ELO's 5th album. By now, they've comfortably settled into their niche with their sound almost finalized and established. This is also the album where the orchestral elements are started to be subdued a little bit; they're still present and noticeable, but they have much less emphasis here. With this change also comes the consequence of the songs starting to sound more generic, like they're trying to be more "radio hits", and in my opinion it loses a little bit of what's made ELO's music so unique in the past. Because of this the songs are hit or miss for me, with the songs either being great or unmemorable (and in the case of one song, truly awful). The popular songs from this album, like Evil Woman and Strange Magic, are popular for reason, that being that they are really good. The other songs are mostly neutral and not that outstanding, like Waterfall or One Summer Dream. There are a few lesser known songs on here that I like just as much as the hits, i.e. Poker. There's one song on this album though that I just hate, enough so that it lowers my score by an entire number. Down Home Town is so out of place and just actually not good that it sticks out like a sore thumb and I actively avoid it when listening through the album. It doesn't fit the tone of the album, or the genre, and isn't good for the genre that it would better fit in. If Down Home Town weren't on this album, I would rate it higher. In summary: the good songs are pretty good, and the not good songs aren't.
Highlights: Evil Woman, Nightrider, Poker, Strange Magic.
Rating: 4/6
Comments
Post a Comment