Part 4

ELO/JEFF LYNNE (cont.)

The new ELO album 'ZOOM' was released  months later with a planned world tour and a catalog overhaul supporting it. Unfortunately, the CD sales for ZOOM were weak and low ticket sales forced the cancellation of the tour and the rest of the revamped catalog. You can see what the tour would have been like thanks to the 'ZOOM Tour Live!' home video. Despite these set backs, the ELO resurgence continues; songs like 'Hold On Tight', more prominently, 'Mr. Blue Sky' and 'Do Ya' can be heard in commercials, TV shows and movie trailers. Currently, Jeff  has plans to set up his own label and release a CD version of his Zoom concert special, revamped version of both Armchair Theater and Zoom. The long promised second wave of the revamped ELO catalog was released in Sept. 2006.

Jeff Lynne 2001

JOHN FARRAR

While XANADU was being shot and assembled, John recorded and released his first solo self-titled disc for CBS Records (JC 36475). It has been re-released on CD in the UK on 'See For Miles' label with bonus tracks from his pre-Olivia days with groups like 'Marvin, Welch & Farrar', 'The Shadows' and his first band 'The Strangers'. (SEECD 484) His other projects since the film were producing sides for Cher and Irene Cara and writing a song for The Carpenters. Of course, he would still continue to write and produce for Olivia, including hits like 'Make A Move On Me' and 'Soul Kiss'. He has made in roads back to musicals: sometime ago, he collaborated with lyricist Tim Rice ('Evita' and 'Jesus Christ Superstar') on a staged musical version of Weathering Heights ('Heathcliff') with Cliff Richards (the soundtrack CD featured Olivia singing many duets with Cliff) and, in the works, 'Gidget-The Musical' with legendary movie producer/director Francis Ford Coppola ('The Godfather' and 'Apocalypse Now'). Currently, he has been writing songs for American Idol.

John Farrar 1998

THE TUBES

After XANADU, the group was finally dropped from A&M and signed up with Capitol Records. In 1981, 'Completion Backward Principle' (title borrowed from a business training film) and it's first single 'Talk To Ya Later' became a hit. The 'Backwards' LP started a successful roll for the group, including Fee Waybill getting arrested for obstruction when the band performed on a flat bread truck through the very busy streets of Piccadilly Circus in London. The follow up LP was 'Outside Inside' with guest appearance by Earth Wind & Fire and Martha Davis from The Motels. Their second Top 40 hit, 'She's A Beauty' also came from this disc. After the follow-up LP, 'Love Bomb', failed, Fee quit the group for a brief solo career and the group soon broke up. They reunited in the early nineties and, in 1998, released 'Genius Of America' on a small label and started a short series of small tours. Look out for their 'Tubes World Tour 2000' CD (on CMC International [ELO Part 2's old label]), a live recording of their old hits and a few new ones, and their new official web site: www.thetubes.com.

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