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)

The Electric Light Orchestra - The Lost Planet (1972)

I knew nothing about the story of ELO's second album until I saw a post on Albums Back From The Dead, but that inspired me to investigate further and I discovered an intriguing story. Following the successful debut album by the group, they reconvened in early 1972 in order to start work on their second record, which was to be called 'The Lost Planet'. Part-way through the recording Roy Wood announced that he was leaving the group to form a new band called Wizzard, which would have a more retro take on rock 'n' roll - keeping the horns but losing the lush orchestral arrangements. Before he left he'd completed work on two songs - 'In Old England Town (Boogie No. 2)' and 'From The Sun To The World' - but Jeff Lynne then had to decide how to complete the album. He quietly dumped the 'Lost Planet' idea, and while looking for replacement musicians he asked ex-Move vocalist Carl Wayne to come in and sing on some tracks, and although they were perfectly fine recordings they weren't right for the album. Eventually Lynne recruited some extra players,  took over vocal duties himself, and 'ELO 2' was released in 1973. This album is not a 'what if...' as that's been done by Albums Back From The Dead, but it's a companion-piece to the released album, showing what the band could have sounded like if Carl Wayne had got the vocalist job. There are also a few other unreleased songs and rarities, such as a violin solo by Wilf Gibson which I've edited so that it becomes a prelude to 'Showdown', and an alternate take of 'Ma-Ma-Ma Belle' which rivals the released version. Add in a guest appearance from Marc Bolan and you have a nice little 40 minute album. 

Track listing

01 In Old English Town (Instrumental)
02 Everyone's Born To Die (with Marc Bolan)
03 Wilf's Solo >
04 Showdown
05 Your World (vocal Carl Wayne)
06 Get A Hold Of Myself (vocal Carl Wayne)
07 Baby I Apologise
08 Mama (vocal Carl Wayne)
09 Mambo (Dreaming Of 4000) (with Marc Bolan)
10 Auntie (Ma-Ma-Ma Belle)

Electric Light Orchestra - Secret Messages (1983)

Jeff Lynne's final album with the Electric Light Orchestra for the Jet label was originally intended to be a double album, but once again the record company interfered with the artist's vision, saying that it would be too expensive to produce a double vinyl album. 'Out Of The Blue' anyone? The title was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the furore regarding supposed secret messages hidden in music with back-masking, and there was even a blurb on the back saying exactly this, until panicky bosses at the American distributor CBS insisted that it was removed. The secret messages, however, remained in the music, and are fun for fans to try to find. Lynne was forced to removed eight of his songs from the album, and these later appeared on B-sides and remastered versions of later albums. However, one of these songs, 'Beatles Forever', has become something of a holy grail as it's never appeared on any album, and has only ever been played once in public, at an ELO fan club convention, on the understanding that no-one recorded it. Of course they did, and low quality copies have since leaked onto Youtube, so I've cleaned it up as best I could to include here. 

Track listing

01 Secret Messages

02 Loser Gone Wild

03 Bluebird

04 Take Me On And On

05 Stranger

06 No Way Out

07 Beatles Forever

08 Letter From Spain

09 Danger Ahead

10 Four Little Diamonds

11 Train Of Gold

12 Endless Lies

13 Buildings Have Eyes

14 Rock 'n' Roll Is King

15 Mandalay

16 Time After Time

17 After All

18 Hello My Old Friend

A rather odd comment on the Electric Light Orchestra's 'Time Stood Still' post prompted me to see if a better quality recording of 'Beatles Forever' had emerged since I first posted it, and I'm thrilled to be able to say that there is now a superb remaster of the song by The Bug Club, which sounds about as good as we're ever going to get since it was removed at the last minute from the 2018 re-issue of 'Secret Messages'. I've upgraded my double disc version of the album to include this new take, and links are updated