LIVE AT THE BBC

ELO is the classic prog-related group in my book. In the beggining they flert with the 'art rock' tendencies of the early seventies, but soon their leader and drivin' force Jeff Lynne realized that his pop sensibilities and Beatles fixation were a better guide to follow than any artsy experience. And this live collection of BBC shows just confirm that he was right.

The first section of disc 1 is composed by tracks from their couple of initial albums, the artsy ones. Although the music is sometimes interesting I feel a lack of direction in their development.

Thank God Lynne decided to add a pop touch in their third album, the wonderful 'On the third day. The second section of the first cd was made to promote this album, and the live 'On the third day' piece sounds great as they never was before to these ears.

And ten came 'Eldorado'. And although the bass player in the sessions was Mike D'Albuquerque, they recruited another guy for the tour, named Kelly Groucutt. Oh how I wish he were in the band in the 'Eldorado' sessions.

The second disc was captured during the beginning of the 'Face the Music' tour. Compare the way the band sounds now with the first set and you can hear how important was the presence of Groucutt to the new face f ELO. Compare also the On the third day medley played with Kelly on the vocals; he gave a great improvement on the original Lynne parts.

Finally, Kelly's lead on the 'Eldorado' tracks (here presented only by The Greenwood, but he took the chorus of the last song of this album, as can be heard in the 'Winterland 76' bootleg-made-official release) and the then-new tracks 'Poker' and 'Nightrider' make clear that his presence gave a new breath for the group and helped Lynne to rule the world with the next three albums.

I'm not a fan of group outtakes that just live on past glories like ELo part II and I know that Kelly and Bevan parts on this project prevent any call by Lynne when he tried to reform ELO. I just wish that they could join Lynne, Harrison and Tandy and hen the 'Zoom' album and tour could be something more special.

Anyway I'll miss you, Kelly. May you rest in peace. Thanks for leaving wonderful works of joy with us. This weekend will be dedicated to your memory.

a huge five stars in my collection. I can't give more than three stars for its progginess, but Kelly deserves at least 4 stars. Moodyxady, a brazilian fan of the Electric Light Orchestra and Kelly Groucutt.