The road from the Move to the Electric Light Orchestra had been a bumpy ride from the get-go, and when Roy Wood quit during the recording sessions for ELO 2, taking two band members with him to form Wizzard, the British music press predicted that the Electric Light Orchestra would soon drive over a cliff. Wood was a known and trusted commodity whose work with the Move produced several top ten singles. After the first five failed to make it to the top, he announced that the Move would disband if “Blackberry Way” did not make it to #1. The listening public fell in line and complied with Roy’s demands. The loss of Roy Wood also seemed insurmountable due to his multi-instrumental abilities: on the first ELO album, Roy Wood played thirteen different instruments.

By contrast, Jeff Lynne’s very Beatlesque group The Idle Race never had a single or an album that made the U.K. charts, despite positive reviews. He made two albums with the Move, neither of which charted, and the only single from those two albums to reach the top ten was a Roy Wood composition. His one claim to fame was the hit single “10538 Overture” from the first ELO album, but critics shrugged and assumed it was a one-hit wonder. Even if you generously add the Moog synthesizer he occasionally messed around with, Lynne was eleven instruments short of Roy Wood’s capabilities.

Fortunately for posterity, Jeff Lynne was not a quitter. He stuck with The Idle Race long after it became clear that the band would never catch fire, and he likely saw Roy’s departure as an opportunity to stamp his mark on the band’s sound. He still had Bev Bevan, one of the best drummers in England, and managed to keep three of the musicians who had joined ELO to play live performances: violinist Wilf Gibson, cellist Mike Edwards, and most importantly, Richard Tandy, who would become a long-time resident and a major influence in shaping the band’s sound. Lynne also managed to recruit Mike de Albuquerque to play bass (allowing Tandy to move to keyboards) and cellist Colin Walker (fresh from the Royal Academy of Music). ELO was now a septet, eliminating the need for the endless overdubs required by Wood’s one-man band and significantly improving their ability to play credible renditions of album cuts in live performances.

Reviews for ELO2 were middling at best. Bruce Eder’s review on AllMusic reflected the critical consensus: “There were holes in their sound that made the group seem somewhat ragged,” and “some of the material also showed the need of an editor.” There were also problems that resulted in a so-so commercial performance. The sound quality of the original release was muddy in spots, and the album was not AM-radio-friendly, with five long tracks ranging from 6:56 to 11:19. The working title for the album was “Lost Planet,” and except for “Roll Over Beethoven,” the mood is dark and somewhat apocalyptic with songs about war, death, greed, test-tube babies, environmental degradation, and economic inequality—topics that were out of sync with what listeners were craving for in 1973, when “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” “Crocodile Rock” and McCartney’s “My Love” were selling like hotcakes.

As noted in the Wikipedia article on the album, “ELO 2 is the least commercial-sounding album the band released.” Personally, I admire Jeff Lynne for going against the grain at a time when ELO was tottering at the edge of oblivion. He obviously felt strongly about things going to hell in a handbasket and wanted to sound the alarm bells. Unfortunately, he was facing an audience weary of bad news and had turned to nostalgia or glam rock to help them forget all about it, and he simply lacked the juice to move them.

Despite its limitations mentioned above, ELO 2 has much to offer. Jeff Lynne would never write lyrics as strong as those on ELO 2, the arrangements are well-designed and the band performs with remarkable energy. Bev Bevan’s contributions on the kit are so strong that sometimes I’ll play the album and focus solely on the drummer. The 2006 remaster took care of the original version’s sonic deficiencies (though it’s a bitch to find and will cost you a bundle), but I rather like the roughness of the original because it syncs well with the rough messages contained in the lyrics.

I know my views will label me a contrarian, but I’m cool with that. I happen to prefer the progressive version of ELO over the pop version because it feels like there’s more there there. Feel free to call me the Gertrude Stein of progressive rock.

*****

All songs written by Jeff Lynne except for the obvious.

