Electric Light Orchestra fans are full of praise for a deep cut from their discography which they have dubbed a “song within a song”.
Frontman Jeff Lynne has plenty of hits to choose from as he prepares for the Over and Out Tour, which is set to conclude later this year at Hyde Park, London. But fans have since praised Lynne’s work on a lesser-known track which features on one of the band’s very best albums.
A post to the Electric Light Orchestra subreddit saw the song Above the Clouds shared as an underrated gem which feels like a song within a song to some. The original post reads: “Anyone else really love Above the Clouds? I mean I love the lyrics, Jeff’s voice, and the use of strings with Bev’s voice. I feel like it’s one of the most underrated on A New World Record and for me is above Do Ya and Rockaria.”
Fans of the band agreed with the post, with one suggesting it feels like a “song within a song”. They wrote: “For me, it’s a song within a song. I love the bluesy intro. Then it goes full ELO-meets-Beach Boys. The music changes, but the middle is a classic Jeff Lynne song, upbeat music but downbeat mood (denying reality). The outro is like a distant echo.”
Another echoed the original user’s sentiment, adding: “Couldn’t have said it better myself! Especially the ‘denying reality’ part hahaha I’m living through facing the reality (of realizing that the fantasy will never be) now… talk about unrequited love.
“Especially when the moment of revelation happened when I was driving with her through the mountains, literally above the clouds… I’m so glad to have come across this song now, timing is perfect, and it’s absolutely beautiful. Just a little masterpiece indeed!”
The “little masterpiece” has been dubbed a deep cut of A New World Record, with the song currently the lowest-streamed of the album’s tracklist on Spotify. One user pointed out the “crazy” lack of plays, adding: “YES!! It’s one of my favourites. I listen to it every day. It’s crazy that it has the lowest number of plays on A New World Record. My favourite part is ‘Still it’s alright with me, you better believe me now,’ just the way he sings it. It’s a lovely song.”
Others pointed out a few problems with the track, with one suggesting it was “a solid tune” but nowhere close to the top ten songs from the band. Another wrote: “It’s great but waaaay too short. Of course it’s better than Do Ya, that’s prob my least fav song on the album. Rockaria too.” A third added: “I absolutely love this song it’s definitely one of the most underrated songs by them.
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Above the Clouds is nice filler song, but no way in hell is better than Do Ya or Rockaria according to some people.
ELO was the soundtrack to my adolescence, Face the Music came out while I was in middle school, Out of the Blue came out during my high school years. What I find most remarkable about that run of albums is, whatever wasn’t a hit was a deep cut of highest quality-but NO filler songs at all. Above the clouds is an excellent deep cut, but shangri-la is better (and longer, too).
Absolutely agree! Same here chronologically, only OleElo was my 1st LP by them so I was ripe for NewWorldRecord.
(My 1st concerts were EltonJohn@OaklandColiseum1975, then Wings@SF1976, then Zeppelin@OaklandStadium1977 – so bitchin to be old! )
You got that right Mark! We might be getting old but the bands we saw and listened to make me feel sorry for what people are listening to now! We heard musical geniuses and what people are hearing today is nothing but foul language and pretty rotten “music” that would be considered trash except for the fact that kids buy it up because they get to hear all the stuff they should not be hearing! It really is too bad what has happened to music, and we can only hope that people will once again demand talent instead of filth!