The “catchiest” ELO album, according to Jeff Lynne

 

 

Progressive rock was never particularly concerned with the creation of mainstream chart hits, although it certainly had its fair share. The movement has originally formed from the back end of the 1960s psychedelic scene, and saw musicians strive for something much more complex and, often, innovative. Countless bands attempted to involve themselves with the blossoming prog scene of the early 1970s, but few had quite the same impact as Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra.

Alongside groups like Yes or Genesis, Electric Light Orchestra was among the most prolific and recognisable groups of the progressive rock period. From their formation in Birmingham back in 1970, Lynne’s band repeatedly showed themselves to have both prog rock credibility and mainstream potential—a famously elusive combination. Although the band never strived to be a commercial pop outfit, their unique take on the progressive rock scene quickly caught the attention of the singles charts.

 

Even the earliest releases of ELO – tracks like ‘10538 Overture’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, and ‘Showdown’ – each had their own respective runs in the charts. This was particularly unexpected for the prog band as, within the wider prog scene, bands usually favoured the album format as an opportunity to tell long, complex, overarching narratives. Single releases simply did not fit into the inherent manifesto of the musical movement, but that did not stop ELO from appearing on Top of the Pops as newly established members of the mainstream.

Soon, the band became something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. As their own take on prog became increasingly popular, their sound drifted more and more into the clutches of mainstream pop rock.

With each new release, the Birmingham band strayed further and further away from the sounds of early hits like ‘10538 Overture’, and further towards short, sharp, pop tunes that they would later become synonymous with.

The most obvious sign of this shift towards pop came with the band’s 1976 record A New World Record. Lynne himself admitted the pop songwriting at the heart of the record, once sharing, “They might be the catchiest tunes we ever did as a set, but when you write songs, you don’t suddenly think, ‘Oh, I’ve learned how to do it now!’ You never have, and you never know if you’re going to write another one. It’s always that mystery.”

Whatever Lynne’s songwriting secrets, he certainly seemed to have perfected the art of toeing the line between rock credibility and chart success by 1976. The album itself shot to number six in the UK charts, producing multiple hit singles in the process, such as ‘Telephone Line’ and ‘Do Ya’. A New World Record even provided ELO with some success across the Atlantic, with ‘Telephone Line’ becoming gold-certified in the United States.

Although, for most groups of the progressive rock period, moving overtly towards pop might be seen as akin to ‘selling out’, ELO never positioned themselves as a staunchly prog band. Throughout their discography, the group explored various different musical and songwriting themes, and inexplicably, their work seemed to resonate with the music-buying public to make ELO a pop tour-de-force. After all, there’s nothing inherently wrong with commercial success, particularly if you achieve it exclusively on your own terms, as Lynne and ELO certainly did.