Personnel Jeff Lynne – vocals, guitars, bass guitar, piano, drums, keyboards, vibraphone[5] Richard Tandy - piano solo ("One More Time") Steve Jay – engineering, percussion
Track listing 1. From Out of Nowhere 2. Help Yourself 3. All My Love 4. Down Came the Rain 5. Losing You 6. One More Time 7. Sci-Fi Woman 8. Goin' Out on Me 9. Time of Our Life 10.Songbird
Out of Nowhere is the fourteenth studio album by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), and the second credited to Jeff Lynne's ELO. The album was released on November 1,2019 through Big Trilby and Columbia Records.
Like 2015’s Alone In The Universe, Lynne produced the album, plays almost every note on the album – guitars, bass, piano, drums, keyboards. He sings all the lead vocals and harmonies. The only other musicians who play on it are engineer Steve Jay, who adds a little percussion, and ELO keyboard player Richard Tandy, who plays a piano solo on One More Time.
Out of Nowhere is very enjoyable listen, but in my opinion, there are a couple of missteps that hinder this release from being a modern-day classic.
First: although Out of Nowhere does make use of Jeff Lynne’s signature trademarks — the layered voices, the high-pitched harmonies, sheets of keyboards and guitars and Beatles-esque melodies, gone are the lush orchestration and studio wizardry that gave the classic ELO records a grandiosity.
Second as proficient as Lynne is and don’t get me wrong and it is the all expertly played, but the drums often sound rather mechanical.
In my opinion ELO’s fourteenth studio album is still a solid listen. I do hope that if Jeff Lynne decides to record another album that he considers using his much praised touring band during the recording process to enhance the sound (especially the drums).
