{"id":320979,"date":"2025-12-17T13:37:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T13:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/320979\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T13:37:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T13:37:11","slug":"the-album-jeff-lynne-wants-to-be-remembered-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/320979\/","title":{"rendered":"The album Jeff Lynne wants to be remembered for"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jeff<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Jeff Lynne)<\/p>\n

Wed 17 December 2025 10:37, UK <\/p>\n

There are more than a few classic albums with Jeff Lynne<\/a>\u2019s name on them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On top of the material that he recorded on his own with the Electric Light Orchestra, Lynne was behind the board for classic albums by George Harrison, Roy Orbison, The Travelling Wilburys, and even The Beatles during the Anthology project. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s not bad for a working-class lad from Birmingham. In fact, with the Wilburys and ELO alone, the fuzzy-haired fellow has fetched sales heading swiftly towards the 60 million mark. So, it\u2019s understandably hard for Lynne to single one out as his favourite.<\/p>\n

But according to the barnstorming all-rounder himself, the answer wasn\u2019t his work with any of the above. Instead, it was when he joined forces with Tom Petty on his first solo album, 1989\u2019s Full Moon Fever. \u201c\u200b\u200bI met Tom in England and then I saw him again at some streetlight in Los Angeles,\u201d Lynne recalled to Rolling Stone. <\/p>\n

The \u2018Mr Blue Sky\u2019 singer continued, \u201cHe said, \u2018Jeff, pull over.\u2019 I did and he said, \u2018I just listened to George\u2019s album. What about coming over and writing some tunes together?\u2019 I said, \u2018I\u2019d love to.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Jeff Lynne with Tom Petty, George Harrison and Bob Dylan. (Credits: Far Out \/ The Traveling Wilburys)<\/p>\n

The connection was natural \u2013 The Travelling Wilburys weren\u2019t quite in place yet<\/a>, with Lynne and Petty\u2019s partnership preceding the first Wilburys recording by at least a year. But Lynne\u2019s natural songwriting instincts gelled well with Petty, causing the two to create a classic song early in their creative process.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably the second song we wrote was \u2018Free Fallin\u2019. I got the chords to it, and we both fleshed out the chorus,\u201d Lynne said. \u201cIt was like \u2018Evil Woman\u2019 in that we got a repetitive chord sequence, and then the melody turns into a chorus. Everyone who heard it knew it was a hit, and the next song we did was \u2018I Won\u2019t Back Down.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It helped that the only consistent people involved in the album\u2019s making were Petty and Lynne. With the two sharing guitar duties, Lynne would add bass, keyboards, and even drums when the time called. The only other presence in the studio was Petty\u2019s bandmate and creative partner Mike Campbell, something that took Lynne a while to get his head around.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was Tom\u2019s first solo album, and I didn\u2019t realise it would be such a big thing for the band, Tom going off on his own. I ended up doing most of the stuff, playing the keyboard and the bass and telling the drummer what to play,\u201d Lynne said.<\/p>\n

Adding: \u201cMike [Campbell] was there, but I found out afterwards it was a problem for the other guys. The thing is, he got a great record out of it. It\u2019s still my favourite record that I ever made with anybody. I love it. It\u2019s so simple and fresh, and it\u2019s got no bullshit.\u201d The whole thing was utterly refreshing in an era of sordid excess.<\/p>\n

Campbell had a similar recollection of working with Lynne. \u201cWe\u2019d put the mics up on the drums, and he\u2019d walk out and take the microphone over the drum and he\u2019d turn it away from the drum facing the corner, and he\u2019d go \u2018OK, record it like that.\u2019 Sure enough, 99% of the time he\u2019d be right,\u201d Campbell recalled to SongFacts back in 2003. <\/p>\n

He proudly continued, \u201cWe\u2019d go, \u2018Yes sir, Mr. Lynne.\u2019 We learned so much from him about arrangements and countermelodies and all kinds of stuff.\u201d <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a corroboration that truly defines why Lynne is such a magical addition to he pop music canon. The Brummie knows everything there is to know about music, but he never lets that get in the way of a pop hit. As he defined his own self-evident ethos, \u201cI take pretty complicated stuff and simplify the hell out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s beautifully present on Full Moon Fever, an album that was so full of Petty\u2019s pent-up ideas that it needed a calming composer to pull it all together in a refined fashion, and despite Lynne championing Brian Wilson as the best producer in the world, you\u2019d be hard-pushed to say anyone has ever been better than Lynne at this fine sifting task.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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