Gone is the security of Roy Wood. The reflective, glazed-over image of a sunglasses-wearing frontman was not yet in place. Instead, Electric Light Orchestra present themselves here with the same unfashionable front cover as most 1970s bands who had yet to find an image. Those who did, the likes of Pink Floyd or Genesis for instance, identified with and maintained a set of album covers which elicited loving embraces of British culture or rejections of the status quo. On the Third Day has the band lined up like a police profile, a band of merry men with anything from pirates to private sector workers shoulder to shoulder. Such was the strange camaraderie of ELO, the tone of which would be cemented by works to follow On the Third Day.
About as close to progressive rock as the band would get before hopping aboard their spaceship and shooting off to chart success, On the Third Day is a bit dense. Nothing in the way of major, defining hits but also not shy of a few dark horses. Bluebird Is Dead joins the long list of songs from British musicians in the late 1960s and early 1970s of relaying tragic circumstances through the death of a winged creature. It also marks an excellent part of On the Third Day, an instrumentally driven piece of work which gives Lynne a chance to exercise those lead vocal duties. Where Oh No Not Susan may be nothing spectacular, the follow-up track New World Rising / Ocean Breakup Reprise is a barnstormer of electronic fury, a shocking burst of energy from the band as their ever-building rise with no pay-off consistently teases the ears.
Showdown may be the earliest of their hits, bar Roll Over Beethoven, that is. But crucial to On the Third Day and the general push made by ELO as an outfit shedding their progressive rock skin for a glam-oriented flourish is the instrumental excess and structure of Showdown. A defining song which feels for a funk and powerful, almost soulful performance from Lynne amid a splash of strings and brass. Their very soft Van Der Graaf Generator notions on Daybreaker’s introduction feel a step ahead of the sci-fi style of the times, and remain far more evolved than anything to come for its crown in the next decade. The B-Side turns On the Third Day from generally appealing prog-rock filler to masterful, ambitious sounds which would provide the stylish blueprint for Lynne and the band over a decade of all-time greats.
Tripped-out vocals on Dreaming of 4000 keep a soft psychedelic perspective burning through On the Third Day, a feeling which would filter out slowly but surely as the band found themselves climbing the charts. But it is not to be forgotten and it maintains some of their most lucrative and impressive songs, though its limited scope is nothing compared to the extra punch it gives the B-Side of On the Third Day. A remarkable set of tracks on the second side compared to a bit of a slow start on the A-Side. Lynne finds his footing well, and the implementations of slick electric guitar rock, mixed in with those string joys get the fundamentals of ELO right. They would kick on from here, but you can hear it come together in the latter stages.
