Comments for Electric Light Orchestra, Eldorado

Not a bad album: the opening conjures up images of old movie matinees and is followed by the wonderful "Can''t Get It Out of My Head." The horns at the opening of "Boy Blue" promise a lot and the song itself would have been fine except that it goes on and on for far too many additional choruses. Many of Jeff Lynne''s excesses are present: tape-speed distorted voices booming out over potentially great orchestral passages; a few incredibly ordinary, uninventive rock songs overproduced to the nth degree; often weak lyrics and too much of his voice (with too little of anybody else''s). However, there are a few songs where instrumental definition (you can hear the bass!) and the songs themselves are good enough to support the immense productions heaped upon them. The "Wizard of Oz" cover is nice too. Ian Thomas