Electric Light Orchestra

Where to begin? Let's start last Saturday with the latest episode of Doctor Who. "Love and Monsters" featured Marc Warren as Elton Pope, who took centre stage in a story about a group of people touched by the Doctor. Apparently the fanbase haven't taken too kindly to it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it - once of Russell T. Davies' best episodes for Who as a writer.

Anyway, one of Elton Pope's interests is ELO - imagine my shock and pleasure at Mr Blue Sky forming a backdrop to the episode. Mr Blue Sky is a Blues anthem, written by ELO's luminary, Jeff Lynne, himself a Birmingham City fan. It's played before the teams come out, and it gets the hairs on my arms sticking up. I've been a partial ELO fan since a child - dad had the original Greatest Hits on LP from 1979, and I used to play it a lot. When it came to buying the Greatest Hits on CD I opted for that version rather than the more complete collections that have been released since. So you could call me a partial ELO fan, because my education ended with the tracks on that album, which form just half of the band's output.

Anyway, another song they showcased during the episode was Don't Bring Me Down. I know the song, but have never really placed it with ELO. One of the beauties of Napster is being able to buy individual tracks for 69p - I've bought 30 or 40 in this way over the past two years, filling in gaps here, staying up to date with certain "modern" artistes (like Kelly Clarkson) there. But I digress...

So, anyway, I went on to Napster and located Don't Bring Me Down. Some of the other tracks sounded familiar, so I previewed them too. Before I knew it I was on the verge of downloading six or seven new tracks. So I decided to go to Amazon and see how much Greatest Hits II (the companion album to dad's original LP) cost. It was available brand new in the marketplace for £3.20 including postage. It doesn't take a genius to work out that's better value than paying for six or seven downloads, so I ordered it.

It arrived two days ago, and I've not been able to stop playing it since. Not one or two tracks, but the whole damn album. When I went to London yesterday I transferred it to my PDA so I could listen to it on the train. In both directions. Last night I slept poorly with The Diary of Horace Wimp and Calling America playing over and over again in my head. When I went to put the washing out just now I had to hook up the cordless headphones so I could listen to one and a half tracks while I was out there. I'm listening to it now.

I guess it's safe to say that ELO have shot up in my list of favourite bands. How long will this addiction last? All of these tracks sound so familiar - I must have heard them before - and it's as if my psyche is saying, "You should have bought this album 15 years ago, so you need to make up for lost time".

It's a pretty self-indulgent post this, but at least it's not a rant. And for now, with the music and lyrics of later ELO forming a backdrop, I'm content to leave it that way.

Thank you, Russell T Davis - and I mean that sincerely...

[Listening to: Confusion - Electric Light Orchestra - (03:43)]