Electric Light Orchestra - When Time Stood Still (1983)

Considering how long they've been around, it's surprising just how little unreleased music there is from Electric Light Orchestra. Once I'd used up the extra songs which were recorded in 1983 for my reconstruction of the proposed double album version of 'Secret Messages', there were just enough songs left over to make up one rarities record. The earliest out-take is from the 'Eldorado' sessions in 1974, and we then we skip a couple of years to 1976, where an extra song was recorded during the sessions for 'A New World Record'. 'Surrender' was actually issued as a promo single and a download on iTunes, where it managed to break into the top 100 downloads chart. In 1977 Jeff Lynne released a solo single with the help of the band, but it didn't fare that well so many people wouldn't have realised that it existed, and a couple of out-takes have since surfaced from the 'Out Of The Blue' recordings of the same year, of which 'Latitude 88 North' is a superb song. In 1980 ELO teamed up with Olivia Newton-John to provide the soundtrack to the cult film 'Xanadu', and as their songs are all excellent and have never appeared on an ELO album I'm including them here, but only the ones where it's just the band, so I'm omitting the title track, which was a duet with Olivia. 'I'm Alive' from the film was released as a single, with the extremely rare 'Drum Dreams' on the b-side, and we wind down into the early 80's with a few exclusive b-sides, including the dreamy 'When Time Stood Still'. There are a couple more b-sides from around 1986 which I could have included, but I think this 45-minute album is a nice snapshot of the decade from 1974 to 1983.     

Track listing

01 Surrender (previously unreleased promo single 1976)
02 Dark City (previously unreleased 1974)
03 Doin' That Crazy Thing (Jeff Lynne solo single (with ELO) 1977)
04 The Quick And The Daft (previously unreleased 1977)
05 Latitude 88 North (previously unreleased 1977)
06 Little Town Flirt (previously unreleased Del Shannon cover 1979)
07 I'm Alive (from the 'Xanadu' soundtrack 1980)
08 Drum Dreams (b-side of the 'I'm Alive' 12" single 1980)
09 The Fall (from the 'Xanadu' soundtrack 1980)
10 Don't Walk Away (from the 'Xanadu' soundtrack 1980)
11 All Over The World (from the 'Xanadu' soundtrack 1980)
12 Julie Don't Live Here (b-side of 'Twilight' 1981)
13 The Bouncer (b-side of 'Four Little Diamonds' 1983)
14 When Time Stood Still (b-side of 'Hold On Tight' 1981)