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I had this title originally on vinyl & later on CD but it never seemed to last long enough. Well, this remaster which sounds great contains additional tracks which make for a much better album. If you enjoy ELO & never really thought much of this album. Give this remaster a shot & I believe you'll enjoy it much more then the standard CD release! Search "Judemac Forever" on msn.

Rating: 4 out of 5

I have already penned a review of this ELO album under its original cd release so as regards the musical merits my opinion is unchanged. Having decided to purchase this expanded edition as the bonus bits looked tempting I thought it useful to comment on the reissue contents.

Firstly the notes are informative and there are lots of pictures of single releases from the album but as with all the ELO reissues, no lyrics.

The bonus tracks are quite appealing at first sight. At last the b-sides 'Caught in a trap' and 'Desitination unknown' make an appearance and fine tracks they are too. However, 'A matter of fact' the b-side of 'So Serious' is missing as is the 'ELO Megamix' which backed the 12" release of the excellent 'Getting to the point' single. Why ? Who decides when these things are prepared "OK folks, we are not going to include hese tracks". Are they being saved for a future release perhaps ? If so, that's a shame as with just over 56 minutes running time they could easily have been accommodated. The rest of the tracks are 'Opening/Heaven only knows(alternative version)'. A nice way of intro-ing to the albums first track, I am surprised this didn't make it to the album in the first place. Then comes an unreleased track 'In for the kill' but hey wait a minute, this is in actual fact 'Caught in a trap' with different words. Ha, shame on the record company for not making that clear ! Finally we get 'Secret lives' and 'Sorrow about to fall' in slightly different mixes which are neither better nor worse than the originals.

All in all a tad disappointing and not in the same league as some of the other ELO reissues.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The sound quality of this remaster is far superior to the original CD which I bought in 1986. So much so that the songs actually 'work' better and the album has an flow and continuity that I didn't notice before.
People always complain when an album gets too 'synthy' - yet even the so called rock albums these days are Pro Tooled up to the eyeballs. This is a very slick pop album by Jeff Lynne. Why should that be a bad thing?

Rating: 4 out of 5

The sound quality of this remaster is far superior to the original CD which I bought in 1986. So much so that the songs actually 'work' better and the album has an flow and continuity that I didn't notice before.
People always complain when an album gets too 'synthy' - yet even the so called rock albums these days are Pro Tooled up to the eyeballs. This is a very slick pop album by Jeff Lynne. Why should that be a bad thing?

Rating: 4 out of 5

I have already penned a review of this ELO album under its original cd release so as regards the musical merits my opinion is unchanged. Having decided to purchase this expanded edition as the bonus bits looked tempting I thought it useful to comment on the reissue contents.

Firstly the notes are informative and there are lots of pictures of single releases from the album but as with all the ELO reissues, no lyrics.

The bonus tracks are quite appealing at first sight. At last the b-sides 'Caught in a trap' and 'Desitination unknown' make an appearance and fine tracks they are too. However, 'A matter of fact' the b-side of 'So Serious' is missing as is the 'ELO Megamix' which backed the 12" release of the excellent 'Getting to the point' single. Why ? Who decides when these things are prepared "OK folks, we are not going to include hese tracks". Are they being saved for a future release perhaps ? If so, that's a shame as with just over 56 minutes running time they could easily have been accommodated. The rest of the tracks are 'Opening/Heaven only knows(alternative version)'. A nice way of intro-ing to the albums first track, I am surprised this didn't make it to the album in the first place. Then comes an unreleased track 'In for the kill' but hey wait a minute, this is in actual fact 'Caught in a trap' with different words. Ha, shame on the record company for not making that clear ! Finally we get 'Secret lives' and 'Sorrow about to fall' in slightly different mixes which are neither better nor worse than the originals.

All in all a tad disappointing and not in the same league as some of the other ELO reissues.

Rating: 3 out of 5