ZOOM TOUR LIVE

The musicians in the band are very good, of course, but the main musicians, IMO, are Lynne and keyboard player Richard Tandy, the other oldest member (with Lynne too) in the band. Lynne still has a very good voice and Tandy plays very well the keyboard parts. Tandy is also assisted in some keyboard parts by additional keyboards played by the other guitarist in the band, Marc Mann. The band plays mainly the hits, and some songs from the "Zoom" album. While I still consider it as a good concert, it still shows, like the DVD of the "Out of the Blue Tour", why Lynne didn`t like very much to release live albums or videos from the band: the studio recordings were very good productions, with a lot of sound effects and overdubs which were difficult to reproduce in concert. So, despite having a big band on stage, the songs still don`t sound as good as the studio versions. But I still consider this DVD as a good offer from Lynne to ELO`s Fans.

Yesterday came early from work and the pool I bought for my nephews was empty, so decided to combat the heat with music, went to my room, checked my oldest DVD's, (specially those that I rarely watch) and something made me take "Zoom" which I saw from start to end with nostalgia and pleasure.

Lets start from the beginning so nobody feels cheated, this is not ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA, it's more "Jeff Lynne", "Richard Tandy" & Friends, play ELO music, but despite this fact, it's an excellent DVD that I enjoyed a lot.

As ELO did in they're heyday, the band combines efficiently Rock and Orchestral elements and every musician does his/her job, Jeff sings with that emotion and charisma he can only provide, the Bissonette brothers and Marc Mann add the Rock element, while Richard Tandy and the two cellists (Peggy Baldwin & Sarah O'Brian) take care of the orchestral arrangements.

It's also necesary to mention the beautiful "Rosie Vela" who perfectly supports Jeff with the higher ranges he can't reach any more.

The song selection covers from the first ELO album to a couple of "Zoom" tracks, all performed more than correctly with a excellent image and sound.

Even though it's not the band I grew listening, I enjoyed listening classics as "Evil Woman", "Livin' Thing" and "10538 Overture" in the unique style of Jeff Lynne plus an incredible work by "Richard Tandy", "Peggy Baldwin" and "Sarah O'Brian" making the job of at least six or seven musicians in the classical/orchestral component, so important in ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA'S music.

Normally I wouldn't rate this DVD with more than 3 stars, but being that it's the only visual document with "Jeff Lynne" that has an excellent sound and image it's essential for any ELO fan, so four stars is the closer I can get to the rating of 3.5 that I would had chosen if possible.