Release date: 01.11.2019
Label: Columbia Records
Producer: Jeff Lynne
Length: 32:39
Genre: art rock
Rating: 9.5
“From Out of Nowhere” is the second studio album from the legendary English group Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) since their reunion in 2014, and the follow-up to its excellent predecessor “Alone in the Universe” (2015). The renowned English multi-instrumentalist, singer and producer Jeff Lynne has clearly taken the revival of his cult band very seriously. Besides him, the band consists only of founding keyboardist Richard Tandy (who was ‘graciously’ handed the piano solo on “One More Time”, while Lynne once again played every instrument on the album himself, apart from some percussion handled by sound engineer Steve Jay).
Right off the bat, it has to be said that the new ELO album sounds like Lynne hopped into a time machine and went back to 1977. From the cover art to the production and the structure of every single song, “From Out of Nowhere” screams nostalgia and smells like the seventies, when ELO were at the peak of their powers and enjoying their biggest commercial success. That means longtime fans will be thrilled from the first minute to the last. Jeff’s vocal abilities are practically untouched, while most of the songs boast top-notch symphonic arrangements of the kind that were always indispensable to ELO’s music. Even though Jeff is first and foremost a guitarist, he nailed all the other instruments too, so the listener never gets the feeling that this is a ‘one man band’.
Quite a few songs on “From Out of Nowhere” would probably have been hits in the seventies, including the title track and opener, which sounds like something that could have sat on the cult album “Out of the Blue” (1977). Mr. Lynne remains a master at building ‘Beatles-style’ vocal harmonies (a lovely example is “All My Love”), hypnotic choruses (“Down Came the Rain” deserves a special mention), ethereal symphonic arrangements (the melancholic “Losing You” has an especially prominent orchestral stamp) and simple but highly effective, ‘grabby’ guitar lines (here the standout is “Sci-Fi Woman”).
Fans of the more upbeat stuff will get their fill above all from songs like the aforementioned “One More Time”, which recalls ELO’s boogie-rocking side, with the symphonic flourishes the band has served up quite a few times in its past. With this arranging and production feast, it’s very hard to pick the album’s best moment, since all the songs are of roughly equal quality, with a total absence of weak spots.
“From Out of Nowhere” is like a time-machine trip back to the golden days of Lynne’s ELO, which means the seasoned musician has once again made an album that’s totally to the taste of the longtime faithful. It’s also very pleasing and smart that no song runs longer than three and a half minutes, because Jeff, despite his band’s prog-rock roots, never liked needless ‘stretching out’ that could hurt the melodic, compact structure of his compositions.
ELO’s return to the music scene in 2014 is increasingly turning out to be one of the best musical events of the last ten years. Despite the ‘one man band’ nature of his studio work, Jeff could have happily called his band by its full name again – Electric Light Orchestra, i.e. without adding his own name – but he decided against it because he’d had enough of the pile of dodgy bands, mostly made up of former members, who by his account misused the ELO name in the past without his approval.
Review by: Peter Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. From Out of Nowhere (3:14)
2. Help Yourself (3:12)
3. All My Love (3:05)
4. Down Came the Rain (3:28)
5. Losing You (3:36)
6. One More Time (3:28)
7. Sci-Fi Woman (3:06)
8. Goin’ Out on Me (3:08)
9. Time of Our Life (3:07)
10. Songbird (3:08)
Electric Light Orchestra:
Jeff Lynne – vocals, guitar, bass guitar, piano, keyboards, drums
Richard Tandy – piano solo on “One More Time”
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Steve Jay – percussion
