{"id":7948,"date":"2012-11-11T14:36:57","date_gmt":"2012-11-11T21:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=7948"},"modified":"2012-11-11T14:37:11","modified_gmt":"2012-11-11T21:37:11","slug":"7948","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2012\/11\/7948\/","title":{"rendered":"JEFF LYNNE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

JEFF LYNNE<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The ELO mastermind releases two different\u2014yet sonically linked\u2014projects\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

In a 1974 radio interview,\u00a0John Lennon said of Electric Light Orchestra, \u201cI call them the Son of Beatles, but I\u2019m sure they\u2019re doing other things we never did.\u201d It\u2019s a compliment that Jeff Lynne recalls word for word, in Lennon\u2019s Scouse accent, and treasures to this day. \u201cThat was a big moment for me,\u201d Lynne recalls.\u00a0\u201cAlmost a benediction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lennon\u2019s words seem to have been a glimpse into Lynne\u2019s future. Fronting ELO, he sent more than 20 singles into the\u00a0Top 40. Later Lynne joined supergroup the<\/p>\n

Traveling Wilburys, wrote songs with\u00a0Paul McCartney, produced Tom Petty and Roy Orbison, and oversaw two Beatles reunion singles. As he modestly puts it, \u201cI got\u00a0to work with all me heroes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, on the first of two new releases, Lynne is turning to a different group of heroes. The gorgeous covers collection Long Wave<\/em> pays tribute to such pre-rock songwriters as Rodgers & Hammerstein and Charles Aznavour. \u201cThe title Long Wave<\/em> is a visualization of a big wave bouncing into my room as I was listening to the radio as a kid,\u201d Lynne says. \u201cAll these songs bring back great memories.\u201d In the rangy melodies and rich harmonies of classics like \u201cShe\u201d and \u201cIf I Loved You,\u201d it\u2019s easy to detect a link to Lynne\u2019s own songwriting. \u201cOnce I learned to play guitar, I would use diminished and augmented chords,\u201d he affirms. \u201cA lot of these older songs are filled with those rich, colorful chords and beautiful melodies. That\u2019s what I went looking for in my own songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as his second new release proves, he found it with chart-topping regularity. On Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra<\/em>, Lynne re-records note-perfect covers of his own hits. \u201cI\u2019d hear the songs on the radio and think, \u2018I wish I could\u2019ve done this better,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cIn the 30 years since I made those records, I\u2019ve become a better producer. I found the songs much easier to record this time, because the structures and harmonies were all marked out. I wasn\u2019t writing and recording at once. This time, I had more ammunition to make them sound good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lynne is also halfway through recording a solo album of new material to be released next year. Does that mean he\u2019ll tour for the first time in three decades? \u201cWell, they always say, \u2018Never say never,\u2019\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cBut the days of the spaceships and huge groups onstage are over. Maybe I\u2019ll invent a new way of doing it. Something more intimate, say,\u00a0the Acoustic Light Orchestra.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Bill DeMain<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JEFF LYNNE The ELO mastermind releases two different\u2014yet sonically linked\u2014projects\u00a0 In a 1974 radio interview,\u00a0John Lennon said of Electric Light Orchestra, \u201cI call them the Son of Beatles, but I\u2019m sure they\u2019re doing other things we never did.\u201d It\u2019s a compliment that Jeff Lynne recalls word for word, in Lennon\u2019s Scouse accent, and treasures to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[5309,5313,5308,3907,5311,5310,1673,5312,1911,5077,1609,4083],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7948"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7953,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7948\/revisions\/7953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}