Electric Light Orchestra - Face The Music

United Artists Records

1975 marked what I consider the third renaissance of Jeff Lynne's career. The first was way back in 1970, when Lynne joined Roy Wood's psychedelic rock band The Move for their last two albums before they conked out, and the second was forming the progressively infused ELO with the aforementioned Wood and self-proclaimed "drummist" Bev Bevan. Now comes the third one, marked by the leavings of bassist Mike de Albuquerque and cellist Mike Edwards, replaced by Kelly Grocutt and Melvyn Gale, respectively, and the much more symphonic twists on songs designed to be more memorable then the ones on the previous four albums. The age of ELO we all know and love is finally being ushered into the latter half of the 1970s. 

Giving the prog rock era of ELO its final send off is the startling album opener "Fire on High", which invokes the same kind of unease felt by trespassing teenagers on Halloween night. The only real words on the song are a reversed spiel courtesy of Bev Bevan, which fails at being creepy and just comes off as slightly bothersome. The intro is very haunting and reminiscent of a 1920s silent horror movie. Compelling synth and string push us into the main chunk of the song, with powerful drumming and a slightly acid-laced guitar sound. However, the chaos of the song quickly becomes boring, and the Spanish guitar feels a tad bit out of place in a song like this, and overall apart from a few pieces here and there, the song isn't very interesting. 

Coming in with a full string and steel guitar intro is the piano-centered "Waterfall", which is a wholly poignant, spacious piece with strong yet not overdone drumming and a feeling like soft sand. This is one of those songs that breaks you apart with deliberate slowness and wallowing, resigned instrumentation topped off by vocals strained with anguish so palpable it makes you want to crawl underground and die. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be a teenager in 1975, listening to this through headphones connected to the stereo in the seclusion of my own room for the first time. 

"Evil Woman" is the song you're probably familiar with already. The solemn strings of the previous track gently ease you into this one before sharply tossing you haphazardly into the drama of the main, radio-friendly part of the song. However, it being the radio-friendly single of the album doesn't detract from the quality of the lyrics one bit, which have a unique "reap what you have sewn" twang. You can see where Cliff Richard got his inspiration from "Devil Woman" from. "Evil Woman" is also the closest ELO will foray into disco for a while, with synths used to augment the strings and nice, simple guitar punctuations in the verses. This is also the first song on the album to feature female backing vocalists. 

Continuing with the synth/string combination is the dramatic "Nightrider", which despite all its potential was never released as a single. The staccato strings help to provide consistency between the verses and the choruses, panged with desperation and worry complimented by Bev Bevan's regimental style drumming. The vocals between Jeff Lynne and Kelly Grocutt are layered quite well, and the strings provide breakups which give the song an elegant and flowy feel, rounded out with a little taste of piano at the end. 

Raucous rocker "Poker" is what follows, and it is absolutely the weakest song on the album. The synths come off as daunting when put up with the Led Zeppelin-esque guitar riffs, and while Kelly Grocutt's singing isn't bad, it doesn't do anything to make the lyrics sound like anything but something a '50s crooner would write but with '70s colloquialisms. The spacey string and synth interludes are nice touches, but they don't do anything to save the song, and it remains as forgettable as ever, right at home with Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "The Gambler". 

"Strange Magic" opens with an incredibly vast, angelic choir of strings before transitioning into an effective, albeit simple guitar progression. Wonderfully blended harmonies make the chorus memorable, and the strange inflections on some words give the lyrics a hint of wariness, while the synths and keys help provide a sort of space-age majesty to the thing. The gradual build up of strings with the cellos at the forefront and the descending keys make the song sound all the more ethereal, a perfect piece of psychedelic power pop that never fails to amaze me. 

Something as strong as "Strange Magic" would be a tough act to follow on any album, so it's no surprise that "Down Home Town" doesn't stick out very much. It's a British bands attempt at emulating the pastoral songs of old American Appalachian/country music, which although fun does give it an overhang of kitschy-ness. There's splashes of romanticism and nostalgia and the female backing vocals and low brass give the song extra flare, but it's nothing to jump at. 

Closing out the album is "One Summer Dream", and I do not even know where to begin with those strings--they sound like a bona fide classical arrangement. As per usual, sad songs that center around the summertime always end up being better then the ones about how lovely it is to go galavanting about in the hot weather, and this one actually has a particularly wintery feel to it, like when it's too cold to go outside so you spend the day hidden away in your room wishing it was warm again. The song is slow and casual, with a particularly smooth transition between the thinner intro and more layered body with the addition of Bev's drums and hazy, almost jangle-pop effects on the acoustic guitar. With "caught in the crossroads" stylings in the lyrics, "One Summer Dream" makes for a specially haunting earworm. We have come full circle.

Rating: 4/5