# Calling All ELO Fans **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-elo-fans/317476 "2005-08-17T20:40:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Umphreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/2bfe46/32.png) [@Umphreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umphreak)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-elo-fans/317476/1 "2005-08-17T20:40:04Z")
The last two ELO albums, _Balance Of Power_ (1986) and _Zoom_ (2001), are they any good? Are they worth buying? I have all the other albums (except _Xanadu_ and the _ELO, Pt. II_ stuff, which if I understand it correctly, is just Bev Bevan and some session guys). Wiki says _Balance Of Power_ is all synths, no strings, which is fine by me. I dig all the different ELO incarnations: Strings, No Strings, Synths. No info on _Zoom_, so I have no idea what to expect. Lastly, can I get the ELO _Xanadu_ songs without buying the soundtrack? I have no interest in the ONJ songs. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-elo-fans/317476/2 "2005-08-17T21:36:46Z")
This is the sort of thing that [AMG](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4781ED948A97520CE992D4DDABD7DF529D64CEE831F29461BDFBA3C54851472F353F28C93FDF26AB57EB0FD2EA45F43D6C0EA57F6D96F2D5DF0&searchlink=ELECTRIC%7CLIGHT%7CORCHESTRA&uid=CAW060508171741&samples=1&sql=11:yzazqj3bojha~T2) was designed for. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-elo-fans/317476/3 "2005-08-17T22:54:28Z")
_Balance of Power_ was Jeff Lynne’s “contractual obligation” album. It’s got a few good songs: “So Serious”, “Calling America” (which does have synths), “Getting to the Point”, & “Send It”. It’s fair overall, but certainly not the best the band (a trio here: Jeff, Bevan, & Richard Tandy) has done. _Zoom_ was a disappointment. It’s all Jeff Lynne and it lacks the ELO “feel”. The live DVD is good because the group (Jeff & Richard with some other guys) does some great versions of classic ELO songs (“Living Thing” & “Turn to Stone” kick ass). You can’t get any of the Xanadu tracks anywhere other than the soundtrack (except the title track, which is available on most of Olivia’s hits packages). On the box set, _Flashback_, Jeff does his own version of “Xanadu”. The set also contains a few more unreleased tracks and every song was hand-picked by Jeff (who also comments on the tracks in the booklet). He did not like the first box set, _Afterglow_, but it does contain a handful of unreleased tracks as well. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-elo-fans/317476/4 "2005-08-17T23:01:27Z")
Looks like you can buy individual tracks from the Xanadu soundtrack on iTunes, so one can just get the ELO tracks. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-elo-fans/317476/5 "2005-08-17T23:04:38Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Looks like you can buy individual tracks from the Xanadu soundtrack on iTunes, so one can just get the ELO tracks. [Johnny Carson] I did not know that! [/JC] ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-elo-fans/317476/6 "2005-08-18T01:22:17Z")
Have to agree with **Mr Blue Sky**. _Balance of Power_ is an okay album, though well below ELO’s best. _Zoom_ isn’t ELO at all; it’s a solo Jeff Lynne album with the ELO name slapped on it. (And, as a solo Jeff Lynne album, it’s not a particularly good one; it’s not a patch on _Armchair Theatre_.) ---
**Author:** ![Umphreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/2bfe46/32.png) [@Umphreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umphreak)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-elo-fans/317476/7 "2005-08-18T12:55:24Z")
Hey, thanks guys. I think I’ll pass on _Zoom_. I’ll probably pick up _Balance Of Power_. Dare I ask it, but is the _ELO, Pt. II_ stuff any good at all? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-elo-fans/317476/8 "2005-08-18T13:02:36Z")
> [@Umphreak](#): > > Hey, thanks guys. I think I’ll pass on _Zoom_. I’ll probably pick up _Balance Of Power_. > > Dare I ask it, but is the _ELO, Pt. II_ stuff any good at all? THERE IS NO ELO PART II, NEVER WAS!!! (but if there were, imagine Journey songs WITHOUT the depth) ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-elo-fans/317476/9 "2005-08-18T13:12:34Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > [Johnny Carson] I did not know that! [/JC] That iTunes, weird wild shtuff! ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-elo-fans/317476/10 "2005-08-18T13:20:07Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > He did not like the first box set, _Afterglow_, but it does contain a handful of unreleased tracks as well. I think “Hello My Old Friend” is the best gift to the world that Jeff Lynne could have made. No one has come so close to recreating “I Am The Walrus” without actually playing any of that song. Not even The Rutles. I don’t know why it went unreleased for so long. Do you have any idea what he didn’t like about that collection? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-elo-fans/317476/11 "2005-08-18T13:27:23Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > Do you have any idea what he didn’t like about that collection? He was not consulted as to which songs were to be used. I think he felt the unreleased songs should have stayed that way. Unfortunately missing from both collections was “Caught in a Trap” (the B-side to “Calling America”).