If they had support groups for nerds in 1975 (I mean besides marching band), I would have joined one. And being a teenage nerd, I listened, at least some of the time, to teenage nerd rock. Fifty years ago, there was a lot of that to choose from — from Queen to Styx to America — nerd melodies were filling the airwaves. There may have been other contenders for the top spot, but the one that stands the test of the ages has to be the fifth album from The Electric Light Orchestra, “Face The Music." Clocking in at a tight 36 minutes, this eight-song set shows the brilliance of Birmingham’s Jeff Lynne, and offers a foreshadowing of what was to come from this group, which really was the closest thing to an orchestra you could hear on commercial radio.
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Now, people have been adding strings to pop and rock music for as long as it has been around, but it was almost always as a way to make it more commercial, more acceptable, more like the kind of stuff your folks might glom on to. ELO, they were incorporating orchestral instruments, phrasing, and structure into pop/rock music, creating a true hybrid of styles. For their first three releases, they had limited success as band members came and went for a variety of reasons, while audiences found the heavy progressive influence a little hard to access. Their fourth release, “Eldorado,” came out in 1974, and had the semi-hit song “Can’t get it out of my Head," which was OK but nothing to really get excited about. On the other hand, the band was just five years old and had created “Face the Music” in 1975, their most ambitious, solid, creatively defused, and accessible offering to date. Less progressive, but a tradeoff that brought the band their success and first platinum record.
You probably know that Jeff Lynne is a huge Beatles fan, and you can hear it in many of the songs on FTM. “Waterfall” being so much of a McCartney clone that it pays tribute to the Fab Four but also makes you say “what if they hadn’t broken up, would they sound like this?” The same can be said for “Nightrider,” which is probably the weakest song of the eight, but as it follows the giant hit “Evil Woman” on side one, it really doesn’t stand a chance of standing out, so it may as well be where it is.
This is also such a gem of a set sonically. The opening tune “Fire on High” (which CBS Sports used for their opening theme for a number of years) begins an album in the way you never begin an album — quiet, building up, no actual structure of a song until well past the two minute mark — who the hell does this on the opening track of an album?!
Jeff Lynne, that’s who — and when that brilliant guitar and drums kick in and start to fly, you get swept up and carried away with the music, and there is no going back. You’re in for the entire disc to see what else is waiting for you.
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Side two of this record is kind of interesting too, and stands as its own set of tunes that could almost be a completely different record from side one. “Poker” is a real banger and kicks off the side. It’s followed by a song that just gets me every time with its sweet wistful chorus. I’ll confess my 50 year love affair with “Strange Magic," and as I listen to it while writing this I am flashing back to all the time it played in the background of my life, thinking about how I always knew this would be one I’d carry with me to remind me of all the things that have happened. It still works.
And now for something completely different… “Down Home Town” is almost an American-style folk song with fiddles (NOT violins!) that pulls in “Dixie” and four-part harmony background singers. It’s just so much fun! The last song of the set is “One Summer Dream,” which is the required slow tempo ballad needed on albums of the day to wind up the set and the night, and it did so very nicely. Close your eyes and float away in the lush strings and haunting background vocals.
Lynne said at one point that “Face The Music” was a turning point for ELO, and that certainly seems to be the case. The band took off after this, making many successful records throughout the 80s, with the band coming and going in various sizes and styles for decades. In fact, they were to wind up their act with a final show in July 2025, concluding the “Over & Out Farewell Tour." Unfortunately, on the advice of his doctors, Lynne had to cancel the show, and no future show will happen. A somber end which no doubt disappointed many. Additionally, Lynne has produced dozens of other records for all kinds of talent, ranging from Tom Petty to Dave Edmunds, and his own super group The Traveling Wilburys. All in all, a rather fabulous career and contribution to music.
In 1975, the likes of Barry Manilow, The Carpenters, The Bee Gees, Tony Orlando and The Captain & Tennille were clogging up the charts and the airwaves with the kind of earworms that would eat your brain, so it was a real thrill to have real music. I’m happy to face these eight songs anytime, and you might want to face them too.
