For those who want to do some digging: Electric Light Orchestra discography - Wikipedia
Can’t get it out of my head. I’ll just keep saying it.
Well, let’s set aside “Blinded” per cochrane (Cecil himself even weighed in on the lyrics, once!). ELO might be before your time, msmith537, but you can still hear them on classic rock stations today and, with a little digging and moving in the right circles, you can make some wonderful discoveries. To expand on Elendil’s Heir’s suggestion:
[ul][li]Do Ya - This song frequently comes up in the rotation on classic rock stations. If you search hard enough, you might even be able to find the version recorded by The Move - the band that Bev Bevan, Roy Wood, and Jeff Lynne were in that essentially became ELO. Ace Frehley of KISS also did a rockin’ cover on his Trouble Walkin’ album.[]Fire On High - Also discussed earlier upthread, this “song” (it’s more an orchestral piece - the only lyrics are backwards!) can show up when you least expect it.[]Can’t Get It Out of My Head - Tell me you’ve heard this. You might even hear it on the radio today if you’re listening to the right stations (Like KLUV 98.7 in Dallas, Texas). I bought an album of B-sides by Fountains of Wayne just because they included a cover of this song.[]Livin’ Thing - It’s a terrible thing to lose. You might also hear this one on the radio.[]Mr. Blue Sky - We have a user here at the SDMB who goes by this name, and he is also a big ELO fan. Volkswagen used this song in their commercials when they introduced the convertible Beetle.[]Turn To Stone - This song should sound familiar, although if you hear it on the radio, it’s gonna be a rarity.[]Xanadu - Title track from the roller-disco movie of the same name featuring vocals by Olivia Newton-John.[]All Over The World - Also from Xanadu, a nice catchy song.[]Twilight - The first song on the album Time, “Twilight” re-ignited my love for ELO in the late 1980’s, as I explained earlier in this thread. You really have to listen to the whole album, in order, to get the right feel for it. Also, the song “Julie Don’t Live Here” was the B-side for the single.[]Telephone Line - Give me some time, I’m living in twilight. I don’t usually put this song on my playlists because I use it as a ringtone on my phone.[]Daybreaker - Like “Fire On High”, this is an orchestral piece with no lyrics. That doesn’t mean it can’t move you, though! ELO performed this song live in Long Beach in 1974, the night the light went on.[]Across The Border - Along with “Turn To Stone”, “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” (you better slow down!) and “Mr. Blue Sky”, this is one of my favourite songs from Out Of The Blue.[]Last Train To London - There were some good songs - and a little disco, as Sicks Ate pointed out - on Discovery. Other good tracks from that album include “Confusion” and (it took me years to appreciate it, but) “The Diary of Horace Wimp”.[]So Serious - I might get skewered by the other ELO fans here for suggesting this song (and also “Calling America”) from Balance of Power. By the time this album came out, ELO had a very different sound from their heyday in the 70’s, but I still like to hear these two.[]Alone In The Universe - Jeff Lynne’s ELO performed this title track from their album of the same name last year on some late-night shows. It’s a pretty good song, but I think “One Step At A Time” is even better![*]Every Little Thing - Maybe this song shouldn’t count, or maybe only as much as anything by The Traveling Wilburys, but this is my favourite song off of Lynne’s solo album Armchair Theater.[/ul][/li]Maybe you should just buy Strange Magic, listen to the whole thing, and see what that does for you.
You’ve been whooshed by Dale Sams, I think. 
“Shine a Little Love” is from the album “Discovery”, the name of which Jeff himself has noted can be read as “Disco Very.”
Ah, my most embarrassing whoosh to date. Thank you for cluing me in.
Heh. Nice.
[quote=“psiekier, post:123, topic:661918”]
[li]Can’t Get It Out of My Head - Tell me you’ve heard this. You might even hear it on the radio today if you’re listening to the right stations (Like KLUV 98.7 in Dallas, Texas). I bought an album of B-sides by Fountains of Wayne just because they included a cover of this song.[/li][/QUOTE]
Velvet Revolver also did a cover of this song.
No no. I was serious and thank you for the link, I can hear some in that song. It STILL doesn’t evoke discos to me, seems a little fast to skate to…but I can kind of hear it there.
Love them!
You’re correct that “Shine a Little Love” and “Last Train to London” are the only two pure disco songs from that album.
However, most of ELO’s hits have always had a very strong dance rhythm. “Turn to Stone” is pure disco, “Showdown” and “Tightrope” are proto-disco, and their 80’s new wave-y songs like “All Over the World”, “Here is the News” and “Secret Messages” may as well be called disco for whatever difference it makes. Even “Don’t Bring Me Down” (from DiscoVery), while definitely a pure rock song, has a distinctive dance beat. So it’s really no surprise that ELO has been stereotyped as a disco pop band.
First thing I think about when I think about ELO. (Actually, the only thing I think of when I think of ELO.) Are you familiar to the homage to that video from the opening credits of the TV series Densha Otoko?
Doh:smack:
So…two songs then.
1970 to 1986 would have been “beginning of my time”. So I have no doubt I would probably recognize a bunch of their songs from my youth.
Indeed I am. Can’t believe I’ve never seen a cosplay of a bunny girl with carrots on her hips yet.
Ah, glad I saw this again, I loved them so much. (Loved disco, too, best years of my life.) I think I’ll get a DVD of their greatest hits next time we hit up Amazon for something. They had so many great songs! :):)
“Time” is one of my favorite albums, ever. Right up there with “Dark Side Of The Moon”, by that other band.
From Time, “Yours Truly 2095” - a brilliant song. Astonishing. It’s a shame that Jeff Lynne apparently doesn’t think much of “Time” these days. Very little of it was ever performed live.
Strange.
Well, they toured in the U.S. to support “Time” in '81 and '82, which was, as it turned out, their last live tour before they broke up in '86. The playlist for that tour was, as you might expect, heavy on songs from that album – I count seven on that playlist.
Jeff re-formed ELO in 2001, and was going to tour then, but cancelled the tour due to weak ticket sales. After that, it’s only been in the past couple of years that he’s done live shows again, so not a lot of opportunities to perform those songs live.
The 2013 album Electric Light Orchestra Live was recorded during a rehearsal concert for the 2001 tour, and does feature “Twilight” (the opening track from Time).
I saw them on the Time tour in the old Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, with Hall and Oates opening for them. Great show. I see it was in Oct. 1981: Electric Light Orchestra - Wikipedia
I hate rabbits, and shoot them on sight, but that’s kinda hot!
Bumped.
A friend just told me about these Jeff Lynne ELO-esque songs from the 1984 movie Electric Dreams. I’d never heard them before:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWYQcimjUEQ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Dreams_(soundtrack)