Four years after Alone In the Universe, legendary Electric Light Orchestra frontman Jeff Lynne is back with his 'Jeff Lynne's ELO' for a new album titled From Out of Nowhere. As with that last one, this is basically Jeff and his 'one man studio band' with a tiny bit of help from ELO veteran Richard Tandy on keyboards and Steve Jay on percussion & engineering. That leaves our main man to tackle all vocals, guitars, bass, synths, drums, and strings, which, he does quite spectacularly. If you listened to their previous album, or even 2001's Zoom, this is not the ELO we all remember, but basically a Jeff Lynne solo album with some 'ELO-ish' styled embellishments. Missing are the soaring strings and moments of melodic bombast, tempered a bit to reveal Lynne's still very capable songwriting chops over pleasing instrumentation. The opening title track is one of the more 'classic ELO' sounding pieces here, a memorable number with some symphonic string synths and layers of hook laden vocals, easily one of the best tunes to come out of the Jeff Lynne repertoire in some time. "Help Yourself" is damn catchy, as is the moody "Down Came the Rain", while "Losing You" offers some heartfelt, melancholy melodies that would have sounded right at home on any of his prior solo albums. "One More Time" and "Time Of Our Life" are two of the more rocking tracks, featuring crisp guitar licks and groove laden rhythms, Lynne's smooth vocals still sounding fantastic after all these years. You can also still hear his love for the Beatles on tunes such as "Songbird" and "All More Love", each one filled with irresistible hooks and some great musical textures.
At barely 40 minutes, From Out of Nowhere is quite brief, yet effective, so by the time the album ends you are left wanting more but eager to press play all over again. The ELO of Out of the Blue, A New World Record or Face the Music this isn't, but for all the old school fans, this is a very pleasant and enjoyable listen as long as you set your expectations at the right level.
Track Listing
- From Out of Nowhere
- Help Yourself
- All My Love
- Down Came the Rain
- Losing You
- One More Time
- Sci-Fi Woman
- Goin’ Out On Me
- Time of Our Life
- Songbird
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