Out of the Blue

So it turns out I just might not like ELO all that much. There are some good moments throughout this album and Mr. Blue Sky is still a great song, but it honestly felt a bit overdone by the time I got to it. Overall, listening to over an hour of maximalist prog classic rock is exhausting.

Just beautiful pop songs.

Mr Blue Sky alone earns a 5, but the whole album is just sublime. Which is incredible given it’s also a lot of tracks. Almost a greatest hits at times….

Instantly transported back to my childhood by many of these songs as this album was everywhere in the late 70s.

Love it - Jeff Lynne’s masterpiece

Na wat voelde als anderhalf uur ging ik toch maar even kijken naar de tracklist, want Mr Blue Sky was nog niet langs gekomen en ik moest toch ondertussen wel vrijwel aan het eind van de plaat zitten??? Welnee: Out Of The Blue duurt 70 minuten en voelt als 170 minuten. Wat een slog. Een soort spacey proto-Queen-eenheidsworst. Echt retesaai. Ik ga voor Mr Blue Sky alleen 3 sterren geven, maar dat is gul van me.

Not sure why I hadn’t dived into ELO before this.

If all prog were this fun or adjacent to this, it’d be a much better genre. This was oddly fun.

Sweeping orchestrations, broad ballads, catchy synth hooks, and prog-adjacent hits packed into 3.5-minute songs.

There is not a weak moment or note..uplifting and fun, weird and ahead of its time, so 70s and so timeless.

Disco Beatles. Starts out well but gets a bit tiresome over the course pf the record.

Hmm...ELO definitely had their moment in the late 70s, but I don't know how influential they actually ended up being. Also, my tolerance for double albums is very limited. This is pretty much a straight pop/easy listening album. It's overall a very pleasant listen, with pleasing vocals and orchestral backing. The harmonies really improve the album's overblown pop songs so that they sound ready-made for radio. Jeff Lynne clearly knows how to write hooky, catchy hit songs and would perhaps have been well served by a career as a label songwriter. However, he chose to perform his compositions and created ELO, and today I listen to this album. The lyrics are fairly generic pop fare, which isn't surprising as that's the whole album's sound. However, I see no reason that this needed to be a double album. It's not like an hour of easy listening 70s music would really entertain me rather than drag. Most of the songs don't really impact me that much, a result of being as inoffensive as possible. This is a fine example of 70s pop, but it's not really anything more than that.

This album is ranked #4 of 27 albums for 1977. Other 1977 albums rated by me:
Rumours(1/27)-5
The Stranger(3/27)-4
"Heroes"(5/27)-3
Lust for Life(6/27)-4
Talking Heads '77(8/27)-4
Marquee Moon(11/27)-4
Aja(12/27)-3
Zombie(13/27)-4
Bat Out of Hell(15/27)-4
My Aim Is True(16/27)-2
The Idiot(18/27)-3

Great songs, it did drag a little, but I can't say unenjoyable! :)

An instant 5 stars really. Pure opera, with bits that remind me of playing on the old Mega drive. Could have been 3 hours and I wouldn't have minded

Such a well done blend of instruments and rock, really great for something different.

5
Listened to this once years ago and thought it was mid but listening again now and it's honestly amazing, front to back every song is great

Very enjoyable, i really like a few of these. Solid 4

What I really enjoy about 𝘖𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘭𝘶𝘦 is how shamelessly huge it sounds. Electric Light Orchestra throw strings, harmonies, giant hooks, and glossy production into almost every track, but the album somehow never collapses under its own weight. It’s excessive, but in a genuinely fun way.

A lot of that comes down to Jeff Lynne. No matter how polished or theatrical the songs become, he keeps them grounded in strong melodies. Even the most overblown moments still sound warm, catchy, and surprisingly sincere.

Normally an album this ambitious would start feeling bloated at some point, but 𝘖𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘭𝘶𝘦 mostly avoids that because the songs themselves are just so enjoyable. It’s very much a “more is more” record, and honestly, that’s exactly why I like it so much.

I didn’t think I was going to like this. But I did - so much so, that I’m now wondering what I ever had against ELO.

The first half was dreadful. I have a low tolerance for maximalist pop. The second half is pretty good, as it mellows out a bit and minds its own business.

Favorite track(s): Turn to Stone, It's Over, Sweet Talkin' Woman, Big Wheels, Mr. Blue Sky

Kind of crazy that the one example of this group on this list is this overblown double album!
I like some of their songs and their approach to music but is there not a regular two sided album that’s worth putting on this list?
This was a bit of a tough and tiring listen.
Some of the blatant Beatles-ness was not that cool and the disco rock thing was a bit rough to take in.
But I do enjoy some of this so I just can’t give them only two stars.

Tune after tune, after tune. (Also, plenty of nonsense. But, who could begrudge the Jeff some nonsense).

Sometimes dadrock rocks, ya know.

First ELO I've listened to in full. Just a sense of grandeur to every track, phenomenal listen.

Better than 🥶 play

The musical equivalent of a guy trying too hard to be cool.