| Eldorado | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Electric Light Orchestra | ||||
| Released | September 1974 (US) November 1974 (UK) |
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| Recorded | February - August 1974 De Lane Lea Studios, London, United Kingdom |
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| Genre | Symphonic rock, art rock | |||
| Length | 38:42 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros., United Artists Records, Jet Records, Columbia Records | |||
| Producer | Jeff Lynne | |||
| Electric Light Orchestra chronology | ||||
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Eldorado - A Symphony By The Electric Light Orchestra (known as simply Eldorado) is the fourth studio album by the Electric Light Orchestra, released in 1974.
Contents |
Eldorado is the first complete ELO concept album; vocalist Jeff Lynne conceived the storyline before he wrote any music.[1] The plot follows a Walter Mitty-like character who journeys into fantasy worlds via dreams, in order to escape a mundane reality with which he's become fed up.
Eldorado marks the first album on which Jeff Lynne hired an orchestra; on previous albums, Lynne would overdub the strings.[1] Louis Clark co-arranged and conducted the strings, and would go on to become a full member.[1] The group's three resident string players continued to perform on recordings, however, and can be heard most prominently on the songs "Boy Blue" and "Laredo Tornado".
Mike de Albuquerque departed early on in the recording process, leaving Lynne to play bass and provide most of the backing vocals for the album (though de Albuquerque received credit.) Kelly Groucutt replaced de Albuquerque for the subsequent tour, when cellist Melvyn Gale also joined.
"Eldorado Finale" is heavily orchestrated much like "Eldorado Overture". Jeff Lynne said of the song, "I like the heavy chords and the slightly daft ending, where you hear the double bass players packing up their basses, because they wouldn't play another millisecond past the allotted moment."[1]
In 1978, filmmaker Kenneth Anger re-released his classic 1954 film Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome using Eldorado as the soundtrack.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [2] |
| George Starostin | (13/15)[3] |
| Rolling Stone | (favourable)[4] |
"Can't Get It Out of My Head" was released as a single (with "Illusions in G Major" as the flipside) and was a success in the US.
An edited version of "Boy Blue" was released as the album's second single, but failed to make any commercial impact.
The album was certified Gold in the US soon after its release. The album and singles, however, failed to find a wide audience in the band's native United Kingdom.
The front cover, designed by Sharon Osbourne (then known as Sharon Arden), consists of a still taken from the well-known 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.[5]
In July 2010, the album was named one of Classic Rock magazine's "50 Albums That Built Prog Rock".[6]
All songs written by Jeff Lynne.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Eldorado Overture" | 2:12 |
| 2. | "Can't Get It Out of My Head" | 4:21 |
| 3. | "Boy Blue" | 5:18 |
| 4. | "Laredo Tornado" | 5:29 |
| 5. | "Poor Boy (The Greenwood)" | 2:57 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Mister Kingdom" | 5:50 |
| 7. | "Nobody's Child" | 3:40 |
| 8. | "Illusions in G Major" | 2:36 |
| 9. | "Eldorado" | 5:20 |
| 10. | "Eldorado Finale" | 1:20 |
The album was remastered and reissued on 12 June 2001 with two bonus tracks, "Eldorado Instrumental Medley", a suite of the album's orchestral parts, plus "Dark City", an early draft of the track "Laredo Tornado".