Jeff Lynne´s ELO- Alone In the Universe (2015)

Jeff Lynne´s ELO- Alone In the Universe (2015)

“I think from the age of thirteen, I really wanted to be a producer and I've always thought that the producer was the top of the tree.”

Jeff Lynne

By: Ghost Writer

Opener When I was a Boy has that Abbey Road flavor, that pyrrhic victory feel that although one retires as a winner, is a retirement in the end, for Lynnr at the front of ELO, this Alone in the Universe sounds like a kind of a farewell who knows, but is an exquisite place to let loose all of his Beatles obsessions, the lonely piano, Lynne's nostalgic voice, the way he arranges the drums, it's kind of a mix between Carry that Weight and Whiter Shade of Pale, with the same goodbye feel, but for Live and Rain, Lynne invokes other ghosts, is kind of a Bob Dylan tune, or something one may expect coming from a Traveling Wilburys album with a classic ELO chorus in the ending.

On Dirty to the Bone, Lynne brings forward that magic he used for records by George Harrison, making the impossible possible by updating the unique sound of the Fab Four, but is probably on When the Night Comes where the nostalgic glossy ELO classic sound comes truly alive, a strange tune with a certain reggae influence.

The Bob Dylan thing comes alive again on Ain't it a Drag, with Lynne presenting a brave rocking song that could have appeared in any recent Dylan record and featuring a small play on one of Harrison's guitar classic lines, while on All of My Life, Lynne rescues those classic Beatles vocal lines, bringing back instant memories of not only the Fab Four but other heavier hitting bands like the mighty Badfinger.

I'm Leaving You sounds like a Paul McCartney lost outtake, not exactly stellar stuff, but on One Step at a Time, Lynne gives himself the change to experiment a little with new stuff benefiting the song with a dense and more dynamic arrangement, restoring some of the 70s magic of his band.

The album closes with the texture rich and sound dense Alone in the Universe, a tune that I guess a band like the Flaming Lips would kill to make, if they were smart enough, again Lynne sounding like a master at crafting musical nostalgic, conjuring passionate guitar leads, a solid drum arrangements and a pop unsurpassed instinct that ends up resulting timeless getting close to some of the best inspiring ballads of the mighty Cars, just imaging Lynne and Ocasek going together into the studio to make this kind of magic.

Alone in the Universe sounds precisely that way, it invokes a certain cosmic sized solitude, I guess Lynne ventilates some of his frustration towards the current state of the music business, and he does it the best way he knows and with really good results, the other good thing about this record is that is an impressive proof of Lynne's talent as a producer, gold shinning for all those musicians hoping to make a really good record at the hand if a great producer.