Side One

“In Old England Town (Boogie No. 2)”: Ironically, the strongest connections to classical music in ELO 2 can be found in the two “boogies.” The curious subtitles were explained by Reddit contributor Unexpected Moments: “As he said while introducing an early version of ‘In Old England Town’ . . . Jeff had recently written several new songs, each then still known simply as a Boogie in the absence of more elaborate working titles.”

In this case, the classical influences are heard largely in the overture. A classical overture should be designed to grab the listener’s attention, establish the mood, and introduce the main motifs that will appear throughout the piece. The opening thrust of roughly bowed, angry cellos in the key of E minor certainly succeeds in waking up the listener and defining the mood, and the continuing use of declining figures from the cellos once the violin and guitar enter the scene sync perfectly with the verses, all of which begin with the words “Down, down.” The overture ends with a dissonant guitar arpeggio in F minor (a nasty shift from E minor), and after a closing downward figure from the cellos, Jeff steps up to the mic and delivers the lyrics in what I would describe as a gruff, disgusted, and suitably angry tone:

Down, down, you can see them all
Rising gaily to the top
Keep on rising, babe, you know you got a long drop
You better cling ’cause it’s the done thing

Down, down, at the policeman’s ball
They’re all dancing in a line
Keep on grunting, boys, you know you’re doing fine
Come quickly, I’ve been strangled

The first verse is a dig at the British class system and those who attach great importance to raising their social and financial status simply because “it’s the done thing” and will make mum and dad proud. As for the second verse, the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies noted that 69 percent of the U.K. population thought violent crime was a serious social problem in 1973. Apparently, Jeff felt that the bobbies weren’t doing much in the way of protecting the citizenry.

After a brief interlude where cellos, guitar, and bass introduce a new set of declining figures while Bev responds with a powerful syncopated response on the drums, we move to the next verse and find Jeff even more pissed off about the state of Old England town and its fascination with the rites and symbols of masculinity:

Down, down, at the military
They’re all marching round and round
Keep them boots shined and that still upper lip down
Ablution, revolution

Down, down, at the launching pad
Giant phallus stands erect
Ten thousand tons of waste throb then eject
Look out space, we’re gonna change our place

I assume that readers can easily understand the penis-ejaculation metaphor, but “ablution” may require an explanation. I always associated the word with religious rites of cleansing, but Merriam-Webster opened my eyes to a British-specific definition: “In British English, ablutions can also refer to a building housing bathing and toilet facilities on a military base.” Given the context, I think Jeff’s use of the word holds both meanings. Joining the military is a rite of passage for many, and military organizations frequently employ symbolic ceremonies to honor both the living and the dead.

A repetition of the overture follows, another nod to classical music in the form of recapitulation. The closing verses address the human response to environmental destruction and an economic system that creates more losers than winners. The response to both is utter stupidity:

Down, down, in old England town
There was air and now there’s smoke
Let’s build more cars and drive away before we choke
Suddenly it’s always nighttime

Down, down, at that nice trade fair
All the money gone astray
Let’s inflate this price and float away
Just you and me and everyone

The piece ends with one last shot of angry cellos, followed by a brief rest that cues an upward swoop from the synthesizer and a perfectly executed five-step finale. I’ll admit that the song is a rough ride on multiple levels, but the composition is exceptionally strong, and Jeff Lynne’s lyrics should have given people a lot to think about. Speaking of shoulds, I should note that Roy Wood appeared on both the boogies, playing bass and cello, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the strong cello attack on “In Old England Town” was his idea.

“Momma (“Mama” in the US): Several progressive rock fans have dismissed this piece as “light pop.” Huh. I wouldn’t consider a song about the death of a mother and its impact on her child “light pop.” Losing a parent is a traumatic experience for most people and shouldn’t be taken “lightly.” I would also point out that the chord pattern (which nearly every website got wrong except for hooktheory.com) is more sophisticated than most, especially in the transitional passages where augmented, sixths, and the odd duck B7/D# make appearances. The song is largely in Mixolydian mode with its flattened 7th, with a brief stop into Phrygian in the form of a D6 chord. Though largely in the key of E major, the chord pattern in the verses is dominated by minor 7ths. According to Hook Theory, “In terms of chords and melody, ‘Momma’ is more complex than the typical song, having above average scores in Chord Complexity, Melodic Complexity, Chord-Melody Tension and Chord-Bass Melody.”

