It is hard not to love the Out of the Blue and Discovery period of Electric Light Orchestra. Nothing but disco-tuned, orchestrally-backed pieces of work. A little light in the emotionally active department, but then there is much repression in Birmingham at play and, for this reason, Jeff Lynne must work harder than most to find a suitably heartfelt message. Moments of positivity crawl through the usual ELO output and nowhere do they sound sweeter than on Shine a Little Love. Lighter than light for this one, and paired with B-Side Jungle, Shine a Little Love still serves as a singles release, ahead of Discovery, that paves the way to a more commercially successful sound. What remains heartwarming, though, is how little is sacrificed to get there.
Shine a Little Love had to be light, springy, even. It was the setup for the rest of Discovery. Lynne has one shot to get that tone right and the disco and funk blur sounds as energetic as ever. His songs were often filled with a simple tone and message, of love lost or gained. Shine a Little Love takes a leaf from the former and hopes to rekindle the light joys of being in emotional turmoil. A dance through Shine a Little Love is a punchy chance to hear those successes Lynne is aiming for here, but the limitations of the lyrical quality has always been a stickler for ELO. Instead, they rely, as any band worth their weight in instrumental skill, on the guitars and rising strings. Shine a Little Love lives and dies on those instrumental moments, the vocal interjections of the “oh, ah” which drops halfway through and is backed by a tremendous guitar riff. A little whiff of progressive rock for those who wanted a shot of their earliest works.
Funky bass and a vapid guitar section will only get you so far. Strip it of its album context and Shine a Little Love still has some flair. Pair it with Jungle, a neat rip from Out of the Blue not quite paid its dues because it was slap-bang in the middle of an album bookmarked by Turn to Stone and Wild West Hero, and the single release feels much stronger. Jungle remains the far more interesting song lyrically but its instrumental clatter, which feels more like the type of work Toto and Men at Work would put to tape a decade later, feels dated. Still, it pairs nicely with Shine a Little Love, the shot and chaser style of the two songs is unavoidably fun.
Shine a Little Love and Jungle remains a relatively sweet if ineffective pairing. Two lighter tracks from Lynne, one completely overlooked because of its erratic tendencies and its instrumental mess, the other, lead track marketed as an opener to a new, commercial reach for the band. Neither is bad, both are exceptional examples of ELO’s work and remain strong rips from Discovery and Out of the Blue. But it does leave something to be desired. Shine a Little Love remains rather vapid in the emotional context Lynne provides it while Jungle still feels like a very messy, afterthought mess of instrumentals which do nothing but build towards the thunderous Believe Me Now.
