Strange Magic in 2001

A few weeks ago, I was listening to Jim Rome in radio, claiming to be "smooth."

Jim Rome isn't smooth.

Neither is Jeff Lynne.

Despite the later disco veneer, Electric Light Orchestra was just a loud bunch of louts who happened to have violins and stuff with them. It was great.

Year ago, I owned Electric Light Orchestra II on cassette, which consists of Jeff bellowing "Roll Over Beethoven," and Jeff bellowing a bunch of other loud stomping songs.

They mellowed a bit in later years, but they still maintained their roughness, after a fashion.

Here's a 2001 performance of a reunited ELO performing their hit "Strange Magic."



Incidentally, Hunter Felt claims that ELO's sound was the result of a poorly executed hero-worship.

It was Harold Bloom, into kabbalism way before Madonna, who claimed that all forms of rewarding works of literature were the result of creative misreading. In effect, writers would draw influence from predecessors, but get them wrong, thus creating something original. To avoid sheer mimicry, they would have to reinterpret the works of their influence, in essence sort of recreating them in their own images....I can’t help but think that in Jeff Lynne’s case, his determination to recreate Sgt. Pepper’s-era Beatles led instead to his own unique brand of over-the-top orchestral rock.

But if that's the case, why did the Lynne-produced "When We Was Fab" sound like a poor imitation of ELO?

Then again, maybe Bloom and Felt were right...