Electric Light Orchestra
On the Third Day

The third album by ELO's band is not as celebrated as the illustrious "Eldorado," "Out Of Blue," or "Discovery," and it's perhaps difficult to understand why.

In 1973, during the peak of the progressive era, the band released an album that had a lot of innovation. To begin with, there was the pop vision of prog, which at that time had reached its highest peaks but was distinctly more dreamy and esoteric, more confined to niches of listeners very inclined to this kind of music. In terms of pop-prog, this work by Jeff Lynne and his ELO hits the mark. An album that contains a prelude and an interlude (at the end of the 4th track, New World Rising), "Ocean Breakup," which mimics the initial movement of Beethoven's 5th and manages to be engaging and credible. We know Lynne's inclination towards strings and orchestrations, which was more a cause of aversion than attraction towards the band. However, the use of these inserts (now constant in this work) is more sincere and blends perfectly with guitars and keyboards in the fabric of the songs, rather showing Lynne's desire to explore new sound solutions and proving functional to the narration of the songs. "Bluebird Is Dead" is a track that traces Jeff Lynne's deep admiration (or shall we call it obsession) for the Beatles, even in the drum arrangements, and perfectly immerses into the atmospheres of "Abbey Road." With "Oh No Not Susan" and "New World Rising" following, it forms a sort of mini-suite where the tracks are more like chapters without continuity solution, which, as already mentioned, flow into the interlude of Ocean Breakup. This first part closes with "Showdown," the first hit of this album, isolated and overall decontextualized, devoted to its role as a hit. "Daybreaker" opens the second side. It is the most rococo track of the album with an obsessive keyboard riff that at times resembles a spinet. A track I would have better seen on a Rondò Veneziano album. Leaving behind this misstep, the album returns with Marc Bolan's attack in "Ma-Ma-Belle" and Jeff quickly redeems himself (the track would not be out of place on a Stones album, to be honest). The second hit of the album stands out on side B with its biting rock drive, but also markedly danceable for that era. "Dreaming Of 4000" offers decisively brilliant shifts in sound and is my favorite track on the album, foreshadowing what we would later hear from the Alan Parsons Project. It concludes with "In The Hall Of The Mountain King" which rewrites two works by Edvard Grieg (a Norwegian composer from the late 1800s) "Morning Mood" and indeed "In The Hall Of The Mountain King," which already at a second listening integrates well into the structure and sequence of the album's tracks.

The impression you get after listening is that "On The Third Day" is an important album! Certainly for the group and for its identity, it's a fundamental album, characterizing what will be their entire future. Evidence lies in the two successes contained in it, a sign of a direction shared by the audience, at least the American one. In fact, rather than at home, "On The Third Day" entered the Billboard 200 and remained there for about 6 months, paving the way for the band in the American market even before the English one. Moreover, the work saw the beginning of the collaboration with Mik Kaminski, an English violinist who would tie his name to the group for many more works.

The structure of the album's side A, which recalls side B of the Beatles' "Abbey Road," is also interesting and successful. Some time later, George Harrison, who had meanwhile become a great friend of Jeff Lynne, remarked that if the Beatles had continued to play, they would have done so like the Electric Light Orchestra. That story probably started with this album. And does that seem like little to you?!?!