Electric Light Orchestra: Face the Music Vinyl LP

Why you'll love it

Face the Music is where Jeff Lynne traded symphonic sprawl for tight, radio-ready pop with the strings still soaring. It was the first ELO album to go platinum, and "Evil Woman" and "Strange Magic" became two of their signature songs.

About the album

Deep Purple gave ELO one very useful tip on the road: try Musicland Studios in Munich. The band took it, and Musicland became their home for most of the records that followed. With a new bassist, Kelly Groucutt, and a new cellist, Melvyn Gale, Jeff Lynne set out to write songs people could hum, leaving the progressive suites of the early albums behind.

The string trio of Mik Kaminski, Hugh McDowell and Gale was blended into a 30-piece orchestra recorded separately in London, a choir was added, and backing singers including the great songwriter Ellie Greenwich brought a girl-group sparkle. "Fire on High" opens with Richard Tandy's eerie synth and a backwards message from drummer Bev Bevan before exploding into a galloping instrumental. "Evil Woman" struts, "Strange Magic" floats on a cloud of phased guitars, Groucutt takes the lead on "Poker" and trades lines with Lynne on "Nightrider," and "Waterfall" and "One Summer Dream" show off Lynne's gift for a lush ballad.

The back cover shows the band with their faces pressed to a glass panel, watching the electrocution on the front, with Tandy pointedly looking the other way. He was the sensible one, clearly.

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