Electric Light Orchestra Album: “Flashback [Box]”

To call this fantastic collection of the Electric Light Orchestra's finest works brilliant is truly a huge understatement! As the producer/director of the BMG DVD documentary Electric Light Orchestra pt.2: Access All Areas, I had the remarkable good fortune to work with the "part 2" members of this multi-platinum supergroup including (founding member of the original ELO and legendary drummer) Bev Bevan (1972-'86), blue violin virtuoso Mik Kaminski (ELO 1973-83), Louis Clark (ELO orchestral arrangements '74-'83) and bass player Kelly Groucutt (ELO '74-'83) from 1995-2000 and what a thrill it was. Over a period of 5 years I was treated to an up close and personal account of the music that Jeff Lynne (in all his genius) crafted so stunningly! And for a long time fan from America's wild west, the same kid who spent endless hours scanning every liner note and memorizing every ELO lyric, I can tell you, coming face to face with some of my teen years heroes, was a stunning realization of a life long dream! I have heard the hits included on FLASHBACK on every imaginable format over the last twenty plus years, 8-track, LP, cassette, half-speed master recordings and on compact disc (countless times) and in concert (minus Jeff's voice and guitar) nearly a hundred more, but nothing has ever captured the razor sharp edge of Jeff's musical wonders like this amazing, totally re-mastered collection. I literally could not believe my ears, it was as if I was hearing the music for the very first time! The songs on this collection are so crystal clear in fact I sent most of the ELO CD's I owned (including the 1990 box set Afterglow) off to my local used CD store. Quite honestly, there were times (on my first listening to Flashback) that I was startled by what I heard, I nearly had to grit my teeth at times waiting for the next surprise to pop out of the shadows! But what shines through brightest in the tracks is something the critics of Jeff's music have consistently missed over the years, his great sense humor and fun; they simply ignored or never really saw the madness in his method (I sight Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor as a prime example). Even in the midst of what first appears to be the over barring hand of a skilled technician flogging a wounded horse, is on closer inspection merely a wild and wonderful musical savant tossing notes at a canvas from ten paces and reveling in every single splash of colour! For the first time in so many years those same critics have the opportunity to hear what Jeff must have truly intended, as those great soaring and sometimes silly tunes poured out of his imagination, into the mixing console and onto miles of streaming black ribbons of analog tape. And the rest us are treated to new material, Jeff has only recently completed after sitting dormant for 20 years. The new version of Xanada (2000) with Jeff on vocals is a great addition, while the other brand new tracks including Helpless, Tears in Your Life and Love Changes All make you salivate for the upcoming and all new Jeff led Electric Light Orchestra project in April. My only regret (as Flashback swirled into ringing ears from headphones cranked to 11) was that I have never come face to face with the craftsman responsible for this stellar collection. As a goofy starry-eyed teenager hold up in my room dreaming big dreams with ELO's music as the soundtrack, he was one of my biggest heroes and in fact he still is. But as I continue to listen, there is consolation in the fact that I can FLASHBACK to a simpler time when the only care I had in life was how I would manage a few more dollars to buy the next ELO album. Thanks for the memories Jeff, your legacy is secure and it couldn't have happened to a more talented guy.

I've been in radio most of my adult life, and my boss GAVE me this CD set to record for airplay, and told me I could keep it when I was finished...well as I sat down in the production room to 'dub' the songs he had pointed out, I found myself on an amazing roller-coaster ride through my own memories. Having been immersed in music almost entirely for the past 30 years, I have a reasonably decent memory when it comes to songs, but I had totally forgotten about several of these, and even a couple I wasn't even sure had originally been done BY ELO...but they WERE. What a fantastic trip that was.

It seems that these days bands who really don't have much in the way of a catalogue of music will release so-called 'box sets' in a feeble attempt to cash in on what little fame they actually enjoyed...but when it came to ELO, I found that they had more than enough music to fill a 3 CD set that is chock full of what the true ELO fan will come to treasure most: FANTASTIC SONGS.

You'll find the usual list of HUGE hits like, 'Strange Magic', 'Turn To Stone' and 'Don't Bring Me Down' but they also gave us so much more, such as 'Confusion', 'Last Train To London' and one of my favorites, 'Calling America'. It is easy to see that a LOT of work and thought went into every single part of this release, from the way it was packaged, the order of the music, the selections themselves and a few previously unreleased songs that really cap an already superior 'collection' set.

