ELDORADO

When an album is released, whether it is considered groundbreaking or not, time actually determines if the album continues to age well or not. When ELO released their 4th album in 1974, progressive rock was already a thing. However, the fact that ELO would have such an influence on symphonic prog by mixing orchestra and rock instruments with classical music and progressive music was probably not even thought about during its inception. Jeff Lynne had this thing for mixing rock and classical together, that came naturally to him, and even this album wasn't the first to do such a thing, however, it has become known as one of the major albums in history to influence progressive music according to Classic Rock magazine and Rolling Stone considers it one of the 50 greatest prog rock albums of all time.

No doubt that this album was a major release back in the day, and it was easily a 5 star album. After all of these years, however, this is one of those albums that aged okay, but not as well as what it might seem back in 1974. Now, it's not because of the instruments, recording or sound that this is the case. I believe, at least for me, that it is because Lynne used all of the classical music clich's out there, and now that is more apparent than ever. This is the thing that keeps me from giving it a 5 star rating. But, I can't deny that I love to listen to this album upon occasion, but too much of it can start to get on my critical nerves. The concept of the album is a good one though. It takes a typical 'Joe' and gives him the power to visit any fantastical place he wishes to.

Typically, in the past, Lynne didn't use an actual orchestra, but instead overdubbed several lines of strings to make it sound more orchestral. On this album, however, he utilized a full orchestra along with his usual band members playing their respective string instruments and such. This was a new experience for Lynne, and you have to admire him for his huge dream on this album. Opening with the 'Eldorado Overture', Lynne begins right away to use themes that were already available to him, thus the reason why I say he used classical music clich's. After Peter Forbes Robinson introduces the concept in a spoken word passage, the orchestra comes in using an excerpt from Grieg's famous piano concerto in A minor, a theme that almost anyone may recognize. After two minutes, the overture flows into the extremely wonderful 'Can't Get It Outta My Head', a song that in and of itself became not only an ELO classic, but a rock ballad classic. It is lush, dramatic and beautiful, an odd way to open after a rousing overture, but no one ever seems to mind, do they? This song would be the one to bring ELO into the spotlight in the States, but it didn't do so well in the UK.

The 2nd single follows in 'Boy Blue', another song that took a bit longer to become an ELO classic. Just like 'Kuiama' from the 2nd album, this is an anti-war song set during the Crusades. It is another personal favorite of mine, though the song is a lot simpler than the more complex 'Kuiama'. However, there are still some great riffs in it, but it has become more overplayed now several years later. This one flows into the fantastic 'Laredo Tornado' which shows off Lynne's vocal range quite well and is another favorite of mine. The 1st side ends with 'Poor Boy (The Greenwood)' which has the main character fantasizing about being one of Robin Hood's merry men. Each track is joined together in a continuous musical suite usually interconnected by familiar sounding orchestral interludes.

The second side opens with 'Mister Kingdom', another great track that follows in the footsteps of The Beatles 'Across the Universe', sounding somewhat similar to that song. The music continues in the same vein as before. The tracks are all short and sometimes a bit too quick as Lynne balances between making a big orchestral rock record that sounds both innovative yet easily adaptable to a commercial radio format in each and every track. At the end of the album, Lynne picks a great track to end it all off wrapping the concept up with the title track. Of course, the church goers got a hold of this track and said that it had a satanic message to it when played backwards. So, unintentionally, Lynne ended up getting the same treatment as his musical heroes The Beatles. 'He is the nasty one, Christ you're infernal, It is said we're dead men, Everyone who has the mark will live.' These were the words they accused him of backmasking. Some people just have way too much time on their hands. The album ends as it begins, with a reoccurrence of the overture theme in the 'Eldorado Finale'. This ends way to quickly and abruptly that it ends up taking away the punch of the album.

I can't deny that I enjoy this album from time to time and that it is a classic. But, it really is also quite accessible, not as complex as previous albums at all. I can only take it in small doses, so once I hear it, I have to put it away again for a while otherwise it can sound a bit trite to me. However, I will not hold that against this album. It does say something that I can still find it fun to listen to at times, and I really enjoy it when I do. For that reason, I can easily give this a four star rating also because it did have an impact on progressive music.