Electric Light Orchestra: Eldorado

Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) is notorious for creating some progressive rock masterpieces that are musically dynamic and detailed. Subtitled "A Symphony by the Electric Light Orchestra", Eldorado was exactly that. Eldorado was Jeff Lynn's creative genius, becoming ELO's first concept album.

Eldorado was also the true beginning of ELO fulfilling the "Orchestra" part of their name. It was the first album on which Jeff Lynne hired an orchestra to perform in studio versus overdubbing the orchestra, as was apparently the case for the first three albums. Subsequently, Eldorado became the album that brought ELO the critical acclaim they had been looking to achieve with their previous releases.

Given the level of detail that Lynn put into creating ELO's records, one would think that mastering an audiophile version of the release would be fairly simple. However, I can’t get out of my head how bright this MOFI UltraDisc pressing is mastered.

This observation of MOFI UltraDisc pressings is not unique to Eldorado. This is the um-teenth UltraDisc we’ve listened to and most, not all, seem to be bright. Eagles Hotel California, SRV Texas Flood, MarvinGaye What’s Going On, and so on. Bob Dylan Blood On the Tracks comes to mind as one that was mastered well. Maybe the highs these others have produced are too much for their "One-Step" system, which includes a digital transfer component (see class-action lawsuit for details).

This is disappointing to say the least! Frustrating for sure. The detail is there, but the highs make it difficult to sit back and savor such a great record.

TRACK LIST
1. Eldorado Overture
2. Can't Get It Out of My Head
3. Boy Blue
4. Laredo Tornado
5. Poor Boy (The Greenwood)
6. Mister Kingdom
7. Nobody's Child
8. Illusions in G Major
9. Eldorado
10. Eldorado Finale

For the money, we’d recommend finding a first pressing or maybe the MOFI Original Master Recording (not to be confused with this UltraDisc). It’ll cost less and sound no worse. 💸

💰 Invest
 💵 Consider
💸 Pass