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SHOWDOWN
The ELO Mailing List Digest
Issue #012
October 29, 1997


     In this issue:

     Song Of The Week starts this Sunday!
     ELO sounds like The Sweet?
     Idea for ELO web site
     ELO list welcomes Earl Green
     Idle Race web site: Days of the Broken Arrows
     New ELO Part II London pics
     Is that a sock??
     Eric Troyer radio interview


============================================================
ALL PUBLIC RESPONSES TO ARTICLES ON THIS LIST SHOULD BE
SENT TO THE TALK LIST ADDRESS: elo-list@eskimo.com
============================================================


Subject: Breakin' Down The Walls!
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 18:59:21 +0000
From: Lynn Hoskins

Dear ELO-ites,

Now that the Digest is up and running (and timid list members have a
place to hide ;) I thought we'd REALLY have some fun and do a Song Of
The Week.

I'm told this was attempted on the ELO list once before, but it never
took off.  We have quite a few more subscribers now, and I've received a
lot of private e-mail letting me know that you'd really like to talk
more about the music...but need a little nudge.

Song Of The Week is extremely successful on a number of music mailing
lists.  I've seen it in action, and it's a great deal of fun.  Shall we
give it a try? :)

My plan is to announce a new Song Of The Week every Sunday night.  That
way it's in place at the beginning of each week.  I'd like to stick with
official ELO & ELO Part II releases, and maybe get to something from
"Armchair Theater" at some point.  If anyone feels like I'm leaving
something/someone out, please let me know.  But, I think that with all
the ELO and ELO Part II albums, we've got enough songs to do this for
several years!

I'd really like to try to avoid ELO vs. Part II arguments when we
discuss the songs.  (As in, "The new band couldn't possibly write
anything this good!")  That'll get real tiring.  Perhaps we can go into
this agreeing that ELO and ELO Part II are different bands, and
therefore don't sound the same.  How's that? :)

(Note that Song Of The Week discussions are in *addition* to anything
else you'd normally post to the list.  In case anyone was worried!)

There are many possible Song Of The Week topics to discuss.  Lyrics,
vocals, arrangement, instrumentation, live performance, production,
etc.  I think it would also be fun to hear your personal interpretation
of a song, what emotions it stirs up, and where you were/how you felt
when you heard it for the very first time.  Positive AND negative
comments are welcome.  (Let's try to avoid flaming over likes and
dislikes, okay?)

One last thing...  if anyone can think of a better name for this
"organized song discussion," please let me know.  I kicked around
calling it "Raiding the Archives" but found myself going back to Song Of
The Week.  Anyway, I'm open to suggestions!

The first song will be announced this Sunday.  I'm looking forward to
reading your posts!

Lynn

P.S. The Move list will be doing a Song Of The Week, too.  If anyone on
this list is interested in learning more about the music of The Move & 
Roy Wood, but you don't necessarly want to participate or receive daily
posts, you're welcome to subscribe to the Useless Information Digest so
that you can "eavesdrop."

To subscribe, send an e-mail to:

move-digest-request@eskimo.com

Subject line: subscribe


                                **********


Subject: ELO/The Sweet
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 07:54:24 +0000
From: Scott Pierson

Hey!

Anybody remember the song by Sweet, "Love is Like Oxygen"?  Many
people I have run into thought THAT was ELO...  Maybe that's why I
like that song so much!!!


                                **********


Subject: Re: ELO/The Sweet
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 05:24:31 -0800 (PST)
From: Mike Hudson

Yeah, as a matter of fact, I have a compilation CD on loan from a friend of
Sweet's greatest hits, including the shortened radio version of Love Is Like
Oxygen.

I never really thought THAT song sounded anything like ELO.

But listen to an old song called FOX ON THE RUN!  If that's not a tribute to
DO YA, I don't know what is.


                                **********


Subject: Just an idea
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 13:58:14 +0000
From: Maurice Dockrell

Hi - just saw something of interest for those who run a web site. On the
KISS PARASITE site they have a whole load of concert reviews of Kiss from
years back - also they obviously had a poll and each song listed in order
of merit with a short review of the song and the same for each album. they
aslo had a current top 10 (i think) songs which changed weekly - was a fun
interactive type website.

