REVIEWS
Jeff Lynne by
Carsten Windhorst
Jeff Lynne’s ELO
Wembley or Bust
Sony Music
Review: Laurence Todd
Few classic 70’s bands
have made a more
remarkable comeback
in recent years than the
Electric Light Orchestra.
Formed by Roy Wood af-
ter he quit The Move, the
ELO merged pop with
rock in a very grandiose,
yet commercial style
and, for several years
throughout the 70’s, they
were a major band with
album sales running into
the millions. They were
initially booked to head-
line the 1979 Knebworth
festival, but pulled out
as the band was falling
apart, and Led Zeppelin
took top spot instead
for two consecutive
Saturdays in August.
Not too long after this,
as the 80’s progressed,
the band didn’t so much
split up as enter a state of
Atrophy. Jeff Lynne went
on to become a success-
ful producer as well as
a Travelling
Wilbury and
the ELO was
put to rest.
But, they’re
back! After
a successful
comeback
Hyde Park gig
in September
2014, when all 50,000-
plus tickets sold out in 15
minutes, the band, now
called Jeff Lynne’s ELO,
have resumed where
they’d left off, wowing
audiences wherever
they’ve played, and this
album will allow you to
hear exactly why their
comeback has been so
feted. Recorded at the
Bands gig at London’s
Wembley stadium in
June 2017, before an es-
timated crowd of 60,000,
this 23-track double CD
is a trawl through Jeff
Lynne’s back catalogue,
from the band’s first
single, ‘10538 Overture’,
right up to ‘When I was a
Boy’, from the latest stu-
dio album, Alone in the
Universe. From the ELO
we get ‘Living Thing’,
‘Evil Woman’, ‘Ma-Ma-
Ma Belle’ and ‘Mr Blue
Sky’, songs which prove
Jeff Lynne has the gifted
songwriter’s knack of
writing captivating mel-
odies inside commercial
songs with a three to
four-minute time span, a
skill few have mastered.
This can be seen on
tracks like ‘Xanadu’. The
band also goes back to
Lynne’s time in The Move
and play ‘Do Ya’ from
their post-Trevor Burton
period, and from the
Wilbury’s, they perform
George Harrison’s ‘Han-
dle With Care’, though
the chorus falls flat
when compared to the
original. They conclude
with Chuck’s ‘Roll Over
Beethoven’.
If I’ve one criticism,
it’s that certain songs
are swamped by the
multi-instrument
backing. A song like
‘Rockaria’ would sound
much rockier if played
by a stripped-down
rock ‘n roll band, rather
than a band with Cellos.
Less would certainly be
more here. But, none-
theless, all throughout
this album, the music
of the ELO is fiendishly
tricky and complex, and
yet deceptively simple to
play, to which is added
some gorgeous multi-
part harmonies, and this
allows the ELO to appeal
to an audience from right
the way across the board.
Not too many bands with
a prog rock influence
could fill Wembley this
easily.
Reuben Archer’s
Personal Sin
Petrolhead
Toxic Arrow Records
Review: Tom Dixon
Stampede vocalist
Reuben Archer released
a guest-filled solo album
entitled Personal Sin in
2013. Fast forward to
2017 and a band now
called Reuben Archer’s
Personal Sin have just
released a new album
called Petrolhead.
Unsurprisingly, all of the
tracks have a common
theme of driving and or
cars.
A line up of Reuben
Archer: vocals; Rob
Wolverson: guitars (&
Stampede bandmate);
Chris Clowsley: guitars;
Linda Kelsey-Foster:
21 | www.RAMzine.co.uk
keyboards; Jim Cooper:
bass;
Neil Ablard: drums have
put together 11 tracks
covering their rock/
country/blues influences.
Together they make an
enjoyable whole – from
the harmonica-infused
blues of ‘Last Chance’
to the straight-ahead
rock of ‘Stone Cold
Turkey’, it is a considered
well-crafted series of
songs with Archer on top
form.
The only jarring note
for me was the sax on
‘Caught in the Rain’ – it
came across a bit Baker
Street for my ears.