| Track by Track Review
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Prologue
This keyboard based arrangement has a bit of a classical element at play. There is a spoken synthetic voice that brings an alien sort of vibe. |
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Twilight
This feels rather like classic ELO, but something’s just a little off. That said, it’s also got some of the most progressive rock music we’ve ever gotten from the band at points along this ride. |
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Yours Truly, 2095
Synthetic elements bring this into being in a mellow way. Then we get something a bit like video game sounds. The cut starts to rock out from there with some synthetic vocals. There is a weird artificial vibe as the piece continues, but it gets more of a classic ELO vibe in terms of the general song structure. This is experimental in a lot of ways. It's very electronic. |
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Ticket to the Moon
Starting with piano and vocals, there is a real vintage ELO sound here. This has a sad edge to it, and the stripped back arrangement really serves it well. Strings come in after a bit to deliver some icing on the cake that is this song. After the one-minute-mark a full band treatment enters to create a full ELO sound. The cut drops out after the chorus to mellower, and decidedly progressive rock based stuff. A classic ELO sound rises up from there to accentuate it. The cut works back to the song proper but with a more powered up arrangement. This really feels like something that would have been at home on one of the band's earlier albums. It's a highlight of the set as far as I'm concerned. |
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The Way Life's Meant to Be
Symphonic strings open this as it comes out of the previous piece. It shifts to more of a Beatles-like jam that is a bit understated from there. It evolves into a more full arrangement that has a classic bouncy, rocking ELO vibe to it. It's not the proggiest thing here, but it is fun. That said, I don't consider this a standout. |
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Another Heart Breaks
This is percussive and a bit strange. It has a really stripped back and electronic arrangement. It's strange and atypical of ELO. That said, it's also quite experimental. |
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Rain Is Falling
This is a mellower song. It does feel very much like a classic era ELO song. I’m just not sure it’s exceptionally strong. |
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From the End of the World
Weird synthesized symphonic elements start this. The cut works out to a bouncy, driving kind of electronic jam. This has a strange sound, but it's also intriguing. It has some leanings toward classic ELO, but tempered with both weird science-fiction sounds and some R&B in the mix. The more rocking jam later is set a bit more in a classic ELO motif, but still twisted a bit to the side. |
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The Lights Go Down
There is a weird, bouncy, old school rock and roll turned electronic vibe to this piece. It's an intriguing cut, but definitely not one of the better pieces here. It's also mostly not very ELO-like. The exception to that being the vocal arrangement, which does have a lot of classic ELO in its delivery. |
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Here Is the News
I love the electronic vibe on this. It's an interesting way of updating a classic ELO sound. This has an interesting groove, too. I think this is one of the stronger tunes here. It is also more of a missing link between the classic ELO sound and the more modern one represented on a lot of this album. |
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21st Century Man
This has a lot more of a classic ELO sound built into it. It actually feels like it would have been at home on Out of the Blue in a lot of ways. There is a definite Beatles vibe here, and this mid-tempo piece works quite well. |
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Hold On Tight
This cut has that old school rock and roll sound like we’ve heard previously from the band on cuts like “Roll Over Beethoven.” It’s a strong song and still holds up pretty well. It also has a lot of sound that calls to mind another of Jeff Lynne’s bands, The Traveling Wilburys. I like the French that gets thrown into this. |
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Epilogue
This short piece has a lot of electric guitar fills built into it. It is a dramatic cut that is very much built out of the Beatles side of the ELO catalog. It's a strong, if short, piece. It has a particularly classic sound to it. |
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