THE LIGHT SHINES ON

Clearly this compilation was chiefly released to take advantage of ELO's big success from their A New World Record and Out of the Blue albums. The interesting thing about it is that all of the material was taken from their first three albums during their progressive rock period. The other interesting thing to note is that the selection is quite strange in that it isn't the best material from that time period. Showdown, 10538 Overture, and Roll Over Beethoven are givens, but the other numbers are average to just plain odd for a compilation like this. The only thing of interest to fans of the group is the rare B-side instrumental version of In Old England Town, but this is presently available on the remastered version of ELO II.

Since all of these selections are available elsewhere and this is an out-of-print LP never released on CD (I think?), I can't imagine anyone being interested in it except for completionists and record collectors. For the music selection, three stars since it isn't the best collection they could have put together, but is better than A New World Record or Out of the Blue.