Electric Light Orchestra - BBC Sessions, Volume 5: BBC Sessions, Volume 5: Radio 2 in Concert, BBC Radio Theatre, London, Britain, 11-7-2019

Here's the fifth, and possibly last, album of Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) performing for the BBC.

By this point, ELO was basically Jeff Lynne plus backing musicians. He formed the band in 2014 (again) and started regularly going on tour. There are a couple more BBC shows ELO did in the late 2010s, but I don't think I'll bother with them because they're all pretty similar to each other and to the original records.

However, I think this one is more interesting, because it's the only concert of a tour that never happened. Note the timing: this show took place in November 2019. It was the warm up show for a tour that was supposed to start in early 2020 - but that's when the Covid 19 pandemic hit, so the tour was cancelled. The tour was meant to promote the 2019 ELO album "From Out of Nowhere." Three songs from that album were performed in this concert: "From Out of Nowhere," "All My Love," and "Time of My Life." Due to the canceled tour, I believe this concert was the only time ELO performed them in concert.

Otherwise, it's a rather short concert, with the usual ELO hits.

This album is 55 minutes long.

01 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
02 Evil Woman (Electric Light Orchestra)
03 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
04 All Over the World (Electric Light Orchestra)
05 Do Ya (Electric Light Orchestra)
06 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
07 Handle with Care (Electric Light Orchestra)
08 Livin' Thing (Electric Light Orchestra)
09 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
10 From Out of Nowhere (Electric Light Orchestra)
11 Don't Bring Me Down (Electric Light Orchestra)
12 All My Love (Electric Light Orchestra)
13 Eldorado Overture - Can't Get It Out of My Head (Electric Light Orchestra)
14 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
15 Time of Our Life (Electric Light Orchestra)
16 Rockaria (Electric Light Orchestra)
17 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
18 Turn to Stone (Electric Light Orchestra)
19 Mr. Blue Sky (Electric Light Orchestra)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/d8a956Wc

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/DR0dgiidgBuAvx6/file

The cover photo comes from this exact concert.

Electric Light Orchestra - VH-1 Storytellers, Altman Building, New York City, 4-20-2001

Next up for the "VH-1 Storytellers" series is an episode by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO).

In 2001, ELO reformed after disbanding back in 1986, and released a new album, called "Zoom." But it was basically just the band's lead singer and songwriter Jeff Lynne using the ELO name. Only one other original member, Richard Tandy, was involved, and he only played on one song. 

The plan was to tour to support the album. However, the tour was cancelled due to poor ticket sales. But two concerts were performed. There was a full show done for PBS, which was later released on DVD, and which I've posted in full here. Then there also was this concert, for the "VH-1 Storytellers" TV show. For both concerts, Tandy played on all the songs, making it somewhat more of an actual ELO performance. 

ELO typically has a very full and produced sound, with lots of musicians performing on any given song. Sometimes, whole orchestras are involved. But this concert, while not exactly "unplugged," at least was more stripped down, making these arrangements a bit unique. The fact that the concert took place in front of only a couple hundred people was also highly unusual. The band only played two songs from the new album: "Alright" and "Moment in Paradise." Everything else were classic hits from the 1970s.

The actual concert had more songs. Unfortunately, as usual for this show, the first song, "Do Ya," started midway through.

This album is 42 minutes long.

01 Do Ya [Incomplete] (Electric Light Orchestra)
02 Evil Woman (Electric Light Orchestra)
03 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
04 Telephone Line (Electric Light Orchestra)
05 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
06 Don't Bring Me Down (Electric Light Orchestra)
07 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
08 Alright (Electric Light Orchestra)
09 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
10 Can't Get It Out of My Head (Electric Light Orchestra)
11 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
12 Mr. Blue Sky (Electric Light Orchestra)
13 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
14 Livin' Thing (Electric Light Orchestra)
15 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
16 Moment in Paradise (Electric Light Orchestra)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17172256/ELECTRCLGHTO2001StrytllrsAltmnBildngNwYrkC__4-20-2001_atse.zip.html

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/7cR4cNnU

The cover photo is a screenshot taken from this exact concert. I upgraded the image with the Krea AI program.

Electric Light Orchestra - Zoom Tour Live, Stage 36, CBS Television City, Los Angeles, CA, 4-24-2001

In 1986, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) called it quits. Jeff Lynne, the band's lead singer and songwriter, went on to produce many albums and occasionally released an album of his own. In 2001, he put out a new ELO album, "Zoom." The plan was to tour to support the album, but ticket sales were below expectations, so the tour was cancelled. However, he did one full-length concert and had it filmed. It was later released as a DVD called "Zoom Tour Live." But it was never released in full in any audio format. I'm filling that gap by posting it here.

