OUT OF THE BLUE ON RED/YELLOW VINYL

 Did you miss the HMV specialty day in the UK?  No problem.  The Official Jeff Lynne's ELO store has it available there.  Shipping mid-August.

XANADU 4K

Coming in August, a 2-disc Xanadu in 4K Ultra High Definition Blu-Ray.

 From Blu-ray.com: 

DISC ONE - 

4K BLU-RAY NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
NEW Audio Commentary by Director Robert Greenwald, Moderated by Filmmaker Douglas Hosdale
NEW Audio Commentary by Filmmaker Jennifer Clymer and Film Historian Nathaniel Thompson
NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians David Del Valle and Krystov Charles
NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Samm Deighan
Original 4.0 Stereo | 5.1 Surround & Lossless 2.0
Optional English Subtitles

DISC TWO - 

BLU-RAY NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
NEW Audio Commentary by Director Robert Greenwald, Moderated by Filmmaker Douglas Hosdale
NEW Audio Commentary by Filmmaker Jennifer Clymer and Film Historian Nathaniel Thompson
NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians David Del Valle and Krystov Charles
NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Samm Deighan
Making Xanadu: 1980 Making-of the Musical Fantasy Movie (20:36) Newly Mastered in 2K
Going Back to Xanadu: 2009 Documentary with the Cast and Crew (27:15)
5 TV Spots (2:25)
17 Radio Spots (14:17)
Theatrical Trailer (2:05) Newly Mastered in 2K
Original 4.0 Stereo | 5.1 Surround & Lossless 2.0
Optional English Subtitles

 

So, we are getting a newly restored version of the original 1980 Making Of Xanadu feature.  For those in the know, it's got some really cool early bits of the songs.

Release day: 19 August 2025 

 

BRIAN WILSON 1942-2025

  Rolling Stone and Pitchfork among many mourning this incredible loss.  One of the true architects of 20th century popular music.

THANK YOU, TODD!

 

A quick thank you to Todd Stanton who made this amazing lighted ELO jukebox logo for some of us fans willing to take a chance.  He made it with a 3D printer and the inside is wired with an LED light.

He is reachable on Facebook if you're interested in one.  He'll fill you in on how much it will cost.

This is pretty (ahem) lit, isn't it!? 

OUT OF THE BLUE - 1921 VINYL WEEKEND EDITION

 From HMV.com, a new edition of ELO's Out of the Blue will be among 20 titles for HMV's Exclusive 1921 Vinyl Weekend Edition series.  Out of the Blue will be pressed on one yellow LP and one red LP. 

 Release day is 14 June 2025 

RICHARD TANDY SCHOLARSHIP

 

Richard Tandy will have a scholarship named after him with a charity auction organized by Jeff.  Expect to hear more on this in the coming days.

The BBC takes it from here...

ELO 1972 LIVE RADIO BROADCAST

 Coming up later this month (supposedly) to add to your bootlegs: Electric Light Orchestra Live 1972: Live Radio Broadcast.  It will be pressed on blue and white splatter vinyl, the front cover art is a mismatch for the content, but there you have it.  Release date: 27 June 2025

Side 1
1. "10538 Overture" (BBC 4th February 1972)
2. "Nellie Takes Her Bow"
3. "Battle Of Marston Moor (July 2nd, 1644)"
4. "Roll Over Beethoven" (BBC 1st November 1972, BBC Studios, London, England)
5. "Kuiama" (part 1)

Side 2
1. "Kuiama" (part 2)
2. "Queen Of The Hours" (Granada TV Studios, Manchester, England. 9th May 1972)
3. "Jeff’s Boogie No. 2 (aka In Old England Town - Boogie No 2)"
4. "Whisper In The Night"
5. "Great Balls Of Fire"
6. "10538 Overture"

'LET IT ROLL' COMING TO VINYL ctd

 

'LET IT ROLL' COMING TO VINYL

 

Super Deluxe Edition.com is reporting that George Harrison's 2009 career-spanning solo collection Let It Roll is being issued on 2LP vinyl for the first time.

 

Look for that starting 11 July 2025

Side A
Got My Mind Set on You
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)
Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)
My Sweet Lord
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Live from Madison Square Garden, New York, U.S.A, 1971)

Side B
All Things Must Pass
Any Road
This Is Love
All Those Years Ago
Marwa Blues

Side C
What Is Life
Rising Sun
When We Was Fab
Something (Live from Madison Square Garden, New York, U.S.A, 1971)
Blow Away

Side D
Cheer Down
Here Comes the Sun (Live from Madison Square Garden, New York, U.S.A, 1971)
I Don’t Want to Do It
Isn’t It a Pity

PEM by Eric Idle

On Saturday Pembroke College had an open day to launch the new development that Ray Dolby funded. I had helped a little in the Fundraising and the Master asked me to make a thank you for our donors. Here it is. @pembroke1347 Thanks to @lynchland for the edit. pic.twitter.com/CLv8Lhg4R3

— Eric Idle (@EricIdle) May 14, 2025

REGINA SPEKTOR COLOR VINYL SET

 A line of albums from Regina Spektor are getting limited-edition colored-vinyl releases.  That includes Far, with four Produced by Jeff Lynne titles.

The site links you to pre-order links for a Velum Clear LP.  But if you look closely at the sticker on the album cover, it says Blue Vinyl.  Hhhhmmmmmm.

 Release day: 16 May 2025

 

MESSAGE FROM THE COUNTRY ctd

 The new Esoteric Recordings re-issue of The Move's Message From The Country is out.

