BETTER NOT FORGET IT ON YOUR SHOPPING LIST...

The Traveling Wilburys Official Website has just launched a redesign and while the content seems to have been shifted around a bit, the biggest addition appears to be a Traveling Wilburys shop with all sorts of items including Wilburys T-shirts, coffee mugs, glasses keychains and even a throw blanket.

THE RETURN OF JULIANNA RAYE

She turned out to be one of my favorite voices long after her Jeff Lynne-era: Julianna Raye.  Her web site has been transformed and her new CD titled Dominoes is almost ready to release.  It is a bossa nova collection produced by Ethan Johns, who produced her last disc Restless Night.

Something Peculiar (her first album and her only produced by Jeff Lynne) is, of course, a drastically different album than Restless Night.   But, I was surprised more ELO/related fans didn't follow Restless Night because it was a bit too dark and not pop.   I thoroughly enjoyed it, though.

See, there was a time in popular music when singing as if you had a fingernail ripped off was considered good.  I found wailing into the microphone like that absolutely ridiculous and still do.  Whenever you long for a unique voice who approaches their singing with style and substance, Julianna Raye completely fits the bill.

The thing is both Jeff Lynne and Ethan Johns captured all these little nuances in her voice and brought them out on record.  Plus, her writing is absolutely amazing and rather underrated.

Dominoes sounds like an enjoyable follow-up.  You can read more and hear clips of the album here.  

BLU-SPEC SPECIAL ON ELO

ELO's Discovery & Out Of The Blue remasters are about to be re-issued on Blu-spec CDs. As I understand it from reading this, there are fundamental jitters and vibrations when standard CDs are made. These new discs eliminate that. Doesn't say anything about the music having a higher resolution, though.

In any event, Discovery is set for a December 24 release and Out Of The Blue is expected on January 21, 2009. These will be Japan-only releases so far.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect Blu-spec CDs are almost the same thing as SHM-CDs (Super High Material CDs) only made by a different company.

Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever is being released on SHM-CD in early December. But, if it's not remastered by the artist, I would think the improvement would be miniscule for most people. It's the same CD sound only less jittery??

We'll see.

JEFF, THE MILLION-AIR

Jeff Lynne, as ELO's songwriter, was recently awarded two certificates from Broadcast Music, Inc.  One certifies that Turn To Stone has been played on the radio one million times, or a Million Airs, if you will.  The other certifies that Don't Bring Me Down has received two million airs.

How 'bout that!    (Hat tip: ELO Discovery)

REVIEW: MOVE ANTHOLOGY 1966-1972

Behold the centerpiece of what's actually been a pretty decent restoration series for the Move.

As usual, when news of this box set broke, I filled my head with expectations about what could and should be on it. Then, I caught the track list weeks ago and it took a bit of the wind out of my sails. The Jeff Lynne years are treated as a "by the way..." era rather than half of the band's recorded LP career.

That leaves us with a new sense of what the bottom line is for this release: the box set is centered on Roy Wood's work with a rather nice tribute to Carl Wayne.

Bravo on the package: hardbound DVD sized fold-out. Poster, eh. Cards, ok. The liner notes/credits book: great! Well thought-out and amazingly desgined.

Now, to the content. Disc 1 is rock solid. Starting with the primitive gems, you coast through the early-period Move beautifully including a less refined version of Night of Fear. For me, the acoustic version; rough mix of Flowers In The Rain was the winner of disc 1.

Now to disc 2 when I start hitting a wall. I understand the value of these live recordings, but wouldn't having a separate Something Else from the Move release with bonus EP tracks be a better option instead of taking up more than an entire CD of a career anthology? The live material is enjoyable, but...

Disc 3 starts with two tracks we basically just heard from Disc 2 with some differences, then finally continues its journey through the Move catalog with a few more alternatives and rarities all marked with a red asterisk.

Then to disc 4 where the asterisks for all intents and purposes disappear. We get the nickel tour through the second half of the Move's recorded career. I mean, the set doesn't even touch Shazam until half way through disc 3. The Jeff Lynne era didn't stand a chance.

Overall, in terms of sound quality, I think they accomplished what they set out to do: restore the Move's recordings to top shelf quality so everyone can enjoy them again. In that sense, mission accomplished.

But then, there's some of the decisions I thought were a bit odd.

None of the discs run an hour. I thought the "... more than three hours of Move magnificence" was a typo. It's not.

I'm sorry, but I just can't get excited over shorter/edited/abridged versions of stuff we already have. Wouldn't edit versions work better for best-of's made for the masses?? If they like what they hear, they can pursue the full-length stuff. And wouldn't it give the dedicated fans more motivation to buy another "singles" collection?

A shortened Do Ya was favored over a shortened Feel Too Good?

One track from Message From The Country? One?!?

Never mind the lack of Jeff Lynne compositions here, there's not a single rarity or alternate from the Jeff Lynne era... period. Not one. Not a single new thing to hear.

That doesn't make this a bad box set as much as it makes it a really lopsided one.

UJLRP 1997-2008

After plenty of consideration and very generous offers from readers, I've come to conclusion that I'm going to let the Unofficial Jeff Lynne Reference Page expire after Friday without rehosting it.  However, I believe this blog could pick up the slack.  Over the next several weeks, I plan to reuse much of the information that was written on the UJLRP into fresh posts here.  Then, I'll keep the continuous collection of links stored on this page.

It will take time, though.  Since there's still not much in the immediate pipeline from what we can tell, this will make for a good opportunity to refresh the content.  After the review for the Move box set, the evergreen posts will start appearing.

