Electric Light Orchestra Live – The Early Years (1973 – 1976/Eagle DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C Concerts: B
A fine
band, especially in their early years, Electric Light Orchestra wanted to be
different, artistic, trying to find their own voice and in The Beatles mode, as
their earliest albums demonstrated. You
can read about their first two albums at the link below. They are stronger albums than you might think
and now, we have three concerts from that time that show they were as ambitious
on stage as they were in the studio. Electric Light Orchestra Live – The Early
Years offers footage from three concerts worth revisiting.
Rarest
and most interesting is the 1973 Brunel
University show, which offers only four songs (they likely played more) but
that they are so effective in an intimate setting without their later
large-scale shows gives us a look at the band that is rare and shows us the
core talent involved, with Jeff Lynne leading well even then. The 1974 appearance on the Rockpalast TV show has the band in
their more familiar mode, adding Showdown
to their playlist along with hooding on to Ma
Ma Ma Belle, but I like the show and you can seer them still experimenting
with how to do their studio-rich songs live.
That leaves the 1976 Fusion show, where they are in full swing holding
on to Ma Ma Ma Belle, Showdown and adding hits like Evil Woman, Can’t Get It Out Of My Head and Strange
Magic. In the end, watched in
chronological order, you can see ELO grow into a band that was not just another
Beatles imitator and how good they were while it lasted.
The 1.33
X 1 image was shot in film for the first show and videotape for the rest, all
looking good for their age, but I liked the film footage the best, flaws and
all. The DTS 5.1 mix does its best to
get the most out of the music soundtracks available and fares a little better
than the Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo mixes also included. I can’t imagine any of these looking or
sounding much better.
The only
extra is a Rockpalast interview, but
you can read about their first two albums from that period at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4905/Electric+Light+Orchestra+%E2%80%9
- Nicholas Sheffo
