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Edinburgh Evening News
22nd June 2006
By Liam Rudden
Ochestral manoeuvres in the courts make for a mouthful.
Perhaps the greatest testament yet to the timelessness of the
Electric Light Orchestra's synth-rock came last Saturday with the
Russell T Davies penned Doctor Who episode, Love and Monsters.
The quirky tale revolved around an ELO fan caught up with the
mysterious time-traveller and, needless to say, the entire adventure
was scored with snippets of 1970's favourites such as Mr Blue Sky,
Evil Woman and Don't Bring Me Down.
Not bad for a band that hasn't had a hit in more than two
decades, but then ELO were one of the most successful groups of the
1970's and early 80's, spending 255 weeks in the singles charts.
To date they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide.
The ELO's innovative sound - a combination of Roy Orbison's
pathos, Chuck Berry's jazzy rock 'n' roll riffs and Beatles' pop,
all shrouded in an electronic orchestral wrap - was initially the
concept of Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood and Bev Bevan back in 1971.
They were later joined by conductor Louis Clark, who will
recreate that electronic vibe on Saturday at the Playhouse, when he
conducts Electric Light Orchestra Part II Original Founder Members -
a mouthful if ever there was one.
Clark is joined by other ELO stalwarts Mik Kaminski and Kelly
Groucutt, in a line-up completed by newcomers Parthenon Huxley, Eric
Troyer and Gordon Townsend.
Recalling how he first became involved with the original ELO,
clark says, "I knew Jeff back in the 1960s when he was in Idle Race
and I was with the Raymond Froggatt Band. I was doing something with
Ray in the studio and Jeff was laying down tracks for an ELO album.
He was using a couple of cellos and a violin and I was doing this
thing with a big orchestra. He kept coming up and listening to what
we were doing."
That meeting, in 1974, led to clark being asked to conduct the
orchestra for ELO's breakthrough album in the US, Eldorado - the
first of six ELO albums he would arrange and conduct.
Over the years 27 musicians have performed with various
incarnations of the band. It was their Out of the Blue album in 1977
that established the ELO's mainstream popularity with radio-friendly
tracks such as Turn to Stone, Sweet Talkin' Woman and Mr Blue Sky.
In 1980, a new decade saw Lynne take the band in a new direction,
working with Olivia Newton John and scoring a No. 1 with Xanadu. ELO
disbanded a few years later, and drummer Bev Bevan formed Electric
Light Orchestra Part II when Lynne went into producing but retained
the right to continue recording under the ELO name. Hence the
current band's unwieldy moniker - Electric Light Orchestra Part II
Original Former Members.
"The lawyers agreed it," says violinist Kaminski, adding that
despite the name change the band is still in great demand. "We're
going out to Guatemala and Chile, and there's talk of Russia and
Denmark," says Kaminski, who joined ELO in 1973.
The band decided to reform for the current tour after the success
of the 2005 CD, The Very Best of the Electric Light Orchestra: All
Over the World, which has now sold more than 250,000 copies.
Groucutt says: "It is a great reunion. It is going really well. I
think if anything, we are better than we were before. It totally
sounds better that the original ELO, purely because of the technical
developments in recent years.
Copyright © Scotsman Publications
Edinburgh Evening News
26th June 2006
by Martin Lenon
Band turn on a full-power performance.
Electric Light Orchestra Part II Original Former Members *****
Playhouse
THERE were no spaceships. Then again, you don't really expect
there to be any. And if that was the only complaint you can come up
with for a rock gig, then it must have been a pretty good show. And
it was.
ET may have gone home, but a bevy of lasers and, what looked like
half a ton of dry ice smoke created a suitably dramatic entrance for
a band with an equally dramatic history. One so full of twists and
turns and lawyers and arguments, that in order to perform they had
to agree to be called the "Electric Light Orchestra Part II Original
Former Members" wherever their name appeared in print.
By all accounts, shows by the original group were spotty affairs.
That trademark orchestral sound that was achieved in the recording
studio had to be reproduced with tape-recordings during their first
tours. Not so here. This band had the advantage of modern technology
and instruments on their side, not to mention decades of performing
experience to draw on. Those glorious Bee Gee-esque multi-harmonies
were sung live by just three of the musicians, though and the
orchestral parts were played live either on keyboards or by
legendary violinist Mik Kaminski. Not a tape recorder in sight.
Starting as they meant to go on, the band exploded into Evil
Woman and, right from the off, the audience were clapping along and
singing their heads off. The familiar Spanish-sounding violin took
the band rollicking into their second classic number, Livin' Thing.
Bassist and one of the three vocalists, Kelly Groucutt, had stiff
competition from the audience on the chorus, a fact the band were
going to have to get used to as the show went on. A smooth segue
into Xanadu - minus Olivia Newton-John, but not really missing her -
got the sell-out Playhouse audience jumping in their seats.
Later, the guitarist and vocalist with the probably unique name
of Parthenon Huxley ripped through Wild West Hero, occasionally
whipping his guitar cable around like a lasso. He then provided some
seriously tasty guitar licks while keyboard maestro and third
vocalist Eric Troyer powered through the luxurious Can't Get It Out
Of My Head.
Turning to some of their earliest songs, the band delighted old
time fans by pulling Showdown and Ma Ma Ma Bell out and dusting off
the cobwebs.
They might have been old chestnuts, but they were still fresh and
potent.
Later still, Groucutt put down his bass in favour of a guitar,
playing a touching and gentle version of Midnight Blue to rapturous
applause.
The band played a storming version of the Beatles hit Twist and
Shout, bizarrely and beautifully arranged as though it was a
classical piece. A stream of old favourites followed, including
Shine a Little Light, Hold on Tight, Telephone Line and of course,
Mr Blue Sky, considered by many to be their defining moment.
By then almost everyone in the Playhouse was on their feet and,
going even further back in time, they covered Do Ya, originally by
their predecessors, The Move. Playing a mutant 12 bar blues for Roll
Over Beethoven to close, they returned for a triumphant,
balcony-shaking, audience participation encore of Don't Bring Me
Down. Not a chance of that, as the happy and hoarse audience proved.
Copyright © Scotsman Publications
