Monday, March 3, 2008

Pictures In My Pillow

Who likes ELO? I know, I know, dumb question. Who couldn't love the sumptuous soaring bliss of Electric Light Orchestra? As you know, Jeff Lynne is the backbone of ELO but one other member deserves all kinds of credit, keyboardist Richard Tandy. Tandy joined the group after the release of their first album and his inventive playing became one of the most important parts of ELO's sound. Not only was he their keyboardist but he is also listed as co-arranger on every ELO album post Eldorado in 1974. Anyone who knows ELO knows that the arrangements are no small feat, it's a lot of sound.

In 1986 he formed a group with ELO back-up singer Dave Morgan, sometimes called The Tandy Morgan Band, sometimes just Richard Tandy and Dave Morgan (I prefer the latter, Tandy Morgan Band just sounds weird) and they released their sole album, Earthrise. There's a few good moments on this mediocre album, but none fly as high as Pictures in My Pillow. As you can imagine, the keyboards and synths are awesome and it dips deep into ELO's pockets, from the melody to the vocoder to the little bits with that telephone effect Jeff Lynne always uses, but whatever. If you know what works, use it.

No comments: