The third album is a secret treasure in the history of the Electric Light Orchestra
Years before they royally saluted Mr. Blue Sky and gave Evil Woman a kiss, the Electric Light Orchestra hinted at those future hits when they released their third album. appropriately titled On the third daythat record remains one of the best kept secrets in the band’s impressive discography.
Although it was not until his follow-up The Golden that ELO would break into the US Top Ten with “Can’t Get It Out Of My Head”, Third day including seven excellent tracks as well as two classically based instrumentals. Here are seven details that make On the third day worthy of being considered among the best works of Jeff Lynne and his rock band.
1. Marc Bolan of glam rock band T. Rex played guitar for much of the album, most notably on the rock classic “Ma Ma Ma Belle.”
two. On the third day It is the band’s first record without co-founder Roy Wood, who had worked with Jeff Lynne and drummer Bev Bevan in a British rock band called Move. Wood had written all twenty of that group’s hits, including “Night of Fear” and “I Can Hear the Grass Grow”, and after leaving ELO he went on to form Wizzard.
3. The fourth track on the album “Oh No Not Susan”, which is about a rich girl who has grown tired of the high society around her, is frequently broadcast on British radio despite containing a four-letter swear word in The chorus.
4. The album’s coda, “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” is Lynne’s interpretation of a work by Norwegian composer Edvard Greig. The instrumental was written for the sixth scene of Act II of the play. Peer Gyntwritten by Henrik Ibsen.
5. John Lennon in a 1973 interview cited the single “Showdown” as his favorite song of the year, and even referred to the Electric Light Orchestra as the “Sons of the Beatles.”
6. Lennon’s favorite track was also used decades later by Fox News Channel, which played the song with a split screen of President Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney during the 2012 election campaign.
7. Legendary photographer Richard Avedon shot the album cover, which featured all seven band members baring their navels. Avedon had served years earlier as the basis for the Oscar-winning film funny Facestarring Fred Astaire as the young photographer.