Deixa-me rir...

Caros Audiophiles, the BBC profiled recently a special interview and recording session with Jeff Lynne, songwriter singer and  mastermind behind the much loved and much missed Electric Light Orchestra.

Located at his magnificent recording studio and home in Los Angeles, in between songs he spoke a little about his musical influences: 

his idea behind ELO was to take the orchestrations of The Beatles' I Am The Walrus and try to imagine how they might have been developed. Paul McCartney himself attested that ELO succeeded brilliantly at the same time creating their own unique identity.

Perhaps then it should be no surprise that Jeff Lynne was asked in 1995 to produce the surviving Beatles/John Lennon "reunion" songs Free As A Bird and Real Love; and later, he created with George Harrison the 'super-group' Travelling Wilburys together with Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty.

Yet even with all this success and admiration from his musical heroes, Jeff Lynne remains an unassuming, modest man. He does not like celebrity, or interviews. He is a perfectionist, probably a control freak. He prefers to compose quietly and allow his music to do the talking.

Here in his studio he re-visits some of his best-known ELO songs. Just his voice and acoustic guitar, accompanied wonderfully by his long-time ELO pianist Richard Tandy. Even without the orchestration, the melodies still sound strong and clear and simple and beautiful.

I felt a renewed pleasure in hearing these songs again. I dearly hope that Jeff Lynne can be persuaded to return to the concert stage.

Telephone Line:

Can't Get It Out Of My Head:



Finally, I absolutely must include Jeff Lynne's masterpiece, Mr Blue Sky, itself influenced by another of The Beatles masterpieces, A Day In The Life. Whatever the weather, whatever your mood, this song just makes you feel better!

A proxima.

 

PO