tim. (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} o_song) wrote,@ 2007-01-20 19:10:00 |
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Top 10 of 2006. #05. L.E.O. - Alpacas Orgling
L.E.O. - Alpacas Orgling
Cheap Lullaby Records.
"Goodbye Innocence"
(3:51, 5.61mb)
Track 2.
"Ya Had Me Goin'"
(3:10, 5.05mb)
Track 3.
A year ago, if you had told me that my 2006 list would have an ELO tribute band featuring Hanson higher in the list than an Augie March album, I would have laughed. Ho ho ho. The thing is, "Alpacas Orgling" is #5 in my list, and Augie March is #6.
Hmmm.
L.E.O. are a pastiche band, doing tributes to the style of ELO rather than faithfully copying songs. Think the Rutles, but a little less silly. I think the thing with this album is that L.E.O. are basically an improvement on ELO. ELO were pompous, self-consciously trying to ambitiously combine rock music with orchestral music. It was all very serious in that 1970s proggy kind of way. However, the thing with ELO is that the prog-orchestra stuff was pretty boring. At their best, they were basically just a band that played some straightforward pop songs in a distinctive way.
What makes L.E.O. basically interesting in a way that ELO aren't is that L.E.O. are a hell of a lot of fun. They're not taking themselves seriously. And there's that postmodern aspect - some would argue that ELO were more or less a Beatles tribute band themselves. Jeff Lynne and compadres famously claimed they were trying to start where The Beatles' "I Am The Walrus" left off. A tribute to a tribute band.
The lyrics are knowingly silly - at one stage, a chorus repeats "beating a dead horse, beating a dead horse, beating a dead horse to death". Irony intended, I suspect. The songs are nothing but pop songs that use the style of ELO, and, I have to say, they're better songs than ELO's. Pretty much every song is catchy as hell, from the "Telephone Line"-isms of "Goodbye Innocence" to the revved up Traveling Wilbury-ness of "Don't Let It Go".
"Goodbye Innocence", co-written by Jellyfish's Andy Sturmer, and featuring some of his vocals, features George Harrison-esque slide guitar, those distinctive ELO backing vocal harmonies clever/ridiculous lyrics. But above and beyond the "Telephone Line"-isms, it's simply a great song. "Ya Had Me Goin'", in contrast, is a pastiche of "Evil Woman", and its combination of the power pop backgrounds of most of the guys involved in LEO, the 70s prog-pop of ELO, and the disco beats of "Evil Woman" is strangely reminiscent of late 90s boybands like 5ive or N'Sync, except strangely musically satisfying.
It's strange; L.E.O. should be an interesting exercise and little else, but instead, it's a living thing.
Sorry about that last sentence.
L.E.O. - Alpacas Orgling
Cheap Lullaby Records.
"Goodbye Innocence"
(3:51, 5.61mb)
Track 2.
"Ya Had Me Goin'"
(3:10, 5.05mb)
Track 3.
A year ago, if you had told me that my 2006 list would have an ELO tribute band featuring Hanson higher in the list than an Augie March album, I would have laughed. Ho ho ho. The thing is, "Alpacas Orgling" is #5 in my list, and Augie March is #6.
Hmmm.
L.E.O. are a pastiche band, doing tributes to the style of ELO rather than faithfully copying songs. Think the Rutles, but a little less silly. I think the thing with this album is that L.E.O. are basically an improvement on ELO. ELO were pompous, self-consciously trying to ambitiously combine rock music with orchestral music. It was all very serious in that 1970s proggy kind of way. However, the thing with ELO is that the prog-orchestra stuff was pretty boring. At their best, they were basically just a band that played some straightforward pop songs in a distinctive way.
What makes L.E.O. basically interesting in a way that ELO aren't is that L.E.O. are a hell of a lot of fun. They're not taking themselves seriously. And there's that postmodern aspect - some would argue that ELO were more or less a Beatles tribute band themselves. Jeff Lynne and compadres famously claimed they were trying to start where The Beatles' "I Am The Walrus" left off. A tribute to a tribute band.
The lyrics are knowingly silly - at one stage, a chorus repeats "beating a dead horse, beating a dead horse, beating a dead horse to death". Irony intended, I suspect. The songs are nothing but pop songs that use the style of ELO, and, I have to say, they're better songs than ELO's. Pretty much every song is catchy as hell, from the "Telephone Line"-isms of "Goodbye Innocence" to the revved up Traveling Wilbury-ness of "Don't Let It Go".
"Goodbye Innocence", co-written by Jellyfish's Andy Sturmer, and featuring some of his vocals, features George Harrison-esque slide guitar, those distinctive ELO backing vocal harmonies clever/ridiculous lyrics. But above and beyond the "Telephone Line"-isms, it's simply a great song. "Ya Had Me Goin'", in contrast, is a pastiche of "Evil Woman", and its combination of the power pop backgrounds of most of the guys involved in LEO, the 70s prog-pop of ELO, and the disco beats of "Evil Woman" is strangely reminiscent of late 90s boybands like 5ive or N'Sync, except strangely musically satisfying.
It's strange; L.E.O. should be an interesting exercise and little else, but instead, it's a living thing.
Sorry about that last sentence.
