When I was in high school, and probably 5-10 years after that. I would say, the Electric Light Orchastra (ELO) was my favorite band.
It was rock and roll. The lead singer (Jeff Lynne) had a good voice range. There was enough odd sounds to fit my loving the band. And the name of the band was totally cool. I think I was predisposed to make it may favorite band just because of its name.
If I had to make an uninformed guess I would say the band has gone through several evolutions.
The early years - 1970-73 they had strings - violins, cellos and stuff. They sounded like a band with a lot of performers. They were really great except their music repettua included music from other bands. For example Roll Over Beethoven and Great Balls of Fire. But some of my favorite songs from that band came from this era.
The middle years - 1974-96, they dropped the strings, added more interesting sounds (synthesizers). Every album produced was great.
The latter years. 1996 on. I’m not sure what happened, maybe a high turnover of musicians. Maybe I changed my taste in music. Maybe both. They still released ELO albums. Some without the lead singer. Jeff Lynne was also producing his own albums and did a few other albums included a few cds by the Traveling Wilburies - a band of popular musicians (Tom petty, Roy orbison, Bob Dylan, George Harrison)
Here are some of the albums I purchased once the years
- ELO
- ELO II
- Ole elo
- No answer
- On the third day
- Face the music
- Eldorado
- Out of the blue
- A new world record
- Discovery
- Time
- Xanadu - a soundtrack for a movie. Some music was from different musicians.
- Secret messages
- 1994 - moment of truth - Bev Bevins (no Jeff Lynne)
- 1995 - Elo part 2 - an attempt to bring back the sounds of 70’s
- Balance of power
- Zoom
- Alone on the universe