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Rating: If we want to exaggerate, we can say that the successful and rich career of the Electric Light Orchestra, spanning the seventies and eighties, was almost entirely based on the insights refined by John Lennon and Beatles producer George Martin in a couple of their masterpieces, "I Am the Walrus" and "Strawberry Fields Forever": pop music distinctly symphonized by string instruments.
Nonetheless, if in the collective memory the framing of this group reveals decidedly (and also cloyingly, at least in my view) commercial traits, not everyone knows, or remembers, that the beginnings were instead quite avant-garde: so much so that in the first two, maybe three published works, the Orchestra can rightfully be traced back to the progressive genre.
This is evidenced by the only five, all ample songs that make up this second album, the longest of which, the anti-militarist suite "Kuiama", exceeds eleven minutes in length, as the heartfelt basic songwriting (melodically inspired, without fear of contradiction, by the Lennon song "Don't Let Me Down") is stretched endlessly first by a lengthy and virtuosic violin solo, then by piano inserts equally refined in touch, demonstrating the almost concert-level musical preparation of several members of the team.
At the time, the Orchestra included a violinist and two cellists, alongside the classic quartet of guitar, keyboards, bass, and drums. The leadership, from this work onwards and throughout the career (in the first album there was another rooster in the henhouse, bassist cellist and singer Roy Wood), firmly lies in the hands of the composer, singer, and guitarist Jeff Lynne, Beatle-inspired to the core (on the John Lennon side, as already mentioned), hyperproductive in terms of songwriting but, by contrast, without instrumental ambitions either in arrangement or as a soloist, so much so that he always willingly leaves center stage to his classically-trained companions around him.
Not all the musicians come from the Conservatory, however: self-taught drummer Bev Bevan is quite the skilled and creative rock drummer (in his future resume even an album, and related tour, with Black Sabbath...) very pleasant to listen to.
The only track where Lynne's guitar is, and could not be otherwise, in full prominence, is the breathtaking cover of the well-known "Roll Over Beethoven" by master Chuck Berry: certainly the most intriguing and best reinterpretation, among the many collected from this famous rock'n'roll. Taking inspiration from the title, the first forty seconds introduce with the performance of the prologue of Beethoven's "Fifth", tackled with such meticulous skill that it really feels like you've put the wrong record on and are dealing with a Deutsche Grammophon product. However, amidst a full string frenzy, the immortal guitar break comes in, preluding the compact and compelling rock classic that more or less everyone knows. But violins and cellos persist, at each end chorus they interject pyrotechnic variations, overflowing solos, and callbacks to other famous passages of the supreme German genius... The whole piece ends up lasting over seven minutes, undoubtedly constituting the album's peak, the reason why it is ultimately worth owning.
Curiosity: as with many other albums, the American cover and the European one (chosen for the review) differ, though not by much, while the tracklist remains unchanged in any case.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Mama (07:03)
She came up from the country with a smile for everyone
she left her blue horizon just to find another home
a lonely girl who'd travelled many days
a lonely heart that could not find a way
and she said Momma, it's a hard life now you're gone
Momma, it's so hard to carry on
and I feel I'm a fool who lost it all
you used to make it all so very clear
that life must go on though the end is near
oh Momma, it's a sad and lonely life
A misty morning rider she came wandering through the hills
a wanderin soul appearin over rainy window sills
a loser in her heart, but in her face
a smile for everyone under God's grace
and she said Momma, it's a hard life now you're gone
Momma, it's so hard to carry on
and I feel I'm a fool who lost it all
you used to make it all so very clear
that life must go on though the end is near
oh Momma, it's a sad and lonely life
Midnight maiden madness, what to search for in this place
gateway to the city, night sky shadows on her face
a lady lost in nowhere but her stare
leaves the world, her life to start somewhere
and she said Momma, it's a hard life now you're gone
Momma, it's so hard to carry on
and I feel I'm a fool who lost it all
you used to make it all so very clear
that life must go on though the end is near
oh Momma, it's a sad and lonely life
03 Roll Over Beethoven (08:11)
Gonna write a little letter, gonna mail it to my local D.J.
It's a jumping little record I want my jockey to play
Roll Over Beethoven
Gotta hear it again today.
My temperature's rising, need a shot of rhythm & blues
Well, my heart's beating a rhythm, shakin' out rhythm & blues
Roll Over Beethoven
They're rocking in two by two.
CHORUS
Well, if you feel you like it
Go get your lover and reel and rock it
Roll it over and move on up now
Go for cover and reel and rock it
Roll it over
Roll Over Beethoven, tell Tchaikovsky the news.
Early in the morning I'm giving you my warning
Don't you step on my blue suede shoes
Hey, diddle diddle, gonna play my fiddle
I ain't got nothing to lose
Roll Over Beethoven, tell Tchaikovsky the news.
She wiggles like a glow worm, dances like a spinning top
She got a crazy partner, you should of seen her reel & rock
Long as she got a dime
The music will never stop.
REPEAT CHORUS
Roll Over Beethoven, Roll Over Beethoven
Roll Over Beethoven, Roll Over Beethoven
Roll Over Beethoven, dig these rhythm & blues?
05 Kuiama (11:19)
My My Kuiama, she came in the morning
she smiled but the tears on her little face
showed the pain that had been in that far off place
so sad, treated so bad
My My Kuiama, don't break your heart tryin
to say how your ma and your pa passed away
and they left you to wander the ruin and decay
real mean, that bullet machine
See here Kuiama, now ten thousand miles
is a long long way and you're here today
and you won't go back so you might say
hello, how do you do
Kuia stop your cryin, there's no bombs a'fallin
no horsemen in the night a'ridin through your dreams and tearing at your life
baby goodnight
No more silver rain will hit your ground
and no more guns will sound
and no more life be drowned
No more trenches where the soldiers lie
and no more people die
beneath that big black sky
Wake up Kuiama, I got somethin to tell you
it's just that I mean, well that is to say,
that I'm trying to explain but I'll start again,
for you, I must be true.
Kuia in this country, they got rules with no reason
they teach you to kill and they send you away
with your gun in your hand, you pick up your pay
so cool, that no mercy tool
Kuia please believe me? I just couldn't help myself.
I wanted to run but they gave me a gun
and they told me the duty I owed to my Fatherland.
I made my stand.
Kuia I just shot them, I just blew their heads open,
and I heard them scream in their agony
Kuiama she waits there for me
True blue, you saw it through.
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