Review Summary: An odd melding of rock, music hall, chamber music and cacophony that often doesn't hit the mark
For most of its existence, the Electric Light Orchestra was effectively a solo project of guitarist/vocalist/songwriter/producer Jeff Lynne, whose struggles to discover his musical voice would lead him down a path of not-quite-prog rock before achieving success with a string of Beatlesque hook-laden earworms. But this debut ELO album, entitled
No Answer in the US, would bear little resemblance to anything that followed it, having more in common with The Move that begat it than the Electric Light Orchestra that would dominate the airwaves of the mid-to-late 70s.
The Electric Light Orchestra was not originally Lynne's idea, but was conceived by Roy Wood of The Move, who wished to have a rock band with classical instruments that would carry on where "I Am the Walrus" had left off. Frustrated that his own band The Idle Race was unable to find commercial success, Lynne joined The Move in 1970 with the understanding that the group would be transitioned into ELO. Lynne and Wood divided the songwriting duties on those two final Move albums (
Looking On and
Message From the Country), and that same approach would be taken with
No Answer.
No Answer opens with "10538 Overture," a Lynne track that was the album's single and the only song that remains an enduring part of the ELO catalogue. (Lynne liked it enough to rerecord it for the group's 2012 revamped greatest hits collection, and Paul Weller used it as the basis for his song "The Changingman".) "10538" was originally written for The Move and it shows -- it sounds very much like the title track of
Message from the Country, with a memorable opening guitar riff and a lead vocal that would have suited John Lennon but with Wood's raw cello attack tacked on for good measure. This is one instance in which an album's most popular song also happens to be its best.
Despite its promising start, things go downhill from there. Wood's "First Movement" is an all-too-obvious homage to "Classical Gas" that doesn't add to the original. Lynne explores his inner McCartney with "Mr. Radio" and "Nellie Takes Her Bow," but neither of those excursions into music hall accomplishes what Sir Paul was able to achieve with the likes of "Your Mother Should Know" or "Martha My Dear." Lynne does fare better with "Queen of the Hours," a song about a clock that is the ELO equivalent of "Eleanor Rigby."
Wood and Lynne each try their hand at serious instrumentals ("The Battle of Marston Moor" and "Manhattan Rumble," respectively), which provide the album's most progressive moments. But both pieces also do the most to betray the underlying weaknesses of ELO's initial outing: Neither musician had the songwriting talent, chops or grounding in classical music that might have made for a more compelling record. (Emerson, Lake and Palmer would have had no reason to lose any sleep over this bit of faux-classical competition.) The unfortunate result is that the Move's final album often makes a stronger musical statement than ELO's first.
The Beatles that had inspired ELO had the advantages of an outstanding producer/arranger with musical training (George Martin), a budget to hire trained studio musicians, and strong songwriting skills that allowed the group to create work that was both tuneful and adventurous. In contrast, Lynne and Wood produced themselves and many of the traditional instruments were played by Wood himself, whose devotion to the cause often exceeded his capabilities. Although Wood's buzz saw cello assault could work to good effect on "10538," the approach grows stale over the course of an entire album, a listening experience that is furthered marred by the often maudlin lyrics and Wood's overly earnest (read: whiny) lead vocal.
No Answer certainly deserves an "A" for effort -- it is in many ways a courageous attempt and there is no other rock record that is quite like it. But the execution is flawed and it does not stand up to repeated listening, which may help to explain why Roy Wood's first ELO album would prove to be his last and Lynne would quickly reinvent the band for its second release.
Recommended tracks: "10538 Overture", "Queen of the Hours"
Author's note/ shameless plug: This is one part of my ongoing series of reviews of most of ELO's original studio releases, with albums reviewed in chronological order. If you found this commentary to be somewhat informative, interesting, intriguing, intelligent, indefensible, insufferable, infuriating, incoherent, inane, incomprehensible or insulting, or if you just want to take pity on a guy who is masochistic enough to write these things, then please take a look at the other reviews and add your own thoughts. Thanks.