Note that I said it was never released "in full" in any audio format. In 2013, the album "Electric Light Orchestra Live" was released, consisting of highlights from this concert. But it was only 50 minutes long. That means an entire hour of the concert was left out.  

Note that four songs from the album, "Twilight," "Sweet Talkin' Woman," "Secret Messages," and "Confusion," weren't included on the DVD. So naturally I've included them here. However, there were still two problems. One, I didn't have an accurate complete set list, so I didn't know exactly where to insert these. I ultimately decided to bunch them together in the middle, since they didn't fit well either at the beginning or the end. The second problem was that there was no banter included with these four songs. There was nothing I could do about that.

Two more songs, "Rock 'n' Roll Is King" and "All She Wanted," weren't included in either the DVD or the live album. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have been bootlegged either, so they're not here at all.

When the ELO album "Zoom" came out in 2001, some people claimed that it was misleading to call it an ELO album, because Lynne pretty much did all the singing and played almost every instrument on every song. Only one other previous member of ELO, keyboardist Richard Tandy, played on the album, and he only played on one song. But Tandy played on all the songs in this concert, including the seven songs from "Zoom." And due to the necessity of having a band to perform a concert, this sounds different than "Zoom," carefully put together in the studio basically by one person.

This album is an hour and 52 minutes long.

01 Do Ya (Electric Light Orchestra)
02 Evil Woman (Electric Light Orchestra)
03 Showdown (Electric Light Orchestra)
04 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
05 Strange Magic (Electric Light Orchestra)
06 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
07 Livin' Thing (Electric Light Orchestra)
08 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
09 Alright (Electric Light Orchestra)
10 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
11 Lonesome Lullaby (Electric Light Orchestra)
12 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
13 Telephone Line (Electric Light Orchestra)
14 Confusion (Electric Light Orchestra)
15 Twilight (Electric Light Orchestra)
16 Secret Messages (Electric Light Orchestra)
18 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
17 Sweet Talkin' Woman (Electric Light Orchestra)
19 Turn to Stone (Electric Light Orchestra)
20 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
21 Just for Love (Electric Light Orchestra)
22 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
23 10538 Overture (Electric Light Orchestra)
24 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
25 Easy Money (Electric Light Orchestra)
26 Mr. Blue Sky (Electric Light Orchestra)
28 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
27 Ma-Ma-Ma Belle (Electric Light Orchestra)
30 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
29 One Summer Dream (Electric Light Orchestra)
31 Tightrope (Electric Light Orchestra)
32 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
33 State of Mind (Electric Light Orchestra)
34 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
35 Can't Get It Out of My Head (Electric Light Orchestra)
36 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
37 Moment in Paradise (Electric Light Orchestra)
38 Ordinary Dream (Electric Light Orchestra)
39 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
40 Shine a Little Love (Electric Light Orchestra)
41 Don't Bring Me Down (Electric Light Orchestra)
42 Roll Over Beethoven (Electric Light Orchestra)

https://www.imagenetz.de/kbs85

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/De9jXodG

second alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/Pp6tDFa0M4IYVXC/file

The cover image is a screenshot taken from the DVD of this exact concert.

Various Artists - Prince's Trust Rock Gala, Wembley Arena, London, Britain, 6-5-1987

I just posted the Prince's Trust concert from 1986. This is the 1987 concert. It's the same basic idea, but many of the songs and performers are different. Both are very worthwhile listens.

Like the 1986 concert, this one started with some newer musical acts. With the benefit of hindsight, some were good choices, and others... not so much (cough cough, Curiosity Killed the Cat and Go West, cough cough). But if you don't like all the artists, that's okay, because none of the first few acts lasted more than a single song.

There were fewer big name artists in this concert than the 1986 one. Plus, the entire concert was about half an hour shorter. (If, in fact, this is the whole thing - I'm not entirely sure.) But on the other hand, the finale was probably even more impressive. I'll get to that in a minute.

First though, I want to point out that, like the 1986 concert, for many of the songs, there was a backing band made up of many stars. I don't know which songs exactly, because I can't find the full video of this concert on YouTube. But, for instance, when Ben E. King sang his song, his backing band included Phil Collins on drums, Midge Ure on rhythm guitar, and Eric Clapton on lead guitar.

