[00:00:00] Matthew: Hello, and welcome once again to the Inter Millennium Media Project Podcast, the IMMP. My name is Matthew Porter. [00:00:26] Ian: And I'm Ian Porter. [00:00:28] Matthew: I'm his dad. He's my son, and I've made him listen to a record again. [00:00:34] Ian: Yes, back into the, the Deep Pool that is music. [00:00:38] Matthew: Well, we often do TV and movies here on the podcast, but sometimes books and sometimes records because it's all about media that had some influence on me when I was a kid. [00:00:48] Ian: And you'll listen to a lot of, of records and albums. It's the, the, the entire music industry and how one approached hearing new songs was so different [00:00:56] Matthew: for you. It was, and for me especially, it was mostly because I had older siblings. There's so much music that I discovered, especially in a pre-high school and even into high school because my sister or my brothers were into it. We've talked about some of that, as far as movies that, or TV shows that, that your Uncle Paul loved, or movies that I watched all the time with, uh, your Uncle Jim. This record is one that I discovered thanks to your uncle Tom. [00:01:28] Ian: What? [00:01:28] Matthew: There's a number of bands, a number of records that I discovered because he was into them. , the Eagles and foreigner and, and this one, because this is music my big brother listened to and he's in college, so how cool is that? [00:01:42] Ian: Oh, [00:01:44] Matthew: okay. So we're talking about A New World Record by Electric Light Orchestra [00:01:55] Ian: okay. I even if you don't actually do this, I really would like to ask if you can just put in a new record from Super Smash Brothers right there. Every time I heard the opening of this, that's the audio clip I thought of, unfortunately, [00:02:14] Ian: but A New World Record I'd never even heard of ELO. So this popping up on our schedule. It was. Bewildering in an interesting way. [00:02:24] Matthew: I had a feeling that might be the case. Some of those other bands I've mentioned, uh, you might have heard of, but I thought that this was probably introducing you to ELO for the first time. [00:02:34] Ian: Yeah. So I went into this completely blind, not even a single known. [00:02:40] Matthew: Well then what did you think? [00:02:42] Ian: Oh, see, okay. That's an interesting thing. It started out and I was like, oh, this reminds me of Kansas. Huh. That's interesting. Like that opening with, um, the first song on this record tightrope. I'm like, okay, it's got that same kind of rock feel going on, and then very quickly I'm like. Wait a minute. No, no. This is reminding me of something else. And it took me most of the album to realize. It felt more like the Beatles at times. [00:03:17] Matthew: Interesting. I I absolutely see all these, influences that you're, you're pulling out here, they are similar to Kansas in that they're, that overproduced, kind of pretentious, prog rock. Orchestration and mixing. And also, yeah, there's definitely some Beatle esque tracks, especially later on in this, in this album. [00:03:39] Ian: Yeah, but I paused actually partway in when I realized that though, to go do Google searching about the bands to try to, to understand what I was hearing. [00:03:48] Matthew: And, and this was ELO's kind of pop breakout record. Oh, they had done a bunch of bigger, more experimental things that didn't get as much reach prior to this, and this had, this was their style that they had developed, applied to accessible pop numbers for the most part, and rock and, and rock and roll numbers, and it worked okay. It was a multi multimillion selling record, multi-platinum record. [00:04:19] Ian: , they kind of also have this very distinct look already with the, the logo there. [00:04:24] Matthew: Yes. And that's one of the things that captivated me as a kid. It's like the, there's an ELO logo, kind of a circular, neon lit object. Is it a sign, is it a spaceship? What is this thing? And it's on the cover of this album. It's hovering over a, uh, a benighted city in the clouds. [00:04:49] Ian: Yeah. Okay. This is, they are an English rock band. All I could think of is the English video game company, rare Wear, because it looks like some sort of collectible token from an N 64 game. It's like I'm supposed to run through a place and grab like 17 of the little ELO logo discs, aren't [00:05:11] Matthew: I? You wanna collect those and hear a little bell each time? [00:05:13] Ian: Exactly. Ding, ding, ding it. It's got that. It's got a very tangible effect just logo wise and I can understand, especially in. That album market, that Stark image grabs you and pulls you in. It's like, what is this? And then leads you to this song. And so if they're breaking out into an indu, not into a, not into an industry, but into a different subset, they're breaking out from this more experimental into this larger market. I can imagine that an image like that, the style like that. Such a, a great punch because your preexisting fans are like, Ooh, what's new? And you're not yet, [00:05:59] Matthew: fans are like, oh, what's this? And those kind sort of high concept visuals were so big in the seventies with so many bands. I mean, you had this and on later records we've got this same kind of object that we're talking about, but