Light Messages

Sharing an identical track listing, albeit in a different order, with 1997's Light Years retrospective, The Ultimate Collection is a comprehensive overview of the hugely influential Electric Light Orchestra's illustrious career. Showcasing their signature melodic, classical rock sound, this 2001 release includes the hit singles "Xanadu," "Mr. Blue Sky" and "Sweet Talkin' Woman".

The fanaticism by calendar dates reached a limit! Since July, 2011 the world had a presentiment for creation of something global, something eternal, bewitching, grandiose and delightful! Rumors about this event were spread immediately and as an infection… And not only airborne way, but also electronic and wire! People worldwide caught an idea of creation of this project: Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Germany, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Argentina and more!

The music chosen for this recording is strangely and poignantly relevant, I believe, for each of us. We all now understand “The Fruit of Silence,” a motet that reminds us to visit those beliefs which are most sacred in the work by Cortlandt Matthews, or now, a deeply personal Requiem by Peter Relph that in reflection, remembers the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in this pandemic. And then there is the LaVoy work “O Great Beyond.” While all great texts speak to the universality of the human condition and, if are truthful, are timeless. Particularly the George Fox text set by Jackson Hill and the Tagore text set by LaVoy give us messages to reinforce the humanness of each of us for hope. Two works on this disc poignantly remind us of the passing of life in the Relph Requiem and especially the final movement of “O Great Beyond.” May these words give comfort to all those who endured the deepest of Life’s losses during our shared Pandemic journey. For, so many loved ones, goodbyes were said in silence, and alone.

Electric Light Orchestra's 2012 concert album Live brings together tracks Jeff Lynne and his band recorded for a PBS special at CBS Television City in 2001. This is the ensemble that toured in support of ELO's 2001 studio album, Zoom, and appeared on VH1 Storytellers. Lynne has always been an avowed studio rat, more comfortable crafting his rock productions behind a soundboard than playing them in front of a live audience. This is partly the reason that the Lynne-helmed version of ELO stopped touring after 1981's Time. Subsequently, there haven't been very many proper ELO concert albums. Which is not to say that the band doesn't sound fantastic here, because it does. Lynne is a musical perfectionist who never fails to deliver on the grand, orchestral rock aesthetic he crafted on so many classic albums. All of which makes this 2001 collection a welcome addition to ELO's discography.