Electric Light Orchestra album Jeff Lynne made after dad said band ‘had no tune’ named ‘best’ in their discography

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Electric Light Orchestra’s discography is littered with glittering classics, but one stands out as their “best,” according to fans.

The ELO subreddit’s choice of their favourite Jeff Lynne album is, according to interviews from the frontman, the one he wrote in response to his father saying the band “had no tune”. A dismayed Lynne would use the album as a chance to prove his parent wrong, and it became one of their best pieces of work. Songs from the album still appear at ELO’s live shows, which are set to conclude with a Hyde Park performance later this year.

Lynne, who confirmed the band would retire from the stage as of July this year, has featured Can’t Get It Out of My Head in most performances from the band on the Over and Out Tour. Fans were glad to hear it and considered it one of the “best” albums the group has ever released.

A post to the forum explaining the origins of Eldorado found Lynne had written it in response to his father’s criticisms. A fan asked: “Has the band said anything about what inspired the album? Which one had the paracosm? Or was it just “Walter Mitty: The Album” and I’m reading too much into it?”

One fan has since explained the origins of Eldorado and how it became a response to Lynne’s father and his love of classical music, and the disinterest he had in On the Third Day. They wrote: “Jeff wrote the album out of dismay at his father’s opinion on his music. In 1973, after On The Third Day came out, Jeff was talking to his Dad about music. His dad was a huge classical music fan, and was extremely well-versed in it.

What’s your opinion on Eldorado? Does every Elo fan agree that it’s a masterpiece?
byu/Shallzo inelo

“As such, he wasn’t really pleased with how his son was (at the time) such a prog-head and making such experimental music. Jeff’s father told him about this, and he specifically told Jeff that his music “had no tune.” Jeff, of course, was both insulted because he didn’t like the music, and dismayed because it was his own father telling him this.

“So, as he describes it, he got very worked up and decided to make an album to prove to his father that he could do classically inclined, serious music just as well as the greats. This sort of anger/sadness is likely where the tone of the album comes from.” A separate thread from the same forum has since seen fan scall it “very special” and the “best” release.

One fan wrote: “Eldorado might not have their best songs (I think Out of the Blue has better individual tracks) but it’s absolutely their best album. To me it demands to be listened to front to back, while their other albums can be shuffled together without much issue.” Another wrote: “Definitely their best album. Mister Kingdom is my favorite. This album is unlike anything else in their canon. Jeff played a lot of bass on this album.