 Nice inexpensive edition, but not sure anything will beat the 2005 CD edition. Although it does fix the bizarre indexing on the EMI edition.

VH1 STORYTELLERS

 Those of you with a Paramount+ subscription, you can now stream all of MTV Unplugged and VH1 Storytellers episodes including ELO's from 2001.

ARMCHAIR THEATRE 35

 

35 years ago, Jeff Lynne dropped his first solo album, and it’s still pure magic! ✨ From iconic melodies to timeless brilliance, this one’s a classic. What’s your favorite track from the album? Drop it in the comments! 👇 pic.twitter.com/SyESEoTxx6

— Jeff Lynne's ELO (@JeffLynnesELO) February 21, 2025

NOW AND THEN

 So, Now And Then captures the Grammy for Best Rock Performance.  Well deserved. 

 I really like Now And Then, and Jeff's portion (George Harrison's guitar solo etc) that was kept from the 90's recording is very apparent, especially in the beginning and the end.  The new strings were gorgeous.  It certainly topped my playlist for several months.  And it'll be interesting to see if the AI treatment makes it to Free As A Bird and Real Love and how such a thing would sound.

That doesn't mean I didn't have a bone to pick about it, though.  Sorry, Ed Ruscha, I really thought your cover art was place-cover art while we were waiting for the real Now And Then cover art.   I saw this 12" at a Barnes and Noble when it came out, and it looked like it had been sitting there for 10 years.

And you what else I'm ticked off about, No Richard in the Memoriams.

ANOTHER MESSAGE...

 

 

Cherry Red Records is releasing a new remastered CD of The Move's Message From The Country with nine bonus tracks.  The, er, exact same nine bonus tracks as the legendary 2005 edition from EMI.

*sigh*. The more things change....

Releasing 28 February 2025

Track list:

1 Message from the Country

2 Ella James

3 No Time

4 Don’t Mess Me Up

5 Until Your Mama’s Gone

6 It Wasn’t My Idea to Dance

7 The Minister

8 Ben Crawley Steel Company

9 The Words of Aaron

10 My Marge

Bonus tracks

11 Tonight (A-side of single – Released in May 1971)

12 Chinatown (A-side of single – Released in October 1971)

13 Down on the Bay (B-side of single – Released in October 1971)

14 California Man (A-side of single – Released in April 1972)

15 Do Ya (B-side of single – Released in April 1972)

16 Don’t Mess Me Up (alternate version)

17 The Words of Aaron (alternate version)

18 Do Ya (alternate version)

19 My Marge (alternate version)

LONG ENDURANCE, PORKY CURTAINS

 

As God as my witness, I thought the line was 'long endurance, etc, etc, marble earrings, bulky curtains.'  After checking the original Traveling Wilburys Volume One songbook, it is not.  One of many things I hope to correct in the new year.

Happy 77th Birthday, Jeff Lynne!  And congratulations on achieving one billion streams of ELO's Mr. Blue Sky on Spotify.  Epically well-deserved!

Strap in, everybody!! 2025 is just ahead!

DOLBY ATMOS

I fully admit I'm in a love/hate relationship with Dolby Atmos right now.

Frankly, the first set of available (Jeff Lynne-produced) releases sounded awful to me. Maybe it's my connection, maybe I don't have something hooked up correctly.

 

As of late, though, the atmos seems a bit more robust.  (Again, maybe it's hook up correctly now. I don't know...)  And more items are starting to appear.  Sometimes promoted sometimes not.  They're worth another spin because now, it sounds more cohesive and solid - and more like you'd expect to hear when you're having to hear something having atmos-pheric qualities.  

 

I really have no place to track all of the new Atmos releases available to hear now.  But here's what I know you can hear in Dolby Atmos now - and please leave any other Jeff Lynne-related tracks you find in the comments:

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits

I Won't Back Down

Runnin' Down A Dream

Free Fallin'

Learning To Fly

Into The Great Wide Open

 

The Beatles

Now And Then

 

George Harrison - Cloud Nine

all 11 original tracks

 

George Harrison - Brainwashed

All 12 original tracks

 

Bryan Adams - Get Up

All 9 original tracks

 

Various Artists - Concert For George

Entire performance    

DUANE EDDY

 RIP, Duane Eddy, too.

RICHARD TANDY ctd

 

 

 

It was the VH1 Storytellers taping in New York City in 2001. Excitement filled the air of the Altman Building. So much excitement in fact, that as soon as we got into the studio, I had to ‘nervous pee’ before the performance started. After wandering through this dark unfamiliar place for a few moments, I finally find the restroom. And as I’m practically barging through the door, I almost collide with a man on his way out. That man was Richard Tandy. My first real interaction with any member of ELO and it happens at a restroom door. Go figure. Anyway, he smiled, I said ‘hello - sorry about that…’, he said ‘hello’ back, I smile in embarrassment, then finally we part ways. He went and did his thing, and I did mine.

His ‘thing’. My God, what an enormous talent. When you’re 8 years old and you’re playing these records and you’re really listening to these sounds, mesmerized by it all, you start to wonder even at that age ‘how does someone do all that?’ It was guys like Richard Tandy. He played, he arranged, he sang, the whole nine yards.

Now, we’re all grown adults watching as our legends fade one at a time. Believe me, I’ve recently gotten my ‘reminder’ my life is short too. I’m not thrilled about it at all, but I’ll deal with it like I always do, spin an ELO record.

RIP Richard Tandy. Thank you for sharing your amazing talent with us. You were amazing.