Just thought someone running a website could get a few ideas as it was
very well done.


                                **********


Subject: Greetings!
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 14:06:53 EST
From: Earl E Green

Wow, an ELO mailing list with traffic!  And I was starting to lose
hope...(grin)

First off, let me introduce myself.  "My name is Earl, and" - looking
around the room - "I'm an ELO fan!"

Actually, fan doesn't cut it.  I'm also a songwriter and, to a lesser
degree, musician (definitely amateur, mind you!), and I think it's fair to
say there is a lot of Jeff Lynne influence on my music.  Oh, there are a
lot of other influences too, but there always seems to be something
Lynne-ish in there.  If I could just sing like the guy, I'd be in good 
shape.  Heck, if I could, in fact, *sing*... (chuckle)

I'm also a fan of The Move and some - but admittedly not all - of Roy
Wood's solo work.  And I am finally getting into Part II since seeing them
in concert last Thanksgiving in my hometown in Arkansas (don't worry, the
band had never heard of it either - in fact, they may have forgotten it
already, especially that guy yelling "great show!" at the top of his lungs
as they got on the bus to leave...(grin)).  For all my misgivings about
their original material, Part II kicks some serious butt live with the old
ELO material.  (And I have to admit, toward the end of "Thousand Eyes,"
I'd almost swear I was listening to Discovery.)  I know there are
detractors - and in the past, I have been one of them.  But the way they
do justice to the old material, and occasionally come up with really good
new songs like "Ain't Necessarily So" and "Don't Wanna," I'm all for
keeping the band in business.

Let's see, what else?  Favorite albums: "A New World Record" (the first
rock album I ever owned), "Eldorado," "Secret Messages" and "Time."
(I liked most of the stuff on Xanadu too, though I could do without the
title track.)  Favorite songs: "Rain Is Falling" (actually my favorite
piece of music ever, period, hands-down, end-of-discussion (grin)), "Laredo
Tornado," "Mission," "Summer and Lightning," "Night in the City," "Need
Her Love," "Stranger," "Without Someone"...maybe I would have saved
more bandwidth listing ELO songs I don't like, there are fewer of those!

BTW, saw some previous discussions of ELO-esque new releases.  I
strongly advise the curious to pick out "Jason Falkner presents: Author
Unknown."  Falkner was one of the founders of Jellyfish, which is about
as close as I've heard anyone who wasn't connected to ELO sound like
them.  Jellyfish is no more, but from Falkner's album, you get a good
idea who wrote the really good songs.  His vocal range is not dissimilar
to Jeff Lynne's.

So that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.  Looking forward to some
lively conversations and reliable news here!


                                **********


Subject: Greetings to Earl!
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 15:21:26 +0000
From: Lynn Hoskins 

Earl Green wrote:

> But the way they do justice to the old material, and occasionally
> come up with really good new songs like "Ain't Necessarily So"
> and "Don't Wanna," I'm all for keeping the band in business.

First of all, Earl, it's great to have you here!  Second, "Moment Of
Truth" has really grown on me.  I'm especially fond of "Power Of A
Million Lights," "Twist Of The Knife" (I love Kelly's voice) and
"Whiskey Girls"!  Bev really wallops those drums.  I'm glad they mix the
old ELO covers with their original material...gives their sets more
depth and a lot of variety.

> Favorite albums: "A New World Record" (the first rock album I ever
> owned)

Wow, really?  Was there one song in particular that made you buy it?  I
was already a fan when this one came out, but I remember liking
"Rockaria!" the most after my first listen.

> Jellyfish is no more, but from Falkner's album, you get a good
> idea who wrote the really good songs.  His vocal range is not
> dissimilar to Jeff Lynne's.

Just as an aside, if you check out the Jellyfish website
(http://bubblegum.uark.edu/Jellyfish/) and find the RealAudio files, you
be able to hear a Jellyfish cover of The Move's "I Can Hear The Grass
Grow."  Of course Jeff wasn't with The Move when they did this, but he
was with The Idle Race, and they were, of course, big Move fans...  it's
a tangled web, but it all makes sense. :)


                                **********


Subject: Re: Greetings to Earl!
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 21:10:34 EST
From: Earl E Green

On Tue, 28 Oct 1997 15:21:26 +0000 Lynn Hoskins writes:

>"Moment Of Truth" has really grown on me.  I'm especially fond of
>"Power Of A Million Lights," "Twist Of The Knife" (I love Kelly's voice)
>and "Whiskey Girls"!  Bev really wallops those drums.  I'm glad they
>mix the old ELO covers with their original material...gives their sets
>more depth and a lot of variety.