we see it up close and it's a spaceship and they're like astronauts. Floating out of it. Oh goodness. Other bands like, like, yes. And Boston, they have the same kind of, there's a consistent visual brand almost telling a story. It's like a comic that comes out one panel at a time as an album cover and you get a new panel every year or two. Oh. And it's interesting we're talking mostly so far about the visuals because Yeah, they are, they are important. And especially when most of your, you got your, your records on vinyl. The, the covers were more important just because they were bigger and they were more imposing objects than a a CD case, let alone a thumbnail on a streaming service. [00:06:57] Ian: Yeah, because I, I listened to the 2006 remastered version via Spotify, I believe for this. Just so that in case there's differences in the recordings and mixes, [00:07:09] Matthew: and I listened to this week to that same version through Apple Music. I do have this on vinyl. I didn't pull out the vinyl to listen to it, but at some point I might just to do an AB test to see do I really detect a lot of difference between the original vinyl from 76 and. Uh, this remastered version. I thought the remastered version was very good and they didn't add a bunch of stuff, and I don't think they changed much. They, they heightened what I remembered at very least, and, and a big part of what I remembered is the beginning of this record, the beginning of this album, the intro, the overture to the first track Tightrope I had, I was wondering how you would react to that, because it is so, it's got this. This dark operatic orchestration and these phase effects and yeah, that just pulls me in no matter what else is going on in this album that pulls me in. It's so much of this album struck a science fiction chord to me when I was a kid. Both some of the, some of the lyrics, but also the feel of the album. [00:08:14] Ian: It's got a lot of science fiction to it for sure. And I will say I was very interested with the fact that like I was reading the names as I. As I went Tightrope and I'm listening to the lyrics and reading that and it's got that. If you're telling me this band was an experimental band early on, it fits. There's something about this combination and the, the almost desperation in that song. [00:08:43] Matthew: Yes, it is. It's, um, the, all the, this, this operatic opening it. It bursts into this kind of pop explosion. It's really a, once it gets past that intro, it is a straight ahead guitar driven rock and roll song in so many ways. And yet the lyrics are this yearning for help and this under this, this, this desperation. Like you say, [00:09:08] Ian: it's, it's to some small extent the musical equivalent. Of beginning your film with an action scene and having your main character do the, you might wonder how I wound up in this situation. Yes. 'cause it starts so bombastic and then it turns into this, like, somebody get me out of here, help throw me a line. [00:09:30] Matthew: Yeah. One of the repeated lines there, or like the beginning of a bond movie where we see him survive his last mission before we see the new mission. [00:09:37] Ian: Exactly. I do, I will say they do an excellent job transitioning because the ending lines of tightrope are all about somebody throw me a line. Yes. And the next song is telephone line. Right. And that's not the only time these songs tie into each other. Not musically, I wouldn't say they're usually like trying to build a continuous flow. There's individual distinct tracks. But there's a thematic through line running across the entire album. [00:10:08] Matthew: There is it? It is. It's more of a concept album than you would think. When you find those threads after listening to it for a few times and to, to overanalyze things, not that I ever do that, to overanalyze tightrope a little bit. It is an, I find it a very interesting, you need a moment to recover. [00:10:30] Ian: I was just so smoothly inserted. Okay. [00:10:34] Matthew: Throughout tightrope, the, the, it comes back, keeps coming back to. When I looked around, I was heading down. Won't somebody throw me a line? It's somebody who's, who is, whose life is crumbling, who, who needs help and is, is desperately wanting someone to come and help them. [00:10:52] Ian: Mm-hmm. [00:10:53] Matthew: At the end of the song, it says, when I closed my eyes, I was so surprised somebody had thrown me a line. Yeah. I, I, listening to that this week. Again, listening to this record, probably for the first time in 10 years, he, when he was looking for help from outside somewhere, he was frustrated and, and despaired. When he closed his eyes, when he looked inward, he realized he had the lifeline he needed and was saved. [00:11:29] Ian: That is pretty cool. I hadn't picked up on that myself, but yeah, it's definitely one of those, the more times you listen, the more you look at the lyrics and such, the more it, it clicks together. [00:11:42] Matthew: Yeah. I hadn't gotten what you mentioned about it goes from somebody had thrown me a line to the song telephone line. Which is, that's an interesting song. It's a song that works in 1976 in ways that it doesn't necessarily in 2025 when voicemail is ubiquitous, because it's a song about, this is what I would say to you on the telephone if you would pick up, because if you don't, if, if even answering machines were not ubiquitous in 1976, if you don't pick up the phone. Can't communicate with you. So I can just imagine what I would say to you if you did, because it's, it's this sad ballad, essentially an imaginary voicemail before voicemail is a thing. It's, here's what I'm gonna say into this song, what I wish I could say to you, and it's um, it's this slightly psychedelic ballad with this very doo-wop structure. They're taking influences from all over. The, the past few decades of musical history here, [00:12:48] Ian: that's where I was very surprised. 'cause it is very doo-wop-y in that sense. It's got a lot, it's, it's got the op going all throughout it and that, that was not what I was ready for. And it's what shook me it took me half that song to recover a little. [00:13:07] Matthew: Definitely, with those first two songs, they let you know, stop expecting things because you're not gonna get what you expect. There's gonna gonna be a mix here. Yeah. And yet there is that thematic connection that you picked up on. That was fascinating. [00:13:23] Ian: And the same way we've got that, living in twilight, ending that kind of bit more, bit more foreboding, dark. And we go into Rockaria. [00:13:36] Matthew: Yes. Which is, is just having fun with the idea of rock and roll and the idea of music. [00:13:43] Ian: And it's also kind of a little gothic, [00:13:45] Matthew: a little bit. Yeah. [00:13:47] Ian: Little bit there. [00:13:48] Matthew: And it is, um, it, it's, it's the first song that has a story that's more than just an internal meditation. Like the first two seem to be Mm, yes it is. It's a story about loving this opera singer, and she loves opera and classical music, but I want to teach her about rock and roll and blues and, and how she takes to that. And it's, it's just fun. , it pokes fun in some ways at a lot of rock and roll tropes, but it also brings in operatic vocals in the intro and, and recurring. And there's that cello, that electrified cello we hear so much in a lot of, ELO stuff. [00:14:29] Ian: The electric cello and the weird references to. Um, not weird, but the references to early classical musicians Yes. And such. If you want a non parody take on Rock Me Amadeus by Falco. There's a little bit of that in here where it's like, oh yeah, what if you took the concept of, oh, classical music is the rock music its day, and ran with that way more seriously, or very much way less. Way less aggressively cheesey in a, I mean, there's fun in there. Way less eighties, more seventies version of that is this. [00:15:10] Matthew: I like that. And, uh, and you're, you're right. It is recognizing, it's, it's not in a putting down the classical music or the, the operatic music. It's saying there is more to music enjoy this as well. Mm-hmm. And it's such a wonderful triumphant finale where it's like. Everybody in the opera house and everybody can hear them, is coming in and joining this party where the this, this incredibly talented opera singer is singing rock and roll. [00:15:39] Ian: It really does. It's, you know, I think she died for Beethoven is a line right alongside the, and the orchestra was playing all Chuck Berry's greatest tunes. [00:15:48] Matthew: Right. And the chorus from the opera level. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's, it's showing the equivalence, these are all music, and music as a function here for, for humans and culture. Exactly. That as much as I like those first two, tracks on this record, especially the opening of Tightrope, this is the song Rockaria is the song that I would just turn up and play over and over because it's so much fun. But we go from that, that triumphal, exhilarating ending of Rockaria to a very, very, very different kind of song. [00:16:25] Ian: Yes. [00:16:26] Matthew: In Mission, which the para parenthetical title of this of song is A New World Record. So this is the title song of this album. It's kind of the central concept. It's the one I keep relating to that image on the cover of a spaceship hovering over a, a modern city, and it's the most overtly science fictional song. [00:16:47] Ian: Yes. [00:16:48] Matthew: On the album [00:16:49] Ian: It seems like it's the message from an alien arriving on earth. [00:16:53] Matthew: Yeah. It's a status report to try to help status report from somebody who'd been sent to observe humans. [00:16:59] Ian: Uh. It's a little different after last, our last episode. [00:17:03] Matthew: You know, I hadn't connected that. You're right. Yeah. [00:17:06] Ian: Wait a minute. No, no, no. I was certain that's what you were doing with this one. [00:17:11] Matthew: I should have been, I wish I could claim credit for that, but No, I didn't realize that. You're right. We, last, last episode, we talked about V this is maybe one of those, , scouting missions before the, uh, the fascist alien fleet. [00:17:27] Ian: What in the world, [00:17:28] Matthew: although the, the alien giving the report in this song does not sound like a fascist [00:17:32] Ian: No, honestly the alien giving the report in this sounds more like a park ranger. Yes. Yeah. There's a lot of things about how, um, the beauty of your nature, the, the, the blue of your skies. How's life on