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ELO
live 1974: Colin
Walker, Bev, Mike Edwards, Jeff & |
| Dressed to kill! Mike DeAlbuquerque, Colin Walker, Wilf Gibson, Bev, Jeff, Richard Tandy & Mike Edwards. | |
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In
The Hall Of The Mountain Lynne
Interview/article by Chris Welch (circa 1973) "When I listened to Greig's 'In The Hall Of The Mountain King,' I thought our version was much heavier." Jeff Lynne wasn't boasting. He was applying the simple logic of a rock musician confronted with the classics. |
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My
own knowledge of classical music is largely based on a course of reading
Music For Pleasure sleeve notes whle standing at railway station bookstalls
and in the primary school hall, when we listened to "Peter And The Wolf"
in hushed silence, has induced a kind of in built reverence for the
classics, akin to a stockbroker's view of a putting green. Silly really.
Simple When Jeff Lynne and the Electric Light Orchestra put their rhythmic boots into Beethoven and Greig, they are merely interpreting the simple man's love of melody. That's my theory anyway. Abusive, unsigned letters to be sent to Box 34, West Acton. The Electric Light lads recently took their updated classics and original themes on a tour of America, and report back that their unusual line-up of cellos and violins, mixed with standard guitars and drums was received with the huzzahs and bravos usually accorded the finest symphony orchestras. In recent weeks I have been listening to the works of such composers as Borini, Vascht and Quantro, but it has to be admitted that when it comes to rhythmic excitement and powerful melody, you can't beat the compositions of Maestro Lynne. This week Jeff and his ebullient drummer Bev Bevan, a founder of the Move which gave birth to ELO, conducted their way to the MM's public house, the Red Lion, this week , there to compose a symphony of booze and merriment, reminiscence, tears, laughter, regrets and outrage. Actually we had half a lager and chatted quietly among ourselves. It has been many weeks since ELO hit the chart with "Roll Over Beethoven," and I for one have been clamouring for new sounds. Where is your next hit single and album? - I demanded brusquely. "We're half way through the new album," retorted Bev glinting in his denim jacket, heavily studded about the seams. "We've been recording at Air London studios and all the songs will be Jeff's compositions except 'In The Hall Of The Mountain King.' We're thinking about 'Showdown.' It'll be out in three weeks time. We're on holidays now but we've got so much work to do. We're going to do a few dates in England and then we go to Sweden. 'Roll Over Beethoven' was a big hit on the continent. And then we go back to the States in October. We'll be back home for Christmas and that will be this year taken care of. "When we record we put the backing track down first and the strings are added afterwards so there's not much for me as a drummer to worry about. In the past on stage we used to have problems playing together but we've sorted it out now. I don't use two bass drums anymore and the string players are more used to keeping time. The American tour has made the band a lot tighter and we are much more professional. "The reception on our tour was amazing, it was really marvellous. The last time I had been there was with the Move in 1969, but this time we had more back up and promotion. We did three national TV shows and 'Roll Over,' was a top thirty hit there." Middle "The audiences were so familiar with our songs, I couldn't believe it. And they seemed more appreciative than an English audience, actually applauding in the middle of numbers. We played mainly concerts, and we headlined half of them. We always played to around four to five thousand people, and we did three dates with Edgar Winter. We were there seven weeks and had to use a different PA system every night, but they are such good systems there, we got a good sound. We met so many English groups over there that America has become like Big England. In the same hotel in Los Angeles we were with Led Zeppelin and they had the whole of one floor as a motor cycle speed trial track. They took a motorbike up in the lift and were racing down the corridors. But I don't think the hotels mind about Zeppelin anymore because they always pay their bills. In New York we met Pink Floyd, Status Quo and Manfred Mann and some of them were supporting us. It's a funny scene over there with Status Quo supporting bands like the Climax Chicago Blues Band, who are very good. I don't think we impressed anybody just because we are English, but because of our line-up. The cellos and violins excited a lot of attention." Had ELO been the victim of any personnel changes, which seems to afflict so many bands today? "We're just about to go through one. It's a personality clash between Jeff, myself and Wilf Gibson the violin player. It's nothing to do with the music and there's no hard feelings really. It's just that we couldn't get on with Wilf, so he will be leaving before the next American tour. It's the first change since Roy Wood left. We didn't want any changes and Wilf is a fine violin player, but I have a lot of respect for Jeff and we work together. I don't know what Wilf is going to do, but I wish him well. Meanwhile, if there are any budding violin players, I hope they get in touch. We've got a couple of people in mind actually. We can't wait to get back to America. We made money on the tour funnily enough. Not a fortune, but enough to pay everybody and a few bills." Meanwhile Jeff, black of hair and broad of shoulder, hove to the port beam. "The hardest part of the tour was finding all the musicians when we are due to go on stage. The string players have started to rock at last and they are much more free now. They came to us straight from the Royal Academy Of Music and they were a bit hung up about reading music. But they are getting really silly on stage now, leaping about stabbing people with cello spikes. The next single 'Showdown' features the strings. It's really a lot of fun, and we've done six other songs for the album. We were happy enough with the last album, but when you look back, you can always do better. The main object of the band is to be an entertainment and in America they really love it when Mike Edwards our cello player does the 'Dying Swan.' It's all silly, but we love it. We're not into experimental classical stuff, nothing discordant. I just love the melodies of the old composers." Didn't they run into criticism for their kind of brash tinkering? "No. I think people know what we're doing. We send up some classical things, but when I listened to Greig's 'In The Hall Of The Mountain King' by the London Symphony Orchestra... Well, there's is very pleasant, but I think our version is much heavier. I'm not saying it's better, but we play that riff with more power. And we're not so much using classical music as the instruments it's played on. I've written all the material for the next album except 'Hall Of The Mountain King.' It's just more interesting to use cellos and guitars instead of the usual three guitars." Wires How does Jeff get the sound he wants? "I show the players what I want them to play and when we rehearse, if they come up with ideas of their own we put it all together. I put my basic ideas for a song down on tape, and we spread it out from there. Nothing is written down, and getting everybody to remember the arrangements was a terrible problem at first. In fact nobody could remember anything!" "The first gig we played was the worst I have ever played in my life," grinned Bev. I wanted to hide from embarrassment, I couldn't hear a bleeding thing that was played. It looked very colourful, and we were all wearing head phones. All I could hear was Roy blowing his guitar and tripping over the wires. But we don't have those problems now and nobody puts a finger out of place. We've got good pickups on the violins and cellos and 100 watt amplifiers put through the PA system. I see the guys sneaking over to the amps and turning them up. They're getting louder than guitarists." We began to recall the touring days of long ago and Bev could remember a tour with the Move which also featured Pink Floyd, Amen Corner, The Nice, Outer Limits and Jimi Hendrix. "Hendrix had half an hour and we had 25 minutes. I think Floyd did two numbers 'Arnold Layne' and 'See Emily Play.'" Madness really. But then, that's the music business, violins or no violins. back |
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