Electric Light Orchestra – Face the Music Review

There are few better album covers than an electric chair and a demand. Electric Light Orchestra lost this darker edge to their image but held it close to the chest for the impressive lyrical assessments they made of the scene throughout the latter half of the 1970s. Jeff Lynne was given scope to experiment and explore, following his yellow brick road on Eldorado. It led to this. Despite the groovy basslines and exceptional riffs of Evil Woman, there is a darkness protruding from it which gives Face the Music an intensity few knew it needed. But it holds this all together, an album preceding one of the band’s biggest achievements as an outfit. Eight tracks and the ghostly whispers of Fire on High to kick it off. E.L.O. head into macabre, gutsy territory for this one.  

Mood-setting terrors which Lynne and longtime collaborator Richard Tandy bring out with such force away from what they are used to doing. The footsteps and reversed horrors of Fire on High, the inclusion of Hallelujah snippets. It is a complete left-field choice and remains one of Lynne’s boldest moves. Fire on High may be one of the finest instrumental achievements the band made. Bleeding this dreamlike fear into riffs which would make David Gilmour weep, Lynne is in fine form for this opener, a song which sets a scene soon deconstructed by the likes of Evil Woman and Strange Magic. There is still an underlying fear to these songs, a presentation of the unknown as dangerous and individuals as grifters. Waterfall sounds better in this context, one of the few songs where purity is the goal. Nothing is more soothing than the waters, the simplicity of it benefitting from a classic Lynne vocal performance and some wonderfully placed guitar work. 

Despite those darker tones, Evil Woman will always define the record. An out-of-place classic. The open road and all its terrors turned light and bouncy by a delicious bassline and string additions from the orchestra. There is a heavier reliance on rock riffs, particularly with Poker and the eccentricity put forward by its out-there noise. It works, but E.L.O. toned it down from here on. It feels lightly punk in the line delivery. Yet the softer likes of Strange Magic feel self-congratulatory. As does Fire on High though the opening track benefits from its disguise as a continuation of Eldorado rather than a track praising their genius, as Strange Magic does. It does not detract though, this is E.L.O. feeling their way to a sound they would soon turn into a perfect trilogy of releases. 

A neat blend of album tracks and well-placed singles gives Face the Music the legs to carry on. Down Home Town is a heartfelt bit of work with a nice violin section but feels a little too soppy. That is not to say it is bad. Sometimes you need to spell out the obvious. Face the Music is exceptional work from Lynne and the band. Another brick in the exceptional wall. One Summer Dream does away with the darkness of the opening. The light of a new day dawning? Perhaps. Or, more likely, the brief experimentation E.L.O. made at the start of this record was not enough to overcome the sound which would be the dominant part of their style for the whole of their performing years. Fair enough, the promise is enough for Face the Music.