Balance of Power
Electric Light Orchestra
Engineer: Bill Bottrell,
Producer: Jeff Lynne
Epic (USA), 2007
1 CD
Catalogue #: 694279
EAN: 0827969427927
UPC: 827969427927
You save: 20%
Electric Light Orchestra: Jeff Lynne (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, bass); Richard Tandy (piano, keyboards); Bev Bevan (drums, percussion).
Additional personnel: Christian Shnieder (saxophone).
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
Electric Light Orchestra: Jeff Lynne (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboard, bass guitar, background vocals); Richard Tandy (piano, keyboard, programming, sequencer); Bev Bevan (drum, percussion).
1986's BALANCE OF POWER, the last ELO album to feature Jeff Lynne--the rest of the group re-convened as ELO Part II in the late '90s with cult-fave singer/guitarist Parthenon Huxley replacing Lynne--looks at first like a dubious attempt at '80s-style modernization. The cliched, dated graphics--and keyboard player Richard Tandy's red-flag credit for "programming"--notwithstanding, this is a fine example of Lynne's '80s work. The opening "Heaven Only Knows" is a catchy tune with Lynne's trademark overdubbed Beatlesque harmonies that would have fit in well on OUT OF THE BLUE or DISCOVERY. The rest of the album is less immediately enthralling, but that's due to the slightly antiseptic, MIDI-heavy production, not the caliber of the songs. Listening past the surfaces reveals these songs to be a solid set of tunes well in Lynne's tradition of melodic pop.
Tracklist
Electric Light Orchestra
ELO began as an outgrowth of '60s UK psych-rockers the Move and the Idle Race, but when former Move frontman Roy Wood departed early in the game, Jeff Lynne fashioned the band as a high-tech Beatles for the '70s. Featuring a full-time string section, ELO picked up where "Strawberry Fields" left off, creating orchestral Britpop without the pretense of prog-rock. The band's slick, lush sound helped define '70s pop, and proved influential decades later to the likes of Air and the Polyphonic Spree.
