravitating toward "Poker" and "Nightrider" as being the best two songs on this record.  "Waterfall" and "Down Home Town" are also pretty good, too.  Not a rubbish album by any means.  And you can trust Jeff Lynne to mix a classical string section, synthesizers and Beatlesque songwriting  together and create a masterpiece, as he has done spectacularly well, time and time again.  A very good record.  A-


No comments:

Post a Comment