Eldorado

Subtitled A Symphony by the Electric Light Orchestra, this was the first complete ELO concept album. Jeff Lynne worked out the storyline before he wrote any music: a Walter Mitty-like character who escapes his mundane reality through dreams. He began writing after his father, a lover of classical music, complained that ELO's songs had no tune.

It was the first ELO album with a hired orchestra, where earlier records had multitracked the band's own string players. Louis Clark co-arranged with Lynne and Richard Tandy and conducted. The three resident string players still appear, most clearly on Boy Blue and Laredo Tornado. Bassist Mike de Albuquerque left early in the sessions, homesick on tour, so Lynne played most or all of the bass and backing vocals, although de Albuquerque is still credited. Kelly Groucutt replaced him for the tour, on which cellist Melvyn Gale replaced Mike Edwards. Of Eldorado Finale, Lynne said he liked the slightly daft ending, where the double bass players can be heard packing up.

The cover is a still from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz showing Dorothy's ruby slippers, designed by John Kehe. Can't Get It Out of My Head was the single and did well in the US. AllMusic's Bruce Eder gave the album five stars and heard echoes of Sgt. Pepper in it, and Rolling Stone's Ken Barnes called it something of a triumph for the group. Classic Rock listed it among 50 Albums That Built Prog Rock in 2010, and Rolling Stone placed it at number 43 on its 2015 list of the 50 greatest prog rock albums.