I found this album one of the more difficult ones to get into at first, purely because of the critic reviews and many people saying that it was one of the weaker albums; however when I listened to the songs, I found that they were wrong. There are many fantastic songs on the album, one highlight for me was the first track, Heaven Only Knows where at one section, the vocals rise which provides an uplifting feel and the song as a whole is quick. I liked the addition of the sax in Sorrow about to fall as it gave something new to ELO and was quite catchy. Other upbeat songs included Secret Lives, Is It Alright. There were two songs that I didn't like very much and I think it was because they were slow and lost their catchy parts; Getting To The Point and Endless Lies. 2007 couldn't have been a better year for me to get into ELO and for me, I have an usual taste of music. I'm always getting slagged by my friends for liking ELO and their only reason for this is that the band isn't current. They haven't even heard five of their songs, shame on them! I recently bought the Balance of Power album and was most impressed by the bonus tracks in which some cases were better than the original. The opening and Heaven Alternate complemented the original and I liked how in for the kill starts with an upbeat tempo. Caught in the trap is a great number, especially with the drum beat at the beginning and I've grown to like Destination Unknown. My fav track is actually not on the album but later released on afterglow called 'Matter of Fact' as well as the alternate version which I thought was superior with Jeff Lynne's lyrics; sections like the following 'there's no communication'
On the whole, a fine good effort from Jeff Lynne which provides a new sound for ELO. I think ELO downfall came around from the changing times but mainly because of the tight control the recording companies had over when and what albums they should produce.
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Alan Taylor
Balance of Power a great effort
I found this album one of the more difficult ones to get into at first, purely because of the critic reviews and many people saying that it was one of the weaker albums; however when I listened to the songs, I found that they were wrong. There are many fantastic songs on the album, one highlight for me was the first track, Heaven Only Knows where at one section, the vocals rise which provides an uplifting feel and the song as a whole is quick. I liked the addition of the sax in Sorrow about to fall as it gave something new to ELO and was quite catchy. Other upbeat songs included Secret Lives, Is It Alright. There were two songs that I didn't like very much and I think it was because they were slow and lost their catchy parts; Getting To The Point and Endless Lies. 2007 couldn't have been a better year for me to get into ELO and for me, I have an usual taste of music. I'm always getting slagged by my friends for liking ELO and their only reason for this is that the band isn't current. They haven't even heard five of their songs, shame on them! I recently bought the Balance of Power album and was most impressed by the bonus tracks in which some cases were better than the original. The opening and Heaven Alternate complemented the original and I liked how in for the kill starts with an upbeat tempo. Caught in the trap is a great number, especially with the drum beat at the beginning and I've grown to like Destination Unknown. My fav track is actually not on the album but later released on afterglow called 'Matter of Fact' as well as the alternate version which I thought was superior with Jeff Lynne's lyrics; sections like the following 'there's no communication'
On the whole, a fine good effort from Jeff Lynne which provides a new sound for ELO. I think ELO downfall came around from the changing times but mainly because of the tight control the recording companies had over when and what albums they should produce.
--
Alan Taylor