4. Electric Light Orchestra--On the Third Day
#4: Electric Light Orchestra--On the Third Day (1973)
Top-Notch Tracks: "Ocean Breakup/King of the Universe," [HJ200 #42], "Dreaming of 4000," [HJ200 #82], "Ma-Ma-Ma Belle," [HJ200 #185], "Showdown," "Daybreaker," "In the Hall of the Mountain King," "New World Rising/Ocean Breakup (reprise,)" "Oh No Not Susan"
Album Depth: "Bluebird Is Dead"
Weak Links: Not enough bellybuttons.
Stand-Out Lyrics: "It's all making me ready. It's all doing what you gotta do."--"Ocean Breakup/King of the Universe"
"Feel the soul, quiet emotion. Sail on by, helpless devotion. If that's how it feels, it better be real."--"Dreaming of 4000"
"Got love, if that's what you need. I got three or four babies sittin' on my knee. I got good love waiting for you. I come sneaking 'round the corner of the avenue."--"Ma-Ma-Ma Belle"
"She cried to the southern wind, about a love that was sure to end. Every dream in her heart was gone. Heading for a showdown."--"Showdown"
"New dawn, smiling down on the old blue world. Can you feel it? Like the first of Spring the bells are ringing out a little tune for you."--"New World Rising"
"You gave me a sunny day. Now it looks as if I'll pay."--"Bluebird Is Dead"
"Susan met the lords and dukes of everywhere. Smiling, kissing, wishing that they'd go to hell. And then she'd laugh. Wonder why. Take a nap. Sit and cry."--"Oh No Not Susan"
"Take care of your woman or you'll never ever see the light. Take heed of the warning, or you know it's gonna be too late."--"Dreaming of 4000"
"Bad dreamer, what's your name? Looks like we're riding on the same train. Looks as though there'll be more pain. There's gonna be a showdown."--"Showdown"
"Hey, good morning. How you doing? Well, I'm doing fine. It's nearly nine, I must be gone. I see no sorrow now. Nobody has a care."--"New World Rising"
"That's all she says. Her money and her place, they just don't mean a fu#&ing thing."--"Oh No Not Susan"
"Here, there, everywhere, they keep on moving without fear. They look me up, they look me down, they press my body to the ground. But I see the light, see the light, it's coming, shining."--"Dreaming of 4000"
"She came to me like a friend. She blew in on the southern wind. Now my heart is turned to stone again. There's gonna be a showdown."--"Showdown"
"King of the universe. I am king, king of the sky!"--"Ocean Breakup/King of the Universe"
Album cover: US version: 10 out of 10. Bellybuttons!!! It's seven grown men (not so) subtly exposing their bellybuttons, in a photograph taken by famous fashion photographer Richard Avedon. It's all you could ask for in an album cover, plus seven belly buttons!
UK version: 1 out of 10. It's a blurry picture of Jeff Lynne's face. The Earth has a strange glow around it. It makes no sense, unless it's trying to imply that Jeff Lynne is God. (Hey, I'm about as big a Jeff Lynne fan as you'll find, but even I don't think that's a good look.)
I had originally thought this UK version was something Jeff Lynne put together after the breakup of the band in order to keep everyone else off the cover. But, no, this monstrosity was how the album was actually released in the UK back in 1973! I, personally, could photoshop something better than this in ten minutes--and I don't know how to use Photoshop.
Comments: "I don't know why I like it...I just do!"--Whitney Houston
There's no accounting for taste. Sometimes a person will like something for reasons that aren't readily defined. I love this album, and I'm not really sure why.
When it came time to make this list, I quickly locked in the Electric Light Orchestra albums "On the Third Day," "Discovery," and "A New World Record" as albums four through six, but I couldn't decide in what order they should be. I went back and forth several times before finally settling on the order I did. But, when I look at the "Stand-out Lyrics" section above, the lyrics from this album are not nearly as strong as the lyrics from the other two albums. (Of course, the fact that two of the songs from this album are instrumentals factors into that a bit.)
So, why do I have this album higher? I think it's because it's more obscure. It's almost like this is my own personal album that nobody else gets or likes as much as I do. It's my own little secret (that I'm writing about on the internets.)
That's not to say it's without its musical merits. Side 2 has always been a monster, starting off with the instrumental "Daybreaker," which seems like it was tailor-made for an NFL Films highlight reel, followed by the hard-blasting guitar rock of "Ma-Ma-Ma Belle," then the what-the-hell-is-that excellent mishmash that is "Dreaming of 4000," and finally capped off with the over the top bombast of "In the Hall of the Mountain King." (It's a great showcase for Bev Bevan's drums.) (For years I thought that "In the Hall of the Mountain King" was written by Jeff Lynne, not knowing it was a well-known classical composition by Edvard Greig.)
Side 1 isn't exactly chopped liver, though. It mostly consists of a four song suite that all flows together, starting with "Ocean Breakup/King of the Universe." I really love Lynne's vocalizing on this song, as it really enhances the flying/floating aspect of it. (Lyrics? I don't need no stinking lyrics!) The next two songs, "Bluebird Is Dead," and "Oh No Not Susan," are very similar, and I used to get them confused. But, there are differences. "Bluebird" features more nice Lynne falsetto vocals, while "Susan" has Lynne going full Ben Folds and unleashing the "f" word! (More than once!) The lyrics are actually pretty amusing, and I think Susan is someone I'd like to get to know. (Although she probably wouldn't want to have a f*%ing thing to do with me.) The little suite finishes up with "New World Rising," which plays out like an early trial run at "Mr. Blue Sky."
Side 1 finishes up with the awesome, bluesy "Showdown." Back in the day, Lynne had a good feel for combining the blues with pop music perfection. (See: "Showdown," and "Evil Woman.") I didn't always fully appreciate this song, but then it was used to absolute perfection in the Bill Murray/Woody Harrelson movie Kingpin as the background music for the bowling showdown finale, and I finally got it.
This is my highest rated "Go Back" album. I'm not sure when I first purchased it, but it was probably sometime around 9th or 10th grade. I was initially exposed to "Ma-Ma-Ma Belle" and "Showdown" on the early greatest hits album titled "Ole ELO," which inspired me to spend my hard-earned $20-a-month allowance on all of the ELO back catalogue. I'm glad I did. Because I really, really like this album!
I'd say more, but I think that's enough navel gazing for today.
Up next: You ain't from around here, are you?
Having listened to this album a dozen times now, I can see why you'd rank it higher as an obscure album. It was the same thing for me with Billy Joel's Turnstiles. It didn't have but a couple "hit" songs on it, but it sure had a lot of damn fine music in the more obscure songs that were big fan favorites at his concerts. Also, as an album it has an underlying theme that ties all of the songs together nicely--that theme being the tragic daydream of life and death...and maybe redemption of man (Jesus rose from the dead on the third day). It starts with the Morse code at the beginning of the album that spells out "ELO" repeatedly, like it's some kind of distress signal, and the ocean being a symbol of imminent death (the ocean also being formed on the third day of creation). Then there comes the lyrics of the King of the Universe being afraid of the "tragic daydream" that is life and death. And it ends with the instrumental "In the Hall of the Mountain King," which is a reference to the story of Peer Gynt, who is kind of like the Norwegian equivalent of Tom Sawyer--a rascal on a series of adventures in which he learns about life, death, and love. The song at the end of the album is from the part of the story right after Peer knocks his head on a rock and has a daydream in which he visits the Hall of the Mountain King, and he is asked the crucial question, "What is the difference between troll and man?" The answer is that man says it is important to be true to yourself, but the trolls say to be true to yourself and "to hell with the rest of the world"--which introduces the main cause of Peer's downfall--self-centered egotism. Anyway, the Peer Gynt song is about a tragic daydream that Peer has that leads to his eventual downfall. But in the end, he is redeemed through the love of a woman. So love is the thing that redeems us from the tragic daydream of life and death.
ReplyDeleteAt least, that's what I think the album is about. I mean, the bellybutton is the part of our bodies that remind us of the very beginning of life, so even the album cover is in reference to that theme of life and death.
By the way, the song Showdown wasn't on the UK album. Apparently, some contractual problems with record companies in the UK meant they couldn't include it there. But they could in the US. I suppose it's the same deal with their belly buttons--they were contractually forbidden to show them in Britain, but it's find and dandy to expose one's midriff in the states.
And I must mention that at one time I was a little jealous that you got $20 a month for an allowance. I got Jack Squat for allowance. But I really didn't want for anything, and I got enough birthday money to buy all the Billy Joel albums I wanted, so I suppose my only real complaint is that I had to wait until after my birthday to get my music, while you got yours on a more regular basis.
Oh, and one more thing. I never noticed it before, but for some radio stations the screen on my 4Runner will display small graphics of the artist singing the song that I'm listening to. And over the last week I've noticed that the image that gets posted for ELO songs is the belly-button cover of On the Third Day. And do you know what I want to sing when I see that cover on my 4Runner's screen?
First Mr. Bell...elly-button!
Nardo