Sounds pretty progressive to me!

The arrangement centers around the interplay between Wilf Gibson’s sorrowful violin swoops and the smooth, supporting cellos, with a synthesized trumpet employed to mark the opening and closing of the instrumental and lyrical passages. With Mike de Albuquerque adding spot harmonies, Jeff’s vocal strikes an empathetic tone for the poor girl who lost her mother and wishes she had shown greater appreciation for her while she was still alive.

She came up from the country with her smile for everyone
She left her blue horizon just to find another home
A lonely girl who’d traveled many days
A lonely heart that could not find a way

She said, “Mama, it’s a hard life now you’re gone
Mama, it’s so hard to carry on
And I feel I’m a fool who lost it all
You used to make it all so very clear
That life must go on though the end is near
Mama, it’s a sad and lonely life”

She tries to make the best of things as she begins her search for a new life, putting on a happy face for those she meets while grieving inside:

A misty morning rider, she came wandering through the hills
A wandering soul appearing over rainy windowsills
A loser in her heart, but in her face
A smile for everyone under God’s grace

A light instrumental passage featuring violin and cello in call-and-response mode follows the chorus—and leads to another round of the chorus followed by a reprise of the instrumental passage. This is where Bruce Eder’s comment that “some of the material also showed the need of an editor” rings truest because the repetition is superfluous and worst of all, it breaks the narrative. How could you leave that poor girl out in the middle of nowhere, Jeff? Dammit, I want to know how she’s doing!

Ah! Finally!

Midnight maiden madness, what to search for in this place?
Gateway to the city, night sky shadows on her face
A lady lost in nowhere but her stare
Leaves the world, her life to start somewhere

While I would have preferred a more definitive end to the story, I suppose “she’s about to open a new chapter in her life” will have to do, given all the space wasted on multiple choruses and repeated passages. Making it even more obvious that ELO didn’t have enough material to fill an album, the song ends with two more renditions of the chorus!

With its lovely melody and music, “Mama” deserved better—and often less is better than more. Seven minutes is a long time when you’ve run out of things to play or say, and cutting that time by fifty percent would have been more than sufficient. To Jeff’s credit, he fessed up to the excess in Electric Light Orchestra: Song by Song (courtesy of Ultimate Classic Rock): “Some of the songs are a bit longer than they might be,” Lynne later reflected. It was “all very experimental and sometimes a bit over the top . . . It taught me a bit about where to go musically and where not to go.”

“Roll Over Beethoven” (Berry-Beethoven): I have to admit that I’m a bit surprised that no one else in the world of music thought of this before. It wasn’t like ELO was the only group trying to meld classical music into rock in the late 60s and early 70s. I don’t know what triggered Jeff Lynne to give it a shot, but in my wildest fantasies I hope that his intent was to restore Chuck Berry’s credibility after the Father of Rock ‘n’ Roll topped the US charts with that stupid fucking song “My Ding-a-Ling.”

I’ve always interpreted Richard Tandy’s opening on the harmonium as a gateway to one of the most cherished and sacred songs in rock ‘n’ roll history. Though they only qualify as a small chamber ensemble, the string section (with an assist from de Albuquerque on bass) performs a credible rendition of the famous overture in Beethoven’s Fifth. Right after the ensemble fades into the distance, Jeff picks up his unfiltered Les Paul to deliver one of the hottest riffs in rock ‘n’ roll history, and we’re off!

The arrangement in the first lyrical segment is free of strings, with Bev playing a straight rhythm, Tandy pounding the 88’s with rhythmic counterpoints, and de Albuquerque thumping away on the bass. Bev changes gears for the first instrumental interlude, intensifying his multi-drum attack. Wilf Gibson makes a modest entrance on the violin while Lynne and de Albuquerque follow a downward chord pattern of E-D-C-Bb-Ab-Gb and back to E. At this point the arrangement shifts to give-and-take with the synth taking the dominant role, supported by Wilf and the cellists in the opening bars, then turning things over to the rockers for a little oomph. That passage features my favorite Bev Bevan performance, as he moves from straight beats to marvelously syncopated fills that give me the chills.

