Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Electric Light Orchestra
Label: Epic Records
Released: 1986
Length: 34:18
Rating: 2.5/5
“Balance of Power” carried the title of last album by art-rock legends Electric Light Orchestra for more than 15 years, right up until their unexpected comeback with “Zoom” (2001). Every great empire sooner or later hits its peak, followed by the inevitable collapse. ELO, who reached their creative and commercial high point in the late ’70s, were by the mid-’80s a band in rapid decline in every respect. Their brilliant boss, singer, guitarist and producer Jeff Lynne, who already had one foot in a solo career, was chronically short on creative inspiration and fresh musical ideas. On top of that, the rest of the band found his dictatorial ways harder and harder to stomach. Bassist Kelly Groucutt decided to pack it in right after the “Secret Messages” tour, while the authoritarian chief barely managed to stop drummer Bev Bevan, the only original member besides Lynne, from taking a permanent gig with Black Sabbath. After Groucutt’s exit, everybody figured ELO were done, but Lynne was contractually obligated to deliver one more ELO album.
Lynne, Bevan and keyboardist Richard Tandy gritted their teeth and, together with guest saxophonist Christian Schneider, who played on a few tracks, headed into the studio to cut their last album of the 20th century. They did manage, after a fashion, to strike some kind of balance of power (a very fitting album title) and recorded a bunch of songs built mostly on melodic rock and electronic-leaning pop. There are no organic strings on the album, which was no surprise given Lynne’s obsession with synthesizing their sound throughout the entire ’80s. Once again the orchestral arrangements were replaced by Tandy’s synths, which mostly didn’t even bother trying to imitate strings. Ironically, it’s precisely the romantic synth arrangements, especially when teamed up with the sax, that save the album from total embarrassment and bring in a bit of that legendary ELO ethereal quality from their golden days. It would be unfair to Lynne, who also played all the bass parts in Groucutt’s absence, not to mention that he was still a great singer and a solid guitarist. His charismatic singing, backed by layered vocals, is indispensable for building those hypnotic, melodic harmonies, though you can tell he could have laid down a lot of it with more fire if his heart had been fully in it. He poured his anger at a disintegrating band, the one that had gotten him everything he ever wanted before suddenly leading him into a dead end, into sarcastic lyrics that stand in sharp contrast to the bouncy nature of most of the songs.
The main problem with “Balance of Power” is the laziness and lack of inspiration from the musicians, which you can feel across the whole album. The second problem is that by almost completely ditching their trademark symphonic sound, they pretty much crossed the word “Orchestra” out of their name and effectively turned into a sonic copy of most AOR bands of the time. The opening melodic rocker “Heaven Only Knows” illustrates this perfectly: if it didn’t have their recognizable “Beatles-style” vocal harmonies, it could belong to any established AOR band of the ’80s. On “So Serious” they casually toy with disco elements too, but this attempt at crossing melodic rock with disco is only a pale shadow of similar approaches from the days of the excellent “Discovery” (1979). My claim about the system falling apart carries even more weight once I dig into Lynne’s lyrics, which reflect his growing disappointment with the band that brought him worldwide fame.
The sarcastic ballad “Getting to the Point” is a moment where, thanks to dramatic vocals, romantic keyboard arrangements and a closing sax solo, a little of their old orchestral magic briefly comes back to life, but a dull chorus quickly waters it down to mediocrity. “Secret Lives” is a pretty instant AOR number that not even their signature vocal harmonies can save, so it’s best forgotten as soon as possible. The synthetic pop rocker “Is It Alright” doesn’t fare much better, though its hypnotic chorus deserves some praise. Of everything on the album, “Sorrow About to Fall” is by far the best in my book, a great track that manages to capture the ELO magic of the ’70s. The reason is its rich, ethereal feel and hypnotic melody, thanks to excellent sax embellishments, melancholic synth layers and a great vocal performance from Lynne in which you can feel his whole heart. The disco rhythm elements are laid down convincingly this time, too.
“Without Someone” is another very good piece with a magnificent chorus, a good guitar solo and charming layers of keyboards. In my eyes it’s their most sincere piece within the framework of classic ’80s melodic rock. Lynne and company would clearly have been better off keeping that kind of melancholy going through the whole album, rather than forcing themselves into cheerful AOR bouncers that clashed with their real feelings and cynical lyrics. “Calling America,” the album’s only single and one that had some success on the British charts, is on the other hand a solid pop rocker where Tandy surprises with his string simulations. The lyrics are about an unfaithful woman and, like most of Lynne’s lyrics on this album, run against the track’s otherwise merry nature. The next surprise is “Endless Lies,” which recalls that good old ELO experimentalism of the ’70s, with a series of unexpected transitions and string arrangements simulated on keyboards. The closer “Send It” is a silly, boring rock’n’roller in the style of “Rock ‘n’ Roll is King” from the previous album “Secret Messages,” where you can feel that Lynne could barely wait for it all to be over.
“Balance of Power” catches a legendary band running on fumes, and it comes off as a pale reflection of their former glory. “Balance of Power” bombed commercially too, since apart from “Calling America” it brought no notable chart placements. Lynne realized the end had come, so he decided to bury the fallen titan and devote himself to a solo career. Bev Bevan didn’t feel the same way. After failing in 1988 to convince Lynne to restart the empty engines of the fallen flying saucer, he decided to found his own version of ELO, which he named ELO Part II for legal reasons. Against all expectations, that lineup turned out two interesting releases which, thanks to their historical significance and musical nature, count as part of the official ELO discography, but that’s a different story.
Lineup
Jeff Lynne – vocals, electric and acoustic guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, percussion
Bev Bevan – drums, percussion
Richard Tandy – keyboards, sequencer programming
Christian Schneider – saxophone
Production
Jeff Lynne
Track list
1. Heaven Only Knows
2. So Serious
3. Getting To The Point
4. Secret Lives
5. Is It Alright
6. Sorrow About To Fall
7. Without Someone
8. Calling America
9. Endless Lies
10. Send It
