electric light orchestra / albums

3,241,223 plays
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1,031 FAVS
150 fans

- No Answer
- - 11,542 plays
  - 3 favs
  - 0 shares
Electric Light Orchestra
Released 1972

Whisper In The Night
04:48
982 plays

Queen Of The Hours
03:23
814 plays

Manhattan Rumble (49th Street Massacre)
04:23
706 plays

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songs

- 1
- 10538 Overture
- 05:30
- 3,345 plays

- 2
- Look At Me Now
- 03:17
- 1,331 plays

- 3
- Nellie Takes Her Bow
- 06:01
- 1,041 plays

- 4
- Battle Of Marston Moor (July 2nd, 1644)
- 06:04
- 1,018 plays

- 5
- 1st Movement (Jumping Biz)
- 03:00
- 1,150 plays

- 6
- Mr. Radio
- 05:04
- 1,155 plays

- 7
- Manhattan Rumble (49th Street Massacre)
- 04:23
- 706 plays

- 8
- Queen Of The Hours
- 03:23
- 814 plays

- 9
- Whisper In The Night
- 04:48
- 982 plays

- play all

album review

Electric Light Orchestra's debut album is an astonishing creation in its own right, but neophyte listeners should be aware that it bears very little resemblance to the sound for which ELO would become known on its subsequent records. No Answer, as it ended up being called in America through a miscommunication with ELO's U.S. label, is a minimalist work by comparison with anything on the band's later albums. The core trio of Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne, and Bev Bevan, augmented by one horn player and a violinist, approaches the music alternately like a hard rock band attacking a song and a string ensemble playing a chamber piece. Filled with surprisingly loose playing and sounds throughout, and with a psychedelic aura hovering over most of the music, No Answer is unique in ELO's output. Written and sung by Lynne, "10538 Overture" is the opener and the best song on the album. Wood's "Look at Me Now," by comparison, plays like a sweet, melodic follow-up to "Beautiful Daughter" from the Move's Shazam, with some digressions on the oboe and a cello and violin subbing for the guitars. The rest moves from period-style popular songs to strangely cinematic conceptual pieces, on which the rock elements almost disappear in favor of quasi-classical playing by all concerned. A beautiful acoustic guitar workout by Wood, "1st Movement" also features the song's composer on the oboe, while "Mr. Radio," an exercise in 1920s nostalgia written and sung by Lynne, digresses for a moment into 1940s-style classical piano pyrotechnics. His "Whisper in the Night" ends the album with a lean and textured acoustic sound that, ironically, disappeared from ELO's repertory when he exited the lineup following these sessions. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide