Face the Music: An Electric Light Orchestra Song-By-Song Podcast Radiotrola Entertainment/Assorted Deli Meats Amalgamated

Sorry to hear that YOUR cult has brainwashed you into thinking abortion is a good thing. This show was great, too bad you had to ruin it with politics. True fans don't try to alienate other fans. You could have just had a passing laugh and said "man I never would have thought that!" and moved on, instead of harping on it for several minutes and labeling everyone who doesn't share your views as extremist whack jobs. I'll still give you 4 stars because the show was otherwise good

This pleasant Siskel/Ebert-style podcast is hosted by amiable fellows both named Eric. Face The Music: an Electric Light Orchestra Song-by-Song Podcast, has messieurs Eric Paul Johnson & Eric Wincentsen sharing their insights on the ELO. You may initially find it confusing as to which Eric is saying what. Fortunately, the Erics don’t sound alike, as they give interesting and occasionally entertaining information on each and every song the ELO group put out. Considering ELO put out about 190 songs, that’s a formidable task!



As with the first 3 albums ELO did, which the Erics were equally critical of, the FTM Podcast also took some time to find their way with their podcast. By their 5th album review – “Eldorado”, which they both loved – the podcast was coming together. EPJ is a bit more of a garden-variety all-in ELO fan, while EW is a bit more erudite and critical of “Progressive Rock”, the genre that ELO was pronounced to be working in. This is by design, and the occasional conflicts do make for a more interesting show. For example, EW is not a big fan of much of the highly popular Out of the Blue double-album, while EPJ is.



Each show starts with a bit of the music from the song they will be reviewing, and they do a nice job of summarizing much of the song with seamless cuts that bring its essence together succinctly. (Even better is the “Bonus Tracks” show, in which they review the entire album at the end, with listener feedback. Here, they summarize the entire album, each song, quite nicely in about 10 to 15 seconds.) Then, EPJ announces in a bit of a jingle, “What’s That Song All About?”, which is a bit of a misnomer, since what proceeds is just facts about the song, like when & where it was recorded, who covered it, etc. Then the Erics come in and give facts about the song and say what they like or dislike about it.



Their insights are generally interesting, though, to be fair, they could use a bit better editing. EPJ has an annoying habit of almost always giving us the exact date of when he first heard an ELO song (“I’ve always loved this song, ever since I first heard it after purchasing it in November 1984”). EW is a bit more measured in his statements, but sometimes they both over-indulge or go off track, and usually will admit as much and get back on track. One example of some severely-needed editing was info about ELO songs used – doubtlessly without permission and illegally – in a 1970’s porn film. While both Erics agreed this was groanworthy, they still talked quite a bit about it, thankfully not with any graphic details, but really just a sentence or two acknowledging this odd fact would have been plenty.



A woman’s voice is heard giving some more rather boring info about the song in another regular feature. Her voice is pleasant enough, but, while I understand people may want to know who covered an ELO song, how it did on the charts in Canada or England, or other things, these parts really drag the show down for me. There’s nothing here where you are going to say, “Oh! How intereresting!”



The “Great Moments in ELO History” is announced with a hearty old Robin Hood accent, and is usually a highlight. With a quote from Jeff Lynne – who wrote all the music, the lyrics as well as produced the albums – or perhaps a clip of old “America’s Top 40” host Casey Kassem talking about how “Evil Woman” shot up in the charts or was written. The clips, whether from interviews done in the 70s, or of part of the song their talking about – audio demonstrations are key when all you have to go by are your ears and perhaps a wandering mind – are much appreciated.



While I had heard it before, it was enjoyable to hear the Erics talk about the ‘back-ward masking’, i.e., the music and singing played backwards on a song, such as in the instrumental, “Fire On High”. While a deep, scary voice cries out something like “izzy emith” or “madness”, they play the backwards words so you can hear what is being said: “the music is reversable, but time is not. Turn back, turn back, turn back” in fade-out.



A feature introduced in the 7th album onward is especially fun: it is called “great lines from this week’s ELO song”. A voice actor apparently donated his efforts to share these with the podcast, and the extra voice is also welcome. He usually acts out some line from the song, with sound effects, that can put a new spin on the song. For instance, the popular “Mr. Blue Sky” has this bubble-gum lyric: “Hey you with the pretty face / Welcome to the human race!” The Great Line actor said these lines to a cooing baby, which brought a smile to my face.

I started listening to this podcast during the El Dorado album and was hooked right away. I’m a big ELO fan that started my adoration with “sweet talking woman“ & the out of the blue album. Then as a fan I got everything from that point on the minute it came out and then worked my way back and really enjoy everything they did from El Dorado on. For the podcast, I listened to every episode from the El Dorado album until the final episode and it’s a lot of fun, informative, and even though I don’t agree with the opinions sometimes, I enjoy hearing the Eric‘s talk about each song. I also don’t need to agree with them to enjoy the show. BTW – it really is a show that grew as time went by with a cast of characters & new production elements. I also have to say that the number of times I laughed at Madeline‘s review was in double figures and I really appreciated the other opinions from the other contributors as well. In addition, Eric Johnson’s production work is really enjoyable to me. I was in radio in college and loved putting together shows and he’s living a dream of mine! He does it very well! ALOT of funny edits, examples of elements from the song that he’s talking about, comparisons to other artists, etc. . He makes the podcast fun & it is clearly a labor of love for him! Eric Wincentsen has a great chemistry with Eric J & has great musical knowledge that is evident throughout the podcasts. In all honesty I’ve actually learned some new things about something I already know a lot about from the Eric’s which is pretty cool! Now that I have made it through the end of the show until the next ELO album, I’m going back and listening to some episodes of some of my favorite songs and enjoying their commentary all over again. Great job!