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ELO live
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ELO, though largely remained faceless, had a steady flow of fans
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ROY ADRIAN WOOD (vocals, guitar, cello), Jeff Lynne (vocals, guitar, piano) and Bev Bevan (drums) formed the original line-up of Electric Light Orchestra, shortened to ELO.
The band became a live-show circuit draw, more so in America than in their native England.
Initially wanting to experiment with classic orchestral rock, it followed more in the footsteps of the Beatles, tracks such as Can't get it out of my head, Evil women and Telephone, highly suggestive of the influence of the `fab four.' Another peculiar feature of the outfit was its facelessness, with even loyal fans unable to identify more than one or two members.
Wood left the group in 1972, after which Lynne took the group to the US for a 40-concert debut tour. By 1977, a string of hits and touring fetched over $ 10 million, with the album A new world record selling 5 million copies around the world. Its most elaborate tour came in 1978 in a laser-equipped `spaceship,' which was ridiculed as a giant glowing hamburger.
ELO didn't tour in 1979, turning out Discovery instead, which went platinum. A year after, the band backed Olivia Newton John for the movie soundtrack of Xanadu that yielded four hits. On the strength of that success, it toured the US in 1981 to promote the album Time that went gold in the UK. Strangely it didn't do well in the US.
Hit list
Bevan briefly teamed up with Black Sabbath and Lynne joined Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and George Harrison on the Travelling Wilburys. For the five years between 1976 and 1981, the band had over a dozen UK top 20 hits that included Evil Woman, Livin' Thing, Telephone Line, Turn to stone, Mr. Blue Sky, Wild West Hero, Sweet Talkin' woman, Don't bring me down, Confusion/Last train to London, Wild West Hero and the Diary of Horace Wimp.
At the advent of the 1990s, Bevan began ELO 2, which failed. Lynne revived the group in 2001 with guest appearances from George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Traces of the band's glory days were visible but not the magic that had the crowds thronging their concerts.
A. GEORGE ANTONY
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