Electric Light Orchestra – The Very Best of The Electric Light Orchestra

When the bombs drop, we are safe in the knowledge that most bunkers will have at least one layer of lead, and another made mainly out of pulped Electric Light Orchestra compilations. There are many purposes that serve these releases better. Vinyls of The Very Best of the Electric Light Orchestra can be used as coasters, frisbees, or plates. Better use of Jeff Lynne’s work than the studios that own the rights to this material will ever get, anyway. It’s a difficult one, The Very Best of the Electric Light Orchestra. Try not to confuse it with the shortlist of other, similarly titled compilations. This one is, somehow, different. You could probably take a crack at which songs will feature. Even if it did peak at number four in the charts, the eighteen-track album is not just weighed down by inevitable hits, but it lacks some of the more obvious songs. In its place are songs that, quite frankly, hold little interest for the passing listener.  

Even the dedicated fan will struggle to argue for Wild West Hero and a live version of Roll Over Beethoven on a best-of compilation. Bold it may be to feature that lesser-known Out of the Blue track, it does mean discarding It’s Over and reducing some iconic albums to just one song. Time is handed Hold on Tight and nothing more, though the quality of that song speaks for itself. Inevitabilities are found on here that wouldn’t surprise fans who had already bought the preceding compilation releases, at this point there being so many the yearly swindle of ELO album packages still existing is a genuine shock. ELO’s Greatest Hits Vol. 2 released just two years before The Very Best of the Electric Light Orchestra, and that was followed up with Strange Magic: The Best of Electric Light Orchestra just a year later.  

What’s the point of compiling the same songs, for the same fans, year on year? Because the most desperate of listeners, who are just adamant on finding a new mix, a crumb of difference, will lap these releases up. It seems somewhat bizarre to not dig into the archival tapes, the extra tracks which are yet to see the light of day. Even earlier versions of songs or unfinished demo tracks would be preferable to the same set of songs, despite their quality. You can only listen to Turn to Stone so many times before you need a break from ELO entirely. The compilations work on that break being an annual event, with listeners seemingly set to listen to the band once more after an eight-month break away. In that time, they simply forget which songs were hits for ELO and seek out the nearest and newest compilation. There must be a gas leak of some kind.  

Ultimately, these compilations no longer matter. Playlists and the affordability of pre-owned vinyl, particularly albums from ELO which were overprinted and undersold at the time of their releases, mean you can put together your own compilation. Even when these were releasing, though, it’s hard to gauge how useful the constant releases and lack of rotation for the tracklist is. It’ll satisfy fans who likely thought, at the time, there was no chance of new material. Every artist will be flogged with compilations and re-releases once they retire or die. Just look at Pink Floyd. Three of them are still alive and there’s no shortage of remasters for The Dark Side of the Moon. We must err on the side of caution with these compilations and remasters, not because there isn’t any goodwill in them, but because the chance of seeing yearly releases like there was for ELO, is a slippery slope to eroding the thrill of hearing the band’s work.