Does E.L.O. naturally appeal to Disco lovers ???????

[KoolChris]

Originally Posted by Hemmy

Hi,Again !

ELO did appeal to me,as I said,instantly when I heard the Last Train To London. I said-Wow ! What great sound ! Since I loved it, I wanted more of the same. So, I bought the Graetest Hits by ELO album. But I was disappointed, because the other songs failed to appeal to me. There were quite a few Good Ones,but they were not really Great Ones. So, I cooled off ELO.The other numbers were Not Really Disco to me.
I personally feel that, although there are some great artists,not all of their compositions are always great. In fact,mostly they fail to create the same kind of instant & universal appeal in their other compositions.It's just not possible to produce Great Compositions on assembly lines.

My feeling towards compilations is that they're only a valid choice in the case of some '80s groups that only produced baloney, except for one or two hits you happen to want to add to your collection. In the case of other groups with a richer, longer, more changing repertoire, you have to consider the fact that those behind the compilation had to make choices, usually depending on hit status, and rights (especially for the bands who changed labels frequently, &/or recorded other composers' material). They also had to choose to leave out some material. In not far from 100% of the compilations available for bands I like, I find that I'd made totally different choices, had I been in charge. And I'd missed out on some great material, had I only had access to those comps, leaving out the lesser-known, although sometimes better tracks from the full albums. In most cases, the record company's or radio stations' choice is very different from my list of favorite tracks...
If you're referring to the same ELO "Greatest Hits" album I'm thinking of, I'd advise you to go out and buy "Discovery", and "Out of the Blue", and check out some of the secondary tracks on "Face The Music".

[remicks]

*****

Amongst the disco releases of 1976 was also this string strewn number recorded in Munich by ELO



Years later I was surprised to learn that it was an anti-abortion song . Hadn't really made the connection.

But then considering the song's oft repeated title and lyrics ...

It's a livin' thing,
It's a terrible thing to lose
It's a given thing
What a terrible thing to lose.

The song's topic then seemed obvious.


Truth is though : it isn't.
from WIKI :

.............. However, a straightforward reading of the lyrics identifies "it" as:
You and your sweet desire.

Jeff Lynne has confirmed that the song was intended to be about a rabbit.

*****

[KoolChris]

Originally Posted by remicks

Years later I was surprised to learn that it was an anti-abortion song . Hadn't really made the connection.

But then considering the song's oft repeated title and lyrics ...

It's a livin' thing,
It's a terrible thing to lose
It's a given thing
What a terrible thing to lose.

The song's topic then seemed obvious.....

.....Jeff Lynne has confirmed that the song was intended to be about a rabbit.

Are rabbits pro-choice???

Seriously, was this great track about the sorrow of losing a pet rabbit? That would be strange, although cute....

I must say I'd never really seen a point behind the lyrics, not even the (now) logical abortion topic.
I just assumed it was the universal, and ever-present topic of "Love".

[remicks]

Originally Posted by KoolChris

Are rabbits pro-choice???

Seriously, was this great track about the sorrow of losing a pet rabbit? That would be strange, although cute....
.

I looked around and can't find anything more about the rabbit angle.

The lyrics sure don't mention anything:

Sailin' away on the crest of a wave - It's like magic
Rollin' and ridin' and slippin' & slidin' - It's magic
and you, and your sweet desire, You took me, higher and higher
It's a livin' thing, It's a terrible thing to lose
It's a given thing, What a terrible thing to lose.
Making believe this is what you've conceived from your worst day,
Moving in line when you look back in time to your first day
And you, and your sweet desire, You took me, higher and higher
It's a livin' thing, It's a terrible thing to lose
It's a given thing, What a terrible thing to lose.
Takin' a dive 'cos you can't halt the slide floating downstream,
So let her go don't start spoiling the show, It's a bad dream
And you, and your sweet desire, You took me, higher and higher
It's a livin' thing, It's a terrible thing to lose
It's a given thing, What a terrible thing to lose.


******
why isn't this disco ?

LAST TRAIN TO LONDON

[QUINNY]

why isn't this disco ?

LAST TRAIN TO LONDON

'Cos it ain't. Sensibilities, my dear friend...sensibilities. Certainly by the time it was released.

[remicks]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

'Cos it ain't. Sensibilities, my dear friend...sensibilities. Certainly by the time it was released.

"Sensibilities" is a good way to put it.

