Friday 15 January 2010

Last Train to London

"Last train to London just heading out. Last train to London just leaving town. But I really want tonight to last forever. I really wanna be with you. Let the music play on down the line tonight ..." Oh this is glorious stuff. ELO's Last Train To London. Absolutely irresistible. From their 1979 disco masterpiece Discovery. Odd isn't looking back. In that strange breathing space between glitter and punk the Electric Light Orchestra was one of my very favourite things, and I adored A New World Record and Out Of The Blue. But by 1979 post-punk and the mod resurgence were everything, and Discovery probably passed me by. And ironically getting excited about the punk/disco crossover I missed ELO's Disco-very! I'm not sure the lyrics bear too close an analysis, but what the heck. I mean something like Joe Jackson's Down To London has clever lyrics but it just leaves me cold. Anyway, it's all wrong. It's always up to London. As in Jeff Lynne's Last Train To London would be up to London pretty much regardless of where it was running from ...

4 comments:

  1. Nice one. I haven't heard this one for years. I'm a sucker for an uptempo disco beat with some strings over the top. Every time.

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  2. Due to this post (damnit) I played ELO for 3 hours straight earlier today. Not done that since I was 14!

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  3. I take full responsibility. Good for the soul every 30 years or so though!

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  4. The 16-year old me would have been disgusted though...

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