Gather Members Review: Electric Light Orchestra's "On the Third Day" -- ELO rises above classical pretensions

It was inevitable. Rock and roll grew up in the 1970s, and one of the signs of this maturation was the emergence of "progressive rock."

Nerdy, over-serious musicians who thought themselves too cool for Top 40 bubblegum rock were flocking away from AM radio and instead turning on and tuning in to FM freeform stations, where soft-spoken, hippie DJs would coo and play the harder, weirder, longer stuff that Top 40 avoided. If Top 40 did play something from the FM side, it would be an edited version of a longer track.

There had been rock songs that used orchestral backing going as far back as Buddy Holly's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" and the Drifters' "On Broadway," but the Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin" in 1967 was a harbinger of the progrock to come. On the "Days of Future Past" album, the song ran for over seven minutes; it was chopped down to under five so it could be played on Top 40 radio.

The album came out in 1967, but it became a staple of FM radio when the full-length version of "Nights in White Satin" was re-released and finally hit the charts in 1972, climbing all the way to #2.

The early '70s also nurtured a slew of other bands -- mostly from England -- who pumped up their rock music with a serious shot of classical gas. Yes featured the classically-trained piano virtuoso, Rick Wakeman, and dropped electrified versions from the classical canon onto their LPs; Emerson, Lake and Palmer rockified composers from Mussorgsky to Aaron Copeland; Renaissance laced their longform songs with instrumental and vocal classical references.

The common theme with most of the classically-oriented groups and their recordings (the popularity of the Moody Blues notwithstanding) was that they had loyal cult followings and had one or two breakout songs that became hits (Yes had "Roundabout," ELP had "Lucky Man" and even Renaissance had a minor hit with "Carpet of the Sun," their shortest song.

Although I happen to like some of these bands and a lot of their music, let's face it, the melding of classical and rock music was almost by definition bound to be pompous and pretentious, meant for the elite music listener, not the mere pop fan.

Except, that is, for one progressive rock band, Electric Light Orchestra.

ELO could have been a low-profile artsy-fartsy band if it had been left to the group's co-founder, Roy Wood. Wood and ELO's other co-founder, Jeff Lynne, had just disbanded The Move, an almost-progrock band that left one classic catchy hard-rock song as its leacy, "Do Ya" ("Do ya d ya want my love?," went the chorus over a super-catchy guitar chord riff). Electric Light Orchestra was envisioned as an artier band, but when Wood split after one unsuccessful and forgotten album to form an unsuccessful and forgotten group, Wizzard, Jeff Lynne was left to mold ELO into his own vehicle.

And what a vehicle Lynne created. He kept to the classical/rock combination but beginning with ELO's second album, he let his love of pop melodies, harmonies and hooks color the artful palette he'd been left by Wood. On the 1973 second outing, "Electric Light Orchestra II," Lynne cleverly used classical string arrangements to gussy up the Chuck Berry chestnut, "Roll Over Beethoven" and had a hit on his hands.

On the recently re-released "On the Third Day," which was released later in 1973, Lynne shifted ELO into high gear, before cruising through the rest of the decade with a pretty amazing commercial track record for a progressive rock band.

But with "On the Third Day," Lynne and company were still anchored musically to arty pretensions, with a heady strings-and-synth overture-type intro that flows into the first song, "Ocean Breakup/King of the Universe," kicking off the proceedings. Lynne's vocals at times recalls John Lennon's reedy stretch, especially on slower songs like the second track, "Bluebird Is Dead." His penchant for Beatlesque singing perfecty suited his penchant for pop a la Beatles. That's what balanced his progressive instincts and gave his best music its sparkle.

The two songs that hit the charts from ELO's third album have become staples of classic rock and oldies formats: "Showdown" and "Ma-Ma-Ma-Belle." They're strikingly different from each other. "Showdown" is irresistibly funky, Lynne's self-professed tribute to Motown and Philly soul music, with a thumping bassline and catchy string runs. "Ma-Ma-Ma Belle," on the other hand, is a flat-out power-chord rocker, with T-Rex's Marc Bolan joining Lynne on co-lead guitar. Even among the thunderous drums and guitars, though, the strings  are woven throughout
the track.

In retrospect, these two songs are far and away the album's highlights, and show how Lynne's musical vision is evolving towards a commercial sweet spot. The rest of the album, although strong and evocative of the period (love the guitars battling the strings on "Dreaming of 4000"), are bogged down at times in progrock's fascination with the artistic credibility of the classical canon.

Lynne even takes on Edvard Grieg's portentous "Hall of the Mountain King" with a rockified version that's a terrific artifact of the era (you know the song, if you've ever seen the Disney film "Fantasia" -- it's the scary one). The remastered re-release, which comes with an intro by Lynne and some interesting tidbits in a Q&A with Lynne. Th CD also features a handful of bonus tracks, including a fragment and an alternate take of "Ma-Ma-Ma Belle." Note to U.S. fans: the CD cover is the original British release of Lynne's head looming over the Earth, not the American version with the band standing against a white background.

After "On the Third Day," Lynne continued to steer ELO towards the pop promised land, and  eventually racked up a string of great hits that used strings to advantage, including "Evil Woman," "Can't Get It Out of My Head," "Strange Magic," "Living Thing," "Turn to Stone," a remake of The Move's "Do Ya" and more.

Lynne also went on to be one of the members of the Traveling Wilburies with Beatle George Harrison, putting a perfect punctuation mark on his pop resume.

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