Epic
/
Legacy
's 2005 release
All Over the World: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra
is the latest installment in the seemingly endless series of
ELO
comps. Since it follows 2003's handy single-disc
The Essential Electric Light Orchestra
by merely two years, it's easy to wonder what distinguishes this from the other
collections on the market, and whether it was necessary to release another single-disc set so quickly after the last. The biggest differences between
All Over the World
and
Essential
is that the 2005 release has some very nice but altogether too brief liner notes from
Jeff Lynne
along with five more tracks than the 15-track 2003 release. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's a better album, however. While it does contain the terrific
"Showdown,"
which was missing from
,
is inexplicably missing
's first American Top Ten single,
"Can't Get It out of My Head,"
along with such other key tracks as
"Do Ya,"
"Calling America,"
"Roll Over Beethoven,"
"10538 Overture,"
"Boy Blue."
Although the presence of
"Xanadu"
and such album tracks as
"The Diary of Horace Wimp"
make up for some of these absences, there are too many good songs missing to make this a pick over
, which has a higher ratio of hits. That said,
has most of the big songs --
"Mr. Blue Sky,"
"Evil Woman,"
"Don't Bring Me Down,"
"Sweet Talkin' Woman,"
"Turn to Stone,"
"Hold on Tight,"
"Livin' Thing,"
"Ma-Ma-Ma Belle,"
"Strange Magic,"
"Rock and Roll Is King"
among them -- and it's a good listen, so most casual fans won't be disappointed if this is the only
disc they own (although they will sorely miss
"Can't Get It out of My Head"
). But if you're just about to pick up one
disc, get
or, better still, 1995's double-disc
Strange Magic
instead, since they both are tighter, better listens than this and have more of the major hits. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine