Left to my own devices

One of the latest social media things is to 'challenge' someone to talk about their Top 10 favorite albums over a period of ten days. I was recently challenged by a friend for this, and of course it's right up my alley. Here, then, is the first of my Top 10 favorite albums of all-time. 10 . ELO /  Alone in the Universe (2015) What will be the most recent album on the list is the latest work by Jeff Lynne, here acting as his old, successful band ELO (Electric Light Orchestra). Alone in the Universe wastes none of its time. Its songs are just as long as they need to be, and are melodic, melancholy, and hopeful. The songs feature chord changes that you can predict (I don't mean that as a slam), and it even manages to make a bitter song sound beautiful ( Dirty to the Bone ). Alone in the Universe was a pleasant surprise from an ageing rock artist. Here's hoping he has more stuff like to share with us in future.

Only recently I had bemoaned the death of the album. No doubt, the album is still (in my opinion) a dying art form, but leave it to fate to see the release of the latest New Order and ELO albums during the interim to try and prove me wrong. Both of the aforementioned releases are simply wonderful. New Order has a return-to-form with its beat-stomping synths and clever lyrics, while ELO (aka Jeff Lynne) is full of soothing mellow rock tunes. The latter album, in fact, has been something of a revelation for me. It can be difficult to described what compels us to gravitate toward certain music. Sure, we may enjoy some genres more than others, but why and how is it that certain songs can, for lack of a better term, touch our soul? The newest offering from ELO, Alone In the Universe , manages to be the musical equivalent of a soul mate. It's not necessarily easy to describe such a connection, but I will endeavor to do so here.