Jeff Lynne Releasing Solo Album and New Versions of ELO Classics

Lynne's new solo album, Long Wave, is billed as a tribute to some of the songs that originally inspired him.

The second release, Mr. Blue Sky�The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra features Lynne revisiting and re-recording--at his home studio in Los Angeles--the greatest hits of Electric Light Orchestra.

We were sent over these details: Lynne's legacy will further be celebrated with releases in 2013 including ELO Live! plus expanded reissues of the ELO's 2001 album Zoom and Lynne's first solo album in 1990, Armchair Theater.

Long Wave celebrates the music of a time when Lynne's lifelong passion for music began, evoking an era back when old standards were just giving way to rock & roll. He somehow makes pre-rock standards like "Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered," "Smile" and "Love Is A Many Splendored Many Thing"--along with a few of his favorite gems from the Sixties such as the first single "Mercy, Mercy," "Let It Rock" and "So Sad"--his own with these loving versions. Lynne's deeply felt and musically brilliant one-man-band takes add up to an inspired love letter to music itself--and an exquisite reflection of the way songs grace and change our lives.

"I call this new album Long Wave because all of the songs I sing on it are the ones heard on long wave radio when I was a kid growing up in Birmingham, England," LYNNE explains. "These songs take me back to that feeling of freedom in those days and summon up the feeling of first hearing those powerful waves of music coming in on my old crystal set. My dad also had the radio on all the time, so some of these songs have been stuck in my head for 50 years. You can only imagine how great it felt to finally get them out of my head after all these years."

Mr. Blue Sky�The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra is a testament to LYNNE's enduring artistry and his singular desire to get things right once and for all. Featuring such classics as "Evil Woman, "Don't Bring Me Down," "Livin' Thing" and "Mr, Blue Sky," the result is, in effect, a kind of showdown between Jeff Lynne today and his extremely illustrious past, and thanks to improved technology and recording artistry, Lynne somehow comes out on top again. It's a fresh chance to hear these extraordinary songs sounding sharper and clearer than the old versions.

"There was a big reason I wanted to re-record these ELO songs," says Lynne. "When I listen to the old versions they don't sound the way I thought they did when I first wrote and recorded them. I wanted to use the experience I've gained producing records ever since and have a completely new try at them. I'm not saying the old versions aren't good; I like them very much. We were doing our best, but experience and technology also play a big a big part, and these new ones sound much more solid and tight."
The album includes a never-before-heard bonus track, "The Point Of No Return," and a very special version of "10538 Overture" that's a nod to ELO's 40th anniversary.

Long Wave
1. She
2. If I Loved You
3. So Sad
4. Mercy, Mercy
5. Running Scared
6. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
7. Smile
8. At Last
9. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing
10. Let It Rock
11. Beyond The Sea