Had a great teleconference this past week with Steve Turner (our illustrious UK-based string arranger), who is also going to be adding keyboard tracks for this next album. Anyone who knows me is aware that I am an unabashed fan of ELO’s mid-70s offerings; particularly “A New World Record” and “Out of the Blue”. The marriage of the complete string sections and the analogue synths on those ELO albums were simply otherworldly. Jeff Lynne gradually moved away from that production style in the records that followed, beginning with a reduction in the lower-end strings on “Discovery”, and ending with an almost complete elimination of the orchestra on “Balance of Power” (along with the additional presence of more traditional saxophone parts, etc).
I mentioned to Steve that while I thought we did an
admirable job of creating and recording the string parts on “Brave New World”,
I felt (in retrospect) that there could have been a stronger analogue synth
presence. In analyzing why that was,
Steve and I both came to the conclusion that (primarily as a result of my
mandate that we primarily focus on development of the string parts), the
wonderful string arrangements Steve came up with actually surpassed the level
of complexity present on those ELO records.
In simple terms, while there were phenomenally complex string runs and
the like in those ELO albums that were the hallmark of the band’s sound at that
time, they were not omnipresent – rather, they would come to the forefront here
and there, but then settle back into more of a supporting “pad” structure,
thereby leaving room for complementary synth and backing vocal parts, etc.
Steve mentioned that he gave the “Out of the Blue” album a
thorough listen to get a sense of the keyboard parts and textures that were
present throughout. For this next album,
we’re planning to pare back some of the orchestral arrangements – just a bit -
so that there is more room for synth parts and textures, which will hopefully
give this next record a bit more of that mid-70s ELO vibe.