RATINGS: A = must own B = buy it C= average D = yawn F = puke

Electric Light Orchestra – Live
Frontier Records
www.frontiers.it

Rating: B

Jeff Lynne is most comfortable in the recording studio, however, when he comes out to play, on stage that is, he proves a quite capable bandleader.  

Not only is this a rare live ELO album, it actually is a new live ELO album—sort of.  You see, Live comes from a 2001 DVD that was released of a 2001 live performance for PBS television.  This is the first time it has been put out as a standalone CD.  Plus, Lynne and his record company, Frontiers Records, have a special bonus treat for ELO fanatics—actually, they have six of them in the form of four tunes that were left off the original DVD release in "Secret Messages," "Sweet Talkin' Woman," "Twilight," and "Confusion" and two unreleased studio tracks, both from 2010 titled “Out of Luck” and “Cold Feet.”  

Aside from the great two new tunes and the bonus songs, Live is just what one would expect from Jeff Lynne and the Electric Light Orchestra.  The evening’s set list was a treasure trove of classic hits making Live a special album indeed.  

ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA LIVE: Evil Woman, Showdown, Secret Messages, Livin’ Thing, Sweet Talkin’ Woman, Mr. Blue Sky, Can’t Get It Out Of My Head, Twilight, Confusion, Don’t Bring Me Down, Roll Over Beethoven, Out of Luck (Bonus), Cold Feet (Bonus)

By Jeb Wright