(Credits: Far Out / Jeff Lynne)
Fri 5 December 2025 15:44, UK
Across the last six decades, despite being 90% hair, Jeff Lynne has built an impressive career, selling in excess of 50 million records with Electric Light Orchestra, collaborating with the likes of Brian Wilson and Alice Cooper, and receiving an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
He is music’s Swiss army knife, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t mastered the many trades he applies himself to. In fact, he brings flair and originality in awe-inspiring abundance. As Benmont Tench put it, “He’s brilliant at what he does, and you know it’s Jeff Lynne.”
That sense of purity pours out of him. “To me, making records isn’t work,” he once happily proclaimed. While doing it for love is one thing, when a young, working-class Lynne was growing up in Birmingham, it would’ve been beyond his wildest dreams that he would go on to work with The Beatles, form a supergroup with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison, write 33 charting hits of his own with ELO, and be dubbed by John Lennon as the artist carrying on “from where The Beatles left off”.
He even wrote the band’s big breakthrough single, ‘Showdown’, in his parents’ front room. “I made the riff up and I was thrilled with it. I knew it was going to be a hit even after I had just done a few notes of it. When we cut it the engineer said, ‘This is a classic’. I was thrilled to bits,” he recalled. The rest is history.
After forming in 1970, the progressive pop group ELO rose to acclaim with a run of albums towards the middle of the decade, culminating with Out of the Blue in 1977 and Discovery in 1979. Their futuristic pop popularised the use of the vocoder and brought a fun, lighthearted sound to a decade often dominated by heavier genres and artists who desperately wanted to seem cool.
Jeff Lynne on stage with ELO. (Credits: Far Out / Helge Øverås)
Out of the Blue spawned ELO’s defining hit, ‘Mr. Blue Sky’, which gained them a place in the UK top ten and has retained cultural relevance ever since. The track has cemented itself as a crucial part of popular culture, even being used across film and television, from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Lynne and ELO’s eclectic approach came from a desire to emulate the Beatles’ rock sound with a focus on orchestral instrumentation. ELO experimented with sound and genre to create a new kind of pop. Accordingly, Jeff Lynne’s favourite albums span a wide range of artists, too, including two Beatles records, modern anti-folk, and 1960s doo-wop.
These records have infused into his own distinct style. So, we’ve compiled his picks from an interview with The Quietus, his own personal favourite ELO record from a chat Record Collector, and the projects he’s been most touched by from a discussion with Rock Cellar, to present the complete collection of classics that the fuzzy-haired fellow adores.
But without one of them, he might never have been in the position he now finds himself in. Speaking about his origins, he commented, “Oh, the first time I ever heard ‘Only The Lonely’ on the radio was… I couldn’t believe it. My mum and my auntie said, ‘Ooh, he’s so sexy, he is!’ I said, ‘Don’t be ridiculous’. Not that I knew anything about it – I was 12 or 13. They’re going, ‘Ooh, but he’s too sexy… I don’t like it’. And I went, ‘That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard in my life’. And it was. Probably still is. Pure magic.”
From that moment of “pure” inspiration, it seemed the fickle fingers of fate began to weave his future into place. So, it’s no surprise that his hero pops up in the collection. Lynne, naturally, names Roy Orbison’s Greatest Hits as one of his favourites, gushing, “What a beautiful guy. He was so sweet.”
Continuing, “I mean, every song he’s done is my favourite. You can’t go wrong with them.” Lynne also reminisces on the time he was able to be Orbison’s “pal and producer” when he worked with him on the 1989 posthumous hit ‘You Got It’.
He also shares the joy he took from contributing to Orbison’s first hit in 20 years, stating: “We’d done it together, and that was a great, marvellous feeling.” But Lynee speaks more on his admiration for the man than the music, adding, “And he’s got this enormous and most infectious giggle you’ve ever heard, and we’d all be giggling like schoolgirls after a minute or two and all fucking fall about.”
Lynne also includes collaborator Regina Spektor’s 2009 album Far on the list. Though even he admits that the two were “not an obvious pairing”, he was blown away by Spektor’s voice, pitch, and drumming. Lynne states, “I just love her voice.”
The Beatles, perhaps expectedly, take two spots on Lynne’s list. The first goes to Revolver, which he recalls sounded better than anything else back in 1966: “It stood out like a sore thumb, really. It was so tight and beautiful and punchy. It was the punchiest thing around. It was, like, powerful and, it seemed to me, majestic.” He also picks out Please Please Me, calling ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ “probably the greatest ever English rock ‘n’ roll song”.
Alongside the Fab Four, Lynne includes their biggest competition, The Beach Boys, on the list. He suggests that Pet Sounds might be the “ultimate in production”. He said: “I remember it was ’66, and in some parts, it sounds like an old dance band. I’d think, ‘Wow!’ That’s so old-fashioned yet so brand new at the same time.”
Lynne also worked with frontman Brian Wilson on a track called ‘Let It Shine’ for Wilson’s self-titled album in 1989. He was wary about the daunting experience of producing “the best producer in the world”, but he relished the chance of working with a “genius” all the same, and the “complex” chord structures they mustered left him brimming with pride.
However, that’s not the only thing he’s been proud to have a hand in. While he might have crowned Full Moon Fever his favourite project that he’s even been part of, on a less selfless note, he’s also picked out Out of the Blue and On the Third Day as his favourite ELO records.
Lynne rounds out the list with picks that include a Beatles solo album, a compilation by The Who, and Sophisticated Soul by Motown girl band The Marvelettes. Check out the full list of Jeff Lynne’s favourite albums below.
Jeff Lynne’s favourite albums:Travelling Wilburys – Volume 1George Harrison – Cloud NineTom Petty – Full Moon FeverDel Shannon – Hats Off To Del ShannonRoy Orbison – Greatest HitsRegina Spektor – FarThe Beatles – RevolverThe Beatles – Please Please MeThe Who – Meaty Beaty Big and BouncyThe Zombies – Odyssey and OracleThe Beach Boys – Pet SoundsDon Covay And The Goodtimers – MercyThe Marvelettes – Sophisticated Soul
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