Audio CD review:
Electric Light Orchestra Part II - One Night - Live in Australia

Electric Light Orchestra Part II - One Night - Live in Australia

Band: Electric Light Orchestra Part II Title: One Night - Live in Australia Rating: Release Date: 20 May, 1997 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Standin' in the Rain 2: Evil Woman 3: Don't Wanna 4: Showdown 5: Can't Get It Out of My Head 6: Whiskey Girls 7: Livin' Thing 8: One More Tomorrow 9: Mr. Blue Sky 10: Telephone Line 11: Ain't Necessarily So 12: Starnge Magic 13: Sweet Talkin' Woman 14: Confusion 15: Do Ya 16: Rockaria! 17: Roll over Beethoven 18: Don't Bring Me Down

Customer Reviews good effort This is a correct performance but nothing more. Even though this is a nice recording, I would prefer to buy the oldest live presentations with the original line-up. A Masterful Live Album with Energy and Passion!!! But what folks don't understand is the genuine musicianship of this ELO wannabe group. ELO Part II may go down as rock music's biggest footnote. They seem to pull off the impossible. The orchestral intro to "Standing In The Rain", the giddy-up of "Evil Woman", the majesty in "Can't Get It Out Of My Head". In some cases these arrangements have more depth and clarity than the original recordings. Check out "Telephone Line" for exhibit A. Sprinkled ELO II originals don't damage the overall flow and mood of the album. In fact, "One More Tommorow" sounds as if it was taken from the Jeff Lynne unused song archives. Also of note is the "strange magic-sweet talkin woman-confusion-do ya " medley. Wow. If you want the hits they're here! The album concludes with a raucous version of "Don't Bring Me Down", sort of a parting shot at Jeff Lynne who did everything in his power to derail Part II. He may be a genius, but if he doesn't like to tour, he ought to let the rest of his former underpaid mates make the dough. For Pete's sake, Jeff. Anyway, great disc, great sound, great band. Buy it!. One Night - Only one? Gimme more! Having seen ELO Part II myself I can say that this CD really tears the roof off the house. One Night, live in Australia, finally a good live album! ELO Part II does a superb job delivering some ELO classics and some of their own material. Though most people dismiss Part II saying they're just imitating ELO, I have to say that this still is one of my favorites. For me, the highlights of this CD are the Intro to Can't Get it Out of My Head, the Eldorado Overture. The only complaint is it's not quite up to tempo. The other highlight is the "ELO hits" medley near the end of the show. (The end of this CD, this is actually a double CD cut down to one without some great songs, drat) The first three songs are great in their own respects but the final two, Do Ya sounds great and it leads right up into the orchestral/vocal explosion of Rockaria! With Kelly Groucutt singing his patented opera segment that was originally sung by Mary Thomas on the album for those of you who don't know. And of course every song on this album is great. I'm not quite sure but I think that the line in "Roll Over Beethoven" that says, "Hey diddle diddle gonna play my fiddle" now reads "Hey diddle diddle, Mik Kaminski's playin' his fiddle" I may be wrong. My opinion, buy this CD, for the sake of the band if nothing else. . You can see a complete list of all Electric Light Orchestra Part II discography, or go back to the Electric Light Orchestra Part II tabs