Every CD comes packed with bonus tracks and booklets that have archival photos and an overview of what was going on with the band at the time. If you listen to the CDs in order and read the booklets, it serves as a good history of the band and helps you to understand how things unfolded over the years. The sound is excellent, as most remastered albums are these days. Epic/Legacy obviously gets it, if you are going to remaster a band’s catalog you have to offer the listeners a little something extra besides a cleaner sound if you expect them to reach for their wallets again.
For those that already have the albums on CD, this is worth looking into for the sound quality, and bonus tracks. On New World Record, the bonus tracks are exceptionally intriguing. Out of the five reissues, this album offers the best bonus tracks. “Surrender” is a great tune, it sounds good enough to be a hit single today, and the early instrumental mixes of “Tightrope” and “Telephone Line” are very cool as well.
There are plenty of reasons to get these reissues if you are a longtime fan, and if you are looking for an introduction to the band, there is a lot more than the greatest hits packages available. These albums dive deep into the history of ELO and give a wonderful overview of a band that made groundbreaking music that still sounds fresh and distinctive to this day.
Artist: Electric Light Orchestra
Title: No Answer (1972), ELO II (1973), On The Third Day (1973), Face The Music (1975), A New World Record (1976)
Genre: Rock-Progressive-Pop
Label: Epic/Legacy
Website
Article comments
1 - Vern Halen
Interesting.... normally I would've said you'd have to work harder at convincing me that ELO was a great rock group - I never liked them. Then again, I would have said the same thing about Kansas until recently when I heard their box set. I think there's something to be said about looking at the big picture in all its monolithic, retrospective glory. Once again, I'll have to rethink ELO - but first I gotta track down these reissues.
Isn't it great the way the industry has figured out: a) how to get us to buy albums we never cared to own the first time they came out?; and b) howo to re-buy albums we already own?