Electric Light Orchestra

The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are a British rock group from Birmingham, England. They were formed to accommodate Roy Wood's and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones. After Wood's departure following the band's debut record, Lynne wrote and arranged all of the group's original compositions and produced every album. In 2012, Lynne reformed the band under the moniker Jeff Lynne's ELO.

Despite early singles' success in the United Kingdom, the band was initially more successful in the United States, where they were billed as "The English guys with the big fiddles". From 1972 to 1986, ELO accumulated twenty Top 20 songs on the UK Singles Chart, and fifteen Top 20 songs on the US Billboard Hot 100. The band also holds the record for having the most Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hits, 20, of any group in US chart history without having a number one single.

ELO collected 19 CRIA, 21 RIAA and 38 BPI awards, and sold over 50 million records worldwide during the group's original 13-year period of active recording and touring.

The Electric Light Orchestra (album)

The Electric Light Orchestra is the debut studio album by English rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), released in December 1971. In the US, the album was released in early 1972 as No Answer, after a misunderstood telephone message made by a United Artists Records executive asking about the album name. The caller, having failed to reach the ELO contact, wrote down "no answer" in his notes, and this was misconstrued to be the name of the album.

Recording

The album is focused on the core trio of Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne, and Bev Bevan who were the remaining members of rock group The Move. The Move were still releasing singles in the UK at the same time as this project was undertaken, but interest was soon to be abandoned in Wood's former band. The sound is unique on this recording in comparison to the more slickly produced ELO albums of the subsequent Lynne years, incorporating many wind instruments and replacing guitar parts with heavy, "sawing" cello riffs, giving this recording an experimental "Baroque-and-roll" feel; indeed, "The Battle of Marston Moor" is the most baroque-influenced track on the album. On this track, Roy Wood, in addition to playing virtually all the instruments, had to provide the percussion as well because Bev Bevan, normally the group's percussionist and drummer, refused to play on the track because of his low opinion of it. However, the overall musical connection to The Beatles (it had been stated by the bandmembers that ELO was formed to "pick up where The Beatles left off...") is quite apparent in this album.

Sweet Talkin' Woman

"Sweet Talkin' Woman" is a 1978 single by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) from the album Out of the Blue. Its original title was "Dead End Street", but it was changed during recording, perhaps to avoid confusion with a 1966 hit of the same title by The Kinks. Some words that survived from that version can be heard in the opening of the third verse, "I've been livin' on a dead end street".

The track became the third top ten hit from the LP in the UK, peaking at number 6. As a novelty, initial copies of the 12" and 7" formats were pressed in transparent purple vinyl.

The version released in the United States was 10 seconds shorter than its British counterpart due to a slightly faster mix. In the US, it reached number 17 on the Billboard chart.

Chart performance

Talkin

Coordinates: 54°54′32″N 2°42′14″W / 54.909°N 2.704°W / 54.909; -2.704

Talkin is a village in Cumbria, England situated close to Talkin Tarn. Area soil is dry and gravelly.

Etymology

The name is of Brittonic origin. The Brittonic dialect known as Cumbric was formerly spoken in the area. According to A. M. Armstrong, et al., the first element, tal, means "brow" or "end" in Brittonic and modern Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. The second element is unclear. It may come from the Brittonic word which appears in Welsh and Old Cornish as can ("white") and Breton as kann ("bland, brilliant"). Talkin may be a hill-name meaning "white brow".

See also

References

External links

Media related to Talkin at Wikimedia Commons