Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Electric Light Orchestra Part II
Label: Zomba Records
Release: 1990
Running time: 42:03
Rating: 3.5/5
Electric Light Orchestra without Jeff Lynne? An incredibly bold, not to say downright provocative move, and one that came to life remarkably well in the first half of the nineties under the compromise name ELO Part II. The roots of this strange continuation by other means go back to the end of the ELO tour for the below-par album “Balance of Power” (1986), when Jeff Lynne, the alpha and omega of the band as guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer, decided the legendary group had passed its expiry date and set off on a new adventure with the supergroup Traveling Wilburys, which also featured George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. In many ways you couldn’t blame him for the decision, since ELO were by then a thoroughly burnt-out outfit and only a pale shadow of their former greatness, chronically short on fresh ideas and drenched in synthetic sound.
Drummer Bev Bevan, the only original member besides Lynne, didn’t share the feeling and was determined to convince him to give the band another chance by returning to their sonic roots. Lynne didn’t even want to hear about firing up the engines of the busted ELO spaceship again, so Bevan decided to build the whole thing from scratch. After a short bout of courtroom squabbling over the legal use of the name, he and Lynne agreed on a compromise, and the ELO story could go on on the condition that the suffix Part II was used.
On the self-titled album, Bevan tried to steer his band back to the classic ELO sound with lavish orchestral arrangements, something Lynne had completely given up on in the second half of the eighties. To that end he invited longtime ELO conductor and arranger Louis Clark to join in. From the old ELO crew, bassist Kelly Groucutt and violinist Mik Kaminski came along too. The keyboardist Eric Troyer and guitarists Peter Haycock and Neil Lockwood were completely new names, and those last three also split the vocal duties. Bevan’s first pick for singer was actually John Payne, but he ended up joining Asia instead, where he spent some time performing a cover of the ELO classic “Showdown”.
On “ELO Part Two”, Bevan manages in plenty of spots to get close to that classic seventies ELO style, with generous helpings of tasteful string arrangements, gorgeous multi-harmony melodies and mighty layered vocals. Elsewhere, where the orchestral arrangements aren’t as prominent, the album sits closer to eighties AOR. The record is teeming with compact melodic rock anthems and potential hits. “ELO Part Two” would probably have been commercially much more successful if it had come out two or three years earlier, when this kind of music was at the peak of its popularity. However you slice it, it beats every ELO album from the eighties. The only flaw lies in the production, which doesn’t reach that trademark Lynne perfection, as the bass pushes way too far to the front in places.
The return to the ELO tradition is already there in the opening “Hello”, where, over a dreamy yet bouncy melody and ethereal harmonies, they finally bow once more to their great idols the Beatles after a long time. With the excellent pop rocker “Honest Men”, which has all the necessary ingredients of a classic ELO hit, they set up the album’s first peak. Former ELO violinist Mik Kaminski helps a lot here as a guest musician, weaving a nice dose of string charm into the seductive orchestral arrangements. The central melody and the harmony-laden chorus are beautifully carried through the orchestration, while Troyer’s “Beatle-esque” vocal even sounds a bit like Lynne in its timbre. It’s pitched in the same register, too. “Every Night”, on the other hand, with its prominent guitar riffs, is closer to a melodic rock anthem, in places even hair metal, than to typical ELO art pop rock.
Interestingly, after every dalliance with American sonic mannerisms, along comes a hypnotic piece in the style of “Once Upon a Time”, where you can pick up a good dose of orchestral ELO charm and mighty vocal harmonies. On “Heartbreaker” they run back to the American melodic hard rock sound. The string arrangements weave nicely through the cheeky chorus, but even so it sounds closer to something like Bon Jovi than to classic ELO. “Thousand Eyes” is an example of a harmonious crossing of the ELO tradition with eighties sonic habits, a superb AOR anthem where romantic vocals are laid brilliantly over juicy string arrangements and a pompous melody. “For the Love of a Woman” is also a hypnotic number that successfully captures the old-school ELO spirit, so much so that you could easily picture Lynne’s vocal and instrumental contribution on it.
“Kiss Me Red” is a rather unnecessary cover of Cheap Trick and a transparent attempt to sound appealing to American radio. Still, they manage to stamp it with a thoroughly distinctive sound of their own. “Heart of Hearts”, which even has a few parallels with Toto, is an excellent AOR standard with plenty of juicy guitar phrases and a mighty chorus. Of course, it’s suitably backed up by the obligatory orchestral backdrop. The closing “Easy Street” is yet another solid compromise, a way to charm longtime ELO devotees while sounding akin to the American AOR bands of the eighties, and it could have turned out a lot worse.
“ELO Part Two” is, despite the absence of a key ELO member, a surprisingly successful record that pulls off a blend of some classic seventies ELO elements with the melodic rock of the eighties. I’m convinced that some of these songs would appeal to Lynne today as well, since after the demise of ELO Part II he decided to revive the “real” ELO anyway. Of course the album is a completely different story from what Lynne would have done had he chosen to take part, but the same goes for Pink Floyd without Roger Waters, who also can’t be denied a good number of excellent pieces without their key songwriter and lyricist. Bevan’s plan to revive the classic ELO sound only partly worked out, and elsewhere the album sounds closer to American AOR mannerisms, which will please everyone who worships bands like Foreigner, Survivor or REO Speedwagoon. With better production this would even have been an excellent record, but as it is, it’s “merely” a splendid sonic document that proves that continuing ELO by other means was entirely worth it.
Line-up
Bev Bevan – drums, backing vocals
Kelly Groucutt – bass guitar
Mik Kaminski – violin
Phil Bates – guitar, vocals
Neil Lockwood – guitar, vocals
Eric Troyer – keyboards, vocals
Production
Jeff Glixman
Track list
1. Hello
2. Honest Men
3. Every Night
4. Once Upon A Time
5. Heartbreaker
6. Thousand Eyes
7. For The Love Of A Woman
8. Kiss Me Red
9. Heart Of Hearts
10. Easy Street