earth? And it's not given in, just like, how is it to be a human being living? How is life the entity on earth in that sense? [00:17:56] Matthew: Right? And we're telling that larger story through really focused photographic snapshots of specific things, of specific people. Mm-hmm. Specific actions. And at the one hand, it, it seems dispassionate and just, uh, ob objectively observing. And yet there are descriptions. You combine that with the feel of the music, which is again this slow sci-fi ballad and there is a compassion that comes through. It's an almost as if, you know, I, I can't interfere 'cause I've got some rule about that. But I can observe not only what's happening, but the emotional impact on the people of this planet [00:18:41] Ian: Yes. [00:18:42] Matthew: And it's, it uses, it's, it's a classic use of science fiction tropes to, to create some distance from ourselves so we can, we can give us, give ourselves a new perspective by telling a story through that lens. And I think that's what this song does. Um, mm-hmm. And musically, there's, there's so much fun stuff they're doing musically too, they still have those weird phasing effects and stereo fun and games. They're all, all of this is wrapped up in a kind of a funk ballad chorus. [00:19:10] Ian: Yeah. Or the police. Lot of funk going on this, at least a lot of [00:19:13] Matthew: funk in the bridge for this. And, and I like the juxtapositions of the status report. We've got the description of a mother and her baby on the sidewalk, and she's in tears and immediately juxtaposing that with somebody singing from a window. There's all these different, not just life, but human responses to life. [00:19:35] Ian: Yeah. That's where it's like it, it's not focused to you, the listener. It is said to the wider environment, [00:19:41] Matthew: right. We are just getting to listen in on this. [00:19:45] Ian: Mm-hmm. [00:19:47] Matthew: And it even ends with spaceship sound effects. [00:19:51] Ian: It really does. They love those phases. They love those sound effects overall and continuing the, the interesting through lines of this, at the end of mission. Where it's asking, who are you and who am I? How's life on Earth? The next track is titled So Fine. [00:20:10] Matthew: Oh, it's like an answer to that question we hear repeated in the earlier song. [00:20:16] Ian: Yeah. It, it's, it's not a, it's not an album doing a continuous. Narrative, but it is a call and response. [00:20:24] Matthew: Oh, it's like a little conversation song to song. I've never really thought about it that way. I love that. Oh, okay. It makes it seem more coherent to me as an album. Mm-hmm. Because so fine is just a classic seventies pop rock number. It's, it's, it seems kind of empty, but fun to me. [00:20:41] Ian: Oh, you want the weirdest thing? Uh, so fine is apparently the one thing that has all sorts of weird hiccups and. Is tied up on things online. Yeah, apparently it's popular enough. Oh, it gets, it gets pulled and noticed more from uploads or me, or messages. So I was seeing people talk about that, trying to look up this record. So apparently this is a popular one, and the idea that this is kind of more generic in that sense is not its detriment. That might be a part of why it's not. Yeah. It's not trying to fit into this larger structure. It's a little bit on its own. [00:21:18] Matthew: Yeah. It's definitely one of those songs. Its stands on its own. It's very accessible. Everybody recognizes this kind of pop structure. It sounds like it was written, by somebody who had a whole lot of stimulants in a rhyming dictionary. The rhymes are mm-hmm. They're, they're kind of vapid, but they do the job for a pop song. [00:21:37] Ian: Yeah. And this has a, a Moog processor, , section in it. [00:21:42] Matthew: Yes, it does. They are still having fun with the musical, components, even in their, most basic pop song here. [00:21:51] Ian: I did find it funny. This , quoted onto the Wikipedia page. Um. It's them saying, trying, saying, uh, trying to sound, it was along the lines of like an American trying to sound like an American style. Oh, interesting. I could see that. So this is this British band, which I'm already saying. I could hear that little bit of extra Beatles influence that different musical environment coming through. I could tell that early enough, and this is them attempting to, like an actor, having to play an American. Despite being British or Australian themselves, this is their version of doing a musical American accent. [00:22:30] Matthew: Yeah. That I like that. It's like a British seventies prog rock band trying to do a sixties Beach Boys song. And it comes out as kind of Beatles ish. [00:22:43] Ian: Exactly. [00:22:46] Matthew: And, and the, the drum bridge in. That song, like where does that come from and why does it work as well as it does? [00:22:54] Ian: I don't know. It's like, Give Mr. Roboto over there, drum solo going on and it works. Moog processor for the win. The fact that it was a little bit, even if all these other ones were coming through, and I haven't said what I thought of it overall. Yeah. 