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Rating:
I must admit that this last album from the classic ELO never encouraged me to listen to it, partly due to its release year in the musically terrible 1986, and partly because of its decidedly too '80s cover. I was wrong, and by a lot. This "Balance of Power" is, 33 years later, still a pop-rock album that holds up well unlike many of its contemporaries; "Invisible Touch" by Genesis today is almost unbearable in its extreme plasticity. The Simmons sounds, synth-bass, and synthesizers blasted on bubble gum refrains are all present, but the ensemble is produced so well by Lynne that the result is very pleasant to listen to. The intro with "Heaven Only Knows" is in the realm of a baroque power pop that immediately wins you over, with airy choruses layered over multiple voices and an incredibly catchy melody just like the following "So Serious", "Getting to the Point" is the sumptuous ballad with a grandiose chorus to which Lynne had already accustomed us in previous albums. "Secret Lives" starts like an almost reggae theme for '80s TV shows, one of those with the happy family model Bradford, then speeds up to a refrain more suited to ELO. We return to more typical band terrain with the smash hit "Calling America", one of those tracks that gets stuck in your head without much effort, "Endless Lies" is instead a leftover from the previous "Secret Messages," a track that approaches a vision of classic pop that winks at opera. The album will be followed by the band's last world tour, a very intense and productive tour that will, however, leave Lynne interested in other projects, particularly shedding all the synthetic garb to return to basic rock with his friend George Harrison on "Cloud Nine" in 1987. From this return to origins, the Traveling Wilburys will be born in 1988 and a new air of pure rock'n'roll will invade the world's charts leaving the electronic power pop of "Balance of Power" on the sale shelves.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 So Serious (02:43)
Night after night
I try to make it all fit together
Night after night
I see you as someone I remember
You took me by surprise
Opened up my eyes
Now we gotta talk this over
Can it really be so serious?
To be all broken up and delirious
I guess we've really been out of touch
But can it really be so serious?
(Serious, so serious)
Day after day
I know it's not the way
That you want it
Day after day
I try to find the key
But it don't fit
(Day after day)
But you know how it is
(Night after night)
No matter what I did
(Day after day)
We gotta talk it over
Can it really be so serious?
To be all broken up and delirious
I guess we've really been out of touch
But can it really be so serious?
(Serious, so serious)
Tonight, tonight
I'm thinking over
Everything you said to me
Tonight, tonight
I'm sorry but
I just didn't see
(Day after day)
And now it's up to you
(Night after night)
There's nothing else to do
(Day after day)
We've gotta talk it over
Can it really be so serious?
To be all broken up and delirious
I guess we've really been out of touch
But can it really be so serious?
(Serious, so serious)
(Serious, so serious)
Is it so serious?
Serious, so serious
03 Getting to the Point (04:30)
It's out of control (Out of control)
And there's nothing I can do now
Out of control (Out of control)
Spinning softly through the blue now
And look beyond these walls
As the meaning starts to dawn
It's getting to the point
Getting to the point.
It's out of control (Nothing I can do)
Like a fire that keeps on burning
And nobody knows (What I'm going through)
And the thoughts just keep returning
And all you had to say
Was that you were gonna stay
It's getting to the point
Getting to the point.
It's getting to the point
Where nobody can stop it now
It's getting to the point
Of no return
And all that I can do
Is stand and watch it now
Watch it burn, burn, burn
It's getting to the point
Where reasons are forgotten
It's getting to the point
Where no one knows
And all that I can do
Is say I'm sorry
But that's the way it goes...
Getting to the point.
Forever
Is a long, long way
Forever
Takes your breath away
I'd like to talk about it, try to understand
It's getting to the point
Getting to the point.
It's getting to the point
Where nobody can stop it now
It's getting to the point
Of no return
And all that I can do
Is stand and watch it now
Watch it burn, burn, burn
It's getting to the point
Where reasons are forgotten
It's getting to the point
Where no one knows
And all that I can do
Is say I'm sorry
But that's the way it goes...
It's getting to the point (Getting to the point)
Getting to the point (Getting to the point)
It's getting to the point (Getting to the point)
Getting to the point.
08 Calling America (03:28)
(Somebody...)
Told her that there was a place like heaven
Across the water on a 747
Yeah, we're living in
In a modern world.
And pretty soon she's really got the notion
Of flying out across the big blue ocean
Yeah, we're living in
In a modern world.
Talk is cheap on satellite
But all I get is (static!)
Information, I'm still here
Re-dial on automatic.
CHORUS
Calling America (can't get a message through)
Calling America (that's what she said to do)
Calling America (that's where she has to be)
Calling America (she left a number for me)
Calling America.
But I'm just talking to a satellite
Twenty thousand miles up in the sky each night
Yeah, we're living in
In a modern world.
All I had to do was pick up the phone
I'm out in space, trying to talk to someone
Yeah, we're living in
In a modern world.
She left a number I could call
But no one's there, no one at all
There must be something going wrong
That number just rings on and on.
REPEAT CHORUS
Said she'd call when she'd been gone a while
Guess she's missing me across the miles
Yeah, we're living in
In a modern world.
REPEAT CHORUS
Calling America, Calling America
Calling America, Calling America...
10 Send It (03:07)
The sun still shines way up above
but it don't matter now because the dream is gone
the dream is just a memory, oh yeah
if you see my dream, send it back home to me
the stars still glow up in the night
but somehow they don't seem so bright
the dream is gone, the dream is just a memory, oh yeah
if you see my dream, send it back home to me
'cause I've been waiting for a long, long time
thought I'd found a way
now I just wait for someone to call
I'm waiting for it every day
send it on the wires, send it on a plane
send it on an express, but send it back to me again
the music plays so loud and clear
but somehow I can't make you hear the dream is gone
the dream is just a memory, oh yeah
if you see my dream send it back home to me
when you get what you want it's a long way down
and you can see for miles around
when you lose it nothing is for real
if you see my dream send it back to me
send it on the wires, send it on a plane
send it on an express, but send it back to me again
send it on the wires, send it on a plane
send it on an express, but send it back to me again
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