Electric Light Orchestra – Telephone Line Review

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A New World Record is filled with Electric Light Orchestra’s consistent, dance-like prog influences. It is a tone they nailed and ran with for years to come and, up until Discovery, it was the bread-and-butter style of Jeff Lynne and the band. Punchy rhythms and steady tempo were the best part of the band for a considerable period, a glittering set of highs where a series of little arrangements below the surface was holding it all together. For something to sound as seamless and joy-filled as Telephone Line, the inner workings of the track must be spot on. ELO may never escape the contrast and comparisons with The Beatles, and the softer flourishes of Paul McCartney’s influence can certainly be heard here. Nothing wrong with that, Telephone Line stands as an effective single.  

But between the boo-wop tones and the impressive vocal interjections from Lynne, Telephone Line owes a lot to Abbey Road-era McCartney. A softer sway to the instrumentals and a broader reliance on strings pulls the instrumentals away from being a complete rip of the Fab Four, and those unanswered rings do more for the storytelling found in this exceptional Lynne song than anything else. But the “yeah, yeah yeah,” spot before the “doo-wop” moments is liquid McCartney. A nice build towards those panicked pleas for the other end to pick up, the emotive punch heard in Lynne’s delivery, and the percussion building up to this unanswered call, are nothing short of perfection. ELO could often, rather easily in fact, obscure the emotional quantities of their music with some slick riffs and a bouncy, never-ending positivity. Telephone Line is a heartbreaker through and through. Those calls, the softness to Lynne’s voice, quite out of character considering the follow-up albums, but a remnant of storytelling within.  

Telephone Line is a song built on subtle changes. Little flickers of greatness are the difference maker for this one. A slow build from the instrumentals as Lynne gains confidence in his vocals, not in performing them but as portraying a character who had ties to a dream now abandoned. Pair it, as ELO often did, with a song from one of their previous albums, and the rather simple style of releasing singles appears. Poorboy (The Greenwood) has little connection with the depths of Telephone Line, but a song needed to appear on the B-Side. Why not a rip from an album he made in defiance of his father. Not the worst choice of song, a sound addition but it does nothing to add to the story told on Telephone Line. 

Perhaps Poorboy (The Greenwood) is a chance to break from melancholy. Whatever the case, Telephone Line has a lushness to it, a depth which felt a tad jagged and unfinished in previous efforts. A New World Record was a major turning point for the band, that much is clear. Telephone Line is a standout achievement from the band, one of the few songs where the instrumental effectiveness is waylaid by a personable worry, a striking and effective attempt at piecing together anxieties and indifference we may feel over the phone. Few ELO songs can brag of this similar depth or even a storytelling opportunity. A rarity of their discography, one which stands above most of their efforts before and after A New World Record.