This is the album where
Jeff Lynne
finally found the sound he'd wanted since co-founding
Electric Light Orchestra
three years earlier. Up to this point, most of the group's music had been self-contained --
Lynne
,
Richard Tandy
, et al., providing whatever was needed, vocally or instrumentally, even if it meant overdubbing their work layer upon layer.
saw the limitations of this process, however, and opted for the presence of an orchestra -- it was only 30 pieces, but the result was a much richer musical palette than the group had ever had to work with, and their most ambitious and successful record up to that time. Indeed,
Eldorado
was strongly reminiscent in some ways of
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
. Not that it could ever have the same impact or be as distinctive, but it had its feet planted in so many richly melodic and varied musical traditions, yet made it all work in a
rock
context, that it did recall the
Beatles
classic. It was a very romantic work, especially on the opening
"Eldorado Overture,"
which was steeped in a wistful 1920s/1930s notion of popular fantasy (embodied in movies and novels like
James Hilton
's Lost Horizon and
Somerset Maugham
's
The Razor's Edge
) about disillusioned seekers. It boasted
's best single up to that time,
"Can't Get It Out of My Head,"
which most radio listeners could never get out of their respective heads, either. The integration of the orchestra would become even more thorough on future albums, but
was notable for mixing the band and orchestra (and a choir) in ways that did no violence to the best elements of both. ~ Bruce Eder