Electric Light Orchestra: Zoom : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

It's pretty cheeky of Jeff Lynne to pass off his latest solo album as something from ELO - an art-pop hit machine whose studio indulgences, multilayered arrangements and lovable pretensions summed up the Seventies. Few of Zoom's songs feature the grand orchestrations that defined the group; the superstar producer and former Traveling Wilbury plays almost every instrument himself. And aside from keyboardist Richard Tandy, who appears on only one cut, Lynne's the sole ELOer here.

But unlike the band's synth-heavy early-Eighties output, this non-reunion at least sounds like ELO. George Harrison's weepy slide guitar and Ringo Starr's steady drumming on four tracks bring Lynne that much closer to the Beatles sound ELO emulated. Although boogie-minded ditties like "Easy Money" suggest old outtakes, "Moment in Paradise" and other dreamy ballads evoke the twilight sadness of "Telephone Line." Lynne shouldn't claim ELO is once again a "livin' thing," but Zoom is nevertheless the next-best entity.

BARRY WALTERS
(RS 875 - August 16, 2001)