ELO is not 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!

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.

Didn't anyone tell you?

The current Pope isn't a Catholic...

ivan_2068 wrote: moodyxadi wrote: Well, if Styx and a lot of crap under the label prog metal have a place in this site, the only explanation is that the moderators spent their last seventies dancing Discovery and Xanadu and, regreting of this some years later, deleted ELO from their lives. Seriously, from ELO I to Eldorado ELO was a prog group. Not the best, but a real prog group. On the third day Suite and Kuyama talk for themselves, and Eldorado is a really good pop-gressive rock album.  Don't assume things, ELO has been requested several times and  not been accepted for a simple reason, they never were a Progressive Rock band. There have even included polls and ELO was rejected by the majority of the members, not the Adms, not the Collaborators, by most of  the members. They had Orchestral arrangements, used symphony orchestra instruments, but behind all this they were rock (Great rock), all the structuire of their music was simple Rock and later as you well said they became a Disco band. I love ELO, A New World Record has a place on my CD player always, but still I don't believe they were ever a Prog band. Iván

You write that "behind all this they were rock." Yes, you're right, and isn't that why prog is called prog rock? <---note use of word "rock." While the musical arrangements may not be as complex as Gentle Giant, there are other over-arching thematic structures and arrangements of the music that definitely qualify them as prog rock as this site defines it (not to mention "prog-related," which does a diservice to their work as a whole).

One can counter that "Tommy" is a concept album, but The Who shouldn't be considered prog, and I agree. But The Who began and continues to be a hard rocking band first and foremost. ELO never were considered a scrappy hard rocking band, but always a band that created thematically-centered, musically-complex and provocative, lyrically-compelling, rock from the beginning. That's the difference.

ELO prog. Yes. The time to remedy this misperception is now.

Some songs are decent, 'Mr Blue Sky', 'The Diary Of Horace Wimp' I like- but anyway, their music doesn't stand out as prog, rather more pompous pop.

I'm glad to see that a few others have some problems with the 'prog related' idea; to me, this could open the spectrum a little TOO much- even artists like Elton John, Stevie Wonder, maybe even (gulp) Hall and Oates could be considered 'prog' related as they made concept albums, but I'm doubtful anybody here would call any of these acts 'prog rock' (at least I hope not).