Tuesday's List: My Favorite Electric Light Orchestra Songs

Lately I have been listening to the thirteen studio albums (fourteen if you count the Xanadu soundtrack) of the great classical/rock fusion band Electric Light Orchestra.  Initially a creative collaboration of Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne out of Birmingham, England, Wood left following the first album and the music has pretty much been the work of Lynne ever since...along with the accompanying band that has tended to alternately swell and diminish in membership over the years.  Ever since I first heard Can't Get It Out of My Head in December 1974, I have followed their music...although their quality seemed to plummet a bit when they went "disco" in 1979.  My favorite album is A New World Record, which I played to death after I bought it late in 1976.  Jeff Lynne still has ELO as "his" band, goes on concert tours, and even recorded a short album in 2015.  Since it's one of my all-time favorite musical acts, I thought it was about time to compile a couple of lists, first of my overall top ten favorite Electric Light Orchestra songs and then an album-by-album listing of tracks I liked from each of them. Well, here goes...

1 LIVIN' THING..........................................A New World Record
2 CAN'T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD.......Eldorado
3 SECRET MESSAGES..............................Secret Messages
4 TURN TO STONE....................................Out of the Blue
5 BOY BLUE...............................................Eldorado
6 MR. BLUE SKY.......................................Out of the Blue
7 TIGHTROPE.............................................A New World Record
8 DON'T BRING ME DOWN......................Discovery
9 ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN....................ELO 2
10 SO FINE...................................................A New World Record

And here are the songs I particularly liked from each album, listed of course in order of preference...

****No Answer (1972)****
QUEEN OF THE HOURS
LOOK AT ME NOW
10538 OVERTURE

****ELO 2 (1973)****
ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN
MOMMA

****On the Third Day (1973)****
SHOWDOWN
DAYBREAKER
OCEAN BREAKUP/KING OF THE UNIVERSE

****Eldorado (1974)****
CAN'T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD
BOY BLUE

****Face the Music (1975)****
FIRE ON HIGH
STRANGE MAGIC
POKER
ONE SUMMER DREAM
EVIL WOMAN

****A New World Record (1976)****
LIVIN' THING
TIGHTROPE
SO FINE
DO YA
SHANGRILA
ROCKARIA!
MISSION (A WORLD RECORD)
ABOVE THE CLOUDS

****Out of the Blue (1977)****
TURN TO STONE
MR. BLUE SKY
BIRMINGHAM BLUES
STANDIN' IN THE RAIN
JUNGLE
NIGHT IN THE CITY
SWEET TALKIN' WOMAN
SUMMER AND LIGHTNING

****Discovery  (1979)****
DON'T BRING ME DOWN
SHINE A LITTLE LOVE
LAST TRAIN TO LONDON

****Xanadu Soundtrack (1980)****
XANADU (with Olivia Newton-John)
I'M ALIVE

****Time (1981)****
HANG ON TIGHT
ANOTHER HEART BREAKS
TWILIGHT
YOURS TRULY, 2095

****Secret Messages (1983)****
SECRET MESSAGES
BUILDINGS HAVE EYES
ROCK 'N ROLL IS KING
FOUR LITTLE DIAMONDS

****Balance of Power (1986)****
SECRET LIVES
SEND IT
SO SERIOUS

****Zoom (2001)****
STATE OF MIND

****Alone in the Universe (2015)****
AIN'T IT A DRAG
ONE STEP AT A TIME