Jeff Lynne brought his farewell tour with ELO to Philadelphia over the weekend, and if you missed the show, fear not – some fans have posted Friday’s entire show on YouTube. Lynne is the only one remaining from the band’s original lineup; he and drummer Bev Bevan split acrimoniously 30 years ago.
ELO grew out of the Move, which formed in mid-’60s Birmingham. Led by multi-instrumentalist Roy Wood, the Move was popular in Britain but never broke through in the States. Their one entry in the Hot 100 only made it to No. 93, but I heard it on the radio back in 1971 and wondered why it didn’t become a hit. Especially with all that cowbell.
It wasn’t long after that Wood, Lynne and Bevan recruited a string section and The Electric Light Orchestra was born. Wood soon left to form Wizzard, remembered mostly for a Christmas single and Wood’s outrageous costumes, while Lynne churned out hit after Beatlesque hit before becoming the least famous Traveling Wilbury.
One of them as a remake of “Do Ya” with much cleaner production and Lynne replacing Wood on lead vocals. That version made it to No. 24 in 1977. It would have done better with more cowbell.
