Eldorado [Remastered] [Remaster]

Performer: Electric Light Orchestra
Engineer: Dick Plant
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Electric Light Orchestra: Jeff Lynne (vocals, guitar, Moog synthesizer); Richard Tandy (guitar, Moog synthesizer); Mik Kaminsky (violin); Hugh McDowell, Michael Edwards (cello); Michael De Albequerque (bass); Bev Bevan (drums, percussion). Producer: Jeff Lynne. Reissue producers: Jeff Lynne, Al Quaglieri. Recorded at De Lane Lea Studios, London, England. Includes liner notes by Jeff Lynne. Digitally remastered by Joseph M. Palmaccio (Sony Music Studio, New York, New York). The Electric Light Orchestra: Jeff Lynne (vocals, guitar, Moog); Mik Kaminski (violin); Hugh McDowall, Michael Edwards (cello); Richard Tandy (piano, Moog, guitar, background vocals); Michael De Albuquerque (bass); Bev Bevan (drums, percussion). Additional personnel: Peter Ford-Robertson (vocals). Recorded at De Lane Lea Studios, London, England. Personnel: Jeff Lynne (vocals, guitar, keyboards, synthesizer, Moog synthesizer, background vocals); Richard Tandy (guitar, piano, keyboards, synthesizer, Moog synthesizer, background vocals); Bev Bevan (guitar, drums, percussion, background vocals); Mik Kaminski (violin); Hugh McDowell, Mike Edwards (cello); Dick Plant (recorder). Audio Remasterer: Steve Hoffman. Liner Note Author: Jeff Lynne. Recording information: De Lane Lea Studios, London, England. Director: Marcia McGovern. Photographers: Ian Dickson; Norman Seeff. Unknown Contributor Roles: Kevin Gray ; Christine Wilson. Arrangers: Louis Clark; Jeff Lynne; Richard Tandy. Though 1974's ELDORADO is subtitled "A Symphony by the Electric Light Orchestra" and features both a portentous spoken-word prologue and an instrumental finale, this album marks Jeff Lynne's final break from classical-rock fusion in the Emerson, Lake & Palmer sense. Though there're a handful of recognizable lifts from classical and romantic composers, particularly in the swelling opening of "Boy Blue" and the grandly-titled "Illusions in G Major," most of the orchestral arrangements here are in service to Lynne's increasingly accomplished pop songs. One of those is "Can't Get It Out of My Head," a classic '70s pop ballad and FM radio staple that's among Lynne's very best work. Though this was the only hit single on ELDORADO, the rest of the album is nearly as strong. "Laredo Tornado," a Lennonesque mid-tempo strut recalling ELO's earlier hit "Showdown," is a particular standout. Worldwide superstardom was just around the corner. Though 1974's ELDORADO is subtitled "A Symphony by the Electric Light Orchestra" and features both a portentous spoken-word prologue and an instrumental finale, this album marks Jeff Lynne's final break from classical-rock fusion in the Emerson, Lake & Palmer sense. Though there're a handful of recognizable lifts from classical and romantic composers, particularly in the swelling opening of "Boy Blue" and the grandly-titled "Illusions in G Major," most of the orchestral arrangements here are in service to Lynne's increasingly accomplished pop songs. One of those is "Can't Get It Out of My Head," a classic '70s pop ballad and FM radio staple that's among Lynne's very best work. Though this was the only hit single on ELDORADO, the rest of the album is nearly as strong. "Laredo Tornado," a Lennonesque mid-tempo strut recalling ELO's earlier hit "Showdown," is a particular standout. Worldwide superstardom was just around the corner. This is the album where Jeff Lynne finally found the sound he'd wanted since co-founding Electric Light Orchestra three years earlier. Up to this point, most of the group's music had been self-contained -- Lynne, Richard Tandy, et al., providing whatever was needed, vocally or instrumentally, even if it meant overdubbing their work layer upon layer. Lynne saw the limitations of this process, however, and opted for the presence of an orchestra -- it was only 30 pieces, but the result was a much richer musical palette than the group had ever had to work with, and their most ambitious and successful record up to that time. Indeed, Eldorado was strongly reminiscent in some ways of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Not that it could ever have the same impact or be as distinctive, but it had its feet planted in so many richly melodic and varied musical traditions, yet made it all work in a rock context, that it did recall the Beatles classic. It was a very romantic work, especially on the opening "Eldorado Overture," which was steeped in a wistful 1920s/1930s notion of popular fantasy (embodied in movies and novels like James Hilton's Lost Horizon and Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge) about disillusioned seekers. It boasted Lynne's best single up to that time, "Can't Get It Out of My Head," which most radio listeners could never get out of their respective heads, either. The integration of the orchestra would become even more thorough on future albums, but Eldorado was notable for mixing the band and orchestra (and a choir) in ways that did no violence to the best elements of both. [The 2001 CD reissue on Epic/Legacy adds two previously unreleased bonus tracks: an eight-minute "Eldorado Instrumental Medley" and the 46-second home demo "Dark City," described by Jeff Lynne as an "early idea for 'Laredo Tornado.'"] ~ Bruce Eder

Entertainment Weekly (6/29-7/6/01, p.145) - "...A brilliant cycle of Walter Mitty-goes-medieval fantasies that is grandiose and cheeky in equal measure..." - Rating: A Q (8/94, p.124) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...mercifully concise set stuffed to the gunwales with immaculate pop epistles, fabulously carpeting strings, and Jeff Lynne's pop-panoramic production vision..."

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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