But the big deal was the finale. In the 1986, the biggest star was ex-Beatle Paul McCartney. But the 1987 concert outdid that by having two ex-Beatles performing together: George Harrison and Ringo Starr! Harrison's appearance was a particularly big deal because he hadn't performed in concert since his 1974 tour (other than a couple of brief appearances in the finales of other artist's concerts). 

I randomly stumbled across a description of the concert's finale in a 2015 article in Guitar World Magazine. Here it is:

"On June 5, 1987, three of the five original musicians who appeared on the classic Beatles 'White Album' track 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' reunited to perform the song live at the Prince's Trust Rock Gala in London's Wembley Arena. George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Eric Clapton were joined in an all-star U.K. band, including Elton John, Phil Collins, Jeff Lynne, Ray Cooper, and... well, if you're wondering who that understandably happy bassist is, it's Mark King from Level 42. Harrison, Starr, and Clapton last performed the song live 16 years earlier at the Concert for Bangladesh in New York City. What most interesting about this performance is the fact that A., the normally Strat-happy Clapton is playing a beautiful Gibson Les Paul, just as he did on the original 1968 recording, and B., the also-Strat-happy Harrison joins Clapton in the extended guitar solo at the end of the song. The two guitarists trade solos and feed off each other's energy, and their intertwining lines are often pretty damn cool."

In addition to that, someone, I'm guessing Clapton, played a guitar solo for "With a Little Help from My Friends," a song that normally lacked any solo. It's a shame that Jeff Lynne apparently didn't sing any of his Electric Light Orchestra hits. But he sang backing vocals on all three of the Beatles songs at the end. Given that Lynne is a huge Beatles fan, this must have been the closest he ever got to a fantasy of being a part of the Beatles, getting to sing with Harrison and Starr, with Clapton on guitar for good measure!

This album is an hour and 45 minutes long.

01 Running in the Family (Level 42 with Eric Clapton)
02 If I Was (Midge Ure)
03 Misfit (Curiosity Killed the Cat)
04 Don't Look Down (Go West)
05 Invisible (Alison Moyet)
06 Through the Barricades (Spandau Ballet)
07 [Something Inside] So Strong (Labi Siffre)
08 Run to You (Bryan Adams)
09 Hearts on Fire (Bryan Adams)
10 Somebody (Bryan Adams)
11 talk (Dave Edmunds & Bryan Adams)
12 The Wanderer (Dave Edmunds & Bryan Adams)
13 talk (Eric Clapton)
14 Wonderful Tonight (Eric Clapton)
15 Behind the Mask (Eric Clapton)
16 Stand by Me (Ben E. King)
17 talk (Phil Collins)
18 Reach Out, I'll Be There - I Can't Help Myself - Same Old Song (Phil Collins & Paul Young)
19 You've Lost That Loving Feeling (Phil Collins & Paul Young)
20 talk (Elton John)
21 Your Song (Elton John)
22 Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting (Elton John)
23 talk (George Harrison & Ringo Starr)
24 While My Guitar Gently Weeps (George Harrison & Eric Clapton with Ringo Starr & Jeff Lynne)
25 Here Comes the Sun (George Harrison with Ringo Starr & Jeff Lynne)
26 With a Little Help from My Friends (Ringo Starr with George Harrison, Eric Clapton & Jeff Lynne)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/W4HtwzDd

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/6mOchiVwGJ0ZR4P/file

I searched the Internet pretty thoroughly for a color version of the group photo from this concert. All I could find was a black and white version. I tinted it blue. If anyone can find the color version, please let me know so I can upgrade this. There are way too many people in the photo for me to try to make a colorized version.

Electric Light Orchestra - BBC Sessions, Volume 4: ICAA Benefit, Wembley Empire Pool, London, Britain, 6-2-1978

This is the same concert as the one presented on the official Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) album "Live at Wembley '78." However, this has much better sound quality.

Instead of trying to explain the situation myself, I'm going to quote the Wikipedia entry on this album at length, since it does a good job:

"The sound on this album has led to accusations of the band lip syncing, as did the earlier video from which this CD was taken. However it has come to light that the sound used on the television broadcast... in 1978 was a poorly mixed effort in mono sound that used a lot of the backing tapes that were used admittedly by the band due to sound problems caused by the huge metal and fibreglass stage set. The tapes were for the band's ears only, to help them keep time, and should not have been heard by the audience."

