Label: Sony Music (Japan), MHCP 1163
Style: Progressive Pop, Pop Rock
Country: Birmingham, England
Time: 56:17
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 386 Mb
Charts: UK #9, AUS #49, AUT #29, GER #18, JPN #22, NLD #20, NOR #4, SWE #3, SWI #10, US #49. UK: Silver
You
won’t hear casual fans talk much about the 1986 album Balance of Power
when discussing Electric Light Orchestra’s body of work. It lacked the
big-hit singles of previous ELO albums. If it’s remembered at all by
most folks, it’s as the final ELO album before Lynne essentially put the
band on a 15-year hiatus.
We believe this album deserves a fresh
listen if you’ve dismissed it. Balance of Power might sound more like
the work of a synth-rock band than it resembles ELO’s famous mixing of
classical instruments with rock and roll. But Lynne’s songcraft and
production wizardry are all over the record, which sounds sharp and
energized today—well beyond its reputation as a contractual obligation.
Let’s explore Balance of Power.
There’s no way around it: Balance of
Power likely wouldn’t have happened if Jeff Lynne didn’t have one more
album to go on ELO’s record contract. In fact, had the 1983 album Secret
Messages been a double-album like Lynne had intended it to be, it’s
possible he would have jettisoned ELO at that point.
Why was Lynne
anxious to step away from the band he had started and made him a rock
hero? Well, the band’s success rate had diminished once the ’70s became
the ’80s, more due to changing musical tastes than anything they were
doing poorly. On top of that, Lynne didn’t enjoy the touring and
promoting aspect of being the leader of a band, much preferring to knock
around in the studio perfecting the music.
Band relations had also
been steadily diminishing. By the time of Balance of Power, ELO was a
three-piece, with only drummer Bev Bevan and keyboardist Richard Tandy
on board with Lynne. By all accounts, Lynne did the yeoman’s work on the
record anyway.
After making some videos and doing a mini-tour to
promote the album, Lynne walked away from ELO. He intended to stick to
production, but that work inadvertently led to Lynne joining the
Traveling Wilburys. It wouldn’t be until 2001 he would record again
under the ELO banner with the album Zoom (at which point Lynne was
pretty much the only band member involved in the making of the record).
Knowing
the context in which Balance of Power was made, you might expect a
pedestrian affair, with Lynne simply painting by numbers to get
everything out of the way. Instead, you get the opposite—a record where
it’s clear that he was meticulously trying to create something that
sounded invigorated and full of life.
(ful version:
americansongwriter.com/behind-the-album-making-the-case-for-balance-of-power-the-last-elo-album-before-jeff-lynne-took-a-wilbury-break/)
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