Review of Electric Light Orchestra: Zoom Tour Live

Introduction

The Electric Light Orchestra came into fruition in 1970 by Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood and Bev Bevan. This Birmingham band scored a hit with 10538 Overture before Roy Wood painted his face, pulled on a bobbly hat and scarf and went off to form Wizzard and wish it could be Christmas every day.

ELO kept going and eventually hit the magic formula of acoustic and electric guitars and strings. ELO scored 27 Top 40 hits, of which 15 hit the Top 10, in an era where you actually had to sell more than a handful of records. They scored a single number one with Xanadu, but had to make do with Olivia Newton John on vocals. Jeff Lynne decided to call it a day in 1986 after the album Balance of Power, which incidentally contained the single Calling America (one of my favourites).

Lynne decided at this point that he wanted to go into producing and ended up working alongside George Harrison (Cloud 9), Tom Petty (Full Moon Fever), Roy Orbison (Mystery Girl) and Bob Dylan, forming the short-lived supergroup The Travelling Wilburys. Lynne also produced the last Beatles single…

Meanwhile all was not that quiet in the ELO camp as some of the former members of Lynne`s band decided they wanted to keep going and called themselves ELO Part II. This group was relatively successful as a touring proposition and eventually folded when leader Bev Bevan decided to call it a day. An off-shoot is still going apparently, going under the name of The Orchestra.

Anyway, back in 2001 Lynne decided it was time to put the ELO name back to use and created an album called Zoom. This was effectively a solo album with some guest players including Ringo Starr and George Harrison. The album wasn`t a big hit, but big enough to persuade Lynne to put ELO on the road again, although only keyboard player Richard Tandy survives from the previous incarnation.

The show featured on this DVD was filmed CBS Television City in Los Angeles.

Video

Picture`s good and sharp, albeit more than a little blue but seeing as blue`s my favourite colour you`ll hear no complaints from me there…

Audio

Choice of DTS, 5.1 and Stereo soundtracks. Only listened to the DTS track, and heck, is it loud? Er, yes it is. No real use of the surrounds but the music is nice and clear, a tight band performance that is pretty near perfect.

Features

Interview - 10 minute interview with the ELO-meister that glosses entirely over what happened after 1986 when ELO disbanded and focuses much more on Lynne playing with the likes of Orbison, Dylan, Harrison and Starr.

The Fan Club - a two minute segment that was filmed prior to the featured concert, with various fans explaining where they`ve come from.

Zoom The Album - a text based piece that is essentially a PR for the album.

Conclusion

ELO apparently are one of those guilty pleasures, at least according to Q Magazine who just placed Livin` Thing at the top of 100 tracks that it`s suddenly OK to like. I disagree. ELO aren`t a guilty pleasure, they`ve always been good and if you like the group and are afraid to admit it, then you`re a weak-willed idiot with no spine. It`s only music, for heaven`s sake…

Anyway, I`d already picked up a copy of the Discovery tour a couple of years ago on DVD and seen a film performance of ELO at their peak musically, so the opportunity to witness the latest Lynne incarnation at a budget price from HMV was not to be missed. I`d not heard Zoom, it came out and passed me by (presumably because I`m not a die-hard fan on any mailing list or frequenting the forums - there must be some…), and although it seems have quite a few fans, I don`t think I`d be one of them. The sound of that album is more organic, no grand sweeping orchestral sounds here. Sadly more than half that album is reproduced here, but then it was a promotional tour so I can`t really complain.

Problem is, when I hear ELO and Jeff Lynne, I want to hear the grand orchestral sweeps alongside the big drums, synths and guitars. That`s what ELO is all about, dammit! Still, we get some cracking oldies to go along with the newer stuff. Mr Blue Sky, Telephone Line, Livin` Thing, Don`t Bring Me Down and Turn To Stone are my favourites here; reproduced with minimal but rather effective strings by the two lovely ladies on the cello and Tandy on synth. Would have loved to hear some other oldies like Horace Wimp, Calling America, Hold On Tight or Wild West Hero, but hey, here`s hoping Lynne goes back on the road with a Greatest Hits-type tour; this line-up would be great.

All said though, this is a decent record of an new(ish) ELO performance, with decent visuals and powerful clear sound. One for fans certainly…