In 2006, a new DVD version of the concert was released. This used the original tapes from the concert, presenting it in true stereo for the first time. Furthermore, all the overdubbed backing tapes and other problems were removed. Unfortunately though, this new version has never been released on CD.

So that's where I came in. I made sure this recording was based on the superior 2006 DVD. But even then there was a problem, because I noticed the vocals were way too low in the mix. This may have been a deliberate choice of singer-songwriter Jeff Lynne, I don't know. But regardless, I boosted the vocals relative to the instruments, and I think it sounds a lot better that way.

This actually was a benefit concert that was broadcast by the BBC at the time. ICAA stands for Invalid Children's Aid Association. The band was introduced by actor Tony Curtis, and some British royals attended. This also isn't the complete concert, just the portion that was broadcast. The rest is not in public circulation.

This album is 53 minutes long.

01 Standin' in the Rain (Electric Light Orchestra)
02 Night in the City (Electric Light Orchestra)
03 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
04 Turn to Stone (Electric Light Orchestra)
05 Tightrope (Electric Light Orchestra)
06 Telephone Line (Electric Light Orchestra)
07 Rockaria (Electric Light Orchestra)
08 Wild West Hero (Electric Light Orchestra)
09 Showdown (Electric Light Orchestra)
10 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
11 Sweet Talkin' Woman (Electric Light Orchestra)
12 Mr. Blue Sky (Electric Light Orchestra)
13 Do Ya (Electric Light Orchestra)
14 Livin' Thing (Electric Light Orchestra)
15 Roll Over Beethoven (Electric Light Orchestra)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16011022/ElectrcLghtO_1978_BBSessonsVolum4ICAABnefitWemblyEmpirPoolLondnBrtain__6-2-1978_atse.zip.html

The cover photo of band leader Jeff Lynne was taken in London just a week after this concert, on June 9, 1978.

Electric Light Orchestra - BBC Sessions, Volume 3: In Concert, The Guildhall, Portsmouth, Britain, 6-22-1976

Here's the third volume of Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) performing for the BBC. This time, it's another concert.

Like most of the content on Volumes 1 and 2 in this series, this comes from the official album "Live at the BBC." However, in my opinion, most of the lead vocals were mixed too low for this concert, with some songs worse than others. So I fixed that by using the audio editing program UVR5.

This isn't the full concert, but it's most of it. As the BBC often does, it cut things down to fit the music in a certain time slot. The axed songs include "10538 Overture," "Do Ya," and the final encore, "Roll Over Beethoven."

This album is an hour long.

01 Fire on High [Instrumental] (Electric Light Orchestra)
02 Poker (Electric Light Orchestra)
03 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
04 Nightrider (Electric Light Orchestra)
05 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
06 On the Third Day [King of the Universe-Not Susan-Bluebird-New World Rising] (Electric Light Orchestra)
07 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
08 Showdown (Electric Light Orchestra)
09 Eldorado (Electric Light Orchestra)
10 Poor Boy [The Greenwood] (Electric Light Orchestra)
11 Illusions in G Major (Electric Light Orchestra)
12 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
13 Strange Magic (Electric Light Orchestra)
14 Evil Woman (Electric Light Orchestra)
15 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
16 Ma Ma Ma Belle (Electric Light Orchestra)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16003679/ElectrcLghtO_1976_BBSessonsVolum3InConcrtGuildhllPrtsmouthBrtain__6-22-1976_atse.zip.html

The cover photo of band leader Jeff Lynne was taken at the Beacon Theater in New York City in 1976. It's surprising that he's not wearing sunglasses, since that became his visual trademark for most of his career.

Electric Light Orchestra - BBC Sessions, Volume 2: In Concert, Golders Green Hippodrome, London, Britain, 1-25-1974

Here's another BBC album by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). This time it's a short concert.

Most of this album has been officially released as part of the "Live at the BBC" album, so the sound quality is excellent. 

However, the first song, "Ma-Ma-Ma Belle," is different. This one is unreleased, and was uncovered by my musical associate Lil Panda. The sound quality on that one is about as good as the rest. It suggests there could be more of this concert that emerges into the public someday, knock on wood. Certainly if they were playing a typical concert from that time period, they would have played many more songs.

This album is 34 minutes long.

