Who can forget the big ELO spaceship design on the album cover?, it really was a stand-out back in 1977 upon release, and was sure-fire way to sell a record, adouble LP to boot.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)
ALBUM: Out Of The Blue
LABEL: Jet Records
SERIAL: Jet Records, JETDP 400, UAR 100
YEAR: 1977
CD REISSUE: Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Jeff Lynne – lead and backing vocals, guitars, percussion, electric piano, arrangements, lyrics, production * Richard Tandy – keyboards, guitar, percussion, backing vocals * Kelly Groucutt – lead and backing vocals, bass, percussion * Bev Bevan – drums, percussion, backing vocals * Melvyn Gale – cello * Hugh McDowell – cello * Mik Kaminski – violin
Additional Musicians: Louis Clark – conductor, arrangements
TRACK LISTING:
Disc 01
A1 Turn To Stone * A2 It’s Over * A3 Sweet Talkin’ Woman * A4 Across The Border * B1 Night In The City * B2 Starlight * B3 Jungle * B4 Believe Me Now * B5 Steppin’ Out
Disc 02 Concerto For A Rainy Day
C1 Standin’ In The Rain * C2 Big Wheels * C3 Summer And Lightning * C4 Mr. Blue Sky * D1 Sweet Is The Night * D2 The Whale * D3 Birmingham Blues * D4 Wild West Hero
WEBLINKS: Official Website | WikiPedia Page
Background
Who can forget the big ELO spaceship design on the album cover? It really was a stand-out back in 1977 upon release, and was sure-fire way to sell a record. A double LP to boot, very bold of Jeff Lynne to deliver a package like this, and apparently, it took Jeff about three weeks to write the whole record in a heightened burst of creativity.
Personally, I never owned any ELO records during my youth, though my best friend did, which is where I got to listen to the thing, in between sessions of Boston, Journey and Styx. The line-up is the same as that which appeared on ‘A New World Record’, and as expected, following the success of that record, ‘Out Of The Blue’ went multi-platinum soon after.
The Songs
The two most popular tunes off the album were ‘Turn To Stone’ (1st single) and ‘Sweet Talkin’ Woman’ (4th single), though ‘Mr Blue Sky’ was the band’s second single and did very well on the charts. ‘Wild West Hero’ was ELO’s fourth single, while ‘It’s Over’ was the fifth and final single, and did better in the USA upon release.
In Summary
The gatefold cover contained impressive artwork designed by John Kosh with assistance from Japanese artist, the late Shusei Nagaoka. ‘Out Of The Blue’ went on to sell 10 million records worldwide for ELO, and remains a top contender in double LP releases within the popular music industry.
ELO on Video
Entire Album (Select Tracks)
