Electric Light Orchestra - Armchair Theatre (with guest vocalists)

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     In 1983 Jeff Lynne had decided he wanted to stop doing Electric Light Orchestra, although in 1986 they released Balance of Power, with only Lynne, Richard Tandy and Bev Bevan as the band. However, in 1990, Lynne released his first solo album, Armchair Theatre, which had Tandy performing on six songs. Bevan had wanted to continue doing E.L.O. so in 1989 he formed Electric Light Orchestra Part II, with Louis Clark arranging the strings as he had on previous E.L.O. albums. Kelly Groucutt and Mik Kaminsky started their own band: Orkestra. They had six songs on the soundtrack of 1989's Summer Job which were on Orkestra's first record, Beyond the Dream, released in 1991.
     When I did my first "what if Jeff Lynne included contributions from other band members" E.L.O album in July 2023 there were songs I wanted to include but avoided because I only wanted to use songs sung by Lynne or Groucutt since they were the lead vocalists on the earlier E.L.O. records. I almost didn't do this "what if" album for that reason, but it kept nagging the back of mind. So, to get the band back together I decided that Bevan was unsure about his singing so he invited friends Pete Haycock (of The Climax Blues band) and Neal Lockwood to sing his songs.
     This album from an alternate dimension starts with "Once Upon a Time" from E.L.O. Part 2, then "What Would It Take" and "Every Little Thing" from Armchair Theatre. Orkestra has the next song, "Don't Give Up" and Lynne follows with "Don't Say Goodbye", Nobody Home" and "Now You're Gone". A mini concerto for a rainy day is ushered in by a thunder at the beginning of ELO 2's "Heartbreaker" (featuring Kaminsky on violin), then Lynne's "Don't Let Go", Orchestra's "Don't Turn Away" and ending with Lynne's "Stormy Weather"

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