ELO, Mr. Blue Sky, VW ad

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So, many people were surprised that the catchy-beatlesque song in a recent VW add was by ELO. What surprised ME, though, is that apparently the song in the ad is the actual ELO song, yet to me it sounds quite a bit different than the original version on Out of the Blue. Does anyone know what the dealio is? Also, the Move were better than ELO if this becomes a general discussion of ELO.

― g (graysonlane), Friday, 13 December 2002 17:08 (twenty-two years ago)

What I wanna know is, will this commercial spark a big ELO revival, and will the band's newest champions be the same hipster folx who used to turn up their noses at me as if I was some smelly golden-oldies loser with a Florsheim shoebox full of moldy baseball cards?

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 13 December 2002 17:26 (twenty-two years ago)

It sounded exactly like the version on the greatest hits disc. I'll have to break out the vinyl of Out of the Blue to do a comparison. Maybe a single vs. album version difference, like ZZ Top's "Legs?"

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Friday, 13 December 2002 17:28 (twenty-two years ago)

maybe it's a different version on the greatest hits disc?

― g (graysonlane), Friday, 13 December 2002 17:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I've recently been derided by a bunch of folks for comparing contemporary material (like Wilco) to that signature Jeff Lynne sound. Am i crazy? ¥

― christoff (christoff), Friday, 13 December 2002 17:55 (twenty-two years ago)

not TOO crazy

― g (graysonlane), Friday, 13 December 2002 19:14 (twenty-two years ago)

It's not a different version on Greatest Hits. Since the earlier ELO thread I've been playing the albums a lot. Also, someone claimed the audio was much worse on the Greatest Hits LP, and I can assure you it's not. AND... ELO was better than the Move.

― Sean (Sean), Friday, 13 December 2002 20:50 (twenty-two years ago)

ELO has some great moments but they were around way too long, the move was much shorter & sweeter. anyway, i still think the ad version sounds different, perhaps slowed down a tiny bit or something? the vocals seem thicker somehow than on the original version, and the song sounds more modern somehow. hard to compare back to back since you can;t be sure when the ad will come on. i guess i could look for it online but i am too lzay

― g (graysonlane), Friday, 13 December 2002 20:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm glad someone asked this because I was curious about the difference as well but felt too ashamed to show any interest in anything having to do with Jeff Lynne. I'm allergic to JL but heart Wilco so there can't possibly be any similarity or my head will explode.

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 13 December 2002 21:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't know if the version on the ad is different from the album version, btw, I'm only comparing "Out of the Blue" vs. Greatest Hits.
Why be ashamed at being curious about ELO, btw?

― Sean (Sean), Friday, 13 December 2002 21:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the only reason people are afeared to mention liking ELO is the fear that they will be asked to justify Lynne's appearance:

http://www.jeff-lynne.com/Jeff_Cello.jpg

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 13 December 2002 21:29 (twenty-two years ago)

That's certainly a large part of it.

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 13 December 2002 21:44 (twenty-two years ago)

No, seriously, I just personally don't care for bands that are obviously heavily into refining arrangements and such, and/or that take rock too far away from blues. ELO is not sexy, and not sad, and I feel like I need one or the other in my music. This is not a judgement as a music critic, just my personal taste.

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 13 December 2002 21:47 (twenty-two years ago)

ELO is not sexy, and not sad

"Strange Magic" is pretty sad.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 13 December 2002 22:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Ned, that picture up-thread, y'know, could as well be Dave Stewart's...

― t\'\'t (t''t), Friday, 13 December 2002 22:17 (twenty-two years ago)

"Don't Let Me Down" is pretty sexy.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUCE!

― hstencil, Friday, 13 December 2002 22:21 (twenty-two years ago)

*sigh*... how many times do we have to tell you, it's Groooosss!

― Sean (Sean), Friday, 13 December 2002 22:39 (twenty-two years ago)

they edited the commercial version of mr. blue sky so we didn't have to deal with that vocoder thang, also put the choruses right next to each other.

― tyler (tyler), Saturday, 14 December 2002 01:12 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.framleyexaminer.com/advertcalendar/presents/images/elogrotto.jpg

*sniff* - they shouldn't be allowed to use ELO on adverts! it's just plain wrong. Anyone remember "Go Now" being used for a Butlins ad? Yuck yuck yuck!

― dog latin (dog latin), Saturday, 14 December 2002 03:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Go Now was the Moody Blues!

― michael (michael), Saturday, 14 December 2002 11:55 (twenty-two years ago)

(and Framley Examiner = classic. people behind it went to my school.)

― michael (michael), Saturday, 14 December 2002 11:57 (twenty-two years ago)

http://homepages.dsl.ca/~sean/dumbstuff/ned_cello.jpg

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Saturday, 14 December 2002 12:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Go Now was the Moody Blues!

Oh yeah - my bad. Still, it's just plain wrong.

― dog latin (dog latin), Saturday, 14 December 2002 14:03 (twenty-two years ago)

four years pass...

Mr. Blue Sky:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2Ncxw1xfck

― Bimble, Monday, 20 August 2007 00:44 (eighteen years ago)

Some of the anti-ELO comments on this thread are so surprisingly OFF THE MONEY.

That said, "Mr Blue Sky" is one of my least favorite "best of" ELO tracks.

― Spencer Chow, Monday, 20 August 2007 01:08 (eighteen years ago)

Ah, but you live in a sunny climate don't you?

― Bimble, Monday, 20 August 2007 02:18 (eighteen years ago)

Haha, true. However, it's kind of too Beatles-esque for me. I love their pop-disco symphonies.

― Spencer Chow, Monday, 20 August 2007 05:48 (eighteen years ago)

i fuckin' love ELO, me.

― grimly fiendish, Monday, 20 August 2007 14:40 (eighteen years ago)

three months pass...

-- Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen)

^^^

― omar little, Friday, 30 November 2007 02:01 (seventeen years ago)

I watched the VW commercial on YouTube (which I guess wasn't around when this thread was started!) and yeah, it does sound different, and not just due to it being chopped up for editing purposes.

― musically, Friday, 30 November 2007 02:19 (seventeen years ago)

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