Following a transition of upward dissonance, we enter a period where the musicians engage in a series of trade-offs to show their stuff. Wilf Gibson opens the festivities with a violin/fiddle solo that sounds like fluttering hummingbirds with their teeny-tiny hearts beating at mega-speed. The cellists come next, sawing away and doing their best to match Wilf’s furious flurries. Tandy gets his shot at a solo and nails it, playing like a rock ‘n’ roll Liberace on amphetamines. The final showcase event goes to Lynne, who repeats his hot riff and attacks the fretboard with full intensity, then it’s back to the verses, where at one point the band tones it down and Jeff lowers his voice to deliver the song’s famous bridge:

Well, if you feel and like it
Go get your lover, reel and rock it
Roll it over then move on up just
A trifle further and reel and rock with one another
Roll over Beethoven
Tell Tchaikovsky the news

The rest of the song consists of recapitulations of previous passages, but not once does ELO go soft on us. The song became their concert closer, and sometimes the crowds would demand more, more, and more, virtually forcing the band to keep on playing until they reached the point of exhaustion. What I love most about their take is that they all sound like they’re having a blast.

As for its placement in ELO 2, “Roll Over Beethoven” offers a shot of unbridled joy amid the overall mood of doom and gloom.

Side Two

“From the Sun to the World (Boogie No. 1)”: Of the two “boogies,” this is the one that comes closest to mimicking symphonic structure, generally adhering to the classic fast-slow-dance-fast structure with a few diversions. As Jeff Lynne was not classically trained and couldn’t read music, I would assume that he grasped the importance of structure in classical music by either listening to symphonies or resorting to common sense. The average listener knows next to nothing about music theory but can still tell the difference between a well-structured composition and a sloppy mess, and the same is true of intuitive, self-trained musicians who lack classical training. John Lennon’s intent when he wrote “Not a Second Time” was to write a song that sounded like something Smokey Robinson would do, and wound up with a tune that wowed at least one classically-trained critic: “This song inspired a musical analysis from William Mann of The Times, citing the “Aeolian cadence” (Aeolian harmony) of Lennon’s vocals as the song draws to a close . . . Lennon, years later, remarked: ‘To this day, I have no idea what [Aeolian cadences] are. They sound like exotic birds’.” (Wikipedia) Of course, if you’re trying to blend rock with classical music, it does help to have at least a few classically-trained musicians in the band who are steeped in technique and have the ability to imbue the classical influences with a stamp of authenticity.

“From the Sun to the World” opens with a touch of Baroque structure with a brief prelude mingling Tandy’s gentle piano with pretty declining figures from the synthesizer. The overture begins when Tandy shifts from gentle mid-tempo arpeggios to more insistent block chords, quickening the tempo and cueing the presentation of the central motif in two passes. At the end of the presentation, Bev Bevan asserts himself with a pair of urgent rolls, and Jeff rushes in, delivering his vocals like a man out of breath due to a panic attack:

Listen to me, sister, I got news from the governor
And I’ve heard people shouting from the towers in the city
While their babies grow in test tubes over night

Run and fetch the priest ’cause there’s a light on in the building
And there’s sounds blowin’ out in the music of the night
And we should try to get the people out alive

The anxiety expressed in Jeff’s voice is intensified by Wilf Gibson’s high-speed flurry on the violin. I would have hoped that “sister” would respond, “Slow down, honey—you’re not making a lick of sense!” Unfortunately, his gibberish goes unchallenged. All we know is that trouble is afoot in some form and that people are in danger, but we have no idea regarding the specific nature of the threat. For all we know, this could be one of those “boy who cried wolf” situations triggered by lunacy, or an idiot reacting to “fake news.”

