AT LAST

Currently away at the Gulf coast covering Issac, but heard At Last.

Beautiful!!

DOWN THE LANE AND FAR AWAY?????

From eBay:

Seriously?  (Hat tip: Robert Porter)

BONUS TRACKS

An article at CDJournal.com is shedding a little more light on the upcoming Japanese SHM-CD versions of Long Wave and Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra.  So far, it looks like these releases will follow the same path that Zoom did in 2001.

It appears Long Wave will contain a bonus track titled Jody.  Mr. Blue Sky will contain the bonus track Twilight.  It is listed as a live version in this article.  We'll see if that holds true...

It also appears that Japan will be the first in the world with these releases.  They are still set for a 26 September 2012 release - almost 2 weeks before everyone else.

Long Wave (Japanese SHM-CD) track list -
1. She
2. If I Loved You
3. So Sad
4. Mercy, Mercy
5. Running Scared
6. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
7. Smile
8. At Last
9. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing
10. Let It Rock
11. Beyond The Sea

12. Jody

Mr. Blue Sky (Japanese SHM-CD) track list -
1. Mr. Blue Sky
2. Evil Woman
3. Strange Magic
4. Don't Bring Me Down
5. Turn To Stone
6. Showdown
7. Telephone Line
8. Livin' Thing
9. Do Ya
10. Can't Get It Out Of My Head
11. 10538 Overture
12. The Point Of No Return

13. Twilight

It's been three weeks since the announcement.  So far, there is no suggestion of a deluxe release of any kind in the USA (or anywhere else for that matter) - and no clips or tracks have been streaming or made available to buy yet.

NOW STREAMING: SHOWDOWN CLIP

www.elo.biz now streaming another preview clip with Jeff and Richard Tandy.  This time: a short clip of Showdown.

... AND AGAIN...

Mr. Blue Sky featured in both the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

The re-recorded version of Mr. Blue Sky just set up Eric Idle's grand entrance - from a cannon.  He then broke into Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.  Fantastic.

Some reaction from the Twitter-verse:

DUANE EDDY REMASTERED

There's a new CD remaster that just quietly slipped out.  BGO Records has just re-issued Duane Eddy's self-titled 1987 album.  The blurb from BGO:

First time on CD for this 1987 album with tracks produced by Jeff Lynne, Ry Cooder, Paul McCartney and Ann Dudley 

The album features material by the producers and Eddy himself 

Digitally remastered and slipcased 

New notes 

Tracklist: 

Kickin’ Asphalt - Rockestra Theme - Theme For Something Really Important - Spies - Blue City - The Trembler - Los Companeros - Lost Innocence - Rockabilly Holiday - Last Look Back

Jeff Lynne produced Theme For Something Really Important, The Trembler and Rockabilly Holiday.  Release date was 9 July 2012...

SOME CREDIT(S)

Frontiers Records listing of Jeff Lynne's new album Long Wave includes:

All songs performed and produced by JEFF LYNNE 

JEFF LYNNE: Lead vocals, background vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, piano, bass, drums, keyboards, vibes

And Mr. Blue Sky includes:

All songs written, produced and performed by JEFF LYNNE 

JEFF LYNNE: Lead vocals, background vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, piano, bass, drums, keyboards, vocoder, cowbell

Photo by Martyn Atkins

THE MOVE - THE LOST BROADCASTS

On top of everything else going on, now comes a new DVD from Gonzo Media Group titled The Move - The Lost Broadcasts.  It features a small treasure trove of rare TV performances by The Move including some with Jeff Lynne, which have been going around for years among collectors but barely in watchable condition.

The DVD appears to be region-free and easily available in many countries.

The track list:  

1. Blackberry Way
2. Brontosaurus
3. Curly
4. The Words of Aaron
5. Ella James
6. Ella James
7. Down On The Bay
8. Down on The Bay
9. Fire Brigade
10. When Alice comes back to the Farm
11. Wild Tiger Woman

Release date: 10 September 2012.

LONG WAVE, THE NEW ALBUM ctd...

It appears the news may get a bit sweeter.  Spin CDs has their listing for Jeff Lynne's new album Long Wave.  In their description, they go on to add:

• BBC will also air on TV on the friday before the release a 120 mins documentary about Jeff Lynne. The documentary will cover the history and the legacy of the great musician and the influence that he had in the Pop and Rock music for the last 40 years. The Beatles surviving members, plus George Harrison's and Roy Orbison's widows will appear plus Joe Walsh, Tom Petty and many others. The new releases will be covered in full and the documentary also includes the videoclip of the single off the new album.

Stay tuned. (hat tip: JR)

LET THE GAMES BEGIN...

www.elo.biz  or

www.jefflynne.com

It's official!

Long Wave & Mr. Blue Sky...

Euro release: October 5

UK release: October 8

USA release: October 9

The full release:

August 1, 2012 

JEFF LYNNE RETURNS OCTOBER 9 WITH TWO ALBUMS ON FRONTIERS RECORDS: THE SOLO ALBUM "LONG WAVE" AND THE NEWLY RECORDED
'MR. BLUE SKY-THE VERY BEST OF ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA'  

"It all comes down to what you truly love doing, and what I love doing is overdubbing and making new sounds out of things that are sometimes quite ordinary on their own, but when you put them together, they make something new--or something that sounds new. Just discovering things like that musically is a pleasure." --JEFF LYNNE, 2012 

JEFF LYNNE, one of rock's most iconic figures, is returning to make some new waves and shed a little electric light. 

