They are kind of cheese....but Telephone Line is catchy

I adore "Mr. Blue Sky."

Best band ever. How can they forget my favorites of Cant get it out of my head, living thing, and telephone line...simple awesome music

are u freaking kidding me that this bullshit is before mariah, elvis, beyone, and the go go's to just name a few

In their early days they came out with an excellent version of 'Roll over Beethoven' and one or two decent singles like 'Evil woman'. Then they made the vastly overrated and inexplicably popular 'Out of the blue' and released some truly naff singles such as the execrable 'mr blue sky' and 'Wild west hereo.

Awful stuff.They have about one song that doesn't make me want to puke.

Simply one of the most innovative bands of the 70's and 80's. Jeff Lynne is a MONSTER contributor to the 90's and beyond. R&RHOF all the way!

Simply one of the best. Jeff Lynne, one of the best songwriters and producers ever.

Awesome mixture of classical strings and the best pop & rock!!

Should be in the RIRHOF

The Electric Light Orchestra (ie ELO) started out as a prog-rock band that made heavy use of classical string arrangements (ie the orchestra aspect). Starting in 1971, the band released a series of more "conventional" pro-rock recordings which are better left sampled via a compilation (eg their cover of Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven," "Showdown," "Can't Get It Out Of My Head," "Evil Woman," and "Strange Magic"); however, ELO's 1976 effort, "A New World Record," was the first of several solid full-length recordings that were filled with tighter crafted, more accessible tracks (eg "Tightrope," "Telephone Line," and "Livin' Thing"), and the listener finds that Jeff Lynne had definitely arrived as a master pop song writer and performer. The band followed with "Out Of The Blue" in 1977 which was a more ambitious, double length effort and is considered by Lynne to be the band's greatest achievement (though the critics didn't agree). I do concur with Lynne's assessment, as "Blue" is full of both great singles (eg "Turn To Stone," "Sweet Talkin' Woman," and "Mr. Blue Sky") and deeper cuts (eg "Night In The City" and "Steppin' Out"). The closest ELO gets to prog excess is the third "side" consisting entirely of the suite "Concerto For A Rainy Day," but Lynne was smart enough to break the piece up into pop friendly bites and provides some of the better tracks on the entire recording. The band continued this remarkable and successful run with "Discovery" (1979) which scales back the strings even further resulting in the more traditional rock oriented "Shine A Little Love," "Last Train To London," and "Don't Bring Me Down." Unfortunately, the rise of new wave and the work the band did for the film "Xanadu" started to tip the scales of popular attention away from the band, a change from which the group has yet to completely recover, notwithstanding some excellent post-Xanadu singles (eg "Twilight"). The bottom line is that ELO was not only highly successful (if not the most commercially successful prog-rock group), but was also able to create a highly distinctive style that is almost universally recognized. Nevertheless, approaching such a large body of work is best left to one solid compilation that includes all the earlier and latter hits (eg "Strange Magic: The Best Of Electric Light Orchestra" (1995)), supplemented by "New World Record," "Out Of The Blue," and "Discovery."

They are definitely in my top5 bands of all time As far as innovation musical intelligence melody they are just the best no band I can say is better in the last 30 years. great melodies stirring harmonies.Jeff Lynne the best song writer ever . Just get into the stuff you will be hooked. Underrated now butproof is the fact that all the top artist used Jeff Lynne to write and produce there stuff. George Harrison Paul Macartney, TomPetty Roy Orbison etc. Great how they mixed classical with Rock with astonishing results. Yes Truely one of the greats of all time.

I heard their Roll Over Beethoven on the radio this morning for the first time in a while and think it's the best version of that old chestnut ever.

wanna be Beatles.

