A desire to hint at the greats of old can be found on the cover of Eldorado. Glittery red slippers may allude to the fantastical elements of The Wizard of Oz but it was up to Jeff Lynne, Richard Tandy and the rest of Electric Light Orchestra to make good on this new sound. They had learned, grown and moved on from the sound of their self-titled debut and the two records which followed. Is Eldorado their first great project? Possibly. It is certainly their first fully fleshed-out experience. Eldorado, years on from a first listen and decades on from its release, feels powerful. Operatic in places but never straying into rock opera territory. Instead, this refuelled group pushes on through with Lynne in creative control. He allows imaginative flourishes and obvious influences to run wild on what is a very firm, nicely tuned album.
Eldorado Overture into Can’t Get It out of My Head is an excellent burst of lighter qualities. Those comparisons to The Beatles for Lynne and the band make a little sense with these two but Electric Light Orchestra was never defined by this loose similarity. Eldorado feels contained by its influence, and yet it makes good on the emotional clarity found in the words Lynne provides here. A desire to get out of his head and into the hustle and bustle of the streets where we find a new part of ourselves. Those string sections do well to back him on this, a nice piece of brass for Boy Blue lifts him up too. Some smaller flourishes can be heard throughout Eldorado which Lynne disposed of soon after, most notably his vocal range. A higher pitch here than he would rely on with commercial and critical successes after this.
Some of the plucky instrumentals found on Eldorado, particularly Boy Blue, sound a bit stock now. Menu music for The Sims 3. It does not diminish the heart, but such a simply constructed song feels like a cop-out considering the weighty material in Laredo Tornado and the title track. Yet all it takes is a listen to both Poorboy (The Greenwood) and Mister Kingdom to understand the driving force of Eldorado. Lynne marks a bold and truly important experimentation with the orchestral part of the Electric Light Orchestra. Changes to the lineup, additions which at the time were as bold as they were risky for how fragile the band could have been in the shakeup, but adamant on perfecting it and Lynne has a hit on his hands. Tandy develops those arrangements and instrumentals with such depth and courage.
Eldorado is far from perfect but is likely the most important part of the Electric Light Orchestra discography. It is how the band kicked on. None of these songs hold a candle to the outstanding series of releases to follow but everyone starts somewhere. Lynne and the orchestra started here. Those first three albums had their training wheels on. Eldorado dares to brave the open road with no safety net to speak of, and the result is a rewarding, if risky, experience. Uncompromised work and an unequivocal victory for Lynne, who found himself no longer the understudy of the band but strapped in behind the wheel. Floaty lyricisms, filled with wit and worry and backed by a tremendous orchestral arrangement. There is much to love about the jagged vibrancy of Eldorado.
