Monday 8 October 2012

Jeff Lynne is one of Britain’s greatest songwriters and deserves a knighthood


I really never thought I’d write the above words about the amiable bearded Brummie pop maestro – but, just as time has revealed that Disco and not Punk was King in the ‘70s, so it’s now possible to look back at the decade and realise that Lynne was probably the best British songwriter of that era and that, as a pop act, the Electric Light Orchestra is right up there with ABBA.

I’ll admit that I tried for years to suppress my enthusiasm for ELO. The music press were telling me that their records were derivative and meretricious and over-produced and displayed not the slightest hint of political consciousness. The sort of people amongst my contemporaries who were expressing enthusiasm for ELO were straight out of Abigail’s Party – next, I’d be enjoying Demis Roussos and Gilbert O'Sullivan.

Let’s face it, I was being a raging snob. I almost emerged from the closet when I read a quote from John Lennon towards the end of his life. He was asked what the Beatles would have sounded like if they’d still been together: “Listen to ELO” was his reply. (Fittingly, when the three other moptops got together in 1994 to turn a scrappy John Lennon demo into a full-blown Beatles number, they asked Lynne to produce it – he’d already worked with George Harrison on solo LPs and the Travelling Wilburys.) But then our Jeff did a truly horrible job producing Dave Edmunds’ worst album, the synth-drenched Information in 1983, and I promptly stepped back into the closet and stayed there until the Wilburys came along.

But refusing to admit my secret love was frustrating, because, with the notable exception of "Xanadu", their collaboration with Olivia Newton John, there wasn’t one of their heyday singles that I didn’t enjoy. Their ridiculously rifftastic rockers, in particular, were simply magnificent: "Hold on Tight", "Do Ya", "Rock and Roll is King", "Rockaria!", "Four Little Diamonds", "Ma Ma Belle" and the deeply wonderful and endlessly-sampled "Don’t Bring Me Down" (see above) – hell, any of those come on while you’re on the motorway, and you’re doing 100 in no time. (I even enjoyed their version of "Roll Over Beethoven", which is borderline sacrilegious.)

As for the poppier stuff, the more melodic, bouncier fluff and the slower pop anthems designed to sung along to in raucous drunken voices by naff people in naff clothes towards the end of naff parties in naff suburbs in naff provincial cities – they were great too! "Turn to Stone", "Livin’ Thing", "Evil Woman", "Telephone Line", "Mr Blue Sky", "Sweet Talkin Woman", "Wild West Hero", "Shine a Little Love" and the sublime "All Over the World" (see below) – yes, I feel vaguely dirty when I listen to these tracks, but that doesn’t stop me loving them. I felt especially disgusted with myself when, in the late '90s, I finally succumbed and bought a double-CD of ELO’s greatest hits one lunchtime in Covent Garden. I slunk out of the store as if exiting a porn cinema.

The hell with it. No other British songwriter – or producer –  has created as many truly memorable singles in the past 40 years. And that’s not even counting the Wilburys’ tracks, all of which Lynne had a hand in writing and producing. (One might be able to make a case for Nick Lowe - but I'll leave that particular argument for another day.)

For further proof, head for the BBC iPlayer and a rather charming documentary about this unassuming and immensely likable chap (which can be found here, if you’re in the UK – apologies if you’re not).

I can almost hear those words now: "Arise, Sir Jeffrey - shame about the '80s perms and  that awful Dave Edmunds album, but, nevertheless, thanks for all the great tunes and the harmless, good-natured fun."  



8 comments:

  1. That's a pretty good reason why we should be glad the Beatles gave up when they did. I liked the odd ELO tune but with every track crammed with as many instruments as he could fit into the studio there's not much space in the music. And he's just done a Dave Edmunds on the new Joe Walsh album. Boo.

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    1. Seems that recent reappraisals have left you in the minority. ELO tunes like Mr Blue Sky, and Telephone Line, have stood the test of time in a way many 'cooler' tunes have not. There are a lot of old and new fans out there (Three ELO/Jeff Lynne albums in the top 10 not so long back.

      Jeff Lynne is one of our greatest songwriters, it's just that so many people have never forgiven them for managing to be both a singles band AND an albums band.

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    2. I haven't noticed all that many reappraisals in the year and a quarter since the original post. where might I find them? I think my comment was pretty charitable. If you want massive orchestration plastered all over a light, hummable tune, then ELO is for you. The clue's in the name. That sort of stuff will always sell.

      I saw Jimmy Webb at a London club a month or so back, just him and a piano. Now there's some one who is a great songwriter….

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  2. Joe Walsh appears in the Jeff Lynne programme, sounding a bit tired and emotional - speaking.... very... slowly - probably just the effect of years of living in the fast lane.

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  3. And if you want an illustration of my earlier point, just play ELO's plodding, clunky Bluebird is Dead and then Spotify the recent Jeff Lynne tribute album Lynne Me Your Ears which has a version of the same song by Todd Rundgren.

    You will hear it come to life with sparse, uncluttered instrumentation and a drum based drive forwards which Jeff never could get right. He doesn't get rhythmic momentum for all his talents, as demonstrated by his work on the Beatles Free as a Bird project which appropriately has the lively beat of a dead man walking. The bird sounds tethered to its perch.

    Then go back to 1973 and listen to Barnstorm by Joe Walsh, still one of my favourite albums of all time, to see how much better an artist is when he avoids ELO- style over-production, from the same era. Birdcall Morning is a perfect illustration of less is more, which is what production should try to achieve.

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    1. Okay, I've listened to both versions of "Bluebird is Dead" - and I infintely prefer ELO's! You may have to seek professional help for your obsessional antipathy to the great Jeff Lynne, who, it strikes me,achieves percussive propulsion when he actually needs it, and whose propensity for instrumental cutter is just fine by me. I just don't get Todd Rundgren. Does this make me a bad person? Or just a musical deadbeat?

      On the other hand, I am a confirmed Joe Walsh fan, so you won't get any argument there.

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  4. I am not going to enter into any discussion of musical appreciation as my lack of credentials is too well known, however I do want to thank you all for the re-kindling of my love for the Travelling Wilburys. Their first album was the theme music on a very jolly fishing trip to Southern Ireland all those years ago. I never bought a copy then but I have just this moment asked Mr Amazon to send one. Hurrah.
    I will add that I never thought much of ELO and I have never heard of Todd Rundgren - sounds like a German tyre manufacture to me.

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    1. Similarly, I was smitten by the Wilburys' first album on a particularly splendid holiday in Cornwall in the late '80s - hearing it now evokes memories of the ground-floor apartment in a huge Victorian house in St Kew we used to rent back then, plus the bad-tempered geese on the lawn and a goofy, greedy labrador called Denza.

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