'cause I want to hold that for the end. [00:23:14] Matthew: Mm-hmm. [00:23:15] Ian: But I will say this one felt different enough that in my first listen, I kind of lurched for a second, like, wait a minute. Did, did Spotify change track? No. No. It's them. Okay. [00:23:28] Matthew: Yeah. There is a lot of variety in that way. E eventually each song gets back to something where you can say, oh, obviously this is ELO. It's not always, uh, it's not always there at the beginning. [00:23:39] Ian: Mm-hmm. [00:23:41] Matthew: And with without pause. And that's interesting to see the way, uh, albums can be mixed and, and mastered in that. Is there a pause between songs? Does one drive right into the next? And this kind of drives, at least on this version, this kind of drives right into one of the other Poppy songs on this record, which is Livin' Thing yeah. Which opens the opening always seems in listening to it to, uh, now the opening seems it's got an almost Adam in the Ants kind of old timing timelessness at the beginning of this, which, uh, we we're gonna have to talk about Adam in the Ants someday on this podcast. [00:24:21] Ian: Oh, yeah, yeah. I know, I know we will at some point. Yeah. Ooh. But, [00:24:25] Matthew: but it's, , it's a stomping rhythms. In that chorus, uh, there's the singer and chorus dialogue going on. It's very, very basic old timey structures, but they've turned it into a, a seventies pop song. [00:24:39] Ian: It is driving enough, it is almost, action scene like with some of that like, That kind of. Intense stomping rhythm, as you described, has, but they've got enough variety on top of it. I could see that being used in, in an action film or a trailer of something because it's got that driving forward momentum that you can't, you can't get off. You're on this track the entire way. [00:25:08] Matthew: Yes, you're right. It is that kind of action scene and even keeping with that, occasionally it slows down with those kind of classical southern European strings. That, give it some of that timelessness, but also it still fits because it's kind of like when you get those action scenes where there's a slow song playing over a running gun battle or that kind of thing. It it's like that kind of, it's, it's a combination of those sorts of action scenes all in this kind of pop yearning love song sort of, form. [00:25:37] Ian: And, and at the same time though, it's a, you're saying a pop love song, but it's got a bit of an edge to it, lyrics wise. Oh yeah. It's a live thing. It's a terrible thing to lose, you know, it's a giving thing. What a terrible thing to lose. I'm taking a dive. All the same. Yes. That's, it's, that doesn't sound happy. That sounds. You know, resigned and determined in the weirdest combo. [00:26:11] Matthew: Yeah. It's more of a, I am so sad because I'm falling out of love and it was Soma so amazing kind of song. Yeah. [00:26:19] Ian: Why did that song make me think of the John Wick films? Huh? I don't know. Something about that. Wait a minute. Lightly melancholic driving action [00:26:30] Matthew: That works. Yes. I like that [00:26:32] Ian: ELO got me thinking, John Wick. Okay, [00:26:34] Matthew: now I'm imagining cutting a music video to this with clips from John Wick. [00:26:39] Ian: Oh, you probably could, you probably do an amazing one with that. and in the same way I'm saying that, that one was a little bit down and a little bit resigned. The next one is above the clouds. [00:26:54] Matthew: Yes. Now, is that bringing us back into our science fiction? Is it still focusing on the ballads?, [00:27:01] Ian: or is, or is that when a living thing ends, it goes above the clouds? There's a little bit of an extra question there. [00:27:09] Matthew: Interesting. Yeah. [00:27:10] Ian: Yeah. [00:27:11] Matthew: It's going into the beyond. Mm-hmm. And, and there, the, the very beginning of the song suggests transition in that way because it starts with these sultry blues. They just give way into kind of a more straight ahead seventies rock. Mm-hmm. So there's kind of a tango beat in the middle there, which, which is weird, but I like it. It [00:27:31] Ian: did that. That was pretty good. It, that one did catch me again as I was listening, like, oh, what's going on here? Every time I thought I was getting fully into the groove of this album. The next track was enough of a shift to a different style that I had to reset [00:27:55] Matthew: and a above the clouds. It does a few interesting things, but ultimately , it's an interesting experiment. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot there compared to the better tracks on this album. [00:28:05] Ian: Yeah. [00:28:06] Matthew: At the very end there are some tones and some chords and things that suggest the song could have been more than it turned out to be. [00:28:14] Ian: Yeah. This one needs a, this one needed a little bit more time in the oven kind of question. [00:28:18] Matthew: Yeah. Yeah. It's a little undercooked. You're right. [00:28:20] Ian: But if they're working with these ideas, that could mean that there later stuff could go back to this. Well, mm-hmm. And I, you know, this is the first time I'd ever heard of them, so I'm not sure. Is it, are any of these tracks, 'cause we're describing that they've had so many different things. And this was them kind of reaching out and trying, different sounds in order to, bring in more audience to that extent , and because they enjoyed the experimentation. Are any of these really