Lynne Me Your Ears
"A Tribute To
The Music Of Jeff Lynne"
(Not Lame Recording Company NLLYNN1)
"All good
songs are made to be interpreted. ELO perhaps give the definitive versions of
Jeff's songs but somebody else can come along and give a different
interpretation and it's equally appealing. What attracts me about Jeff's songs
is that they all have a certain sadness, a soulful feel."
A stunning
collection of songs encompassing the exhilarating career trajectory of
songwriter, producer, singer, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and music
visionary, Jeff Lynne.
This 2CD 32-song
tribute showcases Lynne's music from the 60’s and 70’s with The Idle Race
and The Move, through the global superstar years of the 70’s and 80’s with
Electric Light Orchestra, to his more recent work as a solo artist and producer
and as a member of the legendary Traveling Wilburys.
Lynne's 36-year
hit-laden musical career has inspired a diverse cross-section of talented
performers. Every tribute artist involved presents Lynne’s incomparable fusion
of classical music and classic rock ‘n’ roll to a new, younger audience in
an innovative, vibrant and sometimes radical manner:
"Highlights
are p-Lynne-tiful, from departures like Todd Rundgren's adult
contempo-electronica ‘Bluebird Is Dead’ to Brit Invasion revivalists who put
a rockin' move on ELO material, a la the Shazam's ‘Twilight.’"
(Entertainment Weekly, April 26, 2002)
See below for a
complete track listing, plus an interview with Carl Wayne in which he talks
about interpreting Jeff Lynne's songs. Here's what some of the other artists had
to say about their contribution to "Lynne Me Your Ears":
Todd
Rundgren
BLUEBIRD IS DEAD
"Everyone knows I've been a Jeff Lynne fan ever since Utopia started
covering Do Ya 25 years ago. Glad to see I'm not alone."
Jason
Falkner (Jellyfish, Air)
DO YA
"...I didn't have a lot of time, because this whole year I've been devoted
to playing with this group Air. The Do Ya thing, I had like 3 or 4 days off
here, and I just had to go for it. There was a time when I thought I wasn't
gonna be able to do it. I was getting ready to go back to Europe. Yeah, it just
came together like that. Do Ya was not my first choice. I was talking to them
about doing Eldorado, or it was something that was a little more of an obvious
choice for me. Well, they were like, 'well we kinda thought that if you want to
do Do Ya, we've been kinda saving that for you.' And I listened to it and I was
like, 'My God, yes of course!' 'Cause I hadn't listened to that in a long
time."
Tony
Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex, assistant producer on The Move's "Shazam")
MR. BLUE SKY
"I have a vague recollection that when Roy Wood and Jeff were forming ELO
or Wizzard (there's the vagueness) I was asked to play keyboards because I did a
lot of string arranging for The Move. I had to disappoint them by saying that I
wrote on guitar then, not keyboard and I could just barely get through Whole
Lotta Shakin' Goin' On on piano. But Mr. Blue Sky was a favorite of both Bowie's
son and my son when it came out, so it was played to death in our homes. I ended
up loving it very much and gaining deep respect for what Jeff had achieved since
his early association with Roy."
Peter
Holsapple (The dB's, Continental Drifters)
NO TIME
"Jeff Lynne's music, from the Idle Race 'til now, has always struck a
responsive chord in my mind. He's like the ultimate Beatles/Kinks fan who writes
and produces evocatively. Like Nick Lowe, he is a master of absorbing the best
elements of the best music and turning it into his own. I'm really proud to have
been asked to do a track for Lynne Me Your Ears. The CD is interesting to me as
a canon of the man's work, all together from his various bands and projects. The
tracks move seamlessly and present Jeff's music respectfully and inventively.
(Of course, it takes a couple of geezers like Carl Wayne and Tony Visconti to
blow the socks off everyone else on the record!) Sign me up for Volume 3."
Hans Rotenberry (The
Shazam)
TWILIGHT
"This was a HARD call. We’d have been pleased to do any Jeff Lynne song -
we know ‘em all! In the end, it was a choice between Imposters Of Life’s
Magazine by The Idle Race or ELO’s Twilight. Twilight won because it’s
become The Shazam’s theme-song - it’s the first track we ALWAYS play on the
bus when we begin a new tour. Twilight has everything I admire and respect about
ELO in that one song - I LOVE THAT SONG!"