Should we truly want a world of perfect music, then we won’t need Rock and Roll is King. That is one of the many oversights made on this brief but bloody redundant Electric Light Orchestra compilation. Jeff Lynne and the band called it quits around 1985 but their label had other ideas. Some faceless suit flicked a switch behind their desk which saw legions of factory workers assemble, tear apart, then reassemble, compilation after compilation using the same four pieces. Mr. Blue Sky, Don’t Bring Me Down, Livin’ Thing, and Confusion. The four inevitabilities needed for any compilation of ELO songs. You cannot make an omelette without cracking a few eggs. Compilers are hard-pressed to create an ELO package without those same eggs. A few songs help, too. A Perfect World of Music is very light on the deep cuts, as most compilations are. It’s a risk-free occasion to hear out the hits. Â
Strip away the modern-day, though, and you have a sixteen-song collection which boasts the best of ELO. Forget the fact that you can pick up the albums from their discography relatively cheap regardless of the year, and A Perfect World of Music serves as a solid introduction to the group. They’re keen to cut off the rougher edges of the band. Hardly any of the Roy Wood experimentation or those early years of progressive rock influence can be found on this compilation. But what the group does offer here are a few left-field songs which are hardly up there with the perceived hits. Lynne wrote many great songs with the group and a bunch of those are not quite in common rotation for passing fans. Twilight and Hold on Tight are frankly excellent selections for a compilation. They’re that fine line between definite classic and lesser-known because they’re obscured by Mr. Blue Sky and Don’t Bring Me Down. Both of those songs feature too. It’s hardly a best-of without the best of their work. Â
Which brings a little doubt to the likes of Roll Over Beethoven and I’m Alive featuring. The early years of the band can be better profiled, albeit by their roaring rock epics, than a cover of a Berry classic. Xanadu, too, seems like an awkward choice for the album, especially when All Over the World is closing out the A-side already. It means sacrificing songs like Evil Woman or Fire on High. If your compilation is going to highlight before and after the glory days, be sure to include the before part. Telephone Line and Can’t Get It Out of My Head at least feature, though are hardly making up for the massive gaps in this sixteen-song compilation. You could easily cut and chop a few lesser songs to make room for the heavy hitters. Â
If not those all-time greats, then surely some material from Secret Messages. Even Balance of Power could fit on here, despite it being lesser material from a band who didn’t survive the great ‘80s pop cull. Why create when you can compile? ELO has more than most and yet offers so little. This is a selection of usual pieces with a few early years numbers and Xanadu soundtrack filler bits thrown on the A-side. A stretch better than other compilations to follow this, especially the dreck of the 1990s, but still a pale imitation of what a truly good compilation effort should be. These are bargain bin fodder at the best of times. Free CDs that you used to get stuck to the front of a newspaper. That’s all they’re good for. A shame to see such good music go to waste. What these Lynne-penned songs appear in and are shipped out with decades later is just as important as the context of the times. A project like A Perfect World of Music only cheapens the effort at hand.
