Fast service but no cigar
First big problem: the jacket was correct but contained the wrong CD inside. What a surprise- I received my package only days after ordering my CD. Second big problem: my selection was no longer available. Silver lining: they promptly credited my account and didn't even request I send the wrong CD back.
ELO at their peak
This is the pre-sellout Electric Light Orchestra, before they started going by their initials, ELO. Electric Light Orchestra peaked with this album. I love the songs and I love the lyrics, but most of all, I love the emotion and the feel of the whole album. Sit back in an easy chair with a glass of wine, or a doobie, and be transported to Eldorado by this timeless classic concept album.
Joe Davis.
This album is like Eldorado
It's amazing. This album, ELO's second, is a concept album of the dream world, Eldorado. It contains two of the most amazing slower songs of all time, as well as great upbeat songs. It's well-rounded, and, on one's third or fourth listen, one will realize that there is more to the album than meets the eye.
1) Eldorado Overture: Great beginning to the album. The strings used are perfect, as well as the poem in the beginning. Marvelous song.
2) Can't Get it out of my Head: After three or four listens to this song, you will not be able to get it out of your head. One of the more remarkable songs ever.
3) Boy Blue: Classic song. Something new is discovered on every listen. Plucking on the violin is used perfectly.
4) Laredo Tornado: Another fantastic song. Somewhat slow, and just great guitar riffs.
5) Poor Boy (The Greenwood): Possibly the most overlooked song on the album. However, it's another great ELO song. Fits perfectly on the album.
6) Mister Kingdom: A most fantastic song. The first time I listened, I remember thinking, "Whoa, this song is pretty good!", as I had skipped over it for the longest time. Great ELO.
7) Nobody's Child: This song shows the diversity of ELO. They have such a wide range of songs that they are capable of performing.
8) Illusions in G Major: Another example of ELO's diversity. Such a different personality, but works perfectly. Fantastic.
9) Eldorado: My favorite song on the album. Possibly rhe most amazing song. Ever. On the fourth listen, this kicks in.
10) Eldorado Finale: Just like the Overture, but different in many ways. Great conclusion.
If you own later ELO albums, like A New World Record and Out of the Blue, it's worth going back and buying this. It shows part of ELO's evolution, but it's also a great collection of music.
Cool pop symphony
What set El Dorado apart from earlier works is that, rather than being a collection of singles, it devoloped and kept a central theme. ELO was already a well-established group when this album came along. Along the way there are some enormously popular songs (ie "Can't Get It Out of My Head"). But what makes this album fun is the constant return to the El Dorado Theme. It's a near perfect union of power band and strings. Speaking of power, the bass drum gets a bit overbearing on this CD version, but it's still a great romp.
Thrown in as a nice bonus at the end is an extended, instrumental piece in which the major musical themes, without vocals, are smurshed together into sort of a mini-suite. Since I was always frustrated with the shortness of the symphonic sections on the original album, this truly improves the album instead of simply filling up dead CD space, as is usually the case on re-releases. ELO fans typically love or hate this album. For me, it's love.
A Life's Journey to Discovery
" Eldorado's overture sets the tone of the journey's start both emotionally and thematically. The story of one man's journey of discovery -- discovery of the world and of himself -- is dramatically told in poetic lyrics and heart-pounding music in ELO's "Eldorado. The dreamer in all of us is awake and excited.
"I Can't Get It Out Of My Head" celebrates our romance with adventure and travel and others. "Boy Blue" finds our dreamer returning from war, probably military service, and being cheered by all. But he has seen the horror of war and vows to do it no more. Our dreamer's awareness of pollution and despoiling of the environment is lamented in "Laredo Tornado"; the beat is that of a Native American chant, a poignant evocation a less-polluted time. Work in the world of commerce and business (for a large national company named "Greenwood") proves to be less than satisfying to our eager searcher as it is for so many of us. "Mister Kingdom" tells of a flirtation with religion, as the journey for meaning in life continues. This is followed by affairs of the flesh and bouts with depression and doubt. Drug experimentation follows in "Illusions in G". All these paths leave their mark, but none give deep meaning and contentment to the soul of our dreamer.
True transformation finally comes through self-enlightenment as the journey to Eldorado is revealed as a journey to the self. The Eldorado finale repeats the overturn, bringing the dreamer and us back to the beginning -- the self -- where it all started. A masterpiece of words and music! It rivals the works of Homer and Byron. The listener of the opus, the listener who really listens, returns from "Eldorado" as a different person.
You can see a complete list of all Electric Light Orchestra discography, or go back to the Electric Light Orchestra tabs
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