A bit late but worth mentioning. ELO’s Out of the Blue is a massive moment in pop history. A double pop album, hitherto only attempted by pro rock artists, Out of the Blue earns its stripes. It is hard to believe this was the band’s seventh album. Unfortunately, with wedding planning, work commitments, qualification, I will not be able to dedicate an enormous amount of time to this review, but the essentials will be covered! The story goes that Jeff Lynne locked himself in a studio in the Alps, with a rented electric piano, tape recorder, and his own guitar. The final two weeks of his sojourn saw him compose 14 tracks of the 19 on the album.
The last ELO album to make a major impact on popular music, Out of the Blue was of a piece with its predecessor, A New World Record, as the most lavishly produced album in the group’s history, but it’s a much more mixed bag as an album, suffering from overkill in several departments. For starters, it was a double LP, a format that has proved daunting to all but a handful of rock artists. The songs were flowing fast and freely from Jeff Lynne at the time, however, and the idea of a double LP was probably tempting as a chance to release an album that was irrefutably substantial. Allmusic
This album has some of ELO’s best tracks on it: Evil Woman, Birmingham Blues (inspired in part by Gershwin’s An American in Paris, don’t you know) and of course, Mr Blue Sky. The album opens with Turn to Stone, which is overproduced (as the rest are) but overall very fun and catchy. Probably the best song on the first side is Night in the City – which I think of often while out in the city.
In the end, every one of the 19 tracks on Out Of the Blue were composed and produced by Lynne and the album was on the shelf in mere months. Out Of the Blue was a great success, reaching the top five on album charts in seven different countries and becoming the most highly regarded album by ELO. The album also benefited from being highly relevant to its time, having some disco-friendly sounds in the year which brought us Saturday Night Fever and spaceship-centered artwork in the year that brought us Star Wars. Classic Rock Review
The third side is called Concerto for a Rainy Day, which Lynne wrote after a long spell of rain in his Swiss chalet gave way to radiant sunshine. It ends in the sublime Mr Blue Sky which is the shining star of the album (aside from its cover).
Overall this is a superbly fun and engaging album which will live in mine and Charlotte’s hearts. We listened to this one evening and it lifted our spirits wonderfully.