The Boy 2015

Alone in the Universe isn't the first Jeff Lynne album of the 21st century, nor is it the first Electric Light Orchestra of the 21st century. That honor belongs to Zoom, a 2001 comeback that faded quickly into history books, its lack of success blamed in some quarters on Lynne's reluctance to tour…

Serge Gainsbourg recorded his first album in 1958. But it was at the end of the 1960s that his short affair with Brigitte Bardot changed his jazzy style towards this suggestive music with sumptuous arrangements. He then met Jane Birkin with whom he recorded the 1969 duet "Je t'aime … Moi Non Plus", a song with scorching lyrics punctuated by gasps and explicit moans. Although it was banned in many countries, this song reached the top of the charts all over Europe. In 1971, he released The Story of Melody Nelson, a cycle of dark songs that mark his growing detachment from modern culture. Drugs, disease, suicide and misanthropy become recurring themes in his work.

Alone in the Universe isn't the first Jeff Lynne album of the 21st century, nor is it the first Electric Light Orchestra of the 21st century. That honor belongs to Zoom, a 2001 comeback that faded quickly into history books, its lack of success blamed in some quarters on Lynne's reluctance to tour. If Jeff didn't want to hit the road, his old bandmate Bev Bevan had no problem constituting a lineup and touring under the name ELO Part II, whose presence somewhat explains why Alone in the Universe is credited to the somewhat convoluted Jeff Lynne's ELO – a truncation of the band's full name that also assigns credit where it's due, as most listeners associate this majestic post-Abbey Road pop with Lynne alone.