As for the Move box set, I'm told there are production/print problems that are keeping FTM and possibly other places from shipping them.  So, we're keeping an eye out for that.

I'VE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR YEARS...

His details are a little off, but take a gander at this blog entry from Guardian UK's Alan McGee. Hat Tip: Coxley

FACE THE MUSIC ONLINE

Looks like the new incarnation of Face The Music Online is almost ready to go.  The Move box set in now less than 2 weeks away.

DROLE DE VENTE AUX ENCHERES

Still very much a sought-after collectible, the 1991 CD single of the Jeff Lynne-produced Drole De Vie from Et Moi & Moi just had bids on eBay that topped $225.

RUNNIN' DOWN A DOCUMENTARY

Peter Bogdanovich's documentary about Tom Petty will go into a wider DVD release on October 28.  Runnin' Down A Dream will contain bonus concert footage (some vintage) not on the original DVD/CD set. Plenty of Jeff Lynne and Wilburys content in the documentary portion. 

FULL MOON IN JAPAN

There's apparently a new edition of Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever coming to Japan on December 3.  It's another SHM-CD which is also compatible with standard CD players.  I have yet to buy an SHM-CD (Super High Material) but it pledges to have better sound.  These are apparently not to be confused with a standard remastered CD which this is not.

Anyone ever buy a SHM-CD and if so, what do you think?

Welcome

Thanks to all of you who offered help and advice during this transition.  I'm really excited with the blog now.  Anyone can leave comments now, which is a change from AOL who didn't allow anyone without an AOL login to comment.

There are plenty of Blogger.com features to go through, so this can only get better.

Now, if we only had a boatload of news to go with it... :-)

Thanks again and welcome aboard!

MOVE BOX AT FTM

The Move box set is now ready to pre-order at the FTM Shop...

BIG CHANGES AFOOT

Just a short time ago, I was notified by (the ever deteriorating) AOL that its FTP/website/blog spaces, including this one, will be discontinued on October 31, 2008.

While there are plans to move the blog spaces to another service, the web spaces will not.  That means as of October 31, 2008, the Unofficial Jeff Lynne Reference Page will be shut down for good. 

I do of course have mixed emotions about this news.  The site was created in 1997 as a simple resource guide and a lot of work has gone into it over the years.  However, it takes a little more time than I can afford to maintain it.  The site and this blog is really just a hobby, but a hobby I get a great deal of pleasure out of.  It's all of you who help me to enjoy it.  You guys send me kind thoughts, engaging e-mails, and even news tips frequently and I greatly appreciate you all. 

I do plan to maintain this blog after October.  It's quite easy and fun and I still plan to share e-mails back and forth.  That part will not change.

So, in the coming weeks, I hope to have a new URL for the blog and things will return to normal... spelling, grammar and punctuation errors and all.  Hopefully AOL will step up and provide us with a blog service where all of you can contribute, not just AOL subscribers.  It's the least they can do.  (Funny thing is I'm still paying for AOL, hence my "mood" above.)

In any event, I just wanted to pass this news along to all of you.  As soon as I get more information about where the blog is going, I will pass it on right away.  I also welcome suggestions from you on places where I can host the blog, for free preferably. bflat33@aol.com

 

BUT SERIOUSLY, FOLKS...

Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh just gave an interview to a reporter from the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis/St. Paul.  He reveals he and Jeff Lynne have recently recorded together, but didn't elaborate much about it.  I really like the possibilities, though...

OH, PRETTY BOX SET

Roy Orbison was long overdue for a career box set and thankfully, this one has done the man justice. 

I have to admit, I didn't have or appreciate Roy's work until I learned of his involvement with Jeff and the Wilburys.  The early stuff is just a hair out of era for me personally, but I get it.  Go to 3:12 on You Got It and listen to way he delivers that "baby...", and you'll get it too... if you don't already.

Roy's new box set, The Soul of Rock and Roll, out today, contains most all of his released output with Jeff Lynne at the producing helm.  Outside of that is a collection about as comprehensive as it gets.  And for $30 (got mine at Best Buy,) it's a great value for your money.  107 songs spread out over 4 CDs.

There is a quote from Jeff and Tom Petty among many others plus a factoid I never knew until today: The Traveling Wilburys were Roy's pallbearers at his funeral.

I would have done one thing differently.  I would have pushed the new remix of Not Alone Any More.  It's an excellent remix and should have at least a little more exposure.  That's really just a wish.  Overall, this is a first-rate release.

MORE ON THE MOVE BOX

Amazon is revealing a little more of the upcoming Move box set.  I'm still trying to visualize how this will be packaged.  From this image, it looks a little unconventional.  FTM will probably have a full-on spread about this shortly, but we're still more than 6 weeks away from release day.

 

 

MORE RE-ISSUES

  

A standard re-issue of the new Traveling Wilburys Volume One and Volume 3 CDs from Rhino will be released in Japan on September 24.  You'd think someone at a record company with a little foresight would think to re-issue these as mini-LP paper sleeve editions, but alas, these are apparently standard CDs.

 

While on the topic of half-assed re-issues, ELO's Out of the Blue was indeed re-issued earlier this year.  Turns out, it's the remastered CD with the bonus tracks, new standard booklet, but the old ZGK 35530 back insert.  All that can be yours for a measly $6.  You'll know it's the budget version when you pick the CD up and one side of the tray insert is blank.

AN OCTOBER MOVE

Play.com now saying the Move box set is out October 27... 31 unreleased titles.

OLE EBAY

Holy cow...