After a restatement of the central motif, the arrangement shifts to the “slow” section, introduced via Tandy’s lovely arpeggios. Session man Bill Hunt adds a French Horn to the mix, followed by Wilf’s mournful violin, combining to create a mood somewhere between melancholy and hopelessness. After a brief pause, the arrangement breaks away from symphonic structure, eschewing “dance” for “fast” via a series of restatements of the main motif by a variety of instruments. Jeff returns to bring us the latest . . . news? . . . myths? . . . metaphors? . . . doomsday update?

Movin’ ‘cross the ocean with the flag of death a-flyin
A demon butcher’s pointin’ out the message on the tide
And a demon light a-sailin’ by his side

Stormin’ down the airwaves comes the protest and the prayin’
And the love that shone down from the sun to world
No longer could support the life it gave

Believe it or not, now I think I understand. Jeff was describing a world in chaos and arguing that instead of accepting the chaos of constant war, dehumanization, and the possibility of a nuclear armageddon as “normal,” we need to wake the fuck up before the planet dies a miserable death.

The closing passage begins with another recapitulation of the main motif, but instead of the unnecessary repetitions that weakened “Momma,” the music shifts out of classical and into rock with a segment I would define as “musical madness,” where Jeff, Bev, Richard and Mike beat the hell out of their instruments for a minute before being swooped up by the synthesizer. This suitably chaotic passage sounds the alarm bell as well as our over-stressed narrator, and I bet the quartet enjoyed the let-it-all-out experience.

“Kuiama”: Let’s see . . . Pakistan has declared war on Afghanistan . . . the Americans and Israelis are bombing the shit out of Iran and Iran is firing back . . . the Americans are starving the Cubans into submission . . . China is seriously pissed off at Japan . . . The war in Ukraine drags on . . . the civil war in the Sudan drags on . . . the EU is pumping billions into defense . . . yeah, I think it’s time to listen to a song about the horrors of war.

As explained on Songfacts, “The song is an allegory for the Vietnam War, which was raging in 1973 when it was released.” How utterly appropriate. No nation has engaged in more military interventions since 1798 than the United States; Wikipedia places the number at around 400; Toward Freedom claims that the U.S. launched 251 military interventions since 1991, and 469 since 1798. If we find ourselves facing World War III, I’m betting that it won’t be the Russians who kick it off, but the United States of America.

The story concerns a Vietnam draftee and a young girl whose parents were shot dead right before her eyes. The soldier rescues the girl and somehow manages to bring her to the USA, where he will care for her. The song opens with the faint sound of bells, then strings, bass and synthesizer combine to establish the main motif, a deliberately dissonant pattern consisting of repetitions of the incompatible E-Bb chords. After a brief pause, Jeff enters on guitar with a combination of bends and arpeggios set to a nearly circular chord pattern of E-E7-C#m-Am-E-Caug, C#m, D, with the final chord extended in a slight build towards a riff that leads to the root chord E. The pattern in the verses is quite simple, an E-F#-A-E progression that avoids detracting from the narrative. The four vocal segments feature Jeff and Mike joined in harmony for the most part, and contain two verses each; the first establishes the scene over a background of rough guitar, growling cellos and synth, and Bev’s subtle drum work:

My-my Kuiama, she came in the morning
She smiled but the tears on her little face
Showed the pain that had been in that far-off place
So sad, treated so bad

My-my Kuiama, don’t break your heart tryin’
To say how your ma and your pa’ passed away
And they left you to wander the ruin and decay
Real mean, that bullet machine

A replay of the opening segment is enhanced near the end with an urgent flurry of a single note on Wilf’s violin. In this scene, the ex-soldier reminds Kuiama that she is now in a safe place while acknowledging the pain that shapes her memories.