close to their earlier sounds so far, [00:28:51] Matthew: uh, musically in terms of their orchestration or their instrumentation. A lot of, of what we're mm-hmm. We're, we're getting in this record, are, applications of what they had developed before. So you would recognize, you heard some of their earlier stuff. It's, oh, here's where they're working out how to put those electrified strings into, uh, a basic fifties rock and roll format. Uh, and here is where they're actually like the, the, if the previous. Albums were extended sketches and studies. Here we are seeing some more of the finished artwork that they can show to more people, [00:29:31] Ian: new dishes, but with the same kitchen and the same ingredients. Yeah. [00:29:34] Matthew: Yeah. I've, I've learned how to cook. Okay. Yeah. I get you cook rice in this style and now I can make it part of a, a menu. [00:29:40] Ian: That makes sense. [00:29:41] Matthew: So, so it's interesting to see that even in this record, which is so engineered in so many ways, uh, track to track, they do have a song like, uh, above the Clouds that still seems like it's, it's experimenting with something and it's not quite sure what it's doing, but it wants to try some things out. And from there we go back into some straight ahead guitar driven rock and roll with Do Ya, which is another one of the songs that was a, a breakout for this album. [00:30:06] Ian: It's been 14 minutes. Are you feeling nostalgic for rock Aria? Guess what? We've got another, [00:30:12] Matthew: and yet this one, the, the lyrics to this song, are these a fever dream or a psychedelic break or what's going on here? And again, this seems to like. [00:30:22] Ian: It's like listening to someone try to explain the plot of a Hideo Kojima game. [00:30:28] Matthew: Yes, yes. It's just these descriptions of these bizarre, surreal statements and it's essentially, I've seen so much incredibly weird and disturbing stuff, and that's the category in which I place you girl. [00:30:41] Ian: Yes. [00:30:43] Matthew: It's like, thank you. I'd rather not be in that list. I'm gonna go now. Yeah. [00:30:50] Ian: For, for an album from 1976, this song has something aggressively internet about. Its about its entire phrasing and styling. It's like I have seen, I have seen conversations that go weirdly like this on the internet and it's, it's bizarre, but yeah. It it also does rhythmically go into some of that Doo-Wop-iness again? [00:31:21] Matthew: It does, right. It, it's this bizarreness and it's in a such an accessible structure. [00:31:27] Ian: Mm-hmm. But it, it likes to do little call and responses of, you know, the, the background singing and the foreground singing, creating those same rhythms. And it was very, very disquieting in that sense too, because you feel like you're bouncing back and forth as this rhythm that you expect to be sung by one person is instead stretched across two. Yeah. [00:31:54] Matthew: It's like it. Is, uh, he's having a conversation. The person singing this song is having a conversation with someone. Um, is that other, is that someone, an actual person who's in the room? Yeah. Or does he have weird conversations with himself all the time? It would, I, I wouldn't be surprised either way. Uh, I've seen lovers flying through the air hand in hand. I've seen babies dancing in the midnight sun. I've seen dreams that came from the heavenly skies above. I've seen old men crying at their own graveside. I've seen pigs all sitting watching picture slides. But then there's you. [00:32:32] Ian: You know what? I'll also say each of those, I feel like I could tie to potentially a specific scene from a movie. [00:32:40] Matthew: Yeah?, [00:32:42] Ian: there's little bits here where it's like, like if you stay too long at any one point of it, it starts to make sense. And that's the terrifying thing. [00:32:51] Matthew: That's the danger right there. [00:32:54] Ian: We can't stop here. This is do ya country? [00:33:01] Matthew: Yeah. There is a CA certain, uh, a certain Hunter Thompson or, uh, maybe even more a, uh, something that evokes Ralph Steadman illustrations. Who, uh, did so many illustrations for, for, uh, for Thompson that, that yes, [00:33:15] Ian: it [00:33:15] Matthew: concrete surrealness of it. Mm-hmm. [00:33:21] Ian: And I have no clue how it ties into anything else. I've been making this whole thing about all these other things tying together. This one, no. [00:33:28] Matthew: Yeah. This is, you know, somebody's, somebody's crazy cousin came into the studio and rambled for a while. [00:33:36] Ian: Uh. Then we end on Shangrila. [00:33:41] Matthew: Yes. Which is this surf rock ballad that turned, it has turned into a dreamy meditation. [00:33:47] Ian: We're saying surf rock. We, we were just, uh, mentioning how Living Thing had that bit of a Beach Boys, American sixties element that comes back again. Yeah. Little repetitions. It also says something that the, the first line of the final track is, I'm getting out. I'm getting out. Yes. There's something very about endings to this song. [00:34:13] Matthew: Mm-hmm. And it's, it's very, it's very explicitly talking about that idea of falling out of love. [00:34:19] Ian: Mm-hmm. [00:34:20] Matthew: And so it becomes so dark. Yeah. Maybe a surf rock ball, but so, so dark. It has