Jeff Lynne = Electric Light Orchestra, right? That’s his legacy. That’s what is front and center. I argue that his career as an album producer for other rock and roll artists is equally important and enduring. And I think ELO is great and a lot more groundbreaking in making a unique kind of rock music, overshadowed by the sheer heft and sweetness of a big bag of hits.
So in this episode, we rewind to the rockers he produced; the albums that had just enough – or sometimes tad too much – of his sound and vibe to become key moments for the careers for the singers and bands he worked with.
Petty. Orbison. A few surprises. Plus, Lynne’s own solo records – he made those too, after ELO had slowed down. A couple are forgotten little gems.
Listened to as a whole, it’s a producer and artist catalog filled with a bunch of rock and roll that is airy, thumping, and hooky.
And we have some thoughts.
Turn these up and hear the acoustic guitar drive, the orchestration, and snapping drums that, in contrast to the Phil Collins/Mutt Lange reverb-drenched, gated snares of the decade, are nearly always recorded really dry.
Back to 1971 and all the way through the 2010s, Lynne made some great and some just OK albums. A bunch of the records in which we hear echoes of both his influences and the albums he made himself.