Mr Blue Sky keeps it light

FROM OUT OF NOWHERE

Jeff Lynne’s ELO

Iconic Music

Back in their Seventies glory days, the original Electric Light Orchestra were one of the biggest groups on the planet, in more ways than one. Their multimillion-selling recordings blended melodious pop rock with lavish orchestrations and massed choirs. A 2014 comeback concert in Hyde Park required a 60-piece band to recreate their vast sound. But in the studio it has essentially been the work of one man, Birmingham songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Lynne.

Now 71, Lynne broke up ELO in the Eighties and spent decades as a solo artist and producer for such vintage stars as Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, as well as the members of Lynne’s Travelling Wilburys supergroup: George Harrison, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and Bob Dylan. From Out of Nowhere is only Lynne’s fourth album of original songs in 30 years, if, indeed, you can call anything about them original.

All musicians might be said to be the sum of their influences, and Lynne’s influences seem to have stopped around the same time he first picked up a guitar. In terms of chord progressions, melody, rhythm and even lyrical subject matter there is nothing on From Out of Nowhere that advances much further than about 1965. In terms of production, you could add another decade. From Out of Nowhere could be an ELO album from 40 years ago, albeit with a bit of added digital polish.

There has been a notion touted recently that Lynne should be considered England’s answer to Beach Boys genius Brian Wilson (for whom Lynne coproduced a solo album in 1988). But Lynne is a less adventurous producer. Instead, he is a consummate craftsman who has perfected the art of layering, building up a wall of sound instrument by instrument, playing guitar, bass, piano, drums and keyboards, and singing all of the lead and harmony vocals.

His songs hark back to the days of rock’n’roll, doo-wop and early girl groups, with the melodic panache of Tin Pan Alley and emotional maturity of a lovesick teenager. Love comes and goes (mainly the latter) amidst a lot of woah, woah, woah, woahs.

On Sci Fi Woman, Lynne experiences a spot of bother with a member of the opposite sex, whose futuristic qualities are

This is only Jeff Lynne’s fourth album of original songs in 30 years

FULL CIRCLE From Out of Nowhere could be an ELO album from 40 years ago