Mr Blue Sky, although it was released as a single, was actually a part of Concerto For A Rainy Day. Listening to the whole work is interesting.
I was listening to an OGWT interview with a 25 year old Rick Wakeman earlier (no prizes for guessing I’d hunt that one down). He commented on just how ridiculous it is to attempt to slot music into neat little pigeon holes when he was asked about some idiot who panned his Toronto concert for not being “rock and roll”.
He mentioned several composers and posed the question “Why should everything prior to 1928 be considered classical?”
Can JS Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Rachmaninov all be considered to be writing the same style of music? It’s ridiculous even to consider that they can, considering the timespan and geography involved.
We like names. Oh, yes. That was written during the Baroque period, so it’s baroque. Bullshit. The composers didn’t sit there and think “Oh, I must conform to a certain set of rules for this period.” They just got on with the job.
Rick wasn’t writing rock and roll, Beethoven was breaking the rules and forging new paths. One of Johann Strauss’ best known pieces nearly flopped because he wrote it with words, against all advice (Blue Danube).
Lynne was looking for something different and he found it. The size and makeup of ELO was unique as far as I’m aware. Emerson found an entirety different way of being different, and both bands have made it down the years, retaining their old audience and finding new ones.