Mr. Blue Sky: The Story of Jeff Lynne & ELO Review

Coaxing a documentary feature from Electric Light Orchestra frontman Jeff Lynne is far harder than letting blood pour from a stone. It is not because Lynne is a difficult individual, far from it. He is too humble for his own good and it affects the outlook the passing listener may have on his hits. His production for George Harrison, The Beatles’ Anthology and his own works are far too understated. The man is a hero of the studio and stage, but it is hard to pinpoint the moments that make this happen. Lynne is the sum of all these parts and then some. Mr. Blue Sky: The Story of Jeff Lynne & ELO is a short and sweet documentary feature looking to shed a light on one of the biggest, but quietest, rock frontmen. Paul McCartney lists off a neat list of what Lynne is. He is not wrong. 

Praise from legends is the best way to get to the heart of Lynne, because he is far too humble to express it himself. Crucial to that humble notion is the genuine nature of it. Lynne is not doing it because he basks in compliments but because he, sincerely, believes his work is just that. Work. There is an understanding of the brilliance but not an interest in using it as a prop-up for a lack of personality or heart. Mr. Blue Sky: The Story of Jeff Lynne & ELO gets to the heart of that. We can gauge that without the documentary. All we can do when taken along for the ride of Mr. Blue Sky: The Story of Jeff Lynne & ELO is piece together the little bits and pieces. The structure is all over the place, a staggered and unfocused mess which feels completely unfocused on one or another narrative. What the documentary does, as any fundamentally solid non-fiction film should, is provide a reason to invest your time in the subject after the credits have rolled.  

Lynne deserves a far better documentary than this, a snippet-laden piece of work which can never focus for all that long. Early years in Birmingham, the founding and eventual highs of Electric Light Orchestra and then a permanent switch to Lynne as producer. It feels like a checklist which does not understand the overlap of this album or that group. What becomes clear is the system of borrowing around the time of these hits being recorded. McCartney and Eric Idle note it well, the influence of one or another band is the route to a new sound. While these moments, from Tom Petty and Richard Tandy in particular, are endearing, it is intercut with sudden anecdotes from others who offer very little, if any, insight into Lynne’s creative process.  

A rapid-fire pace is the reason behind that. Lynne’s reasoning for re-recording songs is a sweet addition, all too briefly glossed over, as are most of the points of interest found on Mr. Blue Sky: The Story of Jeff Lynne & ELO. Seeing Lynne re-record Do Ya and playing every part is a phenomenal scene which is no doubt one of those deep cut scenes that fans of ELO will want. There is plenty of that in this documentary, though much of it feels disconnected from the wider story at play. A few moments of interest, with Lynne the backing vocalist on Free Fallin’, for instance. But the rest of it feels like static or filler. Very little time on the ELO aspect of his career, brushed over in twenty minutes, means the documentary is left scrambling for new topics and angles before the hour mark. A rough watch, but the best you can get on Lynne-related documentaries right now.