Balance of Power [Bonus Tracks]

Performer: Electric Light Orchestra
Engineer: Bill Bottrell
Producer: Jeff Lynne; Jeff Lynne; Jeff Lynne (Reissue); Jeff Magid (Reissue)
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Electric Light Orchestra: Jeff Lynne (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, bass); Richard Tandy (piano, keyboards); Bev Bevan (drums, percussion). Additional personnel: Christian Shnieder (saxophone). All tracks have been digitally remastered. Electric Light Orchestra: Bev Bevan (drum); Richard Tandy (programming, sequencer); Jeff Lynne. Personnel: Jeff Lynne (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, bass guitar, background vocals); Christian Schneider (saxophone); Richard Tandy (piano, keyboards); Bev Bevan (drums, percussion). Liner Note Authors: Jeff Lynne; Rob Caiger. Recording information: Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas; Hartmann Digital, Untertrubach, Germany. 1986's BALANCE OF POWER, the last ELO album to feature Jeff Lynne--the rest of the group re-convened as ELO Part II in the late '90s with cult-fave singer/guitarist Parthenon Huxley replacing Lynne--looks at first like a dubious attempt at '80s-style modernization. The cliched, dated graphics--and keyboard player Richard Tandy's red-flag credit for "programming"--notwithstanding, this is a fine example of Lynne's '80s work. The opening "Heaven Only Knows" is a catchy tune with Lynne's trademark overdubbed Beatlesque harmonies that would have fit in well on OUT OF THE BLUE or DISCOVERY. The rest of the album is less immediately enthralling, but that's due to the slightly antiseptic, MIDI-heavy production, not the caliber of the songs. Listening past the surfaces reveals these songs to be a solid set of tunes well in Lynne's tradition of melodic pop. After mining the Beatles gold mine for all those catchy hooks, by the time that Balance of Power was released, Jeff Lynne and company had pretty much found that once-rich vein going dry. This album did contain yet another Top 40 hit with "Calling America," but by the mid-'80s, ELO were finding their audience and their inspiration on the wane. Not truly memorable, but passable. [The 2007 edition includes bonus tracks.] ~ James Chrispell

ELO began as an outgrowth of '60s UK psych-rockers the Move and the Idle Race, but when former Move frontman Roy Wood departed early in the game, Jeff Lynne fashioned the band as a high-tech Beatles for the '70s. Featuring a full-time string section, ELO picked up where "Strawberry Fields" left off, creating orchestral Britpop without the pretense of prog-rock. The band's slick, lush sound helped define '70s pop, and proved influential decades later to the likes of Air and the Polyphonic Spree.

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