so many false endings, or at least one really big false ending. Mm-hmm. But we get it. It refers back to that orchestral instrumentation that we get at the opening of the album. The, the opera singer is back, like you're, uh, you were saying it references. It's almost a, and here's my report to you about the album you've just listened to. [00:34:55] Ian: Yes. Which threw me for such a loop. Yeah, because here I am. I was saying that like second track telephone line, I started saying, well this is different. No, it's not. Reminding me of Kansas, reminding me of the Beatles. And what's a repeated line in S Shangrila? My s Shangrila has gone away. Faded like the Beatles on Hey Jude. [00:35:20] Matthew: Yes. [00:35:22] Ian: They directly call back to the Beatles, and so suddenly it's like, oh, that's just, that's not just a stylistic, there's some intentionality to that similarity, [00:35:33] Matthew: right? It's like they're, they're saying we're an English rock band in the seventies. Of course, we're influenced by the Beatles. Why Absolutely. Play games about that. [00:35:43] Ian: There's something delightfully honest about [00:35:46] Matthew: that. Yeah. Don't have to go outta their way to claim to be original. They know they're original. They can recognize, they can acknowledge their influences. [00:35:55] Ian: Exactly. And in the same way that they were happy in Rockaria to mention the other artists and the classical musicians and tie them all together. Here's them doing this little thematic summary of their album. And referencing a bit of acknowledgement to an influence and pulling all those things together. It very, it's a very great ending in that sense, even if it's just as weird as the rest of it. [00:36:25] Matthew: So this has been really interesting. I've got a new sense of how this comes together as an album. Thanks to your, your comments here. [00:36:32] Ian: Thank you. [00:36:33] Matthew: But, uh, I think we're, we're heading towards our final questions. [00:36:38] Ian: I think we are. So, [00:36:39] Matthew: yeah, so stay tuned as we have some final comments and final questions about this, uh, album. But in the meantime, if you are enjoying the, uh, inter Millennium Media Project, first, thank you so much for listening. if you want more, please go to IMMProject.com and that's where you'll find all of our back episodes and also where you will find our Patreon, where you can help support the podcast as well as get, uh, bonus audio content. And, if you join at the movie club level, you'll also get a, mysterious DVD in the mail every few months. [00:37:11] Ian: You wanna know what it's like being me, experiencing brand new, brand new media on a regular basis. It's right there. [00:37:18] Matthew: And you can also, support the podcast, by, buying things at our shop. Also linked from IMM project.com if you like. T-shirts and coffee mugs and fun things like that. We do have the IMMP logo, but also some other treats for fans of stuff we've talked about, like, uh, the prisoner and space 1999. [00:37:37] Ian: Come on. You care about Phobos, don't you? [00:37:39] Matthew: Who cares about Phobos? And of course the best way to support the podcast is , to share it. Let your friends know about it. Give us five stars wherever you get your podcasts. , just help other people, find it. And we would also love to hear from you. There's a contact page there. On, imm project.com and you can reach us on our Discord. You can reach us on Blue Sky or Mastodon. You can reach us by email and by actual honest to goodness physical mail, thanks to the US Postal Service and our PO Box. So you'll find all of that on imm project.com. And, uh, Ian, where can people find you? [00:38:16] Ian: I can be found as ItemCrafting most places such as itemcrafting.com or every single Thursday streaming as ItemCraftingLive on Twitch. Come join me for some game play, some model painting, some crafting. It's an excellent time. And how about you dad? [00:38:35] Matthew: You can find me as ByMatthewPorter. So you can go to ByMatthewPorter.com. That'll link you to anything else I'm doing. But that includes, uh, on, uh, blue Sky and Mastodon, as by Matthew Porter and also ByMatthewPorter on YouTube, where I review movies, movie theater experiences, and occasional travel destinations. So, um, I honestly don't remember what are our final questions for a record album? 'cause it's not like we're looking for. A reboot or a revival? A sequel to a record. Although I suppose some there could be. I get, but I suppose spin or no spin is the first. Do you recommend this? [00:39:12] Ian: Yes. Spin or no spin? This was fascinating to listen to, but it didn't actually grab me. Hmm. I think that. I might enjoy the occasional bit of ELO, but trying to listen to this whole thing together, despite me finding those interconnections that you find so fascinating. It was like attending a buffet instead of a, instead of a multi-course meal. [00:39:43] Matthew: Hmm. [00:39:44] Ian: Because I kept ha going to individual songs as fun, but trying to go through all of them together just felt like a lot. And that's weird for an album that is so much shorter than the other ones we've listened to. [00:39:58] Matthew: Yes, it is. [00:39:59] Ian: And, and yet it felt heavier in some mental ways because I was