''Armchair Theatre'' is the first solo album by

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was formed in 1970. As a songwriter, he has cont ...

, released in 1990.

History

The album reunited Lynne with Electric Light Orchestra's keyboard player

Richard Tandy Richard Tandy (born 26 March 1948) is an English musician. He is best known as the keyboardist in the rock band Electric Light Orchestra ("ELO"). His palette of keyboards (including Minimoog, Clavinet, Mellotron, and piano) was an importan ...

and featured fellow

Traveling Wilburys The Traveling Wilburys were a British-American supergroup consisting of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. Originating from an idea discussed by Harrison and Lynne during the sessions for Harrison's 1987 album ' ...

member George Harrison (both Harrison and the Wilburys were signed to

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

, parent of Reprise Records which released this album). Lynne wrote and recorded "Now You're Gone" as a tribute to his late mother. The album also features cover versions of two classics: "

September Song "September Song" is an American standard popular song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Maxwell Anderson. It was introduced by Walter Huston in the 1938 Broadway musical production ''Knickerbocker Holiday.'' The song has been recorded by num ...

" and " Stormy Weather". The songs " Every Little Thing" and "Lift Me Up" were released as singles both featuring non-album b-sides, "I'm Gone" from the former and "Borderline" and "Sirens" from the latter. Despite positive reviews the album became only a minor hit. A remaster by

Frontiers Frontiers may refer to: * Frontier, areas near or beyond a boundary Arts and entertainment Music * ''Frontiers'' (Journey album), 1983 * ''Frontiers'' (Jermaine Jackson album), 1978 * ''Frontiers'' (Jesse Cook album), 2007 * ''Frontiers'' ( ...

was released on 19 April 2013 in the UK, and on 23 April 2013 in the US, and included two bonus tracks, one of them being previously unreleased. Additional bonus track was included in the Japanese re-release.

Track listing

All songs written by

, except where noted. *A ^ "Save Me Now" ends at minute 1:53. After 15 seconds of silence (1:53 – 2:08), an unusual whirring sound and seagull cawing are heard for 13 seconds. After the whirring sound there are 10 seconds of silence, followed by Jeff Lynne saying "Hey, it's still going y'know," and chimes ringing.

Personnel

– guitars, bass, piano, keyboards, autoharp, percussion, lead vocals, backing vocals; drums on #5 and bonus track #13 * George Harrison – acoustic guitar on #1, 3 and 5; electric slide guitar on #3, 5 and 9; backing vocals on #1 and 3 *

– acoustic guitar on #1 and 3; piano on #5 and 9; backing vocals on #2, 5, 9 and 10 * Mette Mathiesen – drums on #1–4 and 6–10; percussion on #1, 2, and 6; backing vocals on #5, 9 and 10 * Phil Hatton – backing vocals on #1–5, 7, 9 and 10 ;Additional musicians *

Jim Horn James Ronald Horn (born November 20, 1940) is an American saxophonist, woodwind player, and session musician. Biography Horn was born in Los Angeles, and after replacing saxophonist Steve Douglas in 1959, he toured with member Duane Eddy for f ...

– saxophones on #1 and 2 * Hema Desai – operatic vocals on #1, classical Indian vocals on #6 *

Michael Kamen Michael Arnold Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer (especially of film scores), orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, songwriter, and session musician. Biography Early life Michael Arnold Kamen was born ...

– string arrangements on #1 and 9 * Jake Commander – backing vocals on #2, 5, 9 and 10 * Dave Morgan – backing vocals on #3, 5, 9 and 10 * Sireesh K. Lalwani – percussion on #3 and 6, violin on #6 * Fateh Singh Gangani, Nellai D. Kanan, Vikram A. Patil – percussion on #3 and 6 * Rita – saw on #5 * Sheila Tandy – backing vocals on #5, 9 and 10 *

Ashit Desai Ashit Desai ( gu, આશિત દેસાઈ; born 16 May 1951) is an Indian composer, vocalist, musician and music director. He composes scores for films, TV serials, dance productions and dramas. He is known as Gujarati Sugam Sangeet artist. ...

– classical Indian vocals on #6 *

Del Shannon Charles Weedon Westover (December 30, 1934 – February 8, 1990), better known by his stage name Del Shannon, was an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known for his 1961 number-one ''Billboard'' hit "Runaway". In 1999, he was induc ...

– backing vocals on #10

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armchair Theatre (Album) 1990 debut albums Jeff Lynne albums Albums produced by Jeff Lynne Reprise Records albums