AES98 Out of the Blue

Electric Light Orchestra is one of my favorites bands of all time, I think they’re very underrated in the grand scheme of things. I don’t think they’ve ever had a bad album, and ELO has this particular musical style and sound signature that’s unmistakable. For today I’m going to talk about “Out of the Blue”, a masterpiece of an album that contains their most popular song “Mr. Blue Sky”. But more importantly the story it tells with the songs leading up to it, and how this legendary album was created.

Electric Light Orchestra was created with a vision to blend rock with classical music, while adding a futuristic twist to complete their signature sound. After the success of their sixth album “A New World Record”, the lead singer Jeff Lynne went to a remote chalet by the Alps in Switzerland, determined to finish writing the band’s next album within the timespan of 4 weeks. But inspiration never came, and he couldn’t write anything for two weeks. The bad weather and the constant rain definitely didn’t help, it put him in a bad and unproductive mood. 

But after two weeks of unending downpour and dark gray clouds, Jeff Lyne woke to a picturesque view of the Swiss Alps. The mountains are illuminated brightly by the shining sun, and most importantly, the blue sky that encompasses everything. This serene and beautiful moment made something inside his brain click, and he got the inspiration he needed to create. Using this burst of inspiration, Jeff Lynne wrote and recorded song demos nonstop, and he managed to create almost the entirety of the double album in just two weeks! The most interesting part of this album for me is the collection of songs on the third side of the album. These four songs tell a story on just how much the weather affects our mood. 

It all starts with the dramatic “Standing in the Rain” where you can hear the thunderstorms as the band was recording in Munich. As the name suggests, Electric Light Orchestra really likes to make use of full blown orchestral arrangements. The violin section even plays a pattern that spells out “ELO” in morse code, very cool.

After that we have my personal favorite song from this album “Big Wheels”, it's slow and melancholic, reflecting on themes such as depression and loneliness. It’s as if we’re stuck inside in our room during a storm, looking outside through the window to a world that just keeps on going without care. Big wheels that turn forever and ever, while the rain silently falls around us.

The third song of this Concerto is “Summer and Lightning”, another one I really enjoy listening to. It’s more upbeat than the two previous songs, a reminder that even during rainy days you can still find joy, that there’s still hope to be found even in the worst of thunderstorms. That troubles will come and that’s okay, there’s always going to be ups and downs in life, summer and lightning. 

And so on almost every song we hear another of ELO’s unmistakable signature sound, the digitized voice made by a device called a vocoder. It runs a human voice through several synthesizers until it makes this really unique and futuristic robot voice, which is quintessentially ELO.

And finally, we arrive at “Mr. Blue Sky”. Undeniably the most popular song released by far, it’s the final conclusive song of the Concerto for a Rainy Day. After being stuck in a rainstorm for so long, “Mr. Blue Sky” is the moment where the clouds part and the sun shines bright, bringing back the clear blue sky that we missed so much. The song reflects this with a very upbeat tune and fast paced rhythm, it’s such a happy song that I can’t help but be in a good mood after hearing it. It’s a celebration of sunshine after the rain, a reminder that our troubles aren’t forever. 

If all you see are gray skies, sometimes you just need to persevere and wait for the sun.

• Polyphonic