01 Ma-Ma-Ma Belle (Electric Light Orchestra)
02 King of the Universe (Electric Light Orchestra)
03 Bluebird Is Dead (Electric Light Orchestra)
04 Oh No Not Susan (Electric Light Orchestra)
05 New World Rising (Electric Light Orchestra)
06 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
07 Violin Solo - Orange Blossom Special [Instrumental] (Electric Light Orchestra)
08 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
09 In the Hall of the Mountain King [Instrumental] (Electric Light Orchestra)
10 Great Balls of Fire (Electric Light Orchestra)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15994869/ElectrcLghtO_1974_BBSessionsVolum2InConcrtGoldrsGreenHppodrmeLondnBrtain__1-25-1974_atse.zip.html

The cover is from an ABC TV show in June 1974. Band leader Jeff Lynne is the one in the photo without glasses (for once, since he's well known for always wearing them). The other one is Mike de Albuquerque, who played bass and horns.

Electric Light Orchestra - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: 1973-1977

It's time I turn my attention to what the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) did for the BBC. I've found enough for four albums. Here's the first one.

There's an official album called "Live at the BBC." That's the source of the first six tracks. Those come from a BBC concert at the Paris Theatre, in London, Britain, on April 19, 1973. Note that Roy Wood had already left the band by this time.

But that concert was only 35 minutes long. I thought that was rather short, so I looked around to see if any other material could be added. It turns out ELO often lipsynced on TV show appearances, or sent in music videos instead. Truly live performances were rare. But one exception to that was the U.S. TV show "The Midnight Special." Tracks 7 and 8 are from a 1974 appearance on that show. Then tracks 9 through 12 are from another appearance. I could have included a few more songs, but I only chose ones that the band didn't do on other BBC appearances.

This album is one hour long.

01 From the Sun to the World (Electric Light Orchestra)
02 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
03 Kuiama (Electric Light Orchestra)
04 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
05 In the Hall of the Mountain King (Electric Light Orchestra)
06 Roll Over Beethoven (Electric Light Orchestra)
07 Can't Get It Out of My Head (Electric Light Orchestra)
08 Laredo Tornado (Electric Light Orchestra)
09 Livin' Thing (Electric Light Orchestra)
10 Do Ya (Electric Light Orchestra)
11 Telephone Line (Electric Light Orchestra)
12 Rockaria (Electric Light Orchestra)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15983988/ElectrcLghtO_1973-1977_BBSessonsVolum1_atse.zip.html

The cover photo was taken at an ABC TV show in August 1973.

Various Artists - Heart Beat 86, National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, Britain, 3-15-1986

Here's an impressive 1986 benefit concert with performances by the Moody Blues, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Robert Plant, George Harrison, Roy Wood, UB40, the Fortunes, and more. It's completely unreleased, but the sound quality is excellent.

The inspiration for the concert began with Bev Bevan, the drummer for ELO. He was inspired by the Live Aid benefit concert in 1985, and wanted to do something for his hometown of Birmingham, England. All the proceeds went to benefit the Birmingham Children's Hospital. The concert ended up having a unusual Birmingham focus, with the vast majority of the musical performers originally coming from Birmingham. Some acts that hadn't been in the spotlight for some time, such as the Fortunes and Applejacks, got back together for this concert.

The concert was massive, nine hours long. Big acts like ELO and the Moody Blues played sets that lasted an hour or so. However, this album only contains an hour and a half of that. That's because all I could find was the portion that was later broadcast on BBC TV and radio. Parts of it also was broadcast on MTV in the US, and two songs ("The Voice" and "Lucille") come from that, with slightly lower sound quality. If anyone has any more of this, please let me know so I can add it in. But while it's sad that so much of the concert is missing, at least what is here has excellent sound quality.

One big act to perform was Robert Plant. Although he was having a very successful solo career, he avoided that kind of music and played rockabilly covers with the backing band the Big Town Playboys instead.

I think the ELO set is particularly interesting. Normally, ELO concerts were big productions, with lots of orchestral instruments and backing tapes and so on. This was a much more stripped down kind of performance, but the band showed they could still rock. It also was the band's first concert in four years. They would only play an additional handful of concerts in 1986 before breaking up. I'd especially love to hear the rest of their set, because I don't know of any other concert recording by the original ELO from after 1978 with this level of sound quality.

The Moody Blues were the last big act of the concert. But then everyone from all the earlier acts joined them on stage for a finale. Three songs were played: "Lucille," "Money (That's What I Want)," and "Johnny B. Goode." Unfortunately, I couldn't find a recording of "Money." But probably the highlight of the concert was "Johnny B. Goode," because a very unexpected guest star showed up on stage: George Harrison. He sang lead vocals on part of the song. But just having him there was a big deal, since he'd been pretty reclusive for the last decade or so. Apparently, even most of the other musicians were starstruck to be on the same stage as the ex-Beatle. 

By the way, it was hoped that there would be a reunion of the 1960s band the Move, since two major figures from that band, Jeff Lynne of ELO and Roy Wood, were at the concert. Plus, this was all about highlighting the best musical acts from Birmingham, and the Move definitely were one of those. It was announced the Move would reunite for the concert, but band member Carl Wayne didn't show up for some reason, so the reunion never happened. This was the closest to a Move reunion ever. That is no longer possible since Wayne passed away in 2004.

Note also that Denny Laine performed a set. However, his set was plagued by sound problems, and none of it was included in the BBC broadcast. He did sing lead on one verse of "Johnny B. Goode" for the final encore though. Also, Dave Edmunds was at the concert, but only had a minor role, playing a guitar solo on the song "Lucille" during the encore. And Noddy Holder, the lead singer of Slade, was at the concert, but his only role was singing a verse of "Lucille."

One final note. The emcee, Oliver Spencer (formerly known as Roger Spencer), used to be a member of the 1960s band Idle Race, also from Birmingham. The BBC recording included some stand-up comedy he did between acts, but I cut most of that out, since it doesn't have the same relistening value as the music.

This album is an hour and 37 minutes long.

01 Share It with You (Steve Gibbons Band)
02 B.S.A. (Steve Gibbons Band)
03 talk (Oliver Spencer)
04 Let It Be Me (Fortunes)
05 talk (Fortunes)
06 You've Got Your Troubles (Fortunes)
07 talk (Oliver Spencer)
08 See My Baby Jive (Roy Wood)
09 Are You Ready to Rock (Roy Wood)
10 talk (Roy Wood)
11 I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day (Roy Wood)
12 talk (Oliver Spencer)
13 I Got You Babe (UB40 & Ruby Turner)
14 Tell Me When (Applejacks)
15 talk (Oliver Spencer)
16 She Walks Right In (Robert Plant)
17 Come On (Robert Plant)
18 [Every Time I Hear] That Mellow Saxophone (Robert Plant)
19 He's in Town (Rockin' Berries)
20 talk (Oliver Spencer)
21 Telephone Line (Electric Light Orchestra)
22 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
23 Do Ya (Electric Light Orchestra)
24 Rockaria (Electric Light Orchestra)
25 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
26 Hold On Tight (Electric Light Orchestra)
27 Don't Bring Me Down (Electric Light Orchestra)
28 talk (Oliver Spencer)
29 Tuesday Afternoon (Moody Blues)
30 Question (Moody Blues)
31 Nights in White Satin (Moody Blues)
32 The Voice (Moody Blues)
33 Lucille (Noddy Holder, Roy Wood, Dave Edmunds & Everyone)
34 talk (Oliver Spencer)
35 Johnny B. Goode (George Harrison, Denny Laine, Robert Plant & Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/oygUAcFT

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/ldz5LsvyWmzV42C/file

The cover photo shows Jeff Lynne and George Harrison during the "Johnny B. Goode" finale from this exact concert. The photo was originally in black and white, but I used the Palette program to colorize it, then made some additional changes in Photoshop. Note that Lynne and Harrison were just starting to get to know each other around this time. They would go on to become good friends, as well as band mates in the Traveling Wilburys.

Electric Light Orchestra - The Night the Light Went On in Long Beach (Long Beach Auditorium, Long Beach, CA, 5-12-1974)

Normally, I would not post this album, because it has been officially released. However, I'm posting this because the official version sounds rather bad and musical associate Lil Panda carefully edited every song to make the album sound better.

This album comes from early in the career of Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), before they had most of their hits. But it may be more interesting because of that. Later on, the band would have more of a well-produced, orchestral sound, which limited how spontaneous they could be on stage. At this stage, they were more like a conventional rock band, including doing covers they never did on any studio albums: "Day Tripper" by the Beatles, "Orange Blossom Special" by Johnny Cash, and "Great Balls of Fire" made famous by Jerry Lee Lewis.

Most of what I learned about this album comes from the very informative Wikipedia page about it:

The Night the Light Went On in Long Beach - Wikipedia 

In short, it was meant to be the follow up to the band's third studio album, "On the Third Day," released in 1973. But it suffered from various sound quality issues, both on and off stage. The band's equipment truck broke down on the way to the gig, so the band wasn't able to perform a soundcheck. As a result, the band wasn't mixed well in real life. Worse, when it came time to make the album, the wrong version was used, one labeled "Rough Mix, Do Not Use." Between these problems, the sound quality was so muddy that the album was initially only officially released in Germany. It only got released in Britain in the 1980s and in the US even later.

