Electric Light Orchestra – Balance Of Power

This was the last real album recorded by ELO, and don’t let Bev Bevan – who now fronts ELO Part II – tell you otherwise. This modest album, as aptly described in the liner notes of the Afterglow box set four years later, doesn’t sound a whole lot like what you’d come to expect from ELO. It is as different from the mid-70s ELO signature as the group’s classical-heavy-metal-fusion first album was, but moves steadily into the 80s. The great vocal harmonies are still there, but the orchestra is not (unless emulated by keyboards), and the sound just doesn’t seem as full as it once did. The songs aren’t bad, though – “Without Someone”, “Is It Alright” and “Calling America” sticking out as my favorites and the most authentically ELO-ish – but perhaps this should have been Jeff Lynne’s first solo album instead of the last ELO album.

1. Heaven Only Knows (2:54)
2. So Serious (2:41)
3. Getting To The Point (4:29)
4. Secret Lives (3:28)
5. Is It Alright (3:24)
6. Sorrow About To Fall (4:03)
7. Without Someone (3:51)
8. Calling America (3:29)
9. Endless Lies (2:58)
10. Send It (3:39)

Released by: Epic
Release date: 1986
Total running time: 34:56