Friday, February 13, 2009

ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA - Osaka, Japan 1978

I'm on a bit of an ELO trip at the moment, particularly 1977's expansive double-LP Out of the Blue, which seems pretty universally regarded as their masterpiece. (Even the hipster twits at Pitchfork dig it.) I especially adore lesser-known but stupendously sweeping, intricately melodic tracks on the album's second half, like "Steppin' Out," "Big Wheels" and the climactic gorgeosity that is "Wild West Hero". Monster choruses, massed choirs, strings, synth-n-vocoder? I say bring 'em on.

And then, of course, there is always -- and I mean always, now and forever, into eternity -- the holiest of holies: "Mr. Blue Sky". One of my Top 10 all-time can't-live-without-it tunes. It's everything that ELO and pop music itself are all about, and so much more. (About which more next week, involving Lily Allen of all people...)

Meantime, here is one of only two bootlegs that exist of ELO's top- grossing, giant-fiberglass-spaceship-rocking 1977-'78 Out of the Blue Tour; word is that the other boot, from Wembley Arena, is no good. There is an official DVD of another Wembley concert, but as far as complete audio shows, this is it. It's a crisp, complete audience recording (leave it to Japanese fans to make an audience recording this clean), spiced with painfully polite applause (Cheap Trick at Budokan this ain't), violin and cello solos, plus Jeff Lynne saying "Domo arigato."

But sadly, no "Mr. Blue Sky." He'll have to wait until next week.

ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA "Eldorado Live in Osaka"
Venue unknown - Osaka, Japan - February 23, 1978 (AUD)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2

7 comments:

fallenleaf@gmail.com said...

ELO in Japan? Hats off, my friend! Can't wait to hear it!

Grant

Heli0tr0pe said...

Thanks for stopping by, braaah...

Anonymous said...

I have one from june of '82, winterland 2/14/76 and Boston Orpheum Theater 3/19/76 - the boston one is my favorite, maybe more than the osaka.
If you don't have those and can't find them, I'd be glad to get them to you somehow
Dan

Anonymous said...

I was lucky enough to see ELO in September 1978 - my first concert and still one of the best I've ever attended.

Thx so much for this download!

Heli0tr0pe said...

Cheers bros -- and yes, Anon, would love to hear that '82 boot (got the others, thanks) -- you on RapidShare?

Appreciate it,
TSM

Anonymous said...

Would it be possible to offer this in a superior bitrate. Yes it does sound quite good at 192kps if using Lame but is still below CD quality. You also don't need to use a constant bitrate. Not all parts of a song require the highest bitrate. If you encode at highest quality using Lame, VBR and Joint Stereo you will have CD quality and the file will be smaller. Also if ripping from a CD EAC is the best there is. Audiophiles will love you if you upgrade the quality of the mp3s.
Thank you.

Heli0tr0pe said...

Sorry bro, but I don't upload -- I just post the best of what I find out there. If it sounds good to me, it goes up, and that's that. I don't post less than 128 kbps (and I try to avoid that if possible); if it's in 320, so much the better. But all the FLAC, SHN, Lame etc. stuff that people are into means nothing to me; I'm just not much of an audiophile/techie type, I'm afraid...

That said, if you do find this boot out there at a better bitrate, please feel free to let me know and I'll be happy to do a repost.

Thanks for listening, and I always appreciate the comments!
TSM