The influence of Jeff Lynne/ELO is now bigger than ever and it's great that so many bands and songwriters are now "coming out" and admitting this important fact. Jeff Lynne's genius is just starting to be appreciated, because in many ways his songwritting abilities and eclecticism were way ahead of his time. I have always been amazed by the violent reaction some have towards his music or his production for other artists, being George Harrison's "Brainwashed" the latest example. The artists themselves never complained and kept returning for more. Lynne rescued Tom Petty's career and helped putting Harrison and Roy Orbison in the spotlight again. Paul McCartney got his first nomination for Album Of the Year in the 1997 Grammy awards thanks to Lynne's production. Are those who criticize Jeff Lynne's talent pretending to know more than the Beatles?? George Harrison and Ringo Starr both played in a couple of tracks of ELO's 2001 record, "ZOOM". Is there a bigger compliment than that? Long live to ELO/Jeff Lynne.

Just made the same record over and over again.

ELO is my personal favorite of all time. Their complete catalogue is a continual evolution unlike that of any other band, beginning with the cello-heavy art rock of their first two albums in 1972-73, through their most celebrated era of orchestral pop (New World Record, Out Of The Blue) and into the multi-layered synth of 1986's Balance Of Power and then the Wilbury-influenced sound of Zoom in 2001. Perpetually underappreciated by both the industry and the press, the longevity and chart success of Jeff Lynne's ELO nonetheless speaks for itself. -- TDR

This is obviously the greatest band EVER! There simply isn't a better group out there that has created so many diverse and excellent musical arrangements.

One of the better bands of the 70s. I love the way they used orchestration with rock music.

Fantastic and a lot of younger people are now getting into ELO. The individual members of the Beatles recognised Jeff's talents enough to work with him! ELOfansteve

great band

Eh, they're a good step above Styx and REO Speedwagon. I'd heard good things about them and that was somewhat hard to believe because "Don't Bring Me Down" is up there on my list of most hated songs. "Evil Woman" and their progressive symphonies are entertaining to listen to. Jeff Lynn brought ELO's unique sound into the Traveling Wilburys.

I have to thank my brother for buying "A New World Record" back in 76.... great music for those young ears. I like the FM hits, but i find the true gems are the other album tracks that were played on the Album Oriented Radio stations of the mid to late 70's. Jeff Lynne is a genius- excellent songwriter and strong singer. Too bad that the lineup of the late 70's heyday had to split.

There is not a single song by this bad that I like!!

Incredible music! Loved them since I was little.

Woohoooooo! Love this band!!

ELO have been going strong over the years and they deserve to be praised for their hard effort in their music.The music they have produced still lives on today even if they haven't. Well done ELO!!!

ELO is really very cool! Their music shows an amount of quality and culture that we don't see so often today. Their greatest hits album "Ole ELO" is fairly good, but they odn't compare to the greatest hits album of greater bands of their day. But, if you are looking for some great music to listen to check out some of their albums like "El Dorado" or things like this - their quality, for me, is in their rock symphonies more so than in their radio successes.

One of the all time best

My rating of 5 towards this band is for their recorded material between the years 1976 to 1983. I loved the harmonised voices of Jeff Lynne & Kelly Groucutt which were in most cases backed up by some nice keyboard sounds together with the 'orchestra'.

They should be in the TOP TEN! ! ! ELO is WAY under-rated. They are by far the best-sounding band ever. The music is up-beat and the orchestration is outrageous. NO ONE has ever come close to their height of TALENT! ! !

Another bad band of years gone by that people seem to reminisce over. I always get them and REO speedwagon confused.

This is band was the world's first bands to combine rock, pop, and classic sounds into one. They had many top ten songs. Their best albums are Time and Out of the Blue. Time is one of the best all time albums in the world. In my opinion its far better than any other complete album, including Sgt. Petter's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles. Its very futuristic, even by today's standards. Its an album with songs with a story about a man sent into the future. One of the songs from that album "Hold on Tight to Your Dreams" was a big hit for a long time and its not even the best song on the album. Check out ELO and check out the Time album or at least Out of the Blue which is also very nice. - Baron