ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA [AKA: NO ANSWER]

Well I can´t say that ELO is one of my favorite bands. I always thought they were too commercial for my taste. This their debut album is tolerable though. It´s even pretty good, and shows why ELO should be in the Prog Archives.

ELO plays pretty basic rock with a longing melancholic touch. The melodies are very much in the vein of The Beatles. There are no wild or technically challenging soloing on the album. This is for the most part purely vocal melody based. What is special about this album is the chamber like strings that play in every song throughout the album. They are not exactly to my liking, but it´s pretty original for the time.

The songs are well composed and and very streamlined. But they are just prog enough to catch my attention. This is light weight prog rock, but there is nothing wrong with the quality or the musicianship which is excellent.

I´ll rate this 3 stars for a surprisingly good album. Not one I´ll listen to very often, but never the less a good album.