Jeff Lynne's ELO From Out Of Nowhere 180g LP (Metallic Gold Vinyl)

Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Jeff Lynne, whose music has touched fans deeply across three generations now, has found himself in recent years at the peak of his powers as a songwriter, musician and producer. The new album features a buoyant title song which opens the ten-track record including the wistful "Help Yourself" to the celebratory "Down Came The Rain" to the churning rocker "One More Time" to the sweet closer, "Songbird".

As does its predecessor, 2015's Alone In The Universe, From Out Of Nowhere shows Lynne finding new facets to his signature sound, at once drawing on his globally loved legacy and forging new paths in both sounds and emotions. Once again, he plays nearly every note of the music on guitars, bass, piano, drums, keyboards and vibes, as well as singing all of the lead and layered harmony vocals. Steve Jay, who also engineered the album, adds some percussion.

"Jeff Lynne is ELO, which should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with his robust, decades-long producer/artist discography. Indeed, From Out of Nowhere is essentially a one-man showcase where in Lynne shines a light on his considerable talents by playing almost every instrument on this ergonomically efficient 32-minute LP. There are no eye-openers here, either - if you're an admirer of the sound he established on ELO's 1977 magnum opus Out of the Blue and George Harrison's triumphant 1987 comeback Cloud Nine, you'll view all ten tracks here as aural comfort food. Nowhere posits a wide stereo soundstage anchored by Lynne's wholly Ringoesque drum palettes, layered vocal-harmony counterphases that often follow his throaty lead-vocal lines, and myriad sampled strings and piano flourishes... " - Mike Mettler, The Absolute Sound, March 2020