Still, Hemmy hears it as disco....his favourite disco tune even.
Lots of strings , constant 4/4 drum, keyboards , sound effects. Meco-ish guitar towards the end.. .. occasional Patrick Juvet like vocals ...
Keyboard line seems a good companion for bringing in Heatwave's BOOGIE NIGHTS.

I think the problem is this "disco" song breaks too many disco rules deeply embedded by this time .......... not enough bang to the beat .... song too tight at 4 minutes ... and lacking what was mandatory by this time: instruments that come and go so that there are those breaks when less sounds like more ... ... This song is all more/ more/ MORE ---with no gaps --- from first note to last ....

AND

Jeff Lynne never shuts up once ... Very undisco of him ....


*****

[Hemmy]

Hi !

I don't just like Last Train To London. I love it,guys ! I call it a Disco Melody. Ha ! I can hear a few amused chuckles across the net.But I personally categorize it as such.

Yeah, there's a hint of Patrick Juvet's vocals in there.Tell you what ! The second number following on my cell is I Love America by Patrick Juvet That's a Disco Melody,too, as far as I'm concerned.I'm tempted to name the following sequence on my cell :

Yes,Sir, I Can Boogie (Baccara),
I Was Made For Dancing (Leif Garrette),
I Should Have Loved Ya (Narada Michael Walden),
Oneway Ticket (Eruption),
He's The Greatest Dancer (Sisters Sledge)
When You're in Love With A Beautiful Woman (Dr Hooke)
Come On & Do It (Poussez !)
If I Can't Have You (Yvonne Elliman)
You Should Be Dancing (Bee Gees)

One of my personal Disco Top Tens ! I have atleast 100 of them ,really.Some time, I would love to tell you about my Disco Top Twenty, Top Fifty, Top Hundred, Top Two Hundred, Top Five Hundred & also,yes, Top Thousand Disco Tracks !
I may be accused of being disloyal to any particular group or artist, but my devotion to a Thousand Disco Hits can not be questioned. I'm well & truly devoted to the Great Disco Sound.

[dancer5612004]

ELO big thumbs up. My disco origins rely heavily on rock mainstream and soul. What would I do without Elton John, Alice Cooper, Moody Blues, or David Bowie, holy jeez. Whenever I watch ELO in action in small studio clip on youtube, I am glued with awe. That stint with Olivia Newton-John's Xanandu really put them in the Studio 54 spotlight, and I love the "I'm Alive" music video outake, by far.
The one hit I used in my music line-up, which was for effect than upbeat tempo was "Can't Get It Out Of My Head." Incredible background on that one that just resonated off the walls. Slow, but very effective for the upbeat tunes that immediately followed. Thank god I was able to DJ in some non dance club formats, I threw in alot of off the wall stuff from 50s tunes to Gary Numan, but this was to catch people by surprise. I have ELO's greatest hits.

[mrbill]

Of course "Last Train to London" was disco. Disco is a rainbow of sounds, just because there was a "formula" and a song wasnt completely within that "formula" doesnt make it non-disco (double negatives ftw). I have over 2000 disco albums/12" and I personally sought out that track. In the late 70s, pop was disco, rock fused with disco, heck even C/w dangled with it. Disco is a feeling as much as a technical "forumla" - and ELO's sound produced that feeling - and still does.

[Mixmachine]

As far as my memory goes, "Last train to London" was used by some local Club Djs at the time.

In a large Club with a "Big" and loud Sound system this song definitely had a 'kick' that filled dance floors.

Unfortunately, "Last train to London" was also part of "top 40" radio's heavy rotation and became "tired" very quickly, therefore most Djs used it for a very short period if at all, especially given the amount of other club material that was available at the time.

One can find evidence that "Last train.." was used in clubs in the "Bits & Pieces III" (“Let's do it" ) bootleg mix, where the creator used the intro and part of the opening vocals (Yes, very similar to "Boogie Nights) towards the end of the Mix.

"Bits & Pieces III" (16:15 - long) was of course created specifically for clubs and was very popular with DJs of the day, this mix is also credited with giving birth to the "style" that was later adopted and further popularized by the "Stars on 45" series and all the other copy cats that came along to exploit the formula...

[remicks]

*****

Well for me a lot of what makes a song a disco song is in what was its intent?? Was the song made for the clubs??

In the beginning, the DJs ( and their crowds) called the shots .... it was they who decided what was "disco" by what it was they played and what the floor responded to. But by 1979 there were certain means by which a record company would go about courting the clubs for getting records played ....the most obvious being a promo pressing for DJs , distribution through the pools, and typically a 12" remix when needed to make the song longer, more disco-y, and more DJ friendly.

Most artists wanting to appeal to the discos wouldn't record their song at just barely four minutes and then hide it on an LP that never got sent to the clubs.

Mixmachine LAST TRAIN TO LONDON must have been a regional hit in your area because the song fizzled on Billboard at #39 and didn't get extensive TOP 40 play ... which might be considered evidence that the song IS disco .... such a great song being shunned by radio.....just too disco for 1980's 'disco terrified" radio programmers ...


******

[KoolChris]

Originally Posted by remsky

Well for me a lot of what makes a song a disco song is in what was its intent?? Was the song made for the clubs??

In the beginning, the DJs ( and their crowds) called the shots .... it was they who decided what was "disco" by what it was they played and what the floor responded to. But by 1979 there were certain means by which a record company would go about courting the clubs for getting records played ....the most obvious being a promo pressing for DJs , distribution through the pools, and typically a 12" remix when needed to make the song longer, more disco-y, and more DJ friendly.

Most artists wanting to appeal to the discos wouldn't record their song at just barely four minutes and then hide it on an LP that never got sent to the clubs.

Hmm... Wasn't it just a musical style? Were all disco tracks danceable? Were all released on 12"? Were all made for clubs? It seems a lot of those symphonic suites many of us like apply as disco, but hardly apply as dance tunes... I also have thousands of Disco LPs with tracks never released as singles, although their style is undoubtedly disco...




.

[remicks]

*****

KoolChris: Hmm... Wasn't it just a musical style? Were all disco tracks danceable? Were all released on 12"? Were all made for clubs? It seems a lot of those symphonic suites many of us like apply as disco, but hardly apply as dance tunes... I also have thousands of Disco LPs with tracks never released as singles, although their style is undoubtedly disco...

There are never any absolutes ... or at least I'm 80% sure of that ....

Originally Posted by KoolChris

Hmm... Wasn't it just a musical style? Were all disco tracks danceable?

YES I think that is the bottom line purpose of disco music...

Were all released on 12"?

Nope .

Were all made for clubs?

YES ....and no ... I think everyone that was intentionally making disco records hoped they would get played in the clubs (or be a TV detective show's theme song )
But a part of the fun of being a DJ was also finding those dance floor acceptable songs not necessarily spearheaded as such.

It seems a lot of those symphonic suites many of us like apply as disco, but hardly apply as dance tunes.

Which ones ???

I also have thousands of Disco LPs with tracks never released as singles, although their style is undoubtedly disco...

Yes, but notice you included the word "disco" ... " Disco LPS" . The name of the game was always to preferably sell albums over singles ...thats where the money was ...so if you could put together a whole disco album ...that was all the better moneywise than just a 12"....


But ELO was not trying to release a disco LP ... Perhaps they did have intentions for some of their songs to have club appeal as other non-disco acts were increasingly doing ....but right about then ...with the anti-disco hostilities burgeoning ...and maybe after witnessing the backlash The Beach Boys suffered ...someone at CBS decided not to risk an ELO association with the disco market ...

Therefore no record pool distribution of the LP (correct?? )

No 12" versions created.

No LP cuts offered as disco in any manner ...



*****

[QUINNY]

Does E.L.O. naturally appeal to Disco lovers ???????

Define Disco lover and there you have the answer....I guess (kazillions of different answers actually).

Reiteration time (sorry if this gets repetitive).
To me and probably 99% of all UK jocks they were a pop band, pure and simple. Their records were pleasant enough and I liked a few of them as pop records (designed to be played on radio and sell vast quantities), BUT I never played one of their tracks as a Disco record once Disco really got started (post '74/5). My credibility would have gone down a billion percent. In the early days things were far less defined and so their tracks that were danceable might have been played, because they were deemed O.K.

I'm sorry, but if any of you guys think ELO were Disco or trying to be Disco, you're WRONG in my book! It's that simple.

BTW: I couldn't (hand on heart) vote in the poll, 'cos there isn't a category that best sums up my opinion of 'em. I don't HATE them per se, but neither do I think the other two categories apply.