The creative force of ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA and the singularly accomplished singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer will release two albums on October 9 via Frontiers Records: the solo disc LONG WAVE, a heartfelt and vivid tribute to some of the very songs that originally inspired him, and MR. BLUE SKY-THE VERY BEST OF ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA. For the latter album, the British artist has artfully revisited and re-recorded--at his home studio in Los Angeles--the greatest hits of Electric Light Orchestra, actually improving on some of the most classic and beloved recordings ever. 

The release of LONG WAVE and MR. BLUE SKY-THE VERY BEST OF ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA mark the 40th anniversary of ELO. LYNNE's legacy will further be celebrated with releases in 2013 including ELO Live! plus expanded reissues of the ELO's 2001 album Zoom and LYNNE's first solo album in 1990, Armchair Theater. For up to date info on all things JEFF LYNNE and ELO, go here: http://www.elo.biz  

LONG WAVE powerfully celebrates the music of a time when LYNNE's lifelong passion for music began, evoking an era back when old standards were just giving way to rock & roll. He somehow makes pre-rock standards like "Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered," "Smile" and "Love Is A Many Splendored Many Thing"--along with a few of his favorite gems from the Sixties such as the first single "Mercy, Mercy," "Let It Rock" and "So Sad"--his own with these loving versions. LYNNE's deeply felt and musically brilliant one-man-band takes add up to an inspired love letter to music itself--and an exquisite reflection of the way songs grace and change our lives. 

"I call this new album Long Wave because all of the songs I sing on it are the ones heard on long wave radio when I was a kid growing up in Birmingham, England," LYNNE explains. "These songs take me back to that feeling of freedom in those days and summon up the feeling of first hearing those powerful waves of music coming in on my old crystal set. My dad also had the radio on all the time, so some of these songs have been stuck in my head for 50 years. You can only imagine how great it felt to finally get them out of my head after all these years."  

MR. BLUE SKY-THE VERY BEST OF ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA is a powerful testament to LYNNE's enduring artistry and his singular desire to get things right once and for all. Featuring such classics as "Evil Woman," "Don't Bring Me Down," "Livin' Thing" and "Mr. Blue Sky," the result is, in effect, a kind of showdown between JEFF LYNNE today and his extremely illustrious past, and thanks to improved technology and recording artistry, LYNNE somehow comes out on top again. It's a fresh chance to hear these extraordinary songs sounding sharper and clearer than the old versions. 

"There was a big reason I wanted to re-record these ELO songs," says LYNNE. "When I listen to the old versions they don't sound the way I thought they did when I first wrote and recorded them. I wanted to use the experience I've gained producing records ever since and have a completely new try at them. I'm not saying the old versions aren't good; I like them very much. We were doing our best, but experience and technology also play a big a big part, and these new ones sound much more solid and tight."  

Outside of the success of ELO, LYNNE has led a remarkable career that has found him taking the lessons learned leading ELO and using them to help produce and collaborate with many of the greatest musical artists of all time, including a number of LYNNE's all-time heroes including Roy Orbison, Del Shannon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and remarkably, even the Beatles themselves, as well as contemporaries like Tom Petty and Joe Walsh, whose new album Analog Man LYNNE recently helped produce. Together with Harrison, Orbison, Petty and Bob Dylan, LYNNE was, of course, a member of the Grammy award-winning Traveling Wilburys--a super group like no other. 

"I've been in love with music since I was probably just five years old," says LYNNE. I was made for music then--and I still am today." 

The album includes a never-before-heard bonus track, "The Point Of No Return," and a very special version of "10538 Overture" that's a nod to ELO's 40th anniversary.  

The songs that JEFF LYNNE wrote and sang--and the recordings that he so expertly arranged and produced for ELO--have endured beautifully and are perhaps even more beloved today than they were back in the Seventies and Eighties. By any standard whatsoever, ELO is one of the most remarkable success stories in rock history. Consider just the facts: ELO has sold over 50 million records worldwide, and continues to be a remarkably popular catalog. Between 1972 and 1986, LYNNE wrote and produced 26 Top Forty hits in the United Kingdom, and 20 Top Forty hits in the United States, including 20 Top Twenty smashes in the UK and 15 Top Twenty smashes in the U.S. Even more remarkably, the ELOcatalog continues to have tremendous impact, as demonstrated powerfully when the compilation All Over The World: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra was released in 2005 and became a Top Ten album in a number of international markets including England.

Here are the track Listings for LONG WAVE and MR. BLUE SKY-THE VERY BEST OF ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA: 

LONG WAVE
1. She
2. If I Loved You
3. So Sad
4. Mercy, Mercy
5. Running Scared
6. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
7. Smile
8. At Last
9. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing
10. Let It Rock
11. Beyond The Sea  

MR. BLUE SKY-THE VERY BEST OF ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA:
1. Mr. Blue Sky
2. Evil Woman
3. Strange Magic
4. Don't Bring Me Down
5. Turn To Stone
6. Showdown
7. Telephone Line
8. Livin' Thing
9. Do Ya
10. Can't Get It Out Of My Head
11. 10538 Overture
12. The Point Of No Return