That talking piano haunted me and many years later drove me to find out how to do it. When I was a little lad, a record called Sparky’s Magic Piano was something played on the radio. Some of these songs are so over the top it’s amazing.įor a while there I went through a phase where I definitely thought that ‘more is more’ and overdubbed everything that wasn’t nailed down. I’ve always tried to give my records a timeless sound by using old fashioned microphone placement that utilizes the sound of the room (or rooms) you are recording in.

From the producer’s point of view, I think some of the sounds are a bit naïve, but still stand up well. Seems to me the best you can do is your best. The songs went on to sell millions, which taught me not to worry about them so much. I especially enjoyed confounding those critics who would often spread doom and gloom over my newly finished efforts. It was all that was on my mind, (well nearly).īefore each album I used to give myself a few weeks to come up with the chord sequences and melodies that would become these songs, but I never finished the words to my songs until before I sang them, or as some critics said ‘until just after I sang them’.

Any sound you could imagine – you could create. You could twist sound and bend it and have backward messages and solos. Anything was possible in the studio, you could make a Steinway sound like a Wurlitzer (if you really wanted to). I absolutely loved being in the recording studio, there was nothing that could come near to the thrill of laying down tracks for a new album. As far as I knew, that was as good as it got.

I was lucky enough to be hanging out up there with the big boys. In those days if your records got in the top ten it was an amazing feat. When I wrote these songs I never dreamed that people would still be listening to them thirty years into the future. THE VERY BEST OF ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRAĪll Songs Written and Produced by Jeff Lynne

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