Electric Light Orchestra 'No Answer and ELO 2' album

“I think it was during the Message From The Country [album recording sessions with the Move] that I came up with ‘10538 Overture’ and Roy became brilliant on the cello. That magic combination was all we could have wished for and we loved it and played it back eight thousand times. It became the first ever ELO song.” – Jeff Lynne, from his liner notes to NO ANSWER

The 30th anniversary celebration of Electric Light Orchestra’s creation in 1971 – which began in 2001-2001 with the release of the three-CD Flashback box set and digitally remastered (for the first time) expanded editions of Eldorado – A Symphony (1974), Discovery (1979), Time (1981), and Secret Messages (1983) – now turns into their 35th anniversary, with long-awaited expanded editions of the first two ELO albums, NO ANSWER (1971, featuring “10538 Overture”) and ELO 2 (1973, with “Roll Over Beethoven”).

With multiple bonus tracks on each – instrumental, alternate take, and alternate mix versions – plus brand new liner notes written by ELO mastermind Jeff Lynne, the expanded editions of NO ANSWER and ELO 2 will arrive in stores March 28th on Epic/Legacy, a division of SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT. They are the first wave of ELO expanded editions on Epic/Legacy that will continue over the course of 2006 with subsequent releases of On The Third Day (1973), Face The Music (1975), A New World Record (1976), Out Of The Blue (1977), and Balance Of Power (1986).

Three and a half decades after the ELO concept first turned on the world to the possibilities of orchestral rock beyond the walls of classical music, Jeff Lynne returns to the original analog master source tapes to complete the first comprehensive album restoration campaign in ELO history. The group thrived for 15 years under Lynne’s guidance, during which time they recorded and released 12 original studio albums and (in the U.K. only) one live LP. At their peak between 1974 and 1981, ELO amassed a string of nine consecutive RIAA gold, platinum and multi-platinum albums, spanning three different record labels; through 1986 (when Lynne disbanded the group), they charted over two dozen singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including 20 Top 40 hits.

ELO was founded in Birmingham, England in 1970 by multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Roy Wood (formerly with the beloved successful British band the Move, since 1966) and guitarist/singer-songwriter Jeff Lynne (formerly with Idle Race, also since 1966). “It was decided that I would join The Move for a bit and then we would form a new group called the Electric Light Orchestra,” Lynne writes in his liner notes to NO ANSWER. Lynne wound up recording the final two Move LPs, Looking On (1970) and Message From The Country (July 1971), issued on EMI’s Harvest label in the U.K. and on United Artists in the U.S.

(It is one of rock’s memorable stories that United Artists contacted ELO’s manager Donn Arden to confirm the album title prior to its release here. Unable to contact him, a secretary wrote the message “no answer” – NO ANSWER mistakenly became the album title in the U.S. and remains so to this day.)

The demise of the Move and the rise of ELO was played out over the next year and a half. The Move’s final appearances took place in the U.K. in October 1971, by which point Wood and Lynne were well underway with the ELO schematic. The lineup would include the Move’s drummer Bev Bevan, part-time member Richard Tandy (bass, keyboards), and a changing lineup of bass, violin, and cello players. ELO’s self-titled debut album was issued in December on Harvest, but failed to win the backing of the Move’s fans at first.

Wood, Lynne et al retrenched and came up with a one-off Move single for Harvest which hit paydirt in May 1972, the landmark “California Man” b/w “Do Ya,” a top 10 U.K. icon of rock lore, though it was, in essence, an ELO recording. It softened up the U.K. chart, however, and paved the way for ELO’s brilliant single “10538 Overture” (opening cut from the debut LP), written and sung by Lynne. The song hit the chart in July and quickly rose to the Top 10, effectively securing ELO’s career in England that summer.

In the U.S., the debut LP was re-titled NO ANSWER, but since “10538 Overture” could not find a slot at radio, the album barely made the chart here, coming in at #196 for a two-week stay. The American label, heeding the advice of Greg Shaw and other early rock critics, turned its attention back to the Move. The sides were flipped and “Do Ya” b/w “California Man” was issued as a new U.S. single in late 1972, which managed to break the Hot 100 (at #93).

Meanwhile, back in England, dissatisfied with ELO’s fate, Roy Wood had departed to create a new band, Wizzard, leaving Lynne as the creative force – principal composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist and lead voice. “It was a big surprise,” writes Lynne, “we’d been great pals. So I carried on and finished the tracks he’d played on, and wrote a few more, wondering what the next line-up would be. I just wanted to be in the studio and keep trying new ideas.” One of those ideas, later characterized as “corny” by Lynne, involved a fusion of Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven” with the dominant theme of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.

“We recorded ‘Beethoven’ at Air Studios,” Lynne reveals in his liner notes, “and in the next room was Paul McCartney recording ‘Live and Let Die’. George Martin, who owned the studios was producing the Wings classic and came into our studio to have a listen to this strange version of ‘Roll Over Beethoven,’ a song that he had recorded with the Beatles some years before. He smiled and nodded his head so I think he enjoyed it.”

The 7-minute album track was pared down to single length and bounded onto the U.K. chart in January 1973, rising to #6. The accompanying album, simply titled ELO 2, followed suit, hitting the U.K. chart in March and eventually breaking the Top 40. The album made it onto the U.S. chart on April 21st, and “Roll Over Beethoven” debuted the following week. The single rose to #42 in America during its 16-week stay, and the album climbed as far as #62, charting for nearly a half-year. This modest breakthrough enabled ELO to visit the U.S. on their first tour that summer, winning a forever loyal American audience.

Mammoth breakthroughs were still yet to come for ELO, but the door had been opened. The third LP was issued at year’s end, appropriately titled On the Third Day, solidifying ELO’s sound on the U.K. and U.S. hit “Showdown,” as well as the signature works “Daybreaker,” “Ma-Ma-Ma-Belle,” and “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” all penned by Lynne. At that point, the parallel universe of ELO in England and America began to converge. With the release of Eldorado in 1974, and ELO’s first Top 10 U.S. hit “Can’t Get It Out Of My Head,” their popularity in America now rivaled their popularity abroad, a circumstance that Jeff Lynne would nurture for the next decade.

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Electric Light Orchestra - No Answer and ELO 2