Inevitable the compilation release may be, it does not have to be a dire collection. A vast improvement in Electric Light Orchestra releases came as Jeff Lynne began tinkering with the group again. Those Evil Woman hitmakers were dormant all too long, and yet their record label made a nice penny or two. Presumably a little more given the volume of compilation releases between the band’s first and second break-up. It cooled off after Zoom, as did interest in the band entirely. But it wouldn’t be long before the icy grip of nostalgia came for Jeff Lynne. The shy frontman had a great ear for studio work and would crack on well with The Beatles’ backlog, and then turned to his own works. A compilation release at a time when everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Bob Dylan was receiving the same treatment is a chance for a definitive release. This is it, after all the Afterglow and Best Of features, a chance to hear everything you need from Electric Light Orchestra.
It checks all the boxes of what makes a solid compilation. You’d be surprised how many ELO compilations fail the basics. The Essential Electric Light Orchestra manages to order its songs by date and feature the classics, along with a generous dollop of deep cuts. Everything up to Balance of Power is taken care of, along with a few pieces which were hard to get your hands on at the time of ELO’s contemporary period. Latitude 88 North and Surrender are tacked onto the end and neatly so. Irrelevant to the tracklist, as strong as it is, is instrumental and remastering quality. While many of the releases before The Essential Electric Light Orchestra were withering because they had no guidance, it feels like there’s a new standard set by this compilation. With the basics in place, it’s nice to hear Secret Messages appear for more than one song. Omitted by most compilers, the likes of Four Little Diamonds and the title track are welcome additions.
An incredible album which is often shunted off these compilations because the hits are plentiful. A stretch of Telephone Line to Sweet Talkin’ Woman is phenomenal. Despite the strength of The Essential Electric Light Orchestra as a package, it serves no purpose still. Those who are deeply invested in the band will want to listen to the albums in full, those who have yet to start may as well work through chronologically like any sane individual. You lose the intricacies and charm of each album by clipping a few songs, strong choices they may be, and piling them into a compilation. Even for the purpose of picking and choosing a few songs, the bulk are found elsewhere and already available. The Essential Electric Light Orchestra at least offers Lattitude 88 North to a wider audience.
The self-titled debut to Balance of Power is compiled well enough, far better than all the others preceding it. Lynne would get back to work on ELO projects around this time and the remastering he did, the re-recordings and greatest hits, would offer yet another alternative to The Essential Electric Light Orchestra. It’s a decades-long song and dance and yet the vault of unreleased materials, alternate takes, and early versions has yet to be opened. Instead, starving listeners are fed measly slices of the same set of songs, over and over. It will likely be this way for some time unless Sony swoops in to buy the back catalogue. Maybe there isn’t anything there but Zoom II and a poster for a cancelled Hyde Park show. But even if that is all there is, it’s far more interesting than the ongoing repackaging of the same forty or so songs.
Jeff has to avoid Sony “swooping in” to acquire his work. Any of it. I think that too many artists let go of their catalogs and then see hits being used for causes that they wouldn’t touch ever themselves. IMHO.