I will say this about Part II - Eric Troyer is the greatest asset of the
new members.  Not to knock Phil or the departed Neil Lockwood (who went
on to work on the last Alan Parsons album - an interesting connection
for folks like me who are Parsons and ELO fans), but Eric I think has the
strongest handle of any of the Part II personnel on what makes a song
an ELO-ish song.

Re: "A New World Record" (the first rock album I ever owned)
>Wow, really?  Was there one song in particular that made you buy it?

Well, it was my brother's album, but he gave it to me to get me to shut
up.  I was about six at the time, and had spent most of my childhood
shunning the radio in favor of the soundtrack from "Star Wars."  But that
intro from "Tightrope" sold me on ELO pretty quick!  I still listen to a
lot of soundtracks and a lot of bona-fide classical music, and as a result
also have a special affinity for rock music which uses the same elements, 
such as ELO, Alan Parsons, and ENZSO.

The thought occurs that we're looooong overdue for an album along the
lines of "The London Symphony Orchestra performs the music of ELO."
I recently picked up an album of LSO translations of Sting and Police
tunes and it was fair, but those song weren't ever conceived with an
orchestra in mind - whereas ELO's music most assuredly was.

>Just as an aside, if you check out the Jellyfish website
>(http://bubblegum.uark.edu/Jellyfish/) and find the RealAudio files,
>you be able to hear a Jellyfish cover of The Move's "I Can Hear The
>Grass Grow."  Of course Jeff wasn't with The Move when they did this,

Cool - didn't know Chris had added any RA goodies!  (He and I went to
high school together, and he hosts my personal web site with some of
my homebrewed music in RA form too.)  Chris introduced me to the
Jellyfish version, and I happened to have the Move version handy.  And
you wonder why both of our music sites are on bubblegum.uark.edu?
(grin)  Chris is also an endless source of guitar tips, for any fellow
musicians out there, and never ceased to be fascinated by the prospect
of borrowing my guitar to try some Hendrix (since I'm a leftie, and he
would be playing mine upside-down).  Small world online, eh?


                                **********


Subject: Days of the Broken Arrows
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 09:02:23 GMT
From: Ed Morris

Hi all,

For all those who asked (and presumably all those that didn't) I've
(well we've) had a pretty good stab at the lyrics to both released
versions of Days of the Broken Arrows.

They're now up on the Idle Race page along with most of the others:

http://www.student.brad.ac.uk/~emorris/ir/ir4.html

Give us a shout if you can fill in the gaps :)

Ta

[This Website has since been moved to: 
http://www.iinet.net.au/~althomp/austelo/idle/index.html]


                                **********


Subject: New Pix
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 21:24:39 -0000
From: John Kilcline 

Hi All,

3 super new pix from last nights London gig

courtesy of Gary Holderness

http://www.elopart2.demon.co.uk/elopics.html

Enjoy


                                **********


Subject: Re: New Pix
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 14:50:38 +0000
From: Lynn Hoskins 

Some GREAT pics have come in over the past few days.  Thanks for the
visual treat!  (Would it be rude to say "Pfwoaaaar!"?)

A question...  what has Bev got on his hand in the next to last shot on
the page?  His sock??  Eric looks amused...or perplexed!


                                **********


Subject: Re: New Pix
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 01:11:38 +0000
From: Ken Latta 

Yes, it is a sock!!

I'm lead to believe it has something to do with Eric working with Shari
Lewis and Lambchop recently! The mind boggles!!!!?


                                **********


Subject: Eric's radio interview
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 20:28:43 -0000
From: John Kilcline 

Hi All,

Phew'' I thought the workload would slow down a bit after the UK tour!!

Understatement

Anyway, a new radio interview by Eric Troyer is now on the site

courtesy of Graham Vine

http://www.elopart2.demon.co.uk/radios.html

thanks Graham, another wonderful moment!!!



End of Showdown #012
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