bouncing back and forth so much. So this might be absolutely someone else's thing and I might even enjoy certain of these songs later. But as an album, as a whole, it's a no spin. [00:40:18] Matthew: Interesting. It sounds almost as if your reaction is like, you've read a novel and you've gotten something out of that, but you don't need to, to go back and reread it. You're not gonna recommend that everybody has to read this novel. [00:40:30] Ian: Yeah, [00:40:30] Matthew: I, I recommend that and that anybody with an interest in music and especially an interest in music, from the seventies. You gotta have to listen to this once and from there you'll know. Is this something you're gonna come back to? Are there pieces of this you're going to come back to? There are parts of this album I don't need to hear more than once every 15 years. There are other songs like the Beginning and Tightrope that I want to hear regularly. Uh, or, or, or at least once a year because they have such, they have such power. To some extent it's nostalgia. I remember hearing them for the first time when I was a kid. But also it's interesting to hear them in the context of anything else I listen to, because they have, they have influenced things more, they've influenced things beyond what their reputation would suggest, I think. [00:41:16] Ian: Mm. [00:41:17] Matthew: So I say this is a, a spin at least once. [00:41:21] Ian: Okay. [00:41:22] Matthew: Are you interested in hearing more from ELO? Are you gonna find any of the rest of their music or do you want me to recommend anything? I totally understand. I'm [00:41:30] Ian: not sure, honest, honestly, like in our previous ones, I've enjoyed going into some of the other tracks and other songs by the artists, but knowing that this was them moving into the mainstream, I can't tell like. I don't feel like I've got clear enough idea in any one direction to know what I'm, if it's going to still land with me, so I might go try it, but it'll take a while before I do. [00:42:01] Matthew: Yeah. You're gonna have to digest this for a while, huh? [00:42:05] Ian: Yeah. And apparently they're, they've released new albums as recently as 2019. Yeah. [00:42:11] Matthew: So they broke up and they kind of reformed in, in, in ways that those seventies and early eighties bands have done. [00:42:18] Ian: Yeah, I, I did see the, uh, the artwork for their different albums and their 2001 album is the most early auts thing I've ever seen. [00:42:28] Matthew: Oh, is that right? [00:42:29] Ian: In terms of like digital graphics, because it's them attempting to do their logo as a space station, but it is in that, that early and a little too shiny metallic, PlayStation two era video game graphics style. [00:42:47] Matthew: Oh, yes. It's interesting. It's taking that, that space station or spaceship idea that I mentioned that was in some of their later records paintings in their later records. But it's executing it at, like you say, PS one or, OR, or TV level, CGI from the era. [00:43:05] Ian: Yeah. So I'm like, okay, [00:43:09] Matthew: yeah. There was a lot of CGI on television in the aughts, wasn't there? [00:43:15] Ian: There really was. Um, it also, I will say, in looking them up, made a lot of sense that, that, that, uh, some of the people behind ELO are the people also behind the, the soundtrack of the Musical XANADU. [00:43:31] Matthew: Yes, yes. [00:43:32] Ian: I'm like, oh. I know enough theater kids. I know what this is. [00:43:42] Matthew: Yeah, there's, that is a, I never connected that, but there is a sort of theater kids with solid rock and roll skills, vibe to this record, this album. [00:43:52] Ian: I knew the theater kids who were also in marching band. I know these people. That is what this is. [00:43:59] Matthew: You lived in that slice of the Venn diagram for a while. [00:44:01] Ian: Oh, absolutely. I was the weird one who was playing trading card games, but was friends with all of them. [00:44:07] Matthew: Oh, trading card games. What have you done to me, Ian? It's about a year ago this month that we, uh, did our stream and you reintroduced me to Magic the Gathering. And now I've, I placed a pre-order on Magic Cards at my local game store, and I'm really seriously considering, uh, attending. A pre-release event, a week or two after we record this, what have you done? [00:44:29] Ian: Uh, we do this to each other, dad, [00:44:32] Matthew: but it's been fun. I'm still playing on arena. I'm still losing badly. I bought a record player [00:44:35] Ian: too. I bought a record player and it's in my living room because of the things like this. You have me listen to. So, hey, it works. [00:44:47] Matthew: All right. Well there's plenty more for us to, uh, to introduce each other too. So, uh, I know that we will be back with more tales of, what's that? [00:44:57] Ian: Ohoh you look like you have an idea. Hey, I've got something to introduce you to. [00:45:00] Matthew: Uhoh. Wow. [00:45:03] Ian: You want something weird and experimental. I think I've got something for you, dad. [00:45:09] Matthew: Huh. Alright, so then we will be back in a couple of weeks. I may or may not be in control at that point, but we'll have something for you here on the IM MP podcast. Absolutely. [00:45:19] Ian: In the meantime, go find something new to watch.