Then the album got rereleased in the 1990s, finally based on the correct tapes. This version sounded better. However, even this version still had issues. So Lil Panda worked from the rerelease version and used the recent computer technology that allows one to isolate the different instruments so he could do his own mix. That's the version you have here. I'm posting it because I could hear the improvement with this new version. So kudos to Lil Panda for working on this and sharing it.

This album is 40 minutes long.

01 Daybreaker [Instrumental] (Electric Light Orchestra)
02 Showdown (Electric Light Orchestra)
03 Day Tripper (Electric Light Orchestra)
04 10538 Overture [Instrumental] (Electric Light Orchestra)
05 talk (Electric Light Orchestra)
06 Orange Blossom Special [Instrumental Version] (Electric Light Orchestra)
07 In the Hall of the Mountain King [Instrumental] (Electric Light Orchestra)
08 Great Balls of Fire (Electric Light Orchestra)
09 Roll Over Beethoven (Electric Light Orchestra)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15771069/ElectrcLghtO_1974_TheNghttheLghtWentOninLngBeach_atse.zip.html

The cover is the original cover from the official album. In the 1990s, the album was rereleased with a totally different cover, so this cover is rather rare.

The Idle Race - BBC Sessions (1967-1969)

Have you heard of the Idle Race? They aren't well known these days, but they were the first major band led by Jeff Lynne, who later went on to be in the Move, ELO (Electric Light Orchestra), and the Traveling Wilburys. They put out two albums led by Lynne in 1968 and 1969, and then one without him in 1971 after he left to join the Move. You can read more about them at their Wikipedia entry here:

The Idle Race - Wikipedia

The good news is the Idle Race did a lot of sessions for the BBC (all of them while Lynne was still in the band). And they're musically important because no live recordings of the band have emerged whatsoever, other than a couple of tracks included here. The bad news is their BBC recordings are a mess, more than the vast majority of other artists I've come across so far. There are almost no official versions of any of the performances. There have been two obscure releases of only a couple of "Symonds on Sunday" sessions, but these have dealt with BBC DJs talking over the intros by removing the intros entirely, so I haven't used them. Their sound quality isn't any better than the bootleg versions anyway.

So we're left with the bootleg versions. These are all over the place in terms of sound quality. Furthermore, things are a mess in terms of figuring out which songs were done at which sessions, because many songs were done more than once, and the different bootlegs label them differently. I've gathered the best versions from multiple sources, and I've used my best guesses as to the sourcing detailed in the mp3 tags. If anyone knows better information, please let me know.

Happily, if one sorts through the different versions and multiple performances of the same songs and selects just the best ones, the sound quality is generally very good. I've decided to aim for high standards, so songs with merely okay sound quality have been relegated to bonus tracks.

I think the results are excellent in two ways. First off, the Idle Race were known for their everything but the kitchen sink production. You know how ELO songs are generally heavily produced, with lots of orchestra and synths? The Idle Race were basically the 1960s version of that, using the more limited technology of the time. These BBC versions are still full band versions, to be sure, but they're more stripped down in a relative sense. I like them more than the album versions because of that.

The second reason this is excellent is that the band played a number of cover songs they never recorded in the studio. The Idle Race's recorded output with Jeff Lynne is small, only two albums and a few songs released only on singles. Songs here done only as covers include "Hey Grandma," "Blueberry Blue," "Frantic Desolation," and the bonus tracks "Born to Be Wild," "Debora," and "Love Me Two Times."

As usual for the time period, BBC DJs talked over the intros or outros for about half of the songs (the ones with "[Edit]" in their titles). So I did what I usually do, and used the X-Minus audio editing program to wipe out the talking while keeping the underlying music.

This album is 54 minutes long without the bonus tracks, and an hour and ten minutes with them included.