For those who believe that ELO 'sold-out' in the 80's with radio friendly songs, think again. What many people do not realize is that very few bands actually have the clout to dictate which of their songs are released to radio, and ELO were on that list of groups that had no say whatsoever, so what you hear on the radio has nothing to do with the band, and everything to do with the marketing department of the record company. Even with that said, these songs are just TOO fun to ignore and dislike. Songs such as, 'Rock And Roll Is King' and 'Sweet Talkin' Woman' just add to a box-set that is already way above average, oh and the previously unavailable version of 'Do Ya' is just about worth the price of the set alone. Any self-respecting ELO fan does NOT have a complete collection without this. Also, it has been mentioned before how crisp these songs sound, and I echo that in a HUGE way. Having been in the biz myself of recording, I am almost annoyingly aware of the quality of audio these days (the curse of the digital world...) and NONE of ELO's previous releases can even begin to touch the sound texture they achieved with these remastered songs...a simply brilliant execution of modern technology. HIGHLY Recommended.

-DJ Jazzy Jeff

After Travelling with the Wilburys and producing the new Beatles material, Jeff Lynne has finally returned home to reclaim his part of the ELO legacy with careful attention to producing the best collection of ELO material on 3 CDs. I was a little skeptical at hearing about Flashback because of the Afterglow boxed set: While it contained rare B-sides, Afterglow didn't have as much involvement by Jeff Lynne and wasn't mastered by him as you can hear in the tracks. FLASHBACK is a 180 turn from Afterglow: Jeff was involved with this project from the mixing board down to liner notes. Second, no other ELO CD in existence sounds as good or appears to be remastered the same way these songs are. It's the little things like the moog bassline of 'Turn To Stone' and how it now sounds the way I always remembered it, then there's the drum depth of 'Do Ya' and the coolness of the unedited cut of it.

Equally amazing is the unreleased material and brand-new studio work from Lynne. [....] I never knew these songs could be made new again, but through Jeff's careful hands his decent musical legacy is preserved. If you ever liked Beatles, Wilburys, or Jeff you SHOULD get this boxed set.

CD1 68:52 CD2 71:01 CD3 73:42

So, it this set all that it should be? Does Jeff Lynne's involvement put _Afterglow_ to shame and make it obsolete? Well, sorta. Certainly nothing worth gushing about though...

This set was mastered by Doug Sax, who also did the Pink Floyd remasters. No problems with the sound quality; improvements are, as expected, most noticeable on earlier stuff. The compact "book" format of this set is a great layout improvement over the unnecessarily bulky _Afterglow_ set. Great photos abound in the 44-page booklet, but the thin pages are a bit disappointing, as is the new text. It reads like a Cliff-notes version of something more substantial that presumably ended up on the cutting room floor. Don't expect any major insights or revelations.

What of the discs themselves? The track sequencing flows in exemplary fashion, straying slightly from strict chronological order where necessary. Some of the track selections did have me scratching my head, though. On Disc 1, the inclusion of "Kuiama" would have single-handedly helped to balance the set by showcasing the group's prog-rock tinged beginnings as a counterbalance to their wildly successful pop-rock middle period. On Disc 2 "Starlight" and even "The Whale" come across as fillers. If one really wants to do justice to _Out of the Blue_, why not nix these tracks in favor of "Concerto For A Rainy Day", the original Side 3 song suite? And, the fan favorite "Fire On High" from _Face The Music_ has been snubbed yet again. A few minor changes like this would have really helped make the set top-notch, as would filling each CD to the max (stopping short of the 79+ minute maximum CD time on a box set always carries the bitter taste of a missed opportunity). Finally, the rare material on _Afterglow_ was far more impressive on the strength of gems like the compelling mini-epic "Hello My Old Friend" and the catchy "Julie Don't Live Here Anymore". By contrast, On _Flashback_ only the rollicking Grieg piece stood out as something thoroughly worth exhuming from the vaults.

So, do I still recommend the set? Yes, but with reservations. I picked it up, but not before making a homegrown compilation of my favorite ELO tracks to complement what this set missed. The music is reversible, but tracking decisions are not. :) Compare _Flashback_'s tracklist to _Afterlgow_, consider the remastering, and then decide for yourself.

Now we all have the new ELO album _Zoom_ to look forward to, which should be out by summer. Happy listening, folks!

Great second box set by a GREAT band. I do believe that the collection could have added more rare tracks like "Beatles forever" (which I have in my collection of "Rare" ELO tracks) or possible tracks that might still be in the vaults. Other then that it is a fine collection of tracks. I still prefer the "Afterglow" box set though over this collection. ;-)