Eldorado

 

    Eldorado. ELO'S 4th studio album, and one of my personal favorites. Take all of the praise that I had for On the Third Day, and amplify it by ten; this album is that good. For starters, it takes the already brilliant mixture of orchestral and rock elements and is able to weave them together in new and even better ways than before, creating an entirely new and riveting experience. Each track brings something new to the table, each evolving the whole work further and further, and with every song being great in it's own right. Before going any further, I highly recommend that you listen to the album before reading what else I have to say about it. The album has a story told throughout it of a "dreamer" going through various dream worlds. This starts off with a monologue in Eldorado Overture that states this, making the simple process of just falling asleep and dreaming into a majestic, almost fantastical thing that the dreamer does. It also lays out a motif that'll appear a few times later. The song then beautifully transitions into Can't Get It out of My Head, laying out just how captivated and infatuated the dreamer is when dreaming, while also drawing a comparison to his overly mundane real life. The album then goes into a phase where each song takes place into their own "dream world", starting with Boy Blue; it tells the story of a crusader returning from a crusade with the message that no man should be afraid to live their life and that he'll never fight again to be source of that fear. It's also in Boy Blue where the message of not being afraid to walk the earth can start to have a connection drawn between the dreamer and his desires, which I'll elaborate on later. Then is Laredo Tornado where the dreamer assumes the position of a native american during a period of colonization. After that is Poorboy (The Greenworld), where the dreamer is a part of Robin Hood's merry men. This is where my connection of the dreamer's desires and the dream's is strongest. In Can't Get It out of My Head, when saying how boring his real life is he compares himself to a number of exciting figures, one of which is Robin Hood; to later then be placed in a position alongside him could show that he lives out his fantasy within the dream (which is actually really obvious in the grand scheme of the album, I thought I'd just lay it out now). This theme also appears a good deal later in the album. At the end of Poorboy, the motif from Eldorado Overture returns to remind the listener that everything we've heard up until now has been all dreams, and also resets the tone of the album. Next comes Mister Kingdom which reaffirms the tone back to something slightly depressing and gloomy. Here, the dreamer is awake and pleading to be swept away from the real world in an absolute brilliant work of art. After that is Nobody's Child, about a prostitute coming onto a man, and which brings us back into the dream world. Following is Illusions in G Major, a story of a man having hallucinations. These two tracks don't have much in the way of contributing to the story, but are both great. And now we reach Eldorado: the title track and climax of the album. Snapping back to reality with the dreamer, and it appears as if the dreamer has made a revelation about how to keep dreaming. What happens after the lyrics have ended in this song and the following are vague, but it's implied that to reach the "eternal dream" the dreamer commits suicide; whether he gets to his true dream world is up to you as the listener. As the song progresses, the lyrics, instrumental, and choir keeping ramping up subtly to enhance the mood as it's slowly revealed what the dreamer intends to do. In the final track, Eldorado Finale, we hear the final return of the motif from Eldorado Overture, this time performed more frantic and chaotic, to reflect the dreamer's chaotic and reckless actions, and adds an intense feel to the formerly whimsical melody, striking a feeling of slight terror into the listener. And to top it off, the first and last lines of the opening monologue are repeated, leaving the listener with a twinge of discomfort to reflect the outcome of the album. And that's just the story and how the songs all portray it. Throughout the whole album is an extraordinary string section, contributing to the feel and upping the current mood at all times. In addition is a constant choir in the background, which perfectly ties together the music in songs like Can't Get It out of My Head, Poorboy (The Greenwood), and Nobody's Child. Even when just looking at the album purely in terms of the songs and how good they are, it's still an amazing album where every song is great, which the story serves to amplify how good it is. Despite how much I've written, I feel like I could never do the album justice. I could honestly go on forever about how much I love this album, but I don't want to bore anyone reading this anymore than I already have; just go listen to it. 

    Highlights: Can't Get It out of My Head, Laredo Tornado, Mister Kingdom, Illusions in G Major, Eldorado. 

Rating: 6/6