The style of stuff he did with ELO didn’t really seem to fit in with the rest of them, IMO.
Exactly. Lynne to my ears had a very heavy hand when producing non-ELO artists. Each of those guys had very a distinct sound before Lynne worked with them, and the stuff he produced had many many similarities to ELO songs.
The exact opposite of this is Mitch Easter’s work as a producer. Of all of the albums/CDs/bands he’s produced over the years, I honestly can’t point to any two that sound like another, or even like his band Let’s Active.
I’m a big ELO fan going back to my early teen years, and I could’ve pretty much written this, word for word. I posted in the thread linked by Thudlow Boink, too.
Just found this very fun contemporary video of an ELO song from Xanadu, too: E.L.O (Electric Light Orchestra) All Over The World - YouTube
Thanks all for your thoughts. I’m just getting a chance to catch up on things here at the SD. Many agree Jeff Lynne did have a heavy hand in the bands he worked with to the point where they’re almost cloned. Let’s not forget Lynne had a hand in the last few Beatles albums - that are not really Beatles albums. Remember the few Beatles hits of the '90s? My brother-in-law will never forgive Jeff Lynne for infusing HIS sound into a Beatles (or quasi-Beatles) album. I can only imagine as I really cannot accept these as true Beatles albums.
And, as for the good ELO CDs, I’ll have to follow your advice as to which ones are worthwhile and try them out!