Face the Music (Electric Light Orchestra album)

Face the Music
Studio album by Electric Light Orchestra
Released September 1975
Recorded May–June 1975
Studio Musicland Studios, Munich, Germany; strings overdubbed at De Lane Lea Studios, London; mixed at The Record Plant, New York City[1]
Genre Symphonic rock, art rock
Length 36:22
Label Jet, United Artists
Producer Jeff Lynne
Electric Light Orchestra chronology
Showdown
(1974)		 Face the Music
(1975)		 Olé ELO
(1976)
Electric Light Orchestra studio album chronology
Eldorado
(1974)		 Face the Music
(1975)		 A New World Record
(1976)
Singles from Face the Music
  1. "Evil Woman"
    Released: October 1975
  2. "Strange Magic"
    Released: February 1976
  3. "Nightrider"
    Released: 19 March 1976
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
The Music Box[4]
MusicHound3.5/5[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]

Face the Music is the fifth studio album by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was released in September 1975 by United Artists Records and on 14 November 1975 in the United Kingdom by Jet Records. The album features a different line-up from their previous studio album Eldorado.

Overview

ELO's fifth studio LP was released in 1975 and was their first to be recorded at Musicland Studios in Munich. A new line-up of the band is featured, with bassist Kelly Groucutt and cellist Melvyn Gale replacing Mike de Albuquerque and Mike Edwards, respectively. Where Lynne had usually sung all lead vocals, new member Groucutt replaces him on "Poker" (while Lynne sings harmony) as well as one of the verses in "Nightrider".

The back cover of the record sleeve shows the members of the band with their faces pressed against a glass panel, supposedly watching the "electrocution" depicted on the front cover. The band member who is looking away is Richard Tandy, who didn't like the idea and didn't want to participate.[7] The back cover image was the inspiration for an advertising campaign for the 2004 horror comedy film Shaun of the Dead.[8]

Backmasking

  • "Fire on High" contains a backwards message in the beginning. When the song is played backwards, drummer Bev Bevan can be heard saying "The music is reversible, but time is not. Turn back, turn back, turn back, turn back...". This was, ostensibly, Jeff Lynne's response to accusations that the song "Eldorado" contained Satanic messages that could be heard when played backwards.[9]
  • "Down Home Town" begins with the chorus of "Waterfall" played backwards.
  • A portion of the string crescendo from "Nightrider" was used backwards on "Evil Woman".

Release

The singles "Evil Woman" and "Strange Magic" were the most commercial songs they had recorded up to that point. "Evil Woman" was a big hit in the UK and the US, embracing disco rhythms while still embodying ELO's classic sound. Lynne wrote the chords and melody of this song in only six minutes, making it his fastest feat of composition.

"Nightrider" became the third single from the album; despite an appearance on the UK chart television program Top of the Pops, it failed to chart.

Notwithstanding the success of the singles, the LP failed to chart in the UK. The album was remastered and released in September 2006 with bonus tracks.

Track listing

All songs written by Jeff Lynne.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Fire On High"5:30
2."Waterfall"4:11
3."Evil Woman"4:35
4."Nightrider"4:26
Side two
No.TitleLength
5."Poker"3:31
6."Strange Magic"4:29
7."Down Home Town"3:53
8."One Summer Dream"5:47
Total length:36:22
2006 remaster bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
9."Fire On High Intro" (early alternate mix)3:23
10."Evil Woman" (stripped down mix)5:00
11."Strange Magic" (US single edit)3:27
12."Waterfall" (instrumental mix)4:15

Personnel

Additional personnel
  • Ellie Greenwich – uncredited vocals
  • Susan Collins – uncredited vocals
  • Nancy O'Neill – uncredited vocals
  • Marge Raymond – uncredited vocals
  • Mack – engineer
  • Jeff Lynne, Richard Tandy and Louis Clark – Orchestral and choral arrangements
  • Orchestra conducted by Louis Clark
  • Although Greenwich, Collins, O'Neill and Raymond are not credited as vocalists, the liner notes indicated 'special thanks' to them.

Chart positions

References

  1. ↑ http://www.ftmusic.com/facethemusic/index.html
  2. ↑ AllMusic review
  3. ↑ Larkin, Colin (ed.) (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th edn). London: Omnibus Press. p. 915. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  4. ↑ Metzger, John (October 2006). "Electric Light Orchestra Face the Music". The Music Box. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  5. ↑ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds) (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 382. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
  6. ↑ Brackett, Nathan; with Hoard, Christian (eds) (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th edn). New York, NY: Fireside/Simon & Schuster. p. 274. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  7. ↑ Bevan, Bev (1980). Pearce, Garth, ed. The Electric Light Orchestra Story. Mushroom Books. p. 152. ISBN 0-907394-01-9.
  8. ↑ UK phone kiosk ad campaign for Shaun of the Dead
  9. ↑ Big Secrets: Chapter 26, pages 200, 203, 204, 205 & 206. 0-688-04830-7
  10. ↑ "Electric Light Orchestra - Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.