01 [Here We Go Round] The Lemon Tree [Edit] (Idle Race)
02 Imposters of Life's Magazine (Idle Race)
03 Hey Grandma [Edit] (Idle Race)
04 The Lady Who Said She Could Fly (Idle Race)
05 Skeleton and the Roundabout [Edit] (Idle Race)
06 Don't Put Your Boys in the Army, Mrs Ward (Idle Race)
07 Blueberry Blue [Edit] (Idle Race)
08 End of the Road (Idle Race)
09 Pie in the Sky (Idle Race)
10 Told You Twice (Idle Race)
11 Follow Me Follow [Edit] (Idle Race)
12 Worn Red Carpet [Edit] (Idle Race)
13 Days of Broken Arrows [Edit] (Idle Race)
14 Frantic Desolation (Idle Race)
15 Mr. Crow and Sir Norman (Idle Race)
16 Sea of Dreams (Idle Race)
17 Reminds Me of You (Idle Race)
18 Someone's Knocking [Edit] (Idle Race)
19 Please No More Sad Songs [Edit] (Idle Race)
20 Come with Me (Idle Race)

Born to Be Wild [Edit] (Idle Race)
Debora (Idle Race)
Love Me Two Times [Edit] (Idle Race)
On with the Show [Edit] (Idle Race)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15130083/IdleRac_1967-1969_BBSessions_atse.zip.html

I'm frequently amazed at how hard it is to find any decent photos of musical artists from the 1960s and 1970s that aren't already used as album covers unless they're really big names like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. The Idle Race is a case in point. I only found a few color photos period, and most of them had low resolution. I was forced to use one that was rather small and had some major color balance problems. But I made some adjustments in Photoshop so it hopefully looks acceptable. 

I have no idea where or when the picture was taken. In case you're curious, Jeff Lynne is in the middle with the curly hair and his arms crossed.

Jeff Lynne - Acoustic (1990-2012)

Jeff Lynne is best known as the lead vocalist and main songwriter for ELO (the Electric Light Orchestra). ELO is known for combining orchestral arrangements with rock music. As a result, sometimes the band has been criticized for overly lush production. I can see that point, but I also sometimes find charm in the "everything but the kitchen sink" approach.

That said, if you've followed this blog for long, you'll have noticed I have a particular fondness for acoustic music. Lynne is a talented songwriter with many hits to his name. It would be nice to hear some of those songs in stripped down versions. But whenever Lynne has played live, either solo or as part of ELO, he's used a full-band style. 

I've only found a few exceptions to that, where he played in solo acoustic mode, and I've gathered them all here. In 1990, as part of a radio station interview, he played two classic cover songs that had influenced him, "Runaway" (by Del Shannon) and "It's Over" (by Roy Orbison). In 2001, he played two more songs, "Can't Get It Out of My Head" and "Ordinary Dream," for another radio station appearance.

Most of the rest of the songs here come from a 2011 reunion of Lynne with Richard Tandy, who was in ELO from 1971 to 2001. Lynne generally played acoustic guitar and sang while Tandy played the piano. The vast majority of the songs on this album are officially unreleased, except a couple from this performance. The whole thing was professionally recorded in a studio and a video of it was put on the Internet. But only a few songs from it have been released, and generally on obscure things, like Japan only bonus tracks.

The last song, "Livin' Thing," was recorded in 2012. For some reason Lynne only performed about a minute of the song. But he did just enough to end with a repeat of the opening chords. So I edited that minute-long version into a two-minute long version by repeating the whole thing and then adding some more of the opening chords for a fade out. Hopefully, it's enough to make it feel like a full song and not just a snippet of one.

I think it's a wonderful revelation to hear these songs in such a stripped down form. The one downside to this album is that it's rather short, at only 32 minutes long. Normally, I don't like to include two versions of the same song on one album. But since this album is short, and Lynne so rarely does any acoustic versions at all, I've included two versions of "Can't Get It Out of My Head" here.

01 Runaway (Jeff Lynne)
02 It's Over (Jeff Lynne)
03 Can't Get It Out of My Head (Jeff Lynne)
04 Ordinary Dream (Jeff Lynne)
05 Evil Woman (Jeff Lynne with Richard Tandy)
06 Showdown (Jeff Lynne with Richard Tandy)
07 Save Me Now (Jeff Lynne with Richard Tandy)
08 Telephone Line (Jeff Lynne with Richard Tandy)
09 Steppin' Out (Jeff Lynne with Richard Tandy)
10 Strange Magic (Jeff Lynne with Richard Tandy)
11 Can't Get It Out of My Head (Jeff Lynne with Richard Tandy)
12 Livin' Thing [Edit] (Jeff Lynne) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/wLwP8wZQ

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/qWNmdg6D3yyTIig/file

For the cover art, I took a screenshot from one of the videos of the 2011 performance with Tandy that I found on YouTube.

In February 2025, I improved the image somewhat with the help of the Krea AI program.