Album Review: Electric Light Orchestra - Out of the Blue (1979)

(Originally published on davebilling.blogspot.com 9/11/2019)

Yeah, I've already written a review for an Electric Light Orchestra album this year, I know.  But the album I'm listening to here - for the first time in its entirety, I might add - is Out of the Blue, and bloody hell, is it fantastic.  I always revered A New World Record and Discovery, but they pale in comparison to this gem.  This is very easily one of the best double albums I've heard, if not one of the best albums in general, and the afternoon that I decided to sit down and listen to it in full, I'm pleased to say, is one of the best as well.  I cannot find ONE single song to find fault with here.  I would be more than happy to play this from start to finish over and over again.  "Turn to Stone", "Sweet Talkin' Woman" and "Mr. Blue Sky" are the ones everybody knows and should love, but everything else - well, a musical tour de force is the first thing that springs to mind.  ELO have always been masters at blending Beatlesque pop/rock with classical strings, and this here is the creme de la creme of their catalog.  "Across the Border" is another song I've known for quite a while too, but there's even more to drool over - "Big Wheels", "Sweet is the Night", "Wild West Hero" and "Summer and Lightning" are fantastic too, and that's after some pretty painstaking decision making.  Some critic reviews for this record were less than favorable - the mind boggles at times.  This is a new favorite of mine.  Listen to it, or bust!  A+