''The Night the Light Went On in Long Beach'' is a 1974 live album by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) recorded on the evening of 12 May 1974 at the Long Beach Auditorium in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

; its title lampoons "

The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" is a Southern Gothic murder ballad, written in 1972 by songwriter Bobby Russell and first recorded by his then wife, singer, comedian, and actress Vicki Lawrence. Lawrence's version, from her 1973 al ...

" by

Vicki Lawrence Vicki Ann Lawrence ( Axelrad; born March 26, 1949), sometimes credited as Vicki Lawrence Schultz, is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She is best known for her character Mama (Thelma Harper). Lawrence originated multitudes of charact ...

Background and limited release

This live album was intended as the follow-up to ''

On the Third Day ''On the Third Day'' is the third studio album by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), and the first to be recorded without input from Roy Wood. It was released in the United States in November 1973 by United Artists Records, and in the United Kingd ...

'', but the original recording was marred by technical issues both on and off the stage. The problems started when the truck carrying the band's equipment broke down ''en route'' to the venue, and the band did not have enough time to perform a proper soundcheck before the concert. Initial vinyl pressings of the album were of such poor quality that ELO's management eventually filed a lawsuit against the production company for compensation. The garish gatefold sleeve of the original album, designed by Mick Haggerty, showed a cartoony 1950s-era horror film mob running in terror from an unseen source of light, with the album's title scrawled across the sleeve. The inside held distorted photos of the band performing onstage. Ultimately, both ELO's UK and US labels decided against issuing ''The Night the Light Went On in Long Beach''. It only achieved "legitimate" release in Germany and a handful of other countries such as Australia, although it was eventually issued in the UK in 1985. It was never released in the US (although it was heavily imported into the US, and sold quite well in the specialty rock music shops around the country). However, in the US, the live version of " 10538 Overture" from this recording was later used as the B-side for the ELO single " Evil Woman" from the studio album '' Face the Music''. The live version of "

Roll Over Beethoven "Roll Over Beethoven" is a 1956 hit song written by Chuck Berry, originally released on Chess Records single, with "Drifting Heart" as the B-side. The lyrics of the song mention rock and roll and the desire for rhythm and blues to replace clas ...

" from ''Long Beach'' saw limited release in the US on the B-side of the alternate version of "

Telephone Line A telephone line or telephone circuit (or just line or circuit industrywide) is a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system. It is designed to reproduce speech of a quality that is understandable. It is the physical wire or ot ...

" in the CBS Hall of Fame 45 re-issue series.

Restoration

A 1990s CD remastering and reissue corrected the poor sound quality of the original album and restored several songs to their full-length versions. It was discovered that the original LP pressing had been mastered using an inferior copy of the concert (according to the CD's liner notes, the tape used had been marked 'Rough Mix, Do Not Use'), hence its muddy sound. However, the original master tape was discovered in the record company's vault, and the album was restored to its intended sound quality. The album is notable for being the sole live recording of ELO released during their initial period of activity.

Original track listing

Personnel

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 ...

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lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

Bev Bevan Beverley Bevan (born 25 November 1944) is an English rock musician, who was the drummer and one of the original members of The Move and Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). After the end of ELO in 1986, he founded ELO Part II. Bevan also was drumm ...

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drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

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 ...

–

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is concept ...

, Minimoog synthesizer *

Mike de Albuquerque Mike de Albuquerque (born 24 June 1947, Wimbledon, London) is an English musician, who was a member of the progressive rock band Electric Light Orchestra from 1972 to 1974. Biography In 1971, in partnership with percussionist Frank Ricotti, A ...

– co-lead vocals, bass,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

Mik Kaminski Michael Kaminski (born 2 September 1951) is an English musician. He is best known for playing violin in the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) between 1973 and 1979 and touring from 1981 to 1986, as well as being a member of Electric Ligh ...

–

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

Hugh McDowell Hugh Alexander McDowell (31 July 1953 – 6 November 2018)ELO and ...

–

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

* Mike Edwards – cello

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Night the Light Went on in Long Beach, The Albums produced by Jeff Lynne Electric Light Orchestra live albums 1974 live albums Warner Records live albums Epic Records live albums