ELO is not prog?

Didn't anyone tell you?

The current Pope isn't a Catholic...

Not one of their albums is "pure" prog - even though there were proggy moments, and even one or two proggy tracks in their first 3.

It's hard for me to consider ELO as even prog related, despite the orchestral arrangements (don't forget that many bands and even genres featured orchestration - inculding Tamla Mowtown, and much Disco).

As Ivan says, the general structures were simple rock song structures. To consider the other 4 elements of music, the melodies were accessible and largely rock and roll in flavour, the harmonies were straightforward - never experimental, and the rhythms were almost invariably 4/4 rock (later DiscoVERY ).

The "orchestral" textures were the most interesting aspect of their music, and maybe a bit progressive in themselves, but ELO used them to forge a single style rather than explore the timbral possibilities. The other thing I would expect from a prog rock band is a certain amount of pretension - more than ELO had. ELO gave nods and winks to the classics, but these tended to be in (respectful) fun - such as their cover of "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Rockaria" - both essentially rock and roll songs, of course.

I think ELO are/were great - there are very few of their albums missing from my collection,. They pushed the envelope of what they did, but I don't think they're prog.

you are right, but because Yes, ELP, Jethro Tull and Genesis continued after their peak period making LAME PROG they are OK. ELO(one of the true progressive rock pioneers) are considered POP in England therefore the world cant have them in the PROGARCHIVES.

Eldorado is one of the truly CLASSIC PROG albums of the 70's!