After mining the
Beatles
gold mine for all those catchy hooks, by the time that
Balance of Power
was released,
Jeff Lynne
and company had pretty much found that once-rich vein going dry. This album did contain yet another Top 40 hit with
"Calling America,"
but by the mid-'80s,
ELO
were finding their audience and their inspiration on the wane. Not truly memorable, but passable. [In 2007
Epic/Legacy
reissued
with seven bonus cuts, including alternate takes of
"Heaven Only Knows,"
"Secret Lives"
and
"Sorrow About to Fall,"
U.K. b-sides
"Caught in a Trap"
"Destination Unknown"
and the previously unreleased
"In for the Kill"
"Opening."
] ~ James Chrispell