See here Kuiama, now ten thousand miles
Is a long, long way and you’re here today
And you won’t go back so you might say
Hello, how do you do? (do)

Kuia, stop your cryin’, there’s no bombs a-fallin’
No horsemen in the night a-ridin’ through your dreams
And tearing at your life (life)
Baby goodnight (night)

Jeff then introduces a key change with a rising riff that temporarily resets the song to C# minor and leads to the song’s bridge. As the ex-soldier runs through the horrors of war and assures Kuiama that those horrors are in the past, Jeff’s tone of sadness and grief indicates that the ex-soldier is suffering from PTSD:

No more silver rain will hit your ground
And no more guns will sound
And no more life be drowned
No more trenches where the soldiers lie
And no more people die
Beneath that big black sky (echoed)

The main motif brings us back to E major, where we find that the vet has something more to say—something that has been weighing on his mind for some time, as indicated by his need to wake Kuiama from her sleep:

Wake up Kuiama, I got somethin’ to tell you
It’s just that I mean, well, that is to say
That I’m trying to explain but I’ll start again
For you, I must be true

Kuia, in this country, they got rules with no reason
They teach you to kill and they send you away
With your gun in your hand, you pick up your pay
So cool, that no mercy tool

Okay, so he’s saying that he was forced to fight, but there’s obviously more to the story than he’s letting on, and for some reason, he has a hard time finding the words. At this point, we leave the narrative after a repeat of Jeff’s pre-verse guitar pattern and an even longer and more intense flurry from Wilf, a musical hint indicating that whatever the vet is trying to hide is tearing him apart. His avoidance plays out in an instrumental passage that begins in A minor and lasts for three and a half minutes, with each of the band members sharing the spotlight. The music is intense and packed with emotional power, building to the close in the form of a crescendo where the synth mimics the sound of an air raid siren, followed by a reflective turn on the piano set to a soft drum sound reminiscent of a slow march. After a brief moment of silence, the traumatized soldier finally relays the rest of the story:

Kuia, please believe me? I just couldn’t help myself
I wanted to run but they gave me a gun
And they told me the duty I owed to my Fatherland
I made my stand

Kuia, I just shot them, I just blew their heads open
And I heard them scream in their agony
Kuiama, she waits there for me
True blue, you saw it through

Yes, it was he who killed her parents—and it was he who rescued Kuiama and brought her to safety. Both of them are going to need years of therapy to unravel that knot, and it isn’t going to be easy. I can’t imagine what it feels like to hold all that inside and live with the scars until you die.

And though I hope our future is not riddled with stories like this one, the odds are against us. From Le Monde (English version):

Putin and Trump are both contributing to the global rise of authoritarianism, which fundamentally changes the nuclear arms landscape. At the beginning of this century, only one authoritarian state had nuclear weapons: China. Russia was then a fledgling democracy and North Korea’s infant nuclear program was contained by agreements with the US.

Today, for the first time in the history of the nuclear age, seven of the nine nuclear-armed states have authoritarian leaders: Russia, China, North Korea, India, Pakistan, Israel and the US. The United Kingdom and France are the only true liberal democracies with nuclear arsenals remaining. We had gotten used to authoritarian regimes acquiring nuclear weapons. Now, nuclear-weapon states are acquiring authoritarian regimes.

And both the U.K. and France are teetering democracies. Even if we somehow avoid nuclear war, you can expect more Kuiamas and traumatized soldiers in the near future.

Oh my . . . the Americans and Israelis just killed 115 Iranian children in a school near a military base. Fuckers.

*****

Despite being tagged by the critics as the leader of a sinking ship, Jeff Lynne managed to right the ship and inspire a group of talented musicians to give it their all. The sound may be a bit rough in spots, and some of the songs could have used a talented barber, but the compositions are essentially solid, the execution is first-rate, and the lyrics are outstanding. Like any decent leader, he admitted his mistakes and learned valuable lessons in the process. ELO 2 may not be perfect, but it is a more than worthy effort that has been ignored for too long.

I will be heading to Iceland next week to meet with their Human Rights staff as they consider applying for EU membership. Iceland is the world leader in protecting LGBTQ rights, but struggling to contain domestic violence (as is the EU). The idea is to share views and methods, and hopefully we can learn a lot from each other.

I should be able to finish next week’s review on time, as I had figured out long ago that I